How to be Productive...Even When Your Oven's on Fire

There are many ways to schedule writing into your daily life. Here, author Linda Lyle shares how she has begun using the "12 week year" to become more productive.

How many times have you said I wish I could get more writing done, or I wish I had more time for writing? I know I’ve said it countless times over the years. I kept saying I’ll make time for it, but other things would get in the way, like my oven catching on fire. Then, I met a man, and no I don’t mean Jesus although that was the best meeting of my life. However, meeting Trevor Thrall is very high on my list because he gave me practical steps for making my wish a reality through his book The 12 Week Year for Writers.

The concept of a 12-week year is not new, but Trevor applies it to writers specifically. The idea is to look at your big goals and decide what are a few things you could do in 12 weeks to achieve them. Once you identify the next step to your goal you write out a schedule that takes into account other priorities (such as eating or pesky things like day jobs), as well as time to relax.

After you set your writing schedule, you assign activities to each slot. You plan it out in advance so that you know what you will work on when you sit in the chair. It was a game changer for me.

For over a decade, I had been working on a cozy mystery novel. I had finally finished the first draft and received feedback from an editor. It needed a serious overhaul. With the help that I gained from the book and coaching by Trevor, I finished the rewrite in my first 12 weeks.

However, it wasn’t the only thing I completed. I was also working on a lead magnet for my newsletter and a few non-fiction articles. The next 12 weeks I started on a new novel synopsis for a competition, an e-mail campaign to promote my newsletter and blog, and started querying new publications.

I went from struggling to finish a chapter or two per month to finishing the rewrite, submitting it to editors and agents at conferences, and being a regular contributor to several magazines and websites. I went from making nothing as a writer to a regular, although small, income as a writer. For example, while I was talking to editors and agents at a conference, an editor I had worked with before offered me a paid for hire book assignment.

It takes a little time to work through the chapters and fill out the worksheets, but it is well worth the time and effort. A planning week is also included in the process to help you reevaluate what went wrong or right so that you can adjust your schedule. As I write this post, I am in a planning week. To be honest, I got off the schedule a bit in the last 12 weeks, and I can tell the difference in my productivity and my sense of sanity.

If you struggle with how to carve out time for writing, Trevor added a new option: The Weekly Writing Routine Workbook. I used it in my planning week to help me get back on track. The workbook goes in-depth into how to create a writing routine that will work for you and help you reevaluate during planning weeks. Having a solid routine and assigning specific tasks to each writing session were the two keys to increasing productivity for me, and I think they will work for you, too.

If you take the time to realistically evaluate your schedule, make time for writing sessions, and assign tasks to each session, it will make a real difference in how much you get done no matter what is going on in your life. For example, on Thanksgiving Day 2023 my oven literally caught on fire. It was just the baking element, and it went out quickly without damaging anything, but before I had a schedule, something like getting the oven repaired would have thrown me off for weeks. Add to that my car started acting up the next week and you have a recipe for complete derailment, but I had a schedule that I stuck to as best I could so that everything got done.

Life is going to happen whether it is an oven catching fire, the car breaking down, or getting a cold, but if you have a schedule in place that has a little wiggle room, it is easier to get back on track. This week it is the dishwasher instead of the oven, but there will always be issues. Be flexible but don’t let them knock you off track. The road to success (however you define it) is full of potholes, but you will never get anywhere if you don’t stay on the road and keep moving forward one 12-week year at a time.

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Linda Lyle is an author, knitter, and unintentional collector of cats who knits together novels with mystery, humor, and romance. Her current releases are A Christmas By Any Other Name novella collection and The 5-Minute Prayer for when Life is Overwhelming (a 2023 SCWC Notable Book Awards finalist). As a freelance writer, Linda has written for Open Windows, Salem Web Network, Refresh Bible Study Magazine and as a contributor for Lighthouse Bible Studies and SCWC books. You can check out her work and blog on lindalyle.com where 'The End of my Yarn' is just the beginning.