Fun With Productivity Tools

I've decided to create a cohesive, manageable schedule for my writing life. I want to write more, and have a good balance between client work/creative writing projects/blogging projects.

I also want my writing life to better fit in with the rest of my life, which includes caring for Mma and managing my gardens.



Getting organised with Cozi

Until now, I had different plans for each aspect of my life. Problem is, some things, mostly creative writing and blogging, ended up getting short shrift and I'm not happy with that. So I've signed up on cozi and input all my recurring tasks into it to develop schedules according to tasks ( e.g housekeeping, gardening, writing, health and exercise). I've also included all my  important dates (medical, social, deadlines), to do lists, shopping lists, menus etc.


I've also fleshed out my writing schedule. Instead of simply noting deadlines for various works, I've noted dates and times in my calendar to do research, outlining, drafting, editing and proofing, with the appropriate reminders set.

Sounds like I'm over-scheduled, I know. The plan is not to stress myself with deadline after deadline. The schedule will give me a good grasp of things I need to accomplish on any given week.

It also allows me to assign tasks from my list to members of my household through their computers and cellphones.

Organising documents for a smoother writing process

I downloaded Scrivener to better organise my writing process and research documents. I'm still learning how to use it but so far, it's going well. I just need time to get used to it and to use as much functionality as possible.

Short, uninterrupted work sessions

To help push me as I write, I'm using www.mytomatoes.com.  It works very simply: you click to "start a tomato," thereby signing on for a 25 minute uninterrupted work session. When the session ends an alarm buzzes, urging you to stop and take a 5 minute break.

When you click to accept, you're asked to write down the task you did, and that session is recorded. It was a morale booster to see the number of tomatoes I build grow as the day progressed...