Find Your Productivity Zone

By KimBoo York

One piece of advice writers hear all the time, especially newer authors, is to “write every day!” I’m here to tell you that is not necessary. Yay! …but what is necessary is understanding your own productivity zone so that you are writing more often than you are not writing. 

There is often an early stage of writing that is exciting and engaging, where your mind is fully immersed in your story and writing feels easy. At some point that heady motivation comes to an end, though, and you need to fall back on a system that works for you to get you over the hump.

Everybody has their own unique productivity zone. Some people thrive on routines driven by strict schedules and timing. They need to write every day at 8:00 am or their entire writing practice falls apart. Other people need flexibility built into their writing schedule, due to family or work obligations or health issues. Writers with ADHD might need fewer schedules or deadlines and more body-doubling in the form of co-writing sessions. 

Here’s an easy hack for figuring out what kind of writing schedule works best for you: Examine how you accomplish household chores. Even if you have a hired cleaning service, there are still things you need to do yourself, right? And even if your health means you can’t do much, there are still things you find a way to get done, right? So, think about that carefully: do you vacuum every Saturday? (You weirdo! LOL! I hate vacuuming, can you tell?) Do small loads of laundry throughout the week? Do chores in clusters (straighten the living room today, wipe down and mop the kitchen tomorrow, etc.)?

Take that knowledge about yourself and apply it to writing. It doesn’t matter what the resulting schedule looks like, what matters is that you have created a productivity zone based on how your brain actually works. For instance, a friend of mine with ADHD does all her writing for the week in one long stretch of hyper-focused work on the weekends; I try to write something every day, even if it is only 100 words; one of my clients writes a certain number of words a day whether it takes him one hour or three; another writes three days a week and then stops right there until the next week starts. 

Remember: how you write your story is your business, and all that matters is that the story gets written!

By KimBoo York