How to Up Your Productivity

Hello! I've been on vacation--several, actually, so that's why there haven't been any longish posts lately. But with summer craziness and the impending school-year business, I bet a lot of y'all are having the same concerns as me:

How can I maintain my productivity--or even grow it--when life is so... hectic?

When life is busy, it's tempting to say you don't have time for writing. But time is all about priorities. So you have to ask yourself: Is writing a priority for me right now? If it is, you can find a way to make time for it (usually by sacrificing things that aren't priorities). Here are a few other ideas for how you can stay productive in your writing when there's a lot on your plate:

1. Make a to-do list. This is the simplest tool, but it can be super effective. Writing, non-writing, whatever--put it on your list. Then work through the list, checking things off.

2. Sprinting. Have a friend who's a writer? Text her and ask her if she wants to sprint. You mark your start time, write as much as you want to, then mark your end time. The goal is to write as long as possible with no distractions--only focus on writing.

3. Racing! This is a fun variation of a sprint. You and one of your writer-friends agree to start writing at the same time and write as fast as you can for a set amount of time--say, 25 minutes. You count up your words at the end of that time, and whoever wrote the most won the race! You'll be surprised at how much more you write when you're competing against your bestie. 😈

4. Wordcount Goals. Start with something you know you can do every day. 100 words, maybe. Do that for a month. Be consistent. Get used to it. Maybe start exceeding it a little. Next month, your daily goal is 200. Try that until you succeed. Next month, 300. And so on until you're writing a ton of words a day with minimal effort. It sounds crazy and hard, but it works.

Have a great rest of your summer, y'all, and keep writing!