Years ago, a wise friend whose husband was a successful writer, advised aspiring novelist me: “Get organized.”
Not very inspirational, I remember thinking.
After all, isn’t writing a novel about expression and creativity an so on? Why make organization the priority?
But, as I became more experienced as a writer, I realized how my right wise friend was.
Organization matters.
Productive writers work to schedules.
And the truth is, I still struggle to stick to a schedule. But the greater an effort I make, the more progress I see.
One simple organizational tool I find very helpful is the Pomodoro Method.
You set a kitchen timer (traditionally a tomato-shaped one) for 25 minutes, and you work for those 25 minutes.
No Internet browsing. No online shopping. No phone calls or emails or texting. If you think of a “to do,” you jot it down on a scrap of paper, but immediately return to the task at hand.
When the timer rings, you take a five-minute break.
Rinse and repeat.
