My New Favorite Productivity Tool

A productive writer who uses their time wisely and who creates often usually doesn’t get the job done without some help. However, it might take time before a writer figures out what tools and resources will help them become the most productive.

I’m constantly trying to develop the best way to do it all between writing, reading/learning, blogging, marketing, social media…and the list goes on. Productivity and time management continue to be a work in progress as my projects change, my personal life shifts, my schedule adjusts and my interests evolve.

It’s also a work in progress when my dear co-worker, Procrastination, does her best to sideline me.

Working from home may be a dream come true for many, but once the newness wears off problems arise:

• The amount of projects you start and hope to complete becomes a Jenga puzzle,
• You’re easily distracted or pulled away from your work by family or other commitments,
• Multi-tasking doesn’t serve you as well,
• Your focus gets frazzled,
• Your office hours grow hazy, and
• You realize it’s possible to have way too much time on your hands.

I’ve developed ways to stay on task and overall they work well, but every so often something happens to cause me to question my time management skills. I enjoy using notebooks but recently I was feeling overwhelmed by the multiple notes I had compiled about book and character ideas, marketing tasks, website and blogging to-do lists, newsletter notes, etc. I wasn’t doing a great job of keeping my notes organized and too often one page might hold numerous notes about multiple projects. So where would I file those or how would I organize them? In a pile with many other note pages that were beginning to look the same.

I’d look at that pile fully aware it held lists of ideas and tasks I wanted to complete, but the thought of sifting through my notes to decide what to focus on beyond writing was getting to be too much.

And then I was introduced to Trello, or what I’ll call my new office assistant.

Trello may not be new to you, but it was to me. And if you’re not familiar with it, the program allows you to make themed boards and on each board you can have multiple lists, with multiple cards under each list and in each card you can make notes, add checklists and keep track of activity on that list. You can also add photos and links for projects or subjects you are working on or researching. For personal use, it’s great, once I figured out how I could use it to my advantage in a way that wouldn’t derail my intentions. All my major lists, covering  daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, for personal, home, seasonal, and beyond, along with any large projects currently in progress with their own to-do lists are all in one place. I find it easier than flipping through my bullet journal to track projects (out of sight, out of mind) and I love having a visual snapshot of lists where I can easily check my progress.

But how could I use Trello to help me with my writing projects?

I had already looked into Scrivener, a program made specifically to help authors keep their writing, chapters, characters and plot details in order, but after using it briefly I quickly realized it wouldn’t work for me. It wasn’t user friendly and I didn’t have the patience to play with it in order to make use of it.

Trello, on the other hand, offered me a simple alternative. I can still use Word to plug away at my first draft and I still use a notebook to keep track of my characters and their profiles, as well as a reverse chapter timeline (keeping track as I go), along with notes to look back on later. However, when it comes to putting scenes together for my mystery series to help me stay on course, it’s become a great tool. Working from my overall synopsis for each potential mystery, any subplots and all unresolved issues from past books, I create cards for old and new characters and intro scenes for each and then I make cards for each potential scene from the synopsis of each mystery, subplot or issue. Once I’m done and I have a somewhat doable timetable for each mystery or subplot, I copy the color-coded scenes to another list in order to make one long semi-organized all-inclusive breakdown of possible scenes and chapters. I can move the cards around to make the story flow better and based on the colors, I can tell if too much time is being spent on one mystery or subplot from chapter to chapter. It has become a way of outlining that works for me much better than I had anticipated.

And that’s not all!

I also created a board where I can track all my writing project ideas, their status and to-do lists, as well as current WIP and their to-do lists separate from story creation since each book will have its own board to help with plotting.

But wait, there’s more! =)

I also created a board for my editorial calendar. I have a binder I’ve been using, which is tabbed and somewhat organized but as I continue to add notes and ideas, it’s become cumbersome and a bit messy. I’ll always be a paper girl in a digital world, but I’m enjoying the freedom my digital lists are providing. I’ve tossed so many scraps of paper and cleaned up my desk and my binder now that all my lists are in one place. With the visual at-a-glance color-coded lists and calendar I’ve prepared, I can now easily track to-do’s, ideas and notes for my website and blog, my YA website and blog, Jozee’s blog, my monthly newsletter, social media and miscellaneous items.

And after all that, here’s the best part…

I’m no longer looking at a pile of paper or a messy binder, wondering where to begin or how to make progress. Once I’ve completed my writing for the day, or even if I don’t feel all that creative yet, I can look at my book projects board or my editorial board and depending on whether I want to complete a simple task or dive into a larger project, I can easily locate an item, get to work, check it off the list and feel that much more accomplished!

As far as productivity and time management tools are concerned, this writer is happy. And at the end of the day, when I finally leave my office, that’s what matters most.

What about you? Do you use Trello or another program to help you track your lists and projects? Are there any you would recommend to others who need a productivity tool? If so, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts!

Until next time…here’s to productive days.