Open & Close by Jim Hart

 A start and an end – everything has one. Our day has one – we get up, we go to bed. We start work, we stop work.  And in between the start and the stop there are countless details that compete for our attention. How we deal with these details has an effect on how productive we are during the day.

For many years I’ve tried to use an ‘open and close’ practice to my workday to stay on track with what needs accomplished. This simple approach can be applied to our entire day, or just our work day. Here’s how it works:

Open your day by simply creating a to-do list. I use a notebook and a pen. I’ve used a day planner in the past. And I’ve tried a computer based note taking  program – like Microsoft’s OneNote –  but for me, a piece of paper at arm’s reach is easier to reference repeatedly during the day. And isn’t there something satisfying about putting a line through an item to signify that it’s been taken care of?

I open my day by reviewing my current ‘to do list’ before I try to do anything else, including checking e-mail. Now that I have fresh eyes (and coffee) I may want to re-prioritize my list. I can get easily overwhelmed when I realize the amount of things that need my attention in a day. But the exercise of arranging them in priority removes some of that stress.

This page stays with me all day, so I can add to it as things pop up – and you know they will. By jotting it down I don’t have to commit another thing to memory. A productive day finds me both crossing items out, and adding items to my list.

Close your day by reviewing the page you opened your day with, and note what items were completed and which were not.  Then decide which of those tasks need to be carried into tomorrow. And from that information compile your to do list for the next day. It works best to give thought to the priority of each entry, rather than just adding random items. That's one of the greater benefits of intentionally opening and closing your day. Now you're better prepared to start tomorrow.

There are items on my list that will need done now (yesterday would have been better) such as sending a specific proposal to a specific editor. And there are tasks that do not absolutely need to be addressed today, but would still make for a productive work day if I did. Such as tackling that 100,000 word manuscript. You will always find tasks that you did not complete or resolve, and that’s ok. Things will always present themselves at the end of the day and there may not be time to deal with them. Use that information when you close your day to make you productive when starting again tomorrow.

The practice of opening and closing your day becomes circular and perpetual. Each day you can start exactly where you left off the previous day. At the end of closing my day on Friday I find it comforting to know that I already have a plan for Monday morning. This jump starts my Monday morning and keeps me on track for the rest of the week.

I’ve found three great benefits from the open and close exercise:

1.      I don’t have to rely on my memory alone to keep track of details.

2.      I can see the progress I’ve made during the day.

3.      I start the next day with a plan already in place.

This practice is a very simple way to manage the details of both life and work, and it takes just a few minutes each day. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Eating an Elephant by Andy Scheer

How do you eat an elephant, asks the old joke. One bite at a time.

Much the same way you complete a writing or editorial project: one word at a time.

This past month and a half I've been eating an elephant, editing a 105,000-word novel for a repeat client.

I told him this past fall that my recent day job meant I couldn't edit the book on short notice with a quick turnaround. I could work on it only evenings and weekends.

He agreed and promised to send me the manuscript via installments as he finished polishing the text.

I got the first installment six weeks ago and dug into it right away, sending him the next a day a tracked changes version of the first chapter that showed the level of work I felt the manuscript required. He agreed.

The next evening I invested an hour in the project. And the evening after that. I gave myself a few days off when other events demanded my spare time. Otherwise I tried to accomplish something every day, if only a half-dozen pages.

Fifty editing sessions later, I just sent my client the full, final polished text.

Much as I would have liked to work on it for 10 days from 8 to 5, that wasn't possible. So I did what I could, one bite at a time.

The Squeaky Wheel by Diana Flegal

Before I sign on a client, I do my best to cover in detail the expectations I have of my authors and what they can expect of me. I have gotten more specific as I've learned the need to be.

One of the things I now ask of my clients is that they keep in touch with me. It is too easy for an author who is quiet to slip between the cracks and fall off my radar. The squeaky wheel does get the grease … or my attention. I appreciate an author who is proactive. If someone begins to abuse this, I kindly provide a realistic boundary that works for us both.

In Necessary Endings, Henry Cloud addresses the need for ongoing measurements, stressing that when we stop to measure time, we can find that months have passed instead of what we thought were weeks. He believes this  loss is partially related to the digital culture we live in, where lickety-split actions are taken online. “There is an APP for that” is commonly heard, providing shortcuts that speed up our lives. Much of our jobs are handled from smart phones where we multitask: juggling Facebook and Twitter posts while answering work e-mail. And as we juggle, time passes.

Monitoring our daily activity is key. For agents and authors alike.

Many authors sandwich their writing in between work and parenting. If your agent or publisher asks for something from you, it is your responsibility to place that task on your “to-do list.” When I ask an author for something, I am handing it over and removing it from my list. I then move on to another. The author must then stay on top of that.   

Many agents manage 50+ clients. It falls to the author to be proactive and communicate with his or her agent.

My authors regularly “check in” with me by e-mail, phone, and text, telling me where they are in regard to their marketing, social media, WIPs (works in progress), proposal tweaks, or new story or book ideas.

I suggest you err on the side of bothering your agent than not. They will advise you if you abuse their time. That’s better than slipping between the cracks.