What’s on the iPod: Hell and Back by The Airborne Toxic Event
It’s Thursday already? If I could shove two more days into this week, I would I’ve been working at full throttle since Monday morning, and I’m finally making a dent in the workload. If only the need-it-now stuff would just stop coming in for a minute….
Just five more projects before the weekend. Or is it six? I’ve lost count.
Actually, I have no damn time to write this post. But you guys are a priority, too. So forgive me for the short-and-sweet bits today.
Since there are more projects than there are hours in the day to get everything done, I’ve resorted to my rudimentary time management system to eke out a few more minutes (hell, maybe even an hour) out of my days/week — Outlook calendar and no email.
Told you it was simple.
Since we took two days off last week for a thrice-postponed vacation, I knew if I didn’t write it all down, something would be forgotten. So on Wednesday of last week, I opened a calendar invitation for this past Monday and I jotted it down. And I had to open it right up on Monday and add two more projects that came in while I was away.
My simple system is this:
– Project name
– Contact person name
– Due date
That’s it. It’s organized in order of first deadlines, and as I finish, I don’t delete it but rather use the “strikethrough” font feature to show I’ve done it. It keeps me from losing track of what will most likely be upcoming edits.
I include them all, too. There are two projects that are lower priority, so I’ve pushed them aside for this week. I had to. Otherwise, I’d be working from 6 am to 10 pm. This way, I can maintain some modicum of sanity in my schedule. I’m working more, but only an hour more per day.
Next week, there will be two more projects (definitely). One is a scheduled one that came in last week. The other is a last-minute “Hey, can you fix this — oh, good. Now let’s just have you finish the entire thing” assignment. I love those despite their being last minute. It shows I’ve interpreted them correctly and they’re thinking I’m the best fit for the project. I sure won’t complain about that.
Back to the dance. We’ll talk later, I’m sure.
Writers, how do you handle a multitude of projects with simultaneous or concurrent deadlines?
What’s your system for organizing your workload like?
What do you think is essential to handling lots of work at the same time?
3 responses to “Writing Schedules and No Damn Time”
"What do you think is essential to handling lots of work at the same time?" For me, it's keeping everything physically in front of me so I don't miss anything! I do have spreadsheets and other digital organization methods, but I've found that using physical calendars and planners with colored pens and markers works best for me. (Which is kind of strange, because in general I hate paper & clutter and try to keep everything digital.)
I have a big marker board calendar hanging on the wall where I write every single deadline in red.
Then, I have a little planner (one of these Bloom planners) where I plan out what I'm going to work on each day. Usually I figure this out a week at a time, the Friday before. I use different colored gel pens to prioritize tasks. Only 2-3 red "must-do" tasks allowed per day.
KeriLynn, I laughed out loud because like you, I don't like paper clutter and, like you, I have papers everywhere in an attempt to keep myself organized. 😉
With this round of projects, for example, I printed out the project timelines/due dates, marching orders, and whatever details I needed to keep my brain on track (that usually includes the contact person's name — easiest thing to forget sometimes).
You're a lot like Jenn Mattern, who has a marker board (or was it a few marker boards?) on her wall. Impressively full, too. I was intimidated. 🙂
That planner looks like a great idea, too. I'd lose it on this desk among all the papers, but in theory, I love it. 😉
You know, I don't remember but I wouldn't be surprised if I picked up the marker calendar idea from Jenn's blog. She's been a huge role model for me 😀