You can probably imagine why I immediately snapped to attention when Sage Cohen mentioned on Facebook she was looking for some people to review her forthcoming book, The Productive Writer. I’m not exactly well-known for being productive. And hey, look up there – just to the left up there – my tag line says it all. “A whole lot of procrastination.” Doesn’t sit well with productivity, does it?

So, I had high expectations. This book could be the one to fix all my problems. (To be fair, I already knew in advance that it’s not just a book that I need – I also need to DO SOME WRITING. And stop MAKING EXCUSES. And so on. No book can actually nail my bottom to the chair and hold my hands above the keyboard.)

I’m happy to say that as much as a book could do it, this is the one that could actually help me be a more productive writer. Most of the content could apply to any situation, but the fact that it’s targeted squarely at writers makes it highly relevant and therefore useful. One of my favourite sections is titled “Procrastinate Productively” and includes this advice:

So you don’t feel like writing. Or you’re stuck on something and can’t go any further right now. Or you’re too tired or broke or can’t find your pink slipper. Okay. You are excused. I don’t do that stern schoolteacher, butt-in-chair guilt trip … I would like to propose an alternative … Waste time well. If you do things that need doing—that you’re actually in the mood to do—even procrastination can be productive. One of the things you’ll start to learn over time is your rhythm for settling down to make stuff happen and the times when you need to rearrange your bulletin board a few times and eat lots of cookies.

And I like that advice not just because it mentions cookies!

The Productive Writer has sections which are like the Getting Things Done of the literary world. Sage has advice on organising everything related to being a writer (I like how she says you should “housetrain your books” as soon as they arrive – so they don’t end up in random piles, for example next to the bed – yep, I’m guilty of that!). I know this will sound like I’ve taken none at all of our productivity advice on board, but when I have time (give me a break, I’ve still got a new-ish baby) I will read all this more thoroughly again and actually implement it. I promise.

Speaking of babies, The Productive Writer also addresses the issue of fitting writing in around other parts of your life in a chapter neatly titled “Writing in the Margins of a Full-Time Life”. I read something similar last week too and there’s a particularly salient point for me, and any other mothers or fathers reading this – basically, try to avoid too much multi-tasking and when you’re looking after your kids, look after your kids. When you’re writing, write. I’ve already heard myself say to my baby, who’s still too young to understand but was grizzling on his play mat wanting some attention, “just five minutes and Mummy will have finished this work she needs to do.” Consciously separating these activities, something I’ve been focusing on this week, certainly does make me do both of them better.

I could go on and on, because there was so much in this book that spoke to me, but I’d encourage you to go and read it yourself and find the bits that you need to know. I doubt that any writer out there is already so productive that they couldn’t learn something new. Due out in December, I believe, you can pre-order it at Amazon at the moment – look for Sage Cohen’s The Productive Writer: Tips & Tools to Help You Write More, Stress Less & Create Success.

P.S. As a kind of aside, just because I adore Margaret Atwood (do you follow her on Twitter? You should! – @MargaretAtwood), and because it made me laugh: this story is included in Sage’s book to remind us that writing is not always so easy.

It is rumored that at a party, author Margaret Atwood was speaking to a neurosurgeon who mentioned that he had just retired and was considering writing a book, to which she replied, “What a coincidence! I was thinking of becoming a neurosurgeon when I retire.”