In Their Own Words… I have to know when I'm at my best for my most important work (morning, for writing fiction), when I tend to slack off (after meetings or podcasts), and when I can get by with relatively mindless work (afternoons). It's not about getting maximal amounts done; it's about ideally matching my capacities vs. my occasional need to screw around with what needs to be done at what time. –Johnny B. Truant is a co-host of the top-rated Self-Publishing Podcast, co-author of Write. Publish.
Repeat: The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success, and the author of well over 2.5 million words of popular fiction. In Write Better Faster, author Monica Leonelle shares how she went from
being a 600-word-per-hour writer to a 3,500-word-per-hour writer. She learned
that: •
When she repeated cycles of a 25-minute writing sprint followed by a
5-minute break, she achieved a 50 percent improvement in productivity. With
these short recharging breaks, Leonelle was able to maintain a near state of flow
for longer periods of time throughout the day.
•
Her ailing wrists and fingers caused her to rethink her tools. She
switched from keyboard typing to dictation and gained an additional
33 percent in word count.
•
Once freed from the keyboard, Leonelle gained a final 25
percent improvement in word count when she began to dictate her
novels while walking outside.
Leonelle didn’t have more hours to give, so she figured out how to increase
her energy instead, and her productivity gains were the same as if she had
“found” six times more hours!
In Their Own Words… It is important to schedule time for yourself, to rest, or to refocus. –Katie Uhlaender is an Olympic skeleton racer for the United States and competed in the Olympics in 2006, 2010, and 2014. Get your blood pumping for at least a minute or two every day. Quick workouts give a huge boost to energy and feed the brain with the oxygen you need to take over the world.
