Today, we’re going to be talking about all the challenges that come up with finding the time and managing your time as an author.
We’re going to take a look behind the scenes, as usual, with our author, Megan Dougherty, who is writing her book, and coming up against all the things that naturally come up when you’re writing a book.
One of those, one of the biggest ones is time.
So we’re going to talk about all those things, including whether time is really the issue or if your lack of time is maybe masking something else. If you ever have problems with managing your time on any kind of project, whether it’s writing or something else.
Listen in for some great tips that are going to help you move forward in a way that works for you. This time, we’re changing things up a little bit where Megan is asking me all her burning questions about time and how to manage it.
Listen to the episode below or continue to read the blog post!
You’ll learn about:
- Finding your writing rhythm and productivity flow
- How to balance structure and creativity
- Estimating time for writing projects
- Why pacing leads to better productivity
- Strategies for staying motivated and committed
- The challenges of writing on a deadline
- Overcoming writer’s block
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Watch the Episode:
Finding Your Writing Rhythm and Productivity Flow
Megan: “Alright, Amy, I am so excited to turn the tables a little bit today and take the opportunity to seriously pick your brain about the concept of time.”
Amy: “Yes, I’m excited too. This will be interesting because now I get to see your genius as a podcast host and be on the other side of that.”
Megan: “I don’t know about genius entirely, but it is fun because I know, and this is a situation that you’ve shared with me, it’s quite common that a lot of people feel and that getting into this process of writing a book and being the person who’s driving the process forward, it is an absolutely absurd amount of labor and just the time involved in getting everything done and taking this whole concept and creating enough words to adequately convey and communicate it. It takes a lot of time.
So just off the top, do you have any high level thoughts or framing for how somebody should look at the investment of time that they’re about to make in their work?”
Amy: “This is such a huge topic, I could probably write a book about this. I think when you’re going into it as a new author, you don’t know what to expect of how much time, and you’ve experienced this, you don’t know how much time to set aside, you don’t know how much time it’s going to take to write X amount of words or each chapter, that kind of thing.
I break it down into two things, one is your natural style, what you like to do. There’s different ways that people like to work, so I’ll come back to that. But the second one is really just devoting time to it. It’s a combination between your style and actual time blocking.
It comes down to it, I’ll just say it right upfront, some people are like me and they love to block things out in their calendar, and I think you’re like that too. I like to set certain times so I know what I’m doing.
I know what I’m going to be doing that day and I’ve set that time aside and that’s sacred, I’m not going to do anything else unless there’s an emergency happening. But then, along with that goes your natural style, how you work.
I have a couple of examples. I’ll use me for one of them. I do better if I write on a regular basis. If I’m writing a book or I’m writing some big project that I want to get done, I do better with maybe a couple of hours every day or, say, three times a week instead of blocking off every Friday.
But I also have other people, clients who love that. I have one client who sets her Fridays every week are her writing days. Whether she’s writing a book or blogs or maybe even planning her podcast, she is spending that time in her favorite writing café, just working on writing, nothing else. That works for her.
I find for most people that does not work because there’s too much pressure. You’ve saved up everything all week and now Friday is your day, or whatever day it is that you choose. Maybe it’s a weekend, if you’re working a lot and it’s really hard to find time during the week.
Now you’re maybe behind on other things, so you want to catch up on that, and then you’ll do the writing. So now you’ve already dug into that time for something else, and now you’ve got so much pressure, like, wow, I’ve got to produce a bunch of writing today. How am I going to get that done?
Like I said, for some people that works great and that just flows naturally. They can turn that faucet on and there they go, they’re off and writing. So just know yourself.”
Megan: “We hate those people, right? We can agree they’re the worst, like the absolute worst.”
Amy: “There might be a little jealousy involved in that.”
Megan: “Like really pretty people who are great at math and are also really friendly? Hate them.”
Balancing Structure and Creativity in Your Writing Process
Amy: “Hopefully you are one of those people that you’re just super talented and you can just turn that faucet on anytime you want. But for me, I’m more of a habit person. So when I wrote my first book, set aside, this is when I first started doing this, was getting up at 5:00 A.M. and writing between, say, 5:30 A.M. and 7:00 A.M.
Nobody’s really expecting you to answer an email at that time. Nobody’s calling you. Probably no one else in your home is up at that time. That was really my sort of sacred space that I could get into.
I think for me, there was something also about just coming from sleep and getting into the writing because I didn’t have all these other distractions that I’d already been involved in for the day. I wasn’t checking my phone, email, anything. I was just getting into my little cubby space of writing. That was really productive for me. You know what your natural rhythms are.
And if you’re not a regular writer, I suggest, this is a little pro tip for everyone listening, if you want to write a book or want to become a regular writer, just start doing it and find out what your natural rhythms are.”
Megan: “I love that advice. It was interesting because I think I heard you saying how to organize the time and when you do the writing and whatnot, and I started off with, just as you were saying, pretty intense blocking, and I would put into the calendar, this is the writing time.
And I discovered that having it on the calendar was actually much worse, and that now I do the best work and writing when I’ve got an empty calendar. Now I know I’ve got a couple of days in the week when I don’t take calls.
Those have become my best writing days because they’re just like a beautiful empty afternoon with nothing in it, writing, it feels like a treat. It’s something I get to do with this time rather than a chore that I have to tick off on my list of calendar items. It was interesting because I didn’t know that before I started this project. It was really interesting learning.”
Amy: “Thank you for sharing that, because I think the more you can make it seem and feel like it’s something you get to do, that’s great. For me, seeing it on my calendar is like, ooh, I have that yummy space I get to play and write in now, where another person might feel it as pressure, like you apparently did.
However you can trick yourself and work with what works for you. So many times when we have a big project, it feels like such a commitment that it can feel this terrible pressure instead of fun and creativity.”
Megan: “On that note, obviously, it’s great when this can be a really pleasurable process and when there can be a lot of enjoyment in it. But for a lot of people listening and people thinking about writing books, it also is part of work, something that they’re doing professionally and decisions have to be made about how much time can be invested or how much time is going to be required for a given project.
So if someone is coming to you and they say, I’m going to write my first book. Of course, you can’t know exactly how long something is going to take.
Estimating Time for Writing Projects
Amy: “Similar to what we did in the two-day intensive upfront when we first started working together, Megan, we got all that clarity first, then you created an outline. And from that outline, then you got a little bit more detailed and you said, this is exactly how many chapters of what type in three different sections or however you did it to figure out what the content for the book is going to be.
That’s one reason I love to do that upfront and start with an outline because it helps you plan. Just like if you’re doing a software development project or any other kind, you’re producing some new product or service, you have a plan for how to roll that out. So then you can see this bigger picture.
Now, you still don’t exactly know how much time, but you know how much content you want to create and you can portion that out. Just like you did. You said, okay, I have this number of chapters. I want to get it done in two to three months, or whatever your time period is, and you divide it up.
You say, I’m going to do two chapters a week, four chapters a week, whatever it is. And then you have to figure out what that means in terms of your writing and how many hours that might mean. Some chapters are going to be longer than others.
You have, in the middle of your book, chapters that are very similar. I think once you figured out each one takes an hour and a half or whatever to initially produce, then you know. You can plan your cadence. It takes a little planning and a little experimentation, both of those, to balance what you’re going to need to plan on for the whole thing.”
Megan: “That’s true, definitely reflective of my experience. I think the other thing that I’d love to get your thoughts on about that is, so it’s great when I’ve got like a whole Friday afternoon and nothing to do in it but write and I think I can, as I’m going to get a whole bunch done, and I’m excited to get a whole bunch done.
But after, say, the first section, or the first 2000 words, I’m done. Even if I’ve got two and a half hours left in my day that I had free for this, I’ve got nothing left.
What’s going on there? Why can’t I use all of the time that I’ve given myself after a creative effort?”
Why Pacing Yourself Leads to Better Writing Productivity
Amy: “I think for me, it goes back to your natural rhythms, to your style and what you’re good at and how you can create the best content, because you don’t want to just sit there and make yourself write content when you are not feeling it.
Not to say that you have to wait for the muse to hit you or anything like that, but there might be something too that might be a compromise. Maybe you write for two hours and then go out and take a walk. Maybe you’re refreshed, then you can come back and do another hour or something like that.
Or you know that you’re really great for two and a half hours, that’s all you really can expect from yourself that day. Then you can plan on how to portion out the work for the future. Some of it is knowing yourself and the other part is giving yourself some grace about how you work.
Because it’s not even like gardening or something, and I know you’re a gardener too, where you can go out. When you’re first starting to garden, say this time of year in the spring when we’re talking, you go out for a couple hours, your back and your legs and everything is sore because you haven’t been doing it all winter. It’s the same thing when you’re writing where you have to build up that muscle.
That’s one thing I talk about too, that my pro tip I gave earlier about if you’re not writing and you want to become a writer, just start doing it. Even if it’s just writing, journaling for yourself everyday for 15 minutes, you’re building up that muscle and that habit.
Some of it’s mental, some of it’s just experience that you have to do it a lot so that you get good at it just like anything else. You’re building the muscle. Your back is getting stronger when you’re out in the garden digging or on your knees planting and all that stuff and you’re just sore all over.
You really can’t make yourself do it all day long because you’re just spent, and when you’re writing, it’s more of a mental tiredness than a physical tiredness. And if you’re not at your best, it’s going to come across in your writing, so plan accordingly.”
Megan: “So maybe trying to cram too much into a single writing session would be one of the time management issues that a lot of new authors face.
Strategies for Staying Motivated and Committed
Amy: “I haven’t seen this so much in you, Megan, but I’ve seen a lot of other people where time is a really handy excuse. In our society, we’re busy. We’re so busy. You ask people how they are, oh, so busy. And so time becomes an excuse that can mask other issues, and this is something that’s very common. It becomes a form of procrastination. It can also mask perfectionism.
When you’re really concerned that your writing is not good enough or it’s not up to your super high standards on your first pass through a chapter, it can become crushing to someone that’s very important to. So it can just be like a way to avoid it, oh, I just don’t have time to work on it today.
So something that can help a person who’s dealing with that perfectionism is, I encourage people to spill stuff onto the page and not worry about every sentence and then just get the chapter, at least, if not the entire book, out on paper, digital paper in most cases, and then go back with a fresh eye and you can add things, you can massage it, you can improve things.
But to get your initial concepts out is such a relief, and it gets you into that flow of regular writing, gets your writing to become stronger just because you’re doing it every day.
When time becomes an excuse to mask something else, it’s time to look at that a little closer. When this happens to you a couple of times, you want to go, hmm, is it really my scheduling or am I hiding something from myself?”
Megan: “This, I think, is a really good reason why it is great to have someone who isn’t you or someone like a member of your team involved, working with you in a coaching capacity, I bet you recognize it really, really quickly.
But it feels when you’re saying, oh, I wish I could write my amazing book, but I’m so busy with this client work or these fires that I have to put out. It feels very virtuous to sacrifice your writing time for these more pressing obligations, even if it is a darn dirty lie.”
Amy: “That’s a great thought, Megan, because I see that a lot. It is virtuous. We feel virtuous when we’re busy, we’re doing something, we’re productive. And I think there’s a little fear behind writing a book, too, because you may be fearful that it’s not going to be productive as much as your other work.
Is it going to give my business and my personal life the benefit of the time spent and the effort expended and the money expended that’s involved in producing a book? There’s a little fear there that might be, I don’t know if this is time best spent.
So that’s why I generally work with people who are super motivated. It’s finally time, they’ve prioritized it. And you have to make the writing a priority or it is not going to get done. There’s so many other things in our lives. We’re all running businesses. We all have personal lives. A lot of people are raising kids and doing a million other things.
If the book is not one of your top three priorities, it’s probably not going to get done. So it has to rise to that level of commitment that you’re saying, I actually am going to devote the time and effort and energy and money and all the things into this project. I’m devoted, I’m committed, I’m in.”
Megan: “It can be a scary thing to do. I’m on the topic of these fears and these, I guess, things that are happening under the surface that are impacting the writing and how it goes. In our last, most recent coaching session, I was talking about how now approaching the end of the project, I’m, I’d say, at three quarters mark of finished manuscript.
And it is twice as hard, three times as hard for me to sit down and write or to find the motivation to write as it was at the beginning when I had all of this work staring down at me.
The Emotional Challenges of Writing and Releasing Your Book
Amy: “So I love to ask the questions, about how does it actually feel, what’s going on behind the scenes, and you really came forth with some things and really thought about that and came up with a few things. You also asked if it was common, and it is something I see pretty frequently. I don’t know if you want to share any of that was coming up for you, Megan, that about why it’s more difficult now than it was at the beginning.”
Megan: “So what I knew after our coaching session and giving it some real thought why it was getting harder to work is, with every now section that gets finished with every writing session I do, I am getting closer and closer and closer to that cliff that I’m going to have to jump off when other people start reading it and I’m going to find out whether or not I have wasted all of this time.
And I mean, I know no creative project is ever truly a waste, there’s lots of great stuff, but are people going to value it? Are they going to like it? Is it going to be a complete flop? Sometimes I spend my time daydreaming about how great it’s going to be and how I’m going to be a bestseller and how I’m going to get all of this positive attention and people are really going to love it.
It’s fun to think about that, but then the flip side is, it’s going to be crickets. I’m going to be really embarrassed to have put all of this time and effort into something that did not perform in the way I wanted it to. So it’s harder to bring myself closer to that point. It’s like getting ready to drive yourself to a root canal. It’s necessary, and you’re going to do it, but it sucks.”
Amy: “Yeah. What’s it going to feel like? What’s it going to mean? I thank you for being upfront about all of those things because I think it’s such a thing. I talk a lot about facing your fears as you write your book because stuff comes up.
So at the end, if you haven’t dealt with that stuff, it’s going to be in your face, because you’re getting closer and closer to the end. So I see that happening with you. And it’s the same fears we talked about at the very beginning. There’s the fear of, is anybody going to value it? Is it going to be worth having invested all this into writing the book?
The Final Stages of Writing
Amy: “I want to ask you about something else that you talked about early on, too, Megan, if you don’t mind. You had this concept of done, that it was done already. You have all this in your brain. You know all this stuff so well.
Now it’s just a matter of getting it out of your head and onto the page, so you felt like it was already done. And so I wonder how much that kind of thing is also coming into play now that you are almost complete with it?”
Megan: “I think that could be a really good point, because I remember what you’re talking about. I remember I had that feeling after finishing the outline. It’s like, oh, good. The outline is created. It’s done now. We can move on to the next thing.
I think I’m almost mentally getting there because now I’m finding myself less focused on writing each segment, even though I’m still interested and I still care about them and I want them to be done very well.
But now I’m thinking about marketing and I’m thinking about promotion and I’m thinking about the infrastructure that’s going to be built around this. Part of me has mentally moved past the writing as maybe because so much of it is now in solid manuscript form that I’m like, okay, let’s move on to the next thing.
I hesitate to call it boredom because it is still interesting and engaging, but I have been doing a lot of this for the last two months and I spend a lot of my time doing this one thing, writing this stuff. Maybe it is a little itch for something new and for the next thing.”
Amy: “Interesting. That’s interesting, because it’s almost a combination of shiny object, like, I want to go do something more fun over here, this next thing. And I think it’s just a natural human process too, of when you’re almost done with something, you can see the next thing on the horizon. That’s always exciting. That’s fun. It’s not necessarily super helpful in actually getting the thing done.”
Megan: “Right. It takes eight weeks to get the first three quarters of the book done and another eight for the last quarter. It’s ridiculous.”
Amy: “I think if you talk to other authors, I think you’ll find that’s very common. All the little details, like even the author bio and the book description, those things can be some of the most difficult things to write, despite having written, much longer form content throughout the book.
Now it comes down to like, wow, how do I describe the book in three paragraphs? How do I describe my own experience to make people interested in reading the book by this author in one paragraph on the back of the book or whatever it is?
It can be very daunting to do those kind of final pieces. We’ll just put that out there for other authors as a warning and to say, you’re not alone, you’re not weird, or some anomaly that is the only person who’s ever done this.”
Megan: “It is very good to know one is not alone in these things. Another topic I wanted to jump into today is I took a week off a couple of weeks ago. I was feeling, right before leaving, a little bit stressed about the looming deadlines, the point the book was not as close to being done as it is now. I was just thinking, you know, should I just spend this whole vacation and just push through and try to get as much as I can done? And you said, do not do that, Megan.
Can you explain why you said I should not use this time to just super push ahead?”
Why Taking Time Off is Essential for Creative Success
Amy: “So I learned this from experience with other people doing it. I saw people thinking, oh, I have all this expansive time and I’m going to do all these things. And then they’d come back and they’d say, oh, I didn’t get any of it done, and they’d feel really bad.
I saw this time and again, and I thought, you know what? That time off should be time off. They’ve planned to take some relaxation time, vacation time. They’re going to be either staycation or they’re going to go someplace, but it’s their me time. That is absolutely valuable and necessary.
And so I started suggesting to people that they actually take a vacation and leave the book and everything else behind and just go have some time off, because we give ourselves so little of that in general that we really need it.
Then people can come back, A) not feel guilty about not doing it; and be refreshed now to bring some new energy and some excitement and motivation back to the project because they have actually had a break from it.”
Megan: “I love that. I felt super clever when I thought, oh, I’ll use this time that I’ve got for it. I’ll be a little tired, but I feel like I’m on to something here, this is gonna be great. And I ended up doing a tiny bit of writing while I was away, but it was unrequired and it just going to put me ahead.
The Challenges of Writing on a Deadline
Amy: “I used to be such a stickler for having a certain schedule, having a certain time period every day that you write, because that’s worked for me. But I realized that doesn’t work for everyone. And that’s why I make this combination between scheduling and putting it on your calendar, because I do think that’s important. You’ve got to make space for it.
Like you, the opposite works for you. You leave your calendar open and you know that that’s your creative time. That works for you. That’s great and that’s a wonderful tactic. But you leave those couple afternoons a week for that because that’s what works for you. You have found your natural rhythm along with giving yourself the space to do it.
To me, it’s a combination of what works for you. Some people write at night. I have a couple of clients who write between like 10 o’clock and midnight at night. Personally, I am in bed sleeping. I used to be a night owl, but I’m not anymore.”
Megan: “We have a household rule, no discussions after 9pm, because we’re not going to do it well. We will fight.”
Amy: “See, setting boundaries and being graceful with yourself. There’s this whole thing about the 5:00 A.M. club and you’re just not productive if you don’t get up at 5:00 A.M. Now, I am one of those people who gets up at 5:00 A.M., but I know that absolutely does not work for some people, and their brain is worthless at 5:00 A.M. So why feel pressured because it works for other people to do that?
If you work great in the middle of the night and that’s your most creative time, then figure out a way to make that work for you. Really, that combination of you do you, and also give yourself the space and time to do it. Because when you’re too crunched and you feel that pressure, you’re not going to produce your best work.
You want to be in that flow of having some fun with it. This is something that you want to create and bring to the world. It shouldn’t be a chore all the time. Sometimes it just is. It’s something that you got to do, but it really is a creative. You’re creating something that has never been in the world before. That’s pretty exciting. And so, bring some of that energy and give yourself the space to breathe and create this new thing.”
Megan: “Okay, I want to dig into one thing that you said a little bit more there, because, of course, as you say, this is exciting and these projects are great and we’re bringing new things to the world. But sometimes, it does feel like a chore.
Sometimes, you’ve set a deadline for yourself or you have a coach breathing down the back of your neck about getting things done on time, which is very helpful. But sometimes, it is a chore.
Would you have any advice or tips or strategies for when someone’s sitting down to write and they’re like, I do have to do this. It’s going to got to get done, but I’m grumpy about it and I’m not feeling creative and I feel resentful that I’ve signed up for this project and it’s taking up all of my time and mental energy. “
Overcoming Writer’s Block
Amy: “A couple of things come to mind, Megan. I’m big on taking a break and getting your butt out of the chair for a while, going for a walk, even just changing locations. If you’re used to one location and you just need to mix it up, change your energy up, go to the cafe or go to the library or just move your laptop across the room, maybe stand up. Those kinds of things to mix it up.
Taking a break, mixing things up, it’s more than two. Sometimes people can just push through. But like I mentioned earlier, it’s maybe not their best work. So there’s a fun thing that I do with myself sometimes, and I coach this, and that is write something else first.
So I’m a big proponent of morning pages. Just writing for yourself, sometimes clearing the junk out of your head. That means give yourself 10, 15 minutes. I know it’s gonna feel agonizing because you should be writing for your book, but this is gonna help you be more productive down the line.
So go sit down on the couch or in your bed or wherever. You’re just comfy and cozy with a piece of paper or a journal and write three pages. It does not matter what. It could be something silly. It could be a story from your childhood.
It could be what you’re angry about right now, what you’re fighting about with your spouse or your boss or whatever. And getting this stuff, just getting the juices flowing. It can be getting your emotions flowing, but it’s also getting your fingers, your pen, your writing going. It’s like priming the pump.
This is stuff you may throw away. You may not ever show to anyone else. It’s really not for anyone else. It’s for you, so that can really get you over yourself for whatever you think is blocking you from writing.
You can always write. You can always have something. If you have nothing in your head, you say, what should I write about today? What is on my mind? What am I angry about? What am I feeling?
Just prime the pump with some writing for yourself and that can often get you going and out of that kind of bogged down, feeling like it’s a chore mode, might even get you laughing. Because sometimes when you write just silly stuff, it just helps you get over the hump of stuckness.”
Megan: “That is fantastic advice, and I think it’s really interesting because I often give people really similar advice about their podcast beginnings. So if someone’s feeling really nervous and their intro is really stilted, I recommend just talk for three or four minutes before rolling right into the intro. We can cut that bit out, but you’ll sound much more natural if you’ve been talking for a few minutes first. Really interesting that it’s basically the same strategy, priming the pump, as you say.”
Amy: “Yes, great advice. Because I know myself when I’ll sit down to record something, I’ll be like, okay, I have to officially record something now. I get into that very stiff mode and it totally comes across on video and audio. It also comes across in your writing. So when you sit down, you’re like, okay, I’m officially writing my chapter now. Instead of being in that space where you’re connecting with your listener or your reader.
That can help also to is going back to all that stuff that we did at the beginning and the intensive where you get you reconnect with your mission, with your reader. What does your reader need? You’re doing this for them, right? Of course you’re doing it for you too. What are your goals?
So when you get into that space again of like, oh yeah, this is why I’m doing this in the first place, that can also loosen you up and get you more into that giving space that you’re really creating from.”
Megan: “Amy, thank you so much for this. This has been so interesting and so valuable. It’s so great to get the chance to hear your expert opinions. You’ve worked with so many authors, you’ve written so many of your own books. You really do have the ins and outs of little pitfalls and traps that it’s so easy to fall into. So I’m grateful for your expertise and I know everyone listening today is as well.”
Amy: “Thanks, Megan. It’s always fun to talk about these things. You ask great questions. It’s just really trying different things. There’s no right or wrong answer for any podcaster or writer where you can just try what works for you and really find out your cadence, your piece, and have some fun with it, always.”
Final Thoughts
Hey, it’s Amy again. Thanks for being with us today. As usual, you could see that Megan brings her own unique twist to the process and has a little bit different take on how she manages her time and what works for her.
I hope between what I mentioned about managing your time and looking deeply to see whether time is acting as a barrier for you, and hiding something else like procrastination, like fear of success, fear of failure, fear of actually getting the thing done so you’ll have to launch it. There are so many aspects to it.
I hope you found some great tips and including my pro tip, if you’re not writing and you want to find your cadence and your rhythm that’s natural for you, start writing. You’ll find it. Thank you again for being with us here today on Unleash Your Inner Author.
Key Quotes
“You want to be in that flow of having some fun with it. This is something that you want to create and bring to the world. It shouldn’t be a chore all the time.” – Amy Collette
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