Writing Productivity

The Best Ways I Know to Produce Content Regularly

These are the most successful ways I’ve found to help me keep my writing on track.

The most difficult thing for those who write blogs or write on blog-style sites like Medium is to get to a point where they are producing content frequently enough to maintain their readers attention and remain visible. There are differences in opinion regarding what is considered “frequently enough.” For some writers it’s three to four posts a week, for others it’s every day and for still others it may be more than once a day. No matter how often writers publish, they will usually say that they want to publish more frequently than they do.

I am no exception and getting to the point that I published on more days than not, or at least five articles a week if not one a day was not easy. It wasn’t something that didn’t come naturally. I think this was largely because I come from academia and articles were the result of months or even years of research followed by a lengthy writing and rewriting process.

The mindset of producing something that wasn’t very formal and based on empirical research was something it took me several years to arrive at. Once I did so and learned to write with less formality, the pressure to publish daily or more often set in. At first I failed at this, but over many more months I developed certain strategies that helped me achieve this goal. I also redefined the my ideal frequency of publishing to make it work better for me. Here are some of my main strategies that have helped me become more productive.

I Don’t Build Up a Backlog of Stories

A lot of writers who write blogs will say that the best way to make sure you are publishing consistently is to build up a backlog of stories so you don’t feel pressured every day. It makes it so that if they have an off day they still have a piece to publish.

I’ve always wondered whether this was a good idea. I came to the conclusion that, at least for me, this isn’t the best strategy.

Ideally, I like to have a story scheduled to appear the next morning which gives me a bit of breathing room throughout the day. But more than that seems to be detrimental to my productivity and earning potential for the same reason. Having too much breathing space gives me an excuse not to produce and in the long run I end up getting behind. Knowing I don’t have to write something that day since I have something already written tends to make me lazy and before I know it I have nothing left in the pipeline and find myself in a bind. As with anything though, if it works for you, then go for it.

When I Don’t Have New Articles I Write a Poem or Flash Fiction Story

I think that maintaining a consistent writing schedule is important. At the same time, you can’t always force a new piece out of you every day no matter what, or at least I can’t. Yet in order not to lose momentum and readers who are quick to jump ship if you’re not visible for a day or two, I always try to come up with something I can write, even if it’s not a new nonfiction article.

If non-fiction isn’t working for me, I work on a poem or a piece of flash fiction. I know they aren’t as lucrative as my nonfiction, but still it gives me a sense of accomplishment, wards off feelings of being an impostor, keeps my writing muscles limber and keeps me in front of my readers.

When I have trouble coming up with ideas for poetry or flash fiction, I turn to prompts or other strategies for coming up with new ideas, like found poetry or oulipo. I’m not sure why it is, but for some reason I can generate ideas for poetry or fiction easier than nonfiction. This is often enough to get me back on track

When I Really Can’t Write I Focus on Marketing and Promotion

I think we all have those days when no matter what we try we simply can’t write. This isn’t always a matter just of not having any ideas. Sometimes our writing just isn’t working.

Whenever this happens to me, and I try to force myself to come up with something, anything, it puts me in a mindset that just leads to frustration and irritability. Typically these are mornings I read just to create a new article for myself instead of reading for content, to learn something new, or because a title caught me attention and the article was engaging. So I just get more frustrated when these article don’t trigger an idea that I feel strongly enough about to explore in my writing.

On the days that I’m trying to force it, I may come up with something I can write, or several somethings, but when I start trying to write them up they quickly fizzle and I jump to something else. The number of half page stories I’ve written that say nothing new and which I’ve kept anyway for unknown reasons is astounding. Eventually I’ll have to delete them since they’ll take up too much space on my hard drive but for now there they live.

When this happens, with each new article I start, I become more upset and anxious. Finally, I slam my computer shut and end up wasting the rest of the day on Netflix or something else besides writing.

I’ve learned that when I am having one of these days, to recognize it early before it gets to the point I end up with nothing by bedtime. Instead, I tell myself I’m not going to write that day and instead focus on promoting articles I’ve already written.

A big part of this occurs in Facebook groups and since I have a practice only posting links in groups when I read at least five stories, this also means I’m supporting other writers and possibly coming up with new ideas as well. More often than not, the freedom I give myself by deciding that it’s okay not to write that day often changes my mindset enough that something I read actually does trigger an idea which results in a new article. It may be too late in the day to publish (I prefer to publish my work before 3:00 pm and if possible, in the morning.

When an idea doesn’t come, I market on channels besides Facebook, and look for new promotion opportunities as well as other writing opportunities. I think the key here, is doing something that might still help me move my writing career forward instead of throwing in the towel. I’ve discovered that this keeps me in a wiring frame of mind so I don’t lose momentum or motivation.

Take Away

These are some of the strategies that work for me in terms of helping me keep up a regular publishing schedule. Yet, as I always advocate, you need to find what works best for you. For some people, having a weeks worth of stories to publish makes them more productive because it takes away the pressure to come up with something no matter what. For others, turning to other genres like flash fiction or poetry feels like lost earnings and doesn’t help them feel productive. For still others giving themselves permission not to write and do other things like marketing feels like a cop out.

I think the most important thing is to show up every day and do something that furthers your writing goals. Sometimes this may not be actual content creation and as far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. The key to productivity and regular content production is to learn what works for you and maintain those strategies in your writing life.

Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had her poetry featured in several anthologies including Untimely Frost. Her fiction has been published in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press and Zero Fiction among others. She is the Managing Editor for Novellas and Serials at LVP Publications. Her collection of poetry, Disguised I Breathe, In Love I Hold, can be found on Amazon.

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