During tough economic times it is important to increase your personal productivity so that you can make more money to survive. For us writers the facts are straightforward — the more products you produce, the more passive income you create. Passive income is the most desirable type of income because you do not have to get up and go to work every day to earn it. Royalties are the way writers are paid passive income by our publishers. Once you have written the book you continue to make money while you move on to write more books. If you get a pile of books in print, you will make more money. (I am using books as the generic term for books, e-books, magazines, e-zines, newsletters, comic books, screenplays, articles, columns, etc.)

What does it take to become super productive as a fiction writer? Getting your mind to buy into the value of your time is the first step. Calculate how much your time is worth per hour presently and then decide what you want your time to be worth per hour in the near future. When you break your income down to the hour you start to value your time more and it helps to keep you on track to your goals.

Focusing your mind on your current writing project and pushing yourself to write faster and faster each day is another mental tool to help increase your productivity. Avoid distractions during your work time. Control what you are doing with your time. Get up at the same time every day and block out eight hours of writing time. (I refer to this as golden time!) Do not answer the phone or emails during this golden time. I only allow phone calls during evening hours or I may return a call during my lunch break. Occasionally, I take a break to make a business call that must be made during weekday business hours. In exchange for the time I work late. Finally focus on finishing your writing project. Endless revisions do not make you money. Work with editors, copy editors, and publishers to sharpen your product and get other points of view.

Use technology to increase your productivity. I highly recommend the Apple I-Phone and the Apple MacIntosh notebook computer. For writers these two tools create a virtual office that is totally portable. The I-phone has an I-Pod, calendar planner, wireless Internet connection with full email capabilities, text messaging, a large enough screen to comfortably read an e-book on and much more built into one phone. The MacIntosh is much less vulnerable to computer viruses and it is much easier to use than a PC. This ease of use increases your productivity.

Exercise with your family or friends in order to spend quality time with them, while you take care of your health. This will make workouts fun. Use a business to do list and a personal to do list to keep you on track. If you increase your hourly writing word count, you are giving yourself a raise. It really is great to be in control of your productivity and being your own boss. Being a fiction writer is a dream come true. Value your dream time every day by being more productive.