Those of you who follow my Facebook page will know that I’m as passionate about short stories as I am novels. My latest release, due 8th September, is a horror collection titled The Soul Bazaar. After reading Ray Bradbury's collection of essays Zen in the Art of Writing I’ve found that passion fuelled even more. The book isn’t perfect by any means. In fact, I found it a little pretentious at times (you can read my Amazon review here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R93SQRRF7BCH0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00Q28GYVS. Until Weebly sort out the bug that often stops me from inserting hyperlinks into the text I'm afraid you'll have to copy and paste). But I found his notion of writing one short story a week intriguing, and is a challenge I’ve decided to accept.
Which, given my existing writing schedule, is going to be some challenge. I want the first draft of Swarm completed by Christmas. I also have this blog and website to maintain alongside my Facebook and Twitter.
All of which means getting organised, staying organised, and maintaining a writing regime.
I’ve covered the topic of getting organised before. But that was more a matter of time management. Now I’m looking at task management as well.
One way in which I am approaching this is through the use of new (to me) technology. I’ve recently bought a large screened phone with Word, which allows me to outline and draft short stories during the day. In fact, my phone is now the place I’m most likely to outline short stories. Then I’ll pick one to focus on per week, working between my phone and laptop. Each story gets two drafts then the final polishes (I may go further into my drafting and editing process at a later date).
By my rough calculations, this means splitting my writing time fifty-fifty between my short stories and novels. I’ve also discovered the technique of setting a timer to write in twenty-minute bursts with five-minute breaks. This doesn’t sound like much, but I tried it whilst working on Swarm the other night. In three twenty-minute bursts at the end of a very long day I chalked up a thousand words. Not too bad.
So will this challenge keep me focused enough to produce a short story a week alongside my other commitments?
Who knows? It’s good to have a goal and a method for reaching it. What are your productivity secrets? Let us know in the comments.
Which, given my existing writing schedule, is going to be some challenge. I want the first draft of Swarm completed by Christmas. I also have this blog and website to maintain alongside my Facebook and Twitter.
All of which means getting organised, staying organised, and maintaining a writing regime.
I’ve covered the topic of getting organised before. But that was more a matter of time management. Now I’m looking at task management as well.
One way in which I am approaching this is through the use of new (to me) technology. I’ve recently bought a large screened phone with Word, which allows me to outline and draft short stories during the day. In fact, my phone is now the place I’m most likely to outline short stories. Then I’ll pick one to focus on per week, working between my phone and laptop. Each story gets two drafts then the final polishes (I may go further into my drafting and editing process at a later date).
By my rough calculations, this means splitting my writing time fifty-fifty between my short stories and novels. I’ve also discovered the technique of setting a timer to write in twenty-minute bursts with five-minute breaks. This doesn’t sound like much, but I tried it whilst working on Swarm the other night. In three twenty-minute bursts at the end of a very long day I chalked up a thousand words. Not too bad.
So will this challenge keep me focused enough to produce a short story a week alongside my other commitments?
Who knows? It’s good to have a goal and a method for reaching it. What are your productivity secrets? Let us know in the comments.
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