A Writer's Guide to Time Management
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
If you're a writer who thrives on time management (or, let's be honest, really shouldn't have let this one fall off your New Year's resolution list) you've encountered the Eisenhower Matrixwith four neat quadrants for your daily tasks categorized by urgency and importance.
Proofreading that article due tomorrow? Urgent and important — top left box. Scrolling through writing memes? Neither urgent nor important — bottom right, delete with prejudice.
But here's the thing about self-editing: it rarely feels urgent until it's a crisis, and then it feels like everything is urgent.
Enter the Covey Matrix, Eisenhower's philosophical cousin. Instead of "What's due today?" Covey asks, "What matters for my future?" It's the long game, the strategic view, the difference between fixing typos and fixing your voice.
Both Eisenhower and Covey have something to offer us. Here's how you use them.
Make two lists of your editing tasks. First, your Eisenhower list, i.e. the daily grind:
Fix typos in Chapter 3
Cut 500 words from the intro
Check all the dialogue tags
Format the manuscript
Read it aloud one more time
Catch repetitive words
Now, your Covey list, i.e. the big-picture stuff:
Strengthen my character arcs
Develop my unique voice
Learn to kill my darlings
Build better opening hooks
Master pacing across scenes
Trust my instincts as a writer
What happens if you swap the time frames? For example, what if you treated "fix typos in Chapter 3" like a long-term investment? You'd learn patterns in your mistakes, build a personal style guide, train your eye to catch errors before they happen.
Conversely, what if you treated "develop my unique voice" like an urgent daily task? You'd spend fifteen minutes each morning reading your work aloud, noting what sounds like you and what sounds like someone you're imitating.
This doesn't work for every task, of course. Formatting the manuscript is probably still just... formatting the manuscript, no matter which list it's on. But consider the larger principle here. Self-editing isn't just about cleaning up messes but building your writing practice and strengthening your craft. Shouldn't the work be undertaken with intent and purpose?
