Some people are more skilled than others when it comes to multitasking. There are some prolific authors out there who can crank out book after book because they’re working on multiple projects at once. If you’re one of those types of writers then more power to you! But if you’re not, then let’s talk about it.
While I have a hard time writing multiple stories at once, that doesn’t mean that I can’t multitask. The most I can do is work on writing one story and editing another which seems to work pretty well for me. Then there are authors who absolutely can’t work on two stories at once, but might be able to edit the same story as they write it. And then, there are some who have trouble doing that as well.
There’s nothing wrong with taking your time when writing your story. I’ve heard of authors taking years to write one book while others may only take a few months. The length of time it takes to write a story doesn’t exactly correlate to how good the story is. It simply means that we all work at our own pace.
I’ve also seen discussions amongst writers about how long a story should be, how many words per chapter, and so on. There are amazing stories out there of various lengths. A good fantasy book doesn’t have to have over 100,000 words, just like a good romance doesn’t have to fall between 50,000-70,000 words. A story is done when the writer deems it so and feels there’s nothing more to tell.
Don’t even get me started on multitasking between social media, blogs, and websites. At some point, it’s best to start setting a weekly goal for yourself with updating, editing, and writing. That’s what I’ve had to do and while I’d love to write more throughout the week, there’s a little thing called burnout and once you hit it, your writing may end up on hold indefinitely. Believe me, it’s happened to me before. (Albeit, this last short hiatus was due to my CPU deciding to overheat and needing to replace some computer parts.)
Setting goals can help you stay on track, but you have to make them attainable. Just because you could write 10 chapters in a week doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Make your goals more manageable by writing 1-2 chapters a week. It’s okay to adjust your goals each week as well. Currently, my weekly goals consist of writing one chapter each week of Infectious, editing two chapters each week of Brimstone (which I just finished editing!), and writing one blog post each week. That’s been pretty doable for me.
And don’t just set the goals, set the dates as well. Set aside which day during the week you want to work on your writing goal. It makes it easier to stay on track and meet that goal by the end of the week.
If you have any other tips and tricks you use to achieve your writing goals, share them! I’d love to hear what you guys do.
Author Lauren Eason 