In the post-COVID era, working from home has become the norm for many of those in the publishing industry, from editors to reviewers. Working from a home office has, however, always been especially commonplace for authors, particularly those working in the freelance realm. It most certainly comes with advantages, such as enjoying a flexible schedule and making it easier to balance work with other life responsibilities, such as parenting and housework.
But staying focused while working from home can be a major challenge. This means minimizing distractions while working —particularly for an author who is eager for their book to hit the publishing floor as soon as possible—is critical.
Learning how to balance writing and editing deadlines remotely isn’t an overnight process; it’s a skill that takes time to master. A good place to start, though, is to remember a few simple remote work focus strategies, which can be divided into three basic categories: creating a suitable workspace and schedule, tuning out unnecessary noise, and setting mini-goals that lead up to the ultimate goal: getting that book finished!
It’s All About the Workspace and Schedule
Setting up a home office for writing productivity is the first step toward creating a successful authoring career—but it can also be one of the toughest steps. If you were working in an office setting, you wouldn’t have a television set in front of you, and you’d probably have a set schedule of clocking in and clocking out. When working from home, while these constraints might not formally exist, you’ll need to establish them for yourself if you’re going to be a successful author.
Create a workspace within your home that’s conducive to getting work done and is far away from potential distractions, such as the television set, your phone, or a laptop that’s used for entertainment instead of business. In addition, set a schedule and stick to it. You might decide that you’ll focus on writing from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., taking only an hour break for lunch every day and a few breaks in between—just as those working in an office might do. If other responsibilities, such as parenting and/or medical needs, do not allow you to keep a more traditional schedule, it’s okay to adjust accordingly. The point, though, is to figure out how many hours per day you need to devote to work, along with how much time you can afford to use for a break, and don’t deviate from those numbers.
Some authors find it easiest to work remotely in an environment other than their home, because there are just too many distractions around the house to focus on work. Many therefore prefer to instead take a drive to a local library or coffee shop to get the job done. Or, for some, changing things up—and sometimes working from home while other times going elsewhere—is the strategy that works best. It’s all about understanding and knowing yourself and picking an environment and schedule that’s most conducive to your individual working style and needs.
Keeping the Noise Down
Even in an office setting, attention-diverting elements are everywhere. But in a work-from-home environment, the number of potential distractions goes through the roof—things like kids, pets, and ringing doorbells or phones. On top of that, because you’re not surrounded by colleagues or managers while working from home, it’s much easier to get lost in non-work-related matters than if you’re in an office setting, since no one is around to perform checks and balances.
So, this is where self-discipline has to kick in. Tell yourself that if the phone rings, you’ll wait until your lunch hour or a break to check your messages and return that call. If the doorbell rings because of a scheduled appointment, plan ahead and make up for the lost time either before or after your normal working hours. Also have a plan in place ahead of time for how to handle responsibilities such as walking the dog or picking up your kids from school; that way, you won’t be dealing with these distractions during those hours when you meant to be productive.
It might also be helpful to inform your friends and family members of your work schedule so that they’re not accidentally interrupting it. Although typically well-intentioned, calls and texts from loved ones can easily cause distractions for authors looking for work focus strategies. Make it a point to communicate to your family and social circle that there are certain times of the day when you do not want to be bothered unless there’s an emergency.
Some authors find listening to music—particularly classical music—to be a helpful remote work focus strategy. For others, though, it just makes distraction worse, not better. The key, again, is to know yourself and understand what works versus what doesn’t.
…And please: Any devices that include social media should be turned off (unless, of course, you’re using that social media for work-related purposes in your authoring process; otherwise, social media is a surefire way to sabotage your productivity). In addition, your desk should be as clear as possible; if you keep items such as mail and bills scattered all around your desk’s workspace, you’re inevitably going to focus on those items instead of your book project—not what you want.
Making it Manageable
Every seasoned author knows that one of the biggest challenges in bringing a project to fruition is staying motivated to write without burnout. And that’s where strategies for breaking down long writing projects into steps come into play. This is especially relevant in a home office environment, since the natural structure of an office setting simply does not exist.
If, for example, your book is divided into chapters, it might be helpful to plan on writing a certain portion of one chapter before taking a break for a walk around the block. Then, your goal afterward might be to finish that chapter before breaking again for lunch. Or perhaps the mini goal will center around pages or words (which can be a very effective way of dividing things up, although it will inevitably hinge greatly on the individual project). But whatever method you choose, just don’t try to work for more than about 90 minutes at a time without taking a 5-to-10 minute respite; otherwise, it’s unavoidable that you’re going to face burnout. When that happens, the quality of your writing will suffer, and/or writer’s block will take its toll.
Final Thoughts
Of course, the most effective productivity hacks for authors working from home will vary to some extent, depending on the nature of the project (whether the book is fiction, nonfiction, scholarly/scientific, etc.). But no matter what type of project an author is working on, perhaps the biggest remote work focus strategy is universal and simple: Don’t try to edit a particular portion of your work until you’ve finished writing it.
Breaking your day into writing and editing—and going back later in the day to edit a portion of work that you wrote earlier that same day—is completely fine, and it might be a totally effective strategy, depending on your working style. But keep in mind that writing and editing are two totally different parts of the process. Especially when you’re working alone and remotely, it can be easy to get caught up in the editing aspect of a chunk of work before the writing aspect of that chunk is even close to complete. Putting a particular main idea on paper should come before polishing that idea—otherwise, it just creates more work, not less.
Working from home focus strategies aren’t easy for most authors to master at first. But once authors can master them—using some trial and error to figure out what works for them personally, versus what doesn’t—they can be a real game-changer.
By Anne Brenner
Anne is an Assistant Managing Editor at Technica Editorial