Writers First Aid

Writing in 20-Minute Slices

November 19, 2010

salami Thirty years ago I read an article that said writing was like eating a salami. You’d choke if you tried to swallow the whole thing at once. Slice by slice, though, it was easy.

These 20-minute Challenge tasks are “slices of salami.”

100-Day Challenge

I had several questions from writers doing the 100-Day Challenge about how to break writing tasks into those 20-30 minute slices. At the beginning of the challenge, I made a three-page single-spaced list of such tasks, covering several project areas (a novel revision, a possible nonfiction e-book, and marketing).

The beauty of the list to me is that I don’t have trouble getting started. I pick a task-not necessarily in the order listed-set my time, and get going! Since getting started has always been my biggest hurdle, the list goes a long way toward getting me over that hump.

Examples of Short Tasks

If your main project is fiction, and you only have 20-30 minutes to write, pre-thinking is critical before you sit down at the keyboard. Otherwise you’ll waste your time getting started and focusing. I became skilled at pre-thinking when I was first taking this ICL course because I had a preschooler, a toddler and a newborn. I wrote in 10-minute slices back then.

I made long lists of tasks for stories I wanted to write. The tasks covered such things as outlining steps, “creative steps” like thinking of character and setting names, mechanical steps (e.g. write opening scene), revision steps, and marketing steps.

The list of short fiction ”slices” would include things like:

Think of three titles
Revise titles to be more suspenseful
Decide on main character’s name
Decide on ending
Write physical character description of mother
Look up street names and weather in XXX town

Nonfiction “slices” might include:

Fact check xxxxx
Organize sources into alphabetical bibliography list
Revise (or tighten) opening

Examples for marketing might be:

Find three agent blogs to read
Find three publishers’ blogs to read
Read one blog post and leave a comment
Set up a Twitter account
Get domain name at GoDaddy.com

I was going to list some of my own 20-minute tasks for you, but I realized they wouldn’t mean anything to anyone but me. (e.g. check out Blogger Link Up, check epiphanies re: p. 194 MAC, make “sense” lists for each scene in last chapter) But I think the examples above give you a better idea of breaking things down into small slices.

Estimating Time Needed

Realize that it’s difficult to estimate times correctly. Sometimes I gave myself twenty minutes to do a certain task, and it only actually took me five minutes. Other times, the task took me three 20-minute periods to finish.

For example, one of my 20-minute tasks was to set up my author page on Amazon.com. (I have needed to do this for more than fifteen years!) My friend did hers in 20 minutes, but even though we were adding the same amount of info, I took three 20-minute times to finish mine. It took me the first twenty minutes just to read and understand the directions, another twenty to write the bio, and another twenty to add the book jackets and video trailer. (Actually there was another twenty minutes spent later because some of the dust jackets wouldn’t load, which I gave up on.)

I hope these examples have helped you and given you ideas for breaking down your own writing projects into do-able slices. Now…go eat that salami!

Post tags: discipline, finding time, focus, focusing, goals, habits, psychology of writing, schedules, strategy, time management, writing challenges, writing habits, writing schedule

Posted in: focusing,goals,habits,schedules,writing challenges,writing habits,writing output | | Comments (10)

10 Comments »

This is great advice, Kristi! I’m ready to employ these tips!

Comment by Jane Heitman Healy — November 19, 2010 @ 9:16 am
These are very helpful and concrete ideas, Kristi. I have never thought of it as a whole salami before but will now . Slices certainly are more manageable! Thank you.

Karin Larson

Comment by Karin Larson — November 19, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
Great post. I first heard this idea on a Sewing with Nancy program, but you just gave me a very logical way to adapt this to writing. I copied the article and put it into my OneNote file on great writing articles for future reference. Thanks!

Comment by Momma Mindy — November 19, 2010 @ 12:43 pm
Another 20-30 min “chunk” for fiction might be jotting down a couple of sentences for each of the next 2-3 scenes.

Someone who writes fast might actually be able to bang out a whole scene in that timeframe, too.

Another thing might be to find a list of websites for future reference relative to a research question.

Comment by PatriciaW — November 19, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
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Pingback by Tweets that mention Writers First Aid » Writing in 20-Minute Slices -- Topsy.com — November 19, 2010 @ 2:35 pm
Thanks for all the comments! Yes, it does make the task of writing less daunting, doesn’t it? Patricia, those are great ideas too. I’m hoping my examples spark a lot of similar ideas for frustrated writers.

We just have to get past the mentality of “I have to do it all RIGHT NOW!!” We want to lose weight instantly, write a book instantly, run a marathon quickly. But those who actually end up doing those things tend to be the ones who take everything one slice at a time.

And now…off to swallow another slice!

Comment by Kristi Holl — November 19, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
I love your advice because it applies to my life right now … this is how I literally get through the day (kids, housework, writing, teaching). Have a great weekend.

Comment by Vijaya — November 19, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
Thanks, Kristi! Good, translatable examples. I’ll be working on my master list this weekend!

Comment by Nancy — November 20, 2010 @ 10:09 am
Kristi, this is off the subject, but one of your nonfiction slices triggered a question I’ve been wondering about. I have heard that one needs at least three sources to fact check, but as loaded as the Internet is with unreliable information, I am wondering if three is even enough. What do you think? Should a writer even count Internet sources as fact checkers, or does it just depend on who has written it? Do you or other writers here know of any reliable fact-checking links? Even for fiction, especially historical, there still needs to be some degree of fact-checking, right?

Comment by Trudy — November 20, 2010 @ 10:58 am
Trudy, for fact checking, there are good websites and there are some websites that publishers won’t accept as valid.

For example, I got an assignment last summer to write three picture books that were science related. The editor told me they would accept information from certain websites like the one for the Smithsonian and National Geographic. On the other hand, stuff from Wikipedia or Enchanted Learning has so many errors that they were not acceptable. If you go to university .edu websites, you’re usually safe too. Most government .gov websites are fine too. Hope this helps!

Comment by Kristi Holl — November 22, 2010 @ 11:37 am