Monday Check In: A GREAT Writing Project Management Tool
And how it helps organize the chaos of multiple project prioritizing
Good Morning!
We’re gonna start up a writing challenge in May that you’ll definitely want to join. More on that below. But first:
Last Friday, my writing partner and I sent a new pilot to buyers at Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Max, Peacock, and Hulu/ABC. This is a project that’s had a looooong runway to this point - years of developing, writing, revising, pitching, revising again all to get to the point where we take our shot and see if anyone will bite. One reason we put so much development into it is that the script is a new lane for us - an hour long dramedy. I’d say it’s still a very very funny show, but this is our big push into a new space, and that means entirely new readers from the drama departments whom we have never met, and who don’t know that they can trust us to deliver the goods (yet). We needed the script and the pitch for what happens next to be polished and undeniable (although nothing ever is).
The hardest part, though, is happening right now: the wait. Did they read over the weekend, or is it too far down the pile and we won’t hear back for another week or two or three? Who knows.
On top of that, we also sent our pilot outline to Adult Swim for a project we sold as a pitch. Another one to wait on before we move to script.
On top of that, we pitched an original film (a survival comedy) to two actors and their producing partners a couple weeks ago, and we’re waiting to hear back on what they think and how they want to move forward. They are BUSY. We knew we’d be waiting on that one for a bit.
And on top of THAT… we sent a revision of written pitch for another original film (action comedy) to our producers and are waiting on notes before we take it out to talent. They are are also busy (including on our hourlong series and an indie feature we produced together), but beyond that… these things just take time.
So what do you do with the time? When you’re four or five projects deep, but have no clue if and when any of them will pick back up or even become a real job with money and deadlines?
The “I’m So Busy I Can’t Do Anything But Sit Here and Read Emails” Tip of the Day:
Here’s a project management tool I picked up a little over a year ago and have been loving ever since. It’s called Reclaim.ai (please note this is NOT generative ai, nor do I think any kind of AI is actually involved because it’s a relatively simple calendar integration app. Also, this isn’t an affiliate link. I won’t make any money off of this, especially because there’s a free version)
You add a project, set some guidelines for how much time you need and when you want it to be done, and it adds events to your calendar between anything already on your schedule. If a meeting pops up, it automatically reschedules the work.
So simple and easy.
What I love about it for creative writing:
You can build a priority list of projects, which is huge if you have 1000 plates spinning like me:
Customize low priority to critical, so your due date can be flexible if it’s a personal goal all the way up to rigid if it’s a hard studio deadline with BIG CAREER REPERCUSSIONS FOR DROPPING THE BALL. (I’ve never dropped the ball, I’m perfect, btw)
Assign an estimate of how much time each one will take:
Revise XYZ Pilot - 8hrs, Write First Draft of ABC Feature - 93hrs.
Put some boundaries on when you personally like to work:
Set custom work hours/personal hours/writing hours/whatever (10am - 5pm or 3am - 7am, etc) - great if you have a kid with a specific schedule to work around.
How you like to work:
Assign minimum amounts of time needed to work on specific tasks, so if it takes you 15mins to get into the flow of things, you can set a minimum of 30 minutes to make sure you get at least 15 good minutes in.
Assign maximums if you can’t focus for more than 45mins or 2hrs or 4hrs at a time. When you hit the max, it schedules a new event later on after a break.
You can add as many projects as you want:
This is the main thing. I have too many projects, and also feel like I’m not finishing enough. I put everything into reclaim, set the guidelines, and then watch it schedule my chaotic creative work for me so I can focus on the work and not the scheduling. I get it - this sounds like a sales pitch, but I swear I’m not making money off of this.
Easy to adjust
Some days you get sick or have to run errands or just wanna watch a movie (as research!). If you miss an event, just delete the missed event from your calendar and the program adds that time back to the project total and reschedules it for later.
It isn’t perfect and I absolutely miss goals and reschedule things all the time, but the big thing for me is that I don’t have to spin out every morning trying to figure out what I should be working on.
With all the projects I mentioned before now moved to the waiting-phase, I’m looking at my calendar to see that I have a substack to write and share (killing it), and then I have time broken out to revise a feature that’s been on hold for years. Once that’s done, I have a pitch deck to build and a personal project to outline.
But once we get notes back or a phone call to set a meeting, I’ll add those back in with a higher priority. While this personal work will get shifted back in my calendar, it won’t be dropped or lost like it used to.
Right now, I have personal projects scheduled until June 23rd. I know that’s not realistic (especially since a lot of these are estimates on how much time I need, and I’ll end up adding more time to most of them), but it also kinda feels great to think that in a perfect world I’d finish up four or five more personal projects in the next few months if I just stuck to this schedule that I’ve already organized to fit my life.
So give it a try. See if you like it! Play around and set some work hours, add some projects, and try to stick to the plan. Because…
In May, We’re Going to Start a Writing Challenge
That’s what we’ve been building up to, and starting May 1st we’re going to challenge ourselves to write every single day.
I’ll share a tracker you can all use, we’ll check in daily on the Discord, and if you’re struggling to figure out WHEN you can write - try out reclaim now! This is a great time to find your schedule before we start up the daily challenge.
Your Weekly Check In:
Head to the Residuals Discord (Weekly Goals page) and let us know when you currently schedule your writing. Is it every morning before breakfast? Every night after midnight? Lunch breaks? Just when you find the time?
Share what works for you and give those struggling to find the time some ideas and motivation to find it in their own day. I’ll head over there too and share what works for me. Let’s get ready for a big push in May!
Oh yeah, I’m also waiting on another studio to check out a series pitch we sent over. Forgot about that one. Fingers crossed we hear back soon.