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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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A writer’s audit of desk time

21/7/2017

14 Comments

 
While our creativity might be without bounds, our time available to deploy it is limited. With so many potential distractions, it’s inevitable that we might wonder whether we’re using that time efficiently. Too many days leaving my desk feeling tired but unsatisfied, I decided to monitor how I was apportioning my time. Read on to see how I did it, what I learnt and how you can help me decide what to do next.

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The audit cycle
 
I first encountered the audit cycle in my day job in the NHS, initially as a tool empowering teams to monitor shared objectives but latterly as a tiresome and time-consuming exercise in collecting data to little purpose (much as
Caroline Lodge found recently when attending a writing course). How could I ensure that my first audit as a writer would be more characteristic of the former than the latter?
 
Put simply, the audit cycle has five phases:


  • set standards
  • measure activity against those standards
  • analyse the data
  • implement any changes
  • revise standards and repeat as necessary
 
Here’s how I went about it.


Desk-time standards 

Going back to first principles of why I show up at my desk, I set myself the following simple standards:


  • to spend more time on creative writing than associated admin
  • to spend more writing time on fiction than non-fiction
  • to spend more admin time on the essentials than nonessentials.

Data collection 

Setting up a spreadsheet to record the time spent in each of the four areas, I found I first needed to define the terms in a way that was meaningful for my own personal standards:


  • WRITING FICTION would include all phases from first draft, editing, basic research and fact checking, revising and rewriting for all fiction from flash to novels, but excluding submitting and publicising (which is designated as essential admin).
  • WRITING NON-FICTION includes reviews, blog posts, guest posts and articles through all stages except submission.
  • ESSENTIAL ADMIN entails maintaining my own blog and website (including uploading posts and responding to comments), composing and sending out my newsletter, submitting writing for publication, writing and responding to emails regarding any aspect of my writing life.
  • SOCIAL MEDIA entails reading, commenting and connecting on Twitter, Facebook and other blogs. (I have mixed feelings about flagging social media activity as non-essential, but it’s the area in which I’m most conflicted. While the connections are usually enjoyable, and sometimes fruitful in terms of learning and promoting my writing, the possibilities are limitless and I’m often left anxious about how much more I could be doing.)

You’ll see from this list that there’s a lot more I could have measured, but I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. So I didn’t measure time spent

  • READING because I already do plenty and it doesn’t conflict with my writing time (but those who want to do more might benefit from measuring it).
  • FACE-TO-FACE BOOK PROMOTION because the opportunities are outside my control.
  • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT because, again, I take up opportunities when they become available (both online and in the real world).

The most difficult decision was over recording time spent: whether in chunks of time (e.g. ten or fifteen minute blocks) or hours and minutes; whether to strive for stopwatch accuracy or my best guess; what to do about tea and toilet breaks; how to account for seasonal fluctuations; whether or not to monitor every day. In the end I decided to record hours and minutes by the clock on my computer screen without subtracting time for short breaks for ten consecutive “desk days”, defined as days in which I spent two hours or more on my writing work. (I used the day as my unit rather than a week – or a month as I had originally intended – to allow for the fact that, during the summer, when I carried out this audit, I spend more time away from my desk. However, it does lead to a slight overestimation of time spent on non-fiction writing, admin and social media, as I’m more likely to rattle off a review or send a few emails than to work on the next scene of my novel before heading out for the hills.)

What the audit showed

I carried out the audit between 30th June and 11th July, 2017. Much to my surprise, my standards were all met and the percentages came out exactly as I wanted.


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So why did I think there was a problem?

Possible reasons include

  • the ten days I chose might be unrepresentative of my usual desk time allocation (but I found the measurement tedious and approval to extend it)
  • the mere fact of monitoring my time made me more disciplined. (I certainly felt neglectful of my online friends and colleagues.)
  • at the point I decided to carry out the audit, I was emerging from a period in which I was actually writing very little fiction and concentrating on the blog tour and other promotional activities for my second novel.
  • my sense of satisfaction or otherwise with a day’s work might depend less on the time I’ve spent writing fiction and more on whether I’ve written any at all. It’s striking that, although I spent more time overall on fiction, I did so on only just over half of the days:
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What’s next?
 
The audit cycle has come to a stop as I can’t decide whether I need to set myself a new standard about writing some fiction every day I turn up at my desk or to leave well alone. I’d probably be more efficient if I had more of a routine but I do appreciate the flexibility I have without it. I’m hoping for some feedback on where I’ve got so far to help me decide the next stage.
 
How do you apportion your desk time between various activities? Are your percentages similar to mine? Have you ever carried out an audit and was it worthwhile? Given the results of my audit, can you offer any advice?

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It’s thanks to Charli Mills that I’ve spent some of today’s (non-fiction? essential admin? writing avoidance?) desk time figuring out how to create pie charts in Excel. Because this week’s flash fiction challenge is to write a 99-word story featuring pies. Here’s mine (approximately 15 minutes fiction writing time) about a guy whose brain works a bit differently:

The invitation

His social worker promised it would be better here and, when the invitation popped through the letterbox, Spike knew she was right. Okay, predictive text had added an extra ‘e’, but it was clear from the date – March 14th – what was meant.

From the first of the month he practised, till he had it to the five hundredth decimal point. But he needn’t have bothered. These neighbours were as bad as the last lot. He’d only got as far as 3.14159 when they turned away. Talking shortcrust, flaky and choux. Bonkers the lot of them. A pie party indeed!

March 14th is pi day (3/14 in the American calendar) while tomorrow (22/7) is pi approximation day, which I didn’t know existed until after I’d written this flash.

Pi Day Countdown
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Sunday (July 23rd) is the second birthday of
my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, and, although I’ve been focused on its two-month-old younger sibling, Underneath, recently it’s great that my first is still finding new readers, with its 38th Amazon UK review last week and an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
14 Comments
D. Avery link
21/7/2017 08:39:52 pm

Ha! I love all the math in your post. That makes up for the writing I had my math students doing on Pi day; math poems with each digit of Pi dictating the number of words per line. Some counted syllables like haiku.
Isn't writing about quality not quantity? Just run with that data as it shows that you met your standards. If it's not broke, don't fix it...

Reply
Annecdotist
24/7/2017 09:28:38 am

I love the idea of those writing exercises for pi day, must have been fun to do.
I agree writing is about quality but sometimes we need the quantity (if not in terms of actual number of words, but certainly in terms of time) to get there. Perhaps there’s something broken if I feel I’m not getting the balance right but I haven’t yet pinned down what it is.
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.

Reply
geoff le pard link
22/7/2017 11:09:34 pm

ha I hadn't thought of that pi! And I daren't look at distractions for fear of what I'd find..

Reply
Annecdotist
24/7/2017 09:24:01 am

You’re extremely well-connected, Geoff, and keeping that going doesn’t need to be tagged as a distraction. With your 5th book out I don’t think you need to worry about not getting on with the “work”.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
25/7/2017 12:26:08 pm

Interesting to read your reflections on your work and see the pie graph result of your audit. I haven't done an audit as such, but I do set priorities with my work. Depending on the day, I always prioritise writing, which includes the teaching resources and blog posts (2 a week). Sometimes this might be four hours or six hours (if I'm lucky) but occurs on only three days a week at most generally, due to other commitments. Responding to comments on my blogs comes next. Then commenting on the posts of others, such as your good self. After that social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Twitter used to come first and FB was sorely neglected. At the moment they have changed places. I generally work on my priorities and get them done - which leads to a certain amount of satisfaction, but I always feel like I'm chasing my tail. I never get enough of the other stuff done, so the overall feeling is less than satisfactory.
I so wish I could write a flash in 15 minutes. And one so clever as yours! I love that you wrote about pi day. Imagine that extra 'e'. Love it! I was interested that you counted the flash in fiction writing rather than the blog post category (which is non-fiction, I know!) I count my flash fiction pieces as part of my blog post writing. But then I don't have a fiction category at the moment.
Congratulations on the second anniversary of Sugar and Snails. I can hardly believe it! It doesn't seem that long ago we were anxiously awaiting its birth. I'm so pleased it is still finding its way into the hands of new readers and that they are giving it positive reviews. Both it and Underneath are excellent reads. Bring on the third!

Reply
Annecdotist
25/7/2017 06:01:01 pm

Thanks for reading, Norah, and sharing your own system for prioritising your work. It seems pretty organised to me. And your migration to FB explains how you are not around on Twitter so much lately. I know you’ve written before yourself about the difficulty fitting things in.
Interesting that we categorise the flash fiction differently but, as you say, non-fiction is your priorities so makes sense to put it as part of your blog. I wondered what people think about getting my 99-words down in 15 minutes. I think it’s quite quick too although it had been marinating in my head before I came to the screen. But it’s my impression that several others write much quicker. Just get the prompt and roll!
When I attend writing courses (as I did again this weekend) I never do particularly well with the writing exercises. Other people seem to get something fairly decent down in the short space allocated whereas I prefer to hold back and mull it over. I can blame it on RSI but it’s much more to do with temperament.
Thanks again for your enthusiastic support of my novels. The third is coming along but in fits and starts.

Reply
Irene Waters link
26/7/2017 02:29:15 am

Interesting analysis of how you spend your time Anne and that it came out just as you wanted. I haven't carried out an audit (but am now tempted to do so) but I feel I know where my time is spent. I tend to prioritise and get the essentials done. I am a goal oriented deadline driven person and sometimes find I have to create my own deadlines if I am to finish something. I don't separate non-fiction from fiction rather looking at it as creative output. Flash is definitely creative output and like you I do it quickly. Mine this time I would have done in 15mins or less. I often see blog posts as a way to get started in the morning.
Congratulations on your second anniversary. I enjoyed sugar and Snails to the extent that I put it up for my choice for my book club. Most of our group buy their books but one will only borrow from the library. I was pleased to find that she had no trouble getting it from the library here.
I had thought of pi but couldn't think with the spelling difference of a way it could be included. You did and your flash was great.

Reply
Annecdotist
26/7/2017 06:54:50 pm

Thanks, Irene, and good to know how you organise your time. For me there has to be a difference between fiction and non-fiction because the latter, even when quite creative, is supplementary to the first. But I can see it’s not the same for you and “creative output” is a good way of framing it.
Thanks so much for recommending Sugar and snails to your reading group. And great to know a library in Australia was willing to order it in. If you’re interested, there a list of book group questions under the Sugar and Snails drop-down box
http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/reading-group-questions.html

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo link
26/7/2017 04:53:48 pm

Your post thrust me back into my admin days.I can see how helpful it would be, but I have never thought to apply such a data cycle or other performance tools to my own writing. I am completely haphazard in my schedule when it comes to that. "My bad" as the younguns say. As I type this, I have two editing jobs to see to. I always feel the pressure of paid work, and I time that of course for billing purposes. The best I have done at present--compelled by my desire to at least blog, write the weekly flash, and occasionally submit short writing to publications I follow or contests that come up--is to allow myself to do it first thing. I am not sure I will do your pie exercise soon, but you have stimulated me to take a hard look at just how I am scheduling my activities. The last time I did this was when Charli posted her weekly schedule some time back. I feel abashed to admit this, but there you go. Thanks to the other commenters here, too, for sharing their approach to this issue!

Reply
Annecdotist
26/7/2017 06:47:50 pm

Thanks for reading and commenting, Jeanne. You seem fairly organised to me. Paid work can help with the process of prioritising, even if you then postpone doing it until the deadline looms. Sometimes we just have to go where our mood takes us. I’d forgotten about Charli’s timetable but that wouldn’t work for me as don’t have regular days off.

Reply
Charli Mills
27/7/2017 05:46:58 am

What a clever flash, Anne! Your pie chart takes me back to days when I was responsible for measuring the productivity of my department. That I shuddered a bit tells me I'm still enjoying my more flexible work style. Yet what you bring up is something I think all writers struggle with and that's time allotment because of the basic categories you defined. Often business owners are disappointing to discover they get less time to do what drove them to get into business. Writers want to write, but they have to administer platform, marketing, distribution and sales (some to more degrees than others, depending upon path to publication). I think this is also why I've become so interested in creative process. It's less quantitative. Yes, we can measure time writing fiction but how do we understand all the creative processes involved? I feel I'm barely yet understanding those processes for myself and what they mean to "time". So far, my sense of time has been distorted, such as how long I thought a novel should take to create to the polished end. I don't think it's inefficiency as much as it is inexperience. Maybe I'll be cracking a different whip when I arrive at a milestone such as yours! I'm thrilled to say Happy Anniversary, Sugar and Snails!

Reply
Annecdotist
27/7/2017 09:14:30 am

Thanks, Charli, and you reminded me that of course all jobs have their downsides and there’s a certain amount of tedium/admin to be got through in order to be able to do the fun stuff. Perhaps it’s less about time than attitude of mind.
How much time it takes to write a novel is a fascinating question. I doubt there is a direct relationship between time spent and quality, but I think a work of such proportions does need the space to mature. But different writers have different perspectives on this. I was a little wary about bringing out my second novel less than two years after the first because I didn’t want people thinking it had taken only two years to write it! I’m currently working on a timescale of seven years from inception to publication simply based on that’s how it’s been for the first two but who knows? Each writer is different just as each book is different.

Reply
Robbie Cheadle link
30/7/2017 08:27:54 am

A most intriguing response to Charli's prompt word. I enjoyed your information about auditing your time. It would certainly help focus a person on the tasks at hand.

Reply
Annecdotist
2/8/2017 10:18:07 am

Thanks, Robbie.

Reply



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