by Stephanie Morrill
Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series (Revell) and the Ellie Sweet books (Playlist). You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website.
A newly-contracted writer emailed me to ask, “I’m currently a blogger, college student, writing tutor, and now, author. My life just got really crazy. I thought I’d ask, what are some of the best things you learned about managing time and getting it all done?“
I’ve been doing the author/blogger/mom thing for almost six years now. I’m still fumbling around for the perfect system (I don’t think it actually exists, but I keep trying!) and here are a few things I’ve learned along the way:
You have to pick what matters most to you and do your best.
Everyone’s personality type is different, but I’m the type who would rather invest deeply in several areas instead of investing a little in a lot areas. It’s just how I am. I would rather invest deeply in the Go Teen Writers blog then guest post for five blogs, and it’s why I only have a few social media outlets and I don’t often go looking for new ones.
I love Amanda Luedeke’s advice of picking one social media platform, learning it well, and doing it well before adding another. I love how this advice acknowledges that you can do it all well, that you have to choose.
A few months ago, I was feeling really stressed out. I had been a bit snippy with my kids all morning, which I hate. I grew teary thinking about the morning and how not-fun of a mom I had been, and I sat down on the stairs with my head in my hands. I said, “McKenna, I’m so sorry about the way I’ve been this morning. There’s just so much to do, and I’m so overwhelmed.”
And in this very sweet, innocent way of hers she said, “Then why are you sitting here? Why don’t you get stuff done instead?”
Sometimes my to-do list really overwhelms me. Especially during a book releases or when we have lots of evenings out. When that happens, I really just have to take a few deep breaths, pick something that needs to get done, and work on it until I’m finished.
Ann Voskamp phrases this as, “Crush a snake before breakfast,” which I just love. The idea is to pick something hard of your list and do it first. And it’s different for everybody. For me it tends to be a phone call. I will put off phone calls as long as I possibly can so if I want to get them done, I have to do them first.
Because being an author requires more than just writing books and drinking tea, I have lots of details I’m trying to keep track of. I love Google calendar and Google tasks for keeping myself organized. When someone emails me with a writing question that I think would make a good blog post, I can save that email as an event on the Go Teen Writers calendar that I share with Jill. I also use the tasks feature for tracking my to-do list.
This is something I’ve been doing the last few months and it’s made a big difference for me. I used to try to schedule my whole week, but with one kid still not at school on a daily basis, I’ve found my life is just not predictable enough to schedule an entire week.
What does work well for me is to figure out what I want to accomplish the next day. I put things like empty the dishwasher, write one chapter, fold laundry, and respond to emails on my calendar for specific times. If I think of tasks that need to happen several days from now, I’ll jot myself a note (in the form of a Google Task) for that day, but I don’t get specific about when I’m going to get it done.
Some make their day’s schedule that morning. Others prefer to just have an idea of what needs to get done that day and work it in when they feel like it. It’s all about figuring out what works best for you.