Productivity
How to Get Over Procrastination in a Day
On Tuesday I procrastinated worse than I had in months. I couldn’t even approach my desk, and spent a large part of the day in bed. Not sick: just hiding. I was unhappy about this, since I have deadlines like everyone else. And a part of me was thinking things like: “This sucks.” “I’m falling…
Read MoreErasmus on Writing
Courtesy Grub Street Writers
Read MoreUseful Apps for Mac and iOS Users
Ph.D. student Reid Leamaster reviews some useful writing productivity apps, including several for taking notes and organizing information. His latest review is an app called Flowstate, which, if you stop writing before the end of your designated interval erases everything you’ve written. Yes, you’ve read that right. Sounds crazy and coercive to me, but…
Read MoreWriter’s Block is Always Caused and Curable
This essay by Fairfield University professor Elizabeth Boquet on how her writing productivity suffered when she switched from teaching to administration is a perfect illustration of the principles that: 1) procrastination/writers block/underproductivity are always caused (versus being some kind of intrinsic moral flaw like “laziness” or “lack of discipline”); 2) the causes are always outside…
Read MoreWhat Joyful Productivity Looks Like: The “Woodland Trail” Metaphor
Picture your writing (or other work) session as a stroll down a beautiful, sun-dappled woodland path. The path is wide and flat, the air warm and inviting, and on either side of you are banks of friendly plants alive with twittering birds. You’re having a marvelous time, and are moving at a relaxed, yet efficient…
Read MoreHow to Cope With Clueless Questions, Crass Comments, and Crazy Conjectures
Oh, the things people say to writers! “What do you do?” “What do you write?” “Is there any money in that?” “Where have you been published?” “How’s the book coming along?” (Alt: “When will you be done with that thing?”) “Why don’t you just sit down over a weekend and just finish it?” “You should…
Read MoreMichael Chabon on True Novelists versus “Rebel Angels”
From Wikipedia: In a 2012 interview with Guy Raz of Weekend All Things Considered Chabon said that he writes from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. each day, Sunday through Thursday. He tries to write 1,000 words a day. Commenting on the rigidity of his routine, Chabon said, “There have been plenty of self-destructive rebel-angel novelists over the years, but…
Read MoreThe Importance of Perception to Productivity Work
People carrying a backpack or other weight typically estimate hills to be much longer and steeper than they really are, to a greater degree than unencumbered people. It also turns out, however, that if someone puts a backpack on your avatar you will experience virtual “hills” as being longer and steeper than they really are.…
Read MoreEnid Blyton: Prolific Writer
The Guardian reports on a new exhibit on famed British children’s writer Enid Blyton. She produced more than 700 books, mainly for young readers, and was very disciplined both in her writing habits and her bookkeeping and business management: But grown-up visitors will be intrigued to see how little editing Blyton’s manuscripts needed. She would…
Read More