9 Productivity Hacks For Busy Writers
Simple apps and tips to unleash your creative genius anywhere
A smartphone is a powerhouse of resources these days. Along with the by default usage, most of us use smartphones to attend online training, seminars, set up tasks and reminders, respond to emails, connect with the community, etc. Being a mom, I have a tough time going over to my laptop to work. Moms got to get kids to eat their meals, do their homework, handle their meltdowns and cater to their other interests along with her own activities.
These situations led me to discover some great apps and tools that help me manage my precious and limited time to do the things that matter the most for my new career. Writing. Whether you’re a night owl like me or an early morning person, finding time to write at a stretch is quite challenging with kids at home.
I created and adopted the practices I listed here, and I am amazed that it helps me get writing, promote my articles on social, interact with fellow writers, and much more. Read on, and I am positive you’ll have something to take-away too. These would help writers in specific and entrepreneurs in general.
Side Note: Most apps listed here need no figuring it out. After months of trial and error, I’ve picked these based on their utility and ease of use.
What if your laptop broke-up on you, or you don’t have one for a while?
In the country where we are, there is going to be no-school for yet another month. So I got to set up online classes (on my laptop) for my 9-year-old for 2 hours. Cry with me, please…That was my writing time. Hand-writing, then understanding my writing, and typing it again on the laptop is an overhead. By the way, moms don’t get that kind of luxury, and it’s risky too. Thanks to my toddler, who likes ripping any paper he finds.
What do I do? I try to fill up as much as I can on my smartphone. A rough draft is good enough. I can then download it to the laptop to do the edits.
You cannot edit a blank page, and this method allows me to get things down anytime without needing to procrastinate, either because I’m away from the laptop or even I am out of the house.
With the swipe keyboard enabled, I surprisingly find that it doesn’t slow down my typing process. I like it better. Wait till you hear of the tools that make it possible.
Have you heard of Nicole Walters? On her podcast, I heard that she typed nearly 500 blog posts for her website on her old phone with a button keypad in the pre-smartphone era. She built thousands of followers that way, and the rest is history. For the record, she is now a 7-figure entrepreneur and mom of three. Maybe that inspired me, and it led me to discover new productivity tools for writing or upskilling myself.
When all I can do is work with my smartphone, my options boil down to the below apps that help me keep on track and get crushing those goals.
1. Workflowy
I love their name, and it feels like they can make the work flow. It aligns quite true to their name. I’m still exploring it and find it quite handy, even though I’m on their free plan.
I had the full-version on a trial basis for a week, but I never got around to using it so much and didn’t need any pro-features. It is also an excellent task and content flow management tool for teams. But for a solopreneur, the free version is good enough, in my opinion.
Its simple, intuitive user interface draws you in, and you can master it in no time.
Pros:
- It has an app to access from your phone, and also you can access it on the browser to continue working there.
- You can quickly create a checklist.
- It can very well replace a scribble-pad for content or those creative Ideas.
It helps you to outline an idea or write up a quick draft for those sudden thought rushes.
It helps me to think and write ten ideas every day and often outline 1 or 2. As an option, we can create a new page like interface for each point, sub-point, making the writing a lot cleaner. So it is unlike in Word or Google docs, where you see the entire content while typing. It is useful when I am breaking down each idea into a blog post and not getting mixed up in multiple ideas.
I have tried other note-taking apps, but I find this relatively easy on my mind to navigate and use.
Do you know that EV Williams, founder of Medium, also uses Workflowy?
2. Google Drive
Use Google docs on your drive. It’s preinstalled on any Android phone. Google docs is another hassle-free way to get content ready and available anywhere, anytime. It is another time saver for me. If I have an outline prepared on my laptop, I copy it over to Google Docs or google drive, as it is accessible even from a phone so that I can sneak in a paragraph or two. It also works the other way around. I create a draft on my smartphone and later access it from my laptop to work on it.
My toddler sometimes wants me to be around, and sitting in front of the laptop doesn’t happen. Then it’s more like a Godsend for me as I work through an outline or research and jot down points, that will be a part of my current or future post.
3. Dictation Software
I use Otter for that at times. It is a fantastic lightweight tool that transcribes my spoken words into text.
Pros:
● What I love about Otter is, it is non-buggy and no Ads. *whistles*
● The free version allows 600 minutes(10 hours, folks!) of talking that converts into text per month. It more than suffices my need.
● It allows exporting the text into Google drive or sharing it via email or WhatsApp too.
● Another practical use of Otter is that you can also record client meetings using this App, which you can later refer to for meeting minutes to dig up any gold in the discussions to write for them.
The pro-version allows for even converting the TXT format to a word or pdf format. But I use the free plan because it isn’t a big deal to copy the text into a Word document just for my personal use.
4. Make a podcast
Yes, you can do it if you want to. I started a podcast for my daughter, in which she loves to narrate stories that we share with our friends and family. I intend to grow it to a bigger audience sometime, but making the podcast is a time well-spent.
Several authors and the who’s who in the world has a podcast to connect with their audience. Or even grow a community. If you’ve got some ideas to present, podcasting is a great way if you are uncomfortable using Youtube and showing up in videos.
Install the Anchor app, and you are ready to go. Anchor (by Spotify) also has free music options to add to your podcast before publishing it. It’s an exciting new fun-activity for us.
5. Get the Kindle App
If you’re a writer, you ought to be a reader. And you’ll most likely have ebooks.
So whenever I feel distracted, I open the kindle app and force myself to continue reading. Once I start reading at least a paragraph, I continue and get in the flow. I wouldn’t say this works all the time. When I have 3 new articles published, I’m keen to promote them and see how they perform. 🤦♀️But other times, it works.
I alternate reading on my phone, Ipad or Kindle device(zero distraction) whatever is near to me.
Pro Tip: To be a star writer, be a voracious reader.
6. Try Audible App
The sister of the Kindle App, Audible, is my favorite as I am leaning more toward audiobooks. Also Spotify at times. When kids are busy creating a ruckus around the house (playing), it’s me and my headphones and the audiobook or a podcast playing loud and clear that saves my sanity. It’s true.
And humans have evolved listening to stories, so it kind of rings well when you can hear the author narrating. Because the tones and exertions are on point. I know I cannot highlight or take notes as often as I do when reading, but it works when you want a good read or listen. I replay it or mark where I want to visit again.
7. Download images for your blog post
It’s easier to scroll through social on my phone but doesn’t get the job done. So I remind myself of the pending tasks for the day. I’ve bookmarked all the image sites I use for my article’s image-needs on my phone too. I download and save the chosen images (along with the image-credit details) on Google drive, making the entire blogging process faster. Here are the image websites I use:
8. Promote promote promote
Promotion is an essential part of any business, and writers, entrepreneurs, businesses, and even top writers can’t get far without a promotion strategy. And promoting to your followers isn’t enough. We need to continually look for platforms and opportunities to showcase our content to the right audience.
If I am talking about my article about writing tips to “love and relationships” topic seekers or “fitness enthusiasts,” it’s going to bomb. So know your audience before you write and promote where you find them.
“If you were to set up a hamburger stall on the street, choose a place where you can find a hungry crowd. The rest takes care of itself.” — Gary Halbert, Legendary Copywriter and Marketer
- Keep a promo snippet in individual notes on your phone.
- I currently promote all over social media whenever possible. To make it straightforward, I even maintain an excel sheet of FB groups, Linkedin groups, Quora spaces, and other places where my ideal reader hangs out.
- Engaging with writers in my niche and connecting with them is empowering. It not only broadens my vision but also opens collaboration opportunities. And we could eventually promote each others’ work, which is a bonus.
9. Download a skill learning App
Grab a pen and paper or (your phone notes) and go through a course. Udemy, Coursera, and Skillshare have thousands of courses, and upskilling has helped me master my skill at a deeper level. Lessons for creative writing, copywriting, SEO,… the list goes on. As creators, it is crucial to keep learning and stay up to date in our niche.
If you are a master in an on-demand skill, you could even design a course yourself. They are touted as one of the most lucrative options when you side hustle. Again, there are multiple tools you can use to design it. I’ve heard good reviews on Thinkific and Kajabi if you consider course creation.
There, you have it all now. We often create excuses because we fear something will not work out or when we doubt ourselves. If you put off things till you’re sure or 100% confident about it, you’ll never get anything done. But once you decide to stick to a process and choose “work” over “procrastination,” nothing can stop you. I have set a goal of writing 1000 words every day in 2021, and I have accomplished it so far. Thanks to all the apps and ways I described above that keeps me going and stay motivated.
“Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds” – Napoleon Hill
Remember those days when everything seemed to go your way? ☀️
You woke up motivated and enthusiastic to start your day. 💪
But elusive as they are, you crave for days when you get more done. 📈
In just under a minute, these words packed with writing wisdom will increase the likelihood of having more such days. 📚💡
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