Writing
Diary of a serial writer
Wednesday
I wake.
I glance at my notifications: there’s a bunch of responses already to the previous night’s chapter of The Mechanical Crown. (more…)
Writing
It’s OK if you don’t write every day
If you want to be a writer you need to write every day. That’s the advice you’ll hear again and again from authors in all genres and at all stages of their careers. While I’m not about to disagree with far more experienced and successful writers than myself, I do want to address what it means if you simply can’t do it. (more…)
Productivity
If you find it hard to concentrate on writing, try a pomodoro
Writing requires concentration, yet we live in a world with more distractions than ever. Writers need self-discipline but if you’re just starting out it can be incredibly difficult to break unhelpful habits such as checking social media, reading the news, going to grab a biscuit, making a cup of tea, playing a game… That’s why, at least to start with, it makes more sense to find a way to manage those habits alongside your writing, rather than trying to quash them entirely, so that they can co-exist happily. The best approach I’ve found for this is called the pomodoro technique. (more…)
Professional
Strategic use of pomodoros
My life is in a very different place now than at the start of the year. One of the bigger changes is working at Writers’ Centre Norwich, a hugely ambitious and progressive organisation which always has a dizzying array of active projects, where I’m tasked with using skills both familiar and unfamiliar to navigate a complex political and cultural landscape involving all kinds of external partners and stakeholders.
I’ve had to completely redefine my understanding of words like ‘challenging’ and ‘busy’. I wasn’t using them correctly before, it turns out. (more…)
Professional
How to be more productive with the pomodoro technique
I’ve been testing the pomodoro technique for the last 24 hours. I’m using it right now while writing this blog post. It’s already made me more productive and efficient – I think.
I first read about the technique last year sometime over on the Buffer blog. It sounded intriguing but I wasn’t really in a position to actually try it out – at work in particular I was in the middle of several intense projects and it really wasn’t the time to start experimenting with alternative productivity approaches.
So here’s how it works: (more…)