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Time Management Tips for Writers

Image by Courtney Dirks via Flickr/Creative Commons



How do you do it all?

This is a question usually posed to career-oriented women who are also fantastic moms. Ironically, this is a question I am asked at least once a week despite the fact that I don’t have kids (unless you count the 89 students I teach at the Alabama School of Fine Arts). 

Irene Latham author of books such as Don’t Feed the Boy and The Sky Between Us, 
recently invited me to speak to a meeting of the Birmingham chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and she wanted me to speak on the topic of time management, on how I do it all. 

So what all do I do? I run See Jane Write and See Jane Write Magazine. I maintain a personal blog at WriteousBabe.com. I freelance for Birmingham magazine and USA Today’s custom publications. I write a monthly column for B-Metro magazine and a monthly segment for Birmingham’s NPR affiliate WBHM 90.3. And all of this is in addition to my full-time teaching job. I also exercise every day, stay active in my church and community, and I have a husband who would like to see me sometimes. 

So how do I do all this and stay sane? Well, firstly, I can’t guarantee that I’m sane, but there is a method to my madness. 

Here are some of the tips I offered the group last night: 

1. Keep a detailed to-do list every day. I actually keep an old school paper planner and in it I not only keep record of important dates for the month but also daily task lists. On especially busy days I set specific time brackets for each thing I must do. I even write down when I’m going to shower or take a break to grab a bite to eat. 

2. Know your “non-negotiables.” I have an ideal schedule for each day, a picture of how much time I would spend not just on writing but also on things like exercise and hanging out with my husband if I could. But then I am willing to adjust this schedule as things come up. The things you place on your ideal schedule, however, should be what I call your “non-negotiables” — things you must do daily. So I may have to adjust the amount of time I spend on these things or when I do them should speaking or networking opportunities pop up, for example, but I must get these things done nonetheless. My “non-negotiables” are work, exercise, showering, eating, writing or working on See Jane Write, and spending time with my husband. 

If you are a mother or a caretaker for an elderly parent and feel you don’t have much control over your day, get up early, stay up late, or carve out time in the middle of the day that you can devote to your writing. 

3. Trust the Pomodoro Technique. If I have a huge project or several tedious tasks to tackle in one day I use the Pomodoro method. The Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo is simple, yet brilliant. You break down your work in 25-minute intervals, taking five-minute breaks after each one. After four work periods you take a longer break of about 20 minutes (enough time to grab a sandwich or a shower). The technique is based on the idea that the frequent breaks will keep you sharp. And it works!

4. Be social. I attend several networking events a month. It’s a good way to be very career-focused and still have a social life. Also, make time for social media. This doesn’t mean you have to stare at your Facebook feed for hours. Just take a few minutes throughout the day (such as during lunch or breaks) to engage your networks. Scheduling tweets and Facebook posts is a great timesaver, too. 


5. Remember that balance is a unicorn. If you want to know how to have a well-balanced life, let me know when you figure that out. During her Birmingham visit last fall, superstar journalist, entrepreneur, wife and mother Soledad O’Brien was asked how she balances it all and her answer was simple: “I don’t.” She said that sometimes she’s a bad mother to be a good journalist, while other times she’s a bad journalist to be a good mother. Those comments lifted tons of weight from my shoulders. Sometimes I am a bad blogger because I need to be a good teacher. Sometimes I’m a bad businesswoman because I need to be a good wife, daughter, sister, or friend. And that’s OK. 

How do you write and still have a life? 

4 Ways to Make 2014 Your Best Year Yet

Image by Dan Moyle via Flickr/Creative Commons

Happy New Year!

2013 was a big year for See Jane Write Birmingham. We hosted panel discussions on blogging and community journalism, publishing, and social media. We started Bloggers Who Brunch. And we launched an online magazine!

Even though 2013 was great, I want 2014 to be even better and not just for me, but for you too. Here are four ways you can help make 2014 your best year yet.

1. Set writing goals for the New Year. These goals will motivate and guide you throughout the year. If you need some inspiration check out the writing resolutions of some See Jane Write Magazine readers.

2. Develop helpful habits. I know you may be skeptical about making a New Year’s resolution. You may be thinking, “Been there. Done that. Didn’t work.” But let’s take a different approach this year. Instead of just drafting a list of lofty goals, decide on things you can do daily, weekly, and monthly that will help you accomplish those goals. By doing this you’re breaking down your big goals into small manageable steps. That’s exactly what I’m doing. You can read about my writing resolutions on SeeJaneWriteMagazine.com.

3. Find a writing accountability partner. As Natalie Goldberg states in her book Writing Down the Bones, writing is a communal act. We need someone in our lives to give us honest feedback and to hold us accountable for the goals that we set for our writing careers. My hope for the next See Jane Write event — a mixer set to be held Thursday, Jan. 9 at the Wine Loft — is that attendees will find a writing accountability partner for 2014. This mixer is free, but registration is required. Click here to sign up today.

4. Give back. While you should definitely take out more time for yourself this year to work on your writing, don’t forget to give back to others too. You can kick off the new year doing just that at the Serve and Strut Brunch, set for Saturday, Jan. 4. At this event you will enjoy a three-course meal, live entertainment and a chance to win door prizes and you will have the opportunity to give the gift of style. Attendees are asked to donate a pair of new or gently used women’s shoes which will be given to Birmingham-area women’s charities. Learn more about the event and its organizer, Cydni Robertson of ItsHerStrut.com, in this week’s edition of See Jane Write Magazine.

What are you goals for 2014?

It’s Almost Time to #bloglikecrazy

bloglikecrazy

It’s about to be that time again; it’s almost time to blog like crazy!

Last year I challenged the women of See Jane Write and some of my other blogger buddies to “blog like crazy.” The challenge was simple: for the month of November post new content to your blog every day. That’s a new blog post every day for the 30 days. Sure, it sounds simple, but if you’re a blogger you know that posting every day is a lot easier said than done.

But many ladies of See Jane Write gladly stepped up to the challenge, posting daily and sharing their posts in the See Jane Write Birmingham Facebook group and on Twitter using the hashtag #bloglikecrazy.

Starting Nov. 1 we’re going to #bloglikecrazy again this year. I hope you’ll join us. You don’t have to be a member of See Jane Write or live in Birmingham to participate. You just need a blog and willingness to write.

You may be wondering why you should bother blogging every day. Some people believe that writing daily can kill your creativity or result in sub-par content. While I believe there is some truth in those statements I also believe in the power of practice. Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones explained this notion best:

This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don’t want to run and you resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. You practice whether you want to or not. You don’t wait around for inspiration and deep desire to run. It’ll never happen, especially if you’re out of shape or have been avoiding it. But if you run regularly, you train your mind to cut through or ignore your resistance. You just do it. And in the middle of the run, you love it. When you come to the end, you never want to stop. And you stop, hungry for the next time.

 

This summer I exercised every day for 30 days as I was working to complete Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred workout plan. This meant that one night, after a very busy day and an evening spent at a friend’s birthday dinner, I had to exercise at 10:30 p.m. with a belly full of Indian food. But I was determined not to skip a day. That month I likened exercise to brushing my teeth and in November I’ll do the same with blogging. You don’t skip brushing your teeth because you’re too tired or too busy, do you? (I sure hope not.)

I believe that choosing not to write simply because you don’t feel like will, in the long run, hurt your craft because you won’t learn the discipline and dedication necessary to succeed at writing.

You may be thinking, “But what if I have nothing to write about?”

Don’t worry. I have you covered. Head to See Jane Write Magazine for prompts for each day of #bloglikecrazy. Now, you don’t have to follow these prompts to participate. But these suggestions are here in case you find yourself experiencing blogger’s block and staring at a blank computer screen.

If you plan to participate, visit the See Jane Write Magazine announcement of #bloglikecrazy and leave your name, blog URL, and Twitter handle in the comments section of that post.

Let’s get ready to #bloglikecrazy!

Meet the Press: Andre Natta of The Terminal



Andre Natta

Andre Natta moved to Birmingham in 2004 to work for Main Street Birmingham, a predecessor of the economic development organization now known as REV Birmingham. A year later Natta started a personal blog he called Dre’s Ramblings, but soon realized that his blog wasn’t simply an online journal telling the stories of his life; it was telling the stories of Birmingham. Looking to sites like Gothamist in New York City, Gapers Block in Chicago, and Pegasus News in Dallas-Fort Worth, in 2007 Natta launched The Terminal, an online hub of information about the city of Birmingham.

Natta has garnered a number of awards and opportunities thanks to his work with The Terminal. The site was the first non-mainstream media site to place for four consecutive years in the al.com/The Birmingham News’ readers’ poll Birmingham’s Best. The Terminal was also included in a list of 100 promising community news sites found by Michele McLellan during her fellowship of the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

“I’ve personally had opportunities to be a participant in the Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Hardly Strictly Young symposium, and present at the Online News Association conference when it was in Boston, and the first two years of the Block by Block Community News Summit in Chicago (attending all three years) in addition to conferences in Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn.,” Natta says. “The fun part about presenting is the chance to learn from everyone else who’s in attendance.”

Natta’s work with The Terminal also led to The Digital City, a monthly column on technology in Birmingham that Natta has written for B-Metro Magazine since its launch in 2009.

In May of this year Natta started contributing to the Poynter Institute’s Regret the Error blog, which reports on media errors and corrections and accuracy and verification trends in journalism.

“Craig Silverman, the blog’s creator, has been focusing on his role as director of content at a startup called Spundge for more than a year now and was looking for someone to help hunt down the corrections and post to the blog,” explains Natta, who met Silverman at Hardly Strictly Young.
Silverman asked Natta to take on the job and Natta was more than happy to help.

“It’s been a beneficial learning experience for me,” Natta says. “I get to spend about two hours a day reviewing corrections and clarifications posted by news organizations across the country and around the world. It’s broadened what comes to mind when thinking about potential focus areas for the site. It’s also helped me improve my writing skills while getting critical feedback. I’m hopeful it will continue in some form and potentially lead to more writing opportunities.”

Natta recently relaunched The Terminal, making various changes to the site.

“The first significant change was to narrow the focus of the publication to be specifically about the city of Birmingham and its built environment,” Natta says. “It sounds limiting but it’s actually quite freeing and seeks to help visitors and readers understand why something is happening and how different things happening in different parts of the city affect each other. It also gives us a lens to look through when crafting pieces and projects for the site that makes it easier.”

The Terminal will also include more videos and written pieces will be longer. “I’ve realized I want to make sure we say what needs to be said instead of worrying about space limitations,” Natta says. “It is digital, after all.”

These days Natta also is busy working on a new project.

“I’m in the early stages of developing a project that would make the site more of a hub than ever before – one that serves not just The Terminal, but all of our local media outlets while serving as a resource for educational purposes,” Natta explains. He’s busy working on a site plan for 2014 and hopes to hire a sales associate soon. These efforts, Natta says, will help The Terminal “evolve into a different type of media organization – one more research driven than people believe possible.”

It’s about people, not pageviews

When Natta started The Terminal in 2006 he spread the word about his site in a number of ways.
“We leveraged word of mouth early on, using Myspace as a major communications tool,” Natta says. “There were also monthly mixers, partnerships with local cultural institutions, and a lot of sitting in coffee houses and bars just talking with people. Word of mouth was the most useful tool to grow The Terminal – that and an incredible group of contributors early on.”

Natta doesn’t deny that social media networks continue to be an effective way of reaching people, but he believes it’s important to step away from the computer too.

“At the end of the day, most of these social networks and websites are just digital spaces where we tend to act as we would offline,” he says. “We wanted to serve as a way people could connect on issues, regardless of opinion, and so I focused on figuring out how to connect with folks where they were most comfortable. I can’t measure the impact of a piece by pageviews alone; I’ve learned more about folks reading the site offline in conversation than I ever would just sitting behind a screen and not living a life.”

Natta offered advice for others hoping to launch sites like The Terminal in their towns.

“Look for those who don’t currently have a voice, or a specific void that needs to be filled,” Natta says. “You can’t be all things to all people, so I’d make sure you weren’t trying to overextend. You do want to test the limits of your comfort zone though, otherwise you won’t know what’s possible.”
Natta added that it’s also important to be willing to learning new things and open to criticism.
“I’d also reach out to those already operating sites, even if they’re in the same city,” Natta says. “Sometimes you’ll be surprised that all you needed to do was ask.”

Hi final piece of advice is simple, though something too many of us forget to do: “Most important,” he says, “have fun and be you doing it. If you can’t be you, what’s the point?”

You can meet Andre Natta and other editors of Birmingham-based publications at tonight’s See Jane Write Meet the Press Media Mixer presented by Hamer Law Group. This is an invitation-only event. Invitations will be extended to See Jane Write members and sponsors. Click here for more information on joining See Jane Write. If you’re interested in being a See Jane Write sponsor email javacia@seejanewritebham.com. 


A version of this story was originally published at See Jane Write Magazine.

Meet the Press: Erin Street of Southern Living


erin-street
As senior editor of travel and integrated content at Southern Living magazine, Erin Shaw Street seems to have a dream job. After all she does get to visit places like New Orleans and the Florida Keys and call it work.

“It is a dream job,” Street says, “but it’s a lot of hard work.”

At Southern Living’s offices in Birmingham, Ala., Street manages all of the magazine’s regional travel content. Southern Living covers 17 states and six different regions, producing targeted content for each one. Street’s job includes managing freelance writers and staff editors, managing the Daily South (the magazine’s daily blog), and working on strategic initiatives across print and digital.

“I’m always working on multiple issues — editing copy, planning visuals, and figuring out the puzzle pieces of telling the stories of a large region,” Street says.

And, of course, as travel editor Street’s job obviously requires a lot of traveling.

“It’s important that I’m traveling the region to keep up to date on what’s happening,” Street says. 

“Part of my travel is reporting and the remainder of my travel is for speaking on behalf of the brand.”

You’re probably tired just reading about all the work Street does.

“People tend to only see the fun side, but there are a lot of sacrifices and long hours,” Street says. “This is a rapidly changing, competitive industry. Still, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

News Woman

Street began her career as a newspaper reporter working in Birmingham, Ala., and Sarasota Fla.
Her years in the newspaper business taught her the fundamentals of reporting, writing, and working under pressure, Street says.

In 2001, she moved back to Birmingham from Florida and took a job at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she managed their quarterly magazine. She spent seven years there, eventually serving as the Director of Community Affairs, and thought she would continue in the non-profit sector. But when an opportunity became available at Southern Living in 2008 she seized it, first working for the Health & Beauty section, before it was discontinued, and then moving to the Travel department.

“As I learned to become a magazine editor, I also saw the need to learn digital skills, so I taught myself.” Street says.

And those digital skills came in handy when she helped the magazine launch its blog, the Daily South, last year.

“We launched the site nearly a year ago because we needed a portal for original, up-to-the minute content that reflects all areas of our brand: food, homes, garden and travel,” Street says. “Our editors are the foremost authorities in these areas, so the Daily South gives them a place to connect with readers 365 days a year. Also, as a brand we recognize the importance of being in the digital and mobile space. The Daily South is part of a larger effort to reach our readers any time, any where.”

The Daily South is just one example of ways Southern Living is striving to remain relevant.  They recently launched Southern Living Hotel Collection, a carefully chosen selection of four- and five-star resorts, hotels and inns, vetted by the Southern Living brand and offering the best in Southern travel and hospitality.

Loyalty and Longevity

Street believes Southern Living continues to survive tumultuous times in the magazine industry in part because of loyal readers.

“Everywhere we travel we hear, ‘My mother loves the magazine, and saves them all.’ This means the world to us,” Street says. “Our leadership has been strategic in continuing to provide loyal readers what they’ve always come to this brand for — service that reflects our pride of place as Southerners. We’ve also reached out to the next generation of readers, creating content that reflects their lifestyle.”

Summing up the Southern Living strategy, Street says, “We have to do things in bold, new ways, while staying true to our foundations.”

The Editor of the Future

For women hoping to develop a career freelancing for magazines, Street says it’s important to cultivate relationships with editors.

“This means taking the time to understand what kind of stories the magazine is looking for,” Street says. “Most of the pitches I receive are from writers who haven’t read the magazine and become familiar with our new formats. So when I get a carefully customized pitch, tailored to our format, it gets my attention.”

Street says it’s also important to consider the visual aspects of stories as well.

For those hoping to land a staff position at a magazine Street says “becoming a 360 editor is vital.”
Street recently attended an intensive magazine publishing course at Yale University where she and others in attendance spent much time talking about the editor of the future.

“She is someone with the ability to curate for a brand in print and online,” Street says. “Digital skills are a must now.”

For both aspiring freelancers and aspiring editors, Street offers this advice:

“To be successful in this industry you must know your reader, your subjects, have a voice, be able to handle a large volume of work, and be able to adapt to change. How we do things today will not be the same in six months or a year. Many people have struggled with the pace of change in this industry, but if you can adapt there’s still opportunity. Finally, the fundamentals — being able to tell a good story, staying on top of trends, and having an impeccable work ethic — never change.”

You can meet Erin Street and and other editors of Birmingham-based publications at the See Jane Write Meet the Press Media Mixer presented by Hamer Law Group. This is an invitation-only event. Invitations will be extended to See Jane Write members and sponsors. Click here for more information on joining See Jane Write. If you’re interested in being a See Jane Write sponsor email javacia@seejanewritebham.com. 

Originally published at See Jane Write Magazine.