SPA Girls Podcast – EP167 – Scheduling To Save Time
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If you’re trying to find a few more minutes in your day for writing, then this episode is for you. We talk about how you can use scheduling to be more productive, free up time and get stuff done.
Each of the SPA Girls uses different kinds of scheduling to make certain repetitive tasks easier and faster, and we share them all for you in this informative episode!
SHOW NOTES:
WHAT IS SCHEDULING? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
It’s easy to let the time fly away through your fingers, telling yourself it’s only five minutes on Facebook, a quick check on Twitter. But if you add up all the procrastination, the tiny bits of time each day that you spend doing nothing… It’s scary how much time you actually spend NOT WRITING.
Scheduling your day, your time is one way to claim back your writing time, to make sure you’re using your day to the best of your ability.
We’re all busy, have limited time in our day. Scheduling is the best way to claim back more hours in your day for what’s important. Writing!
There are several different aspects to scheduling. One is scheduling your day, planning out what you’re going to do. You could also schedule on a longer term basis, like how much you want to write that week etc. You can also schedule things like Facebook posts ahead of time, using blocks of time, instead of small amounts of time all over the show.
HOW DO YOU SCHEDULE?
There are different ways you can schedule. Here are a few examples:
- Chunking – where you plan your day in chunks of time, and do something for that period of time, then stop.
- Timed activities – You could do on the hour writing, so that at 9am, you start writing, until you read 1000 words, then you can stop and do something else (like washing, or marketing or whatever) and then at 10am an alarm goes off and you sit back down and write another 1000 words. Same again at 11am and so on.
- Plan big and then make it small – Get a diary, plan out what you want to achieve over the whole year, divide it into manageable weekly and daily chunks, and then use those goals in your daily work like.
- Write lists – Write daily lists and make sure you cross everything off the list
- Schedule social media in chunks – Instead of going in every day for a few minutes and then getting lost in the abyss of social media, try scheduling posts in chunks on one day a week. Sunday night, do all your posts for hte week, and then you just have to pop back in to check on comments.
- Working out a writing schedule
- Dividing the time allocated to your writing into writing time, and marketing time etc
- Work out when you do your best work – are you a morning person or an evening person? Monitor yourself for a few weeks, work out when you’re doing your best work, and then make sure you save that time for writing.
- Also collect data – each time you sit down to write, make sure you write down how much time you spent, how many words you wrote. That will help with planning your schedule.
- Know how you work best – work out your writing routine. (music, silence etc)
SETTING GOALS AND PLANNING AHEAD
- Set goals that will motivate you to stick to your schedule
- Parkinson’s law – things will expand to fit the time you have.
- Pareto rule – 80/20 – get the data
WHAT TOOLS CAN YOU USE TO SCHEDULE?
Facebook Scheduling
Keep a file with quotes or facebook pre-prepared tiles/Share others posts
To schedule a post:
Start creating your post at the top of your Page’s timeline.
Click next to Publish and select Schedule.
Below Publication, select the date and time when you want the post to publish.
Click Schedule
Twitter Scheduling
Keep in the same file as above and use the Facebook content that you have prepared/Share others posts
Use Tweetdeck which is a free app. https://tweetdeck.twitter.com
- pomodoro,
- Cut and paste document/outlook shortcut keys.
- writing with others
- Sprints, in person or online.
HELPFUL LINKS:
Bria Quinlin’s Author Life Planner: http://briaquinlan.com/authorlife-planner-is-now/
Audrey Ann Hughey’s 2019 Author’s Journal: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1790831105/
Marie Force’s blog: https://blog.marieforce.com/for-writers-how-i-doubled-my-productivity-this-summer/
Trello: www.trello.com
Pomodoro Technique: https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique
Online Time Trackers we’ve tried (free plans):
Hours Stack: https://hourstack.io/
Harvest: https://www.getharvest.com/
Toggl: https://toggl.com/
Officetime (paid phone app) : http://www.officetime.net/
Complete Guide to Bullet Journalling for Writers: https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/complete-guide-bullet-journaling-writers/
SPA Girls Guide to: Kick Overwhelm To The Curb
https://www.getapp.com/p/sem/scheduling-software
Episodes 100 – 200 List
200 What we’ve learned so far…
199 Interview with Adam Croft – Mindset and Marketing
198 Find Your Sparkle – with Julie Schooler
197 Hack Your Muse – with Kelly McClymer
196 Public Speaking For Authors – with Alena Van Arendonk
195 The Magic Pill – with Laura Van Arendonk-Baugh
194 A Day In The Life Of A Writer
193 Keep It Simple
192 Interview with Skye Warren: Money Mindset and Facebook Ads
For Authors (Part Two)
191 Interview with Skye Warren: Time Management & Advertising
For Authors (Part One)
190 Dragon Wrangling with Scott Baker: secrets for
Successful dictation
189 Interview with Patricia McLinn: Writing by the seat of
Your pants
188 Interview with Morgana Best: Writing & Marketing
Cozy Mysteries
187 Interview with Geoff Symon: Wounds & Crime Scenes
186 Interview with Natasha Bajema, WMD for Authors
185 The Writer’s Detective with Adam Richardson
183 Facebook Advertising with Maria Luis ~ Part Two
182 Facebook Advertising with Maria Luis ~ Part One
181 Learn dictation with Kilby Blades
180 Interview with Brian Meeks, Mastering Book Descriptions
179 Interview with Tara Cremin, Kobo Writing Life
178 Interview with Larissa Reynolds – Newsletters Part Two
177 Interview with Larissa Reynolds – Newsletters Part One
175 Wrangling Facebook: How To Make It Work For You
174 How To Write A Regency Romance
173 How Do You Identify Your Writing Weaknesses?
172 Interview With Dan Wood, D2D
171 Interview With Serenity Woods
169 5 Goals You Need To Make In 2019
168 Jumpstart Your 2019 Marketing with 31 Quick To Dos for Jan.
167 Scheduling For Writing Success
166 Our 2018 Roundup
165 He Said, She Said: Creating Dazzling Dialogue
164 Interview with Steffanie Holmes: Reverse Harem
163 Interview with YA author Kelly St Clare
160 Amazon Excl v Wide – things to consider and how to market
159 Interview With Kathryn LeVeque
158 Some Like It Hot – Or Not. Heat Levels In Romance
157 Interview With Louisa George
156 The Kindness Factor: Helping You Achieve More and Stress Less
155 Editing
153 Characters: From Cookie Cutter to Kapow
152 Interview with Tina Dietz: Audiobooks
151 Interview with Grace Burrowes
150 Should You Prune Your Mailing List?
149 RWNZ18 Interview with Damon Suede & Geoff Symon
148 Interview with indie superstar, Bella Andre
147 Top Ten Traits for Success
146 Write Better Faster with Becca Syme
145 Newsletter Ninja Tammi LaBrecque
144 Looking After Your Creative Health
143 Interview with Carlyn Robertson from Bookbub
142 Personal Branding For Authors with Lauren Clemett
141 Ten Free Online Tools For Authors
140 Tempting Taglines & Heartstopping Hooks
139 Findaway Voices with Kelly Lytle
138 Get Your Writing Mojo Back
137 Interview with Toni Kenyon: facebook live & serials
136 Dealing with misinformation and change in Sp-ing
134 Interview with Kevin Tumlinson, Draft2Digital
133 Interview with Sara Rosett
132 Organization For Authors – how to keep track of your
research and book details without losing your mind
131 Interview with Ricardo Fayet of Reedsy
130 Critical Care: Leveraging feedback for success
129 Brand You
128 SAS Special: Interview with Johnny B. Truant & Sean Platt
127 Industry Insiders with Damon J. Courtney of Bookfunnel
& Christine Monroe of Kobo
126 SAS Debrief with Jami Albright
125 SAS Special: Interview with Michelle Spiva
124 SAS Special : Interview With Michael Anderle
123 Sports Psychology for Authors – Interview With Nate Vella
122 Using Sub Plots To Amp Up Your Writing
121 Interview with Scott King: Outlining Your Novel
120 Pen-names Pros, Cons and Possibilities
119 Reader Engagement with Nalini Singh
118 Writing the Small Town Setting
117 Handling Negativity and Naysayers
116 Tough Mindset Questions For 2018
115 Interview With Nicola Davidson: Sex and Sensibility
114 Tropealicious
112 Interview With Honoree Corder & Ben Hale: Write Like A Boss
111 Ten Health Hacks For Writers
110 Interview with Kathryn Burnett: Your Writing Audit For Future Success
109 Interview with Melissa Storm: What Readers Want
108 Interview With Zoe Dawson: Writing Across Genres
107 Interview With Dave Chesson, The Keyword King
106 Pros and Cons of Kindle Unlimited
105 Why YOU should do Nanowrimo
104 Ten Truths For New Self Publishers
103 Find 30 Minutes A Day EXTRA!
102 Your Christmas Presence: Maximizing the Holiday Season for Authors
101 The Writing Life: Interview with Katie Cross
100 100 Episodes! Retrospective with funny moments; changing AO title
SPA Girls Podcast – EP277 – Answering Newbie Questions
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Today we’re responding to questions from listeners who are just starting their self-publishing journey. From earning expectations to how to learning “All The Things” and being overwhelmed, we’ve got you covered!
Some of questions answered:
- What type of writing SHOULD I focus on? Is genre important for good earnings?
- Are my expectations realistic? How am I going to support myself during this process? How much can I expect to earn?
- What do I have to know about self-publishing, there’s so much to learn! Can I just write and pay someone else to do the rest?
- How do I build a platform? What even IS a platform?
- What’s the one piece of advice you’d give someone starting out today?
Remember, every single step of self-publishing is covered here on the podcast in detail – make sure to search on our website www.SPAGirlsPodcast.com for the topic, and the episodes will come right up.
Facebook group mentioned is Author Support Network by Marie Force: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1020661671348562
David Gaughran’s excellent post about vanity publishers is here: https://davidgaughran.com/vanity-press-media-author-solutions/
YES! It’s true – the SPA Girls will be launching an online Get Started Self-Publishing Course in the next few months. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when it launches: https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/join/
✔️ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/join/
✔️ You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: https://www.selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/
✔️ Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast
✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast
Regency Underwear
Young women of the Regency era were luckier than their Georgian and Victorian sisters who lived with the constriction of boned corsets to enhance their unnaturally small waists, and correct posture. The ‘natural Female form’ influenced fashionistas in the Regency era, much to the relief (I should imagine) of the women who lived in this time.
Ancient Greece was in vogue, and as such, the minimalist approach was in. Column dresses with a delicate ruffle, rather than being swamped in yards of fabric, and thick uncomfortable lace. Waists were high, (just under the bust) hoops were gone, and petticoats reduced. Skirts fell in a long straight line to the floor.
Of course it was still important to wear a support garment, however the change in style dictated a shorter corset. Gone was the heaving bosom style, once so popular that went from bust to hip, hooked at the front and laced at the back, with shoulder straps to help keep the sleeves of a dress in place. In it’s place was a corset that could be worn separately, and in some cases used as the dress itself. It was worn over a chemise. Stoc
kings were knee or thigh high, and held in place with garters. In earlier years, petticoats and panniers would be worn over the top, but this changed in the Regency era, and the petticoats were down to just one layer, and only if necessary.
Chemise – this was cotton or linen (easily washed unlike the dresses). Worn next to the skin. Usually short sleeved, with a loose drawstring neck.
Stays (corset)– worn over the top of the chemise for cleanliness. Without this a woman could look flat-chested, as often the gowns had little tailoring to enhance the figure. Could be fastened front or back.
Petticoat – These were often hemmed with lace, so if seen, along with a well turned out ankle, the lace was on show.
Stockings – Tied at the thigh or knee and made from cotton, silk, or wool. Held in place with garters that tied, buckled, or hooked.
Drawers/pantaloons – Until 1806 women wore no drawers! (scandalous) They came to just below the knee, but were not worn by everyone and often the wearer was thought fast!
Men’s underwear
Men in the Regency era had their own selection of underwear. The undershirt was a relatively new thing, as were men’s drawers. Before this, men simply tucked the long tails of their shirts into their pants. When drawers arrived they were like shorts with a drawstring and flaps that buttoned at the front, and tied below the knee. Often men still went commando rather than having this cumbersome garment under their trousers. Wool or cotton stockings completed the men’s wardrobe, and sometimes he would wear cotton stockings under his silk ones to reduce the appearance of hair.
Learn more about Wendy’s historical romances here
