Juggling.

I saw an ad yesterday which featured someone who was marathon juggling.

Running a marathon while juggling.

Is juggling one of your talents?

I’m  absolutely rubbish at it.

As a writer though, it might be a skill we all inevitable end up needing to master at some level.  Perhaps master is a bit generous?  We might all have to tumble gracelessly into a pit of plastic balls and pretended we are effectively juggling all the tasks required.  It often feels like I’m trying to keep four balls in the air while blindfolded with handcuffs around my wrist.

Take the month of November for example, I have:

– A new release complete with blog tour.

– #NaNoWriMo2014 – I’m hoping to complete writing Alicia.

– Editing Twelve Days.

– Researching and planning a second series.

– Keeping my house and husband relatively in descent condition. =)

And despite rumours to the contrary, I do somehow manage to sleep at night, work on my chainmaille hobby and occasionally read a good book.

I think the keys to my relative success at multi-tasking involves a few important things.

1. Manage time effectively.

If I know I have eight tasks to complete, I try to organize them into what’s going to take the least amount of time and knock those out first.  I also use a little kitchen timer to give myself specific increments for working on certain things like: blog posts or spending time on Pinterest or social media.

2. Hand off tasks I don’t want to do.

There are certain things I can let my assistant do for me: schedule posts, clean out junk mail, gather up reviews, etc.

3. Remind my husband he knows how to work the stove.

=)

So how do you keep track of everything you have going on?