If you’re new to the writing game you may think that all you’ll be doing is writing. And while the writing part is the most essential—no words means no no business side—a major chunk of your time will be spent on the non-writing tasks.
That sounds strange, doesn’t it?
As Jeffe mentioned yesterday, we’re creatives and not many of us are business majors. The marketing, the profit loss spreadsheets, and the inbox are things that we need to do. Let’s call them the necessary evils…and they don’t count as writing.
I do enjoy spreadsheets because I love data. But I’ve never tracked writing time vs. business times. It would be interesting to have a real percentage. What I can tell you without plugging anything in is—and here is where my advice related to the business side of writing comes in—my business hours take place in the afternoon and occasionally the evening.
Designating what hours I devote to the craft of writing and what hours are slotted for everything else, those necessary evils, is important. Once up on a time I tracked my productivity and from that data it was clear that my brain is most creative and productive mid-morning.
Understanding how your brain works gives you another tool to level up your writing. If you're a night owl who gets visions of sugar plums dancing around your head in the middle of the night, that's when you should write. If your day job ends late afternoon and your brain turns on its fun zone, that's when you should write. Maybe you're one of those rare people who bounce right out of bed, ready to face the day and a blank page, that's when you should write.
If you haven't taken the time to break down how you're wired, I hope you will. It could be one of the keys to your maximum productivity.
