Everyone multi-tasks nowadays. I think multi-tasking with writing projects requires special skills…and its own name. Many of us don’t just multi-task but also multi-write.

Multi-writing and multi-creating have been my experience this past intense month with my transfer –not just from Toronto to Boston, but to different kinds of creative work (from writing books and a few short projects on my own, to collaboratively developing multiple new video and digital projects). November promises to be just as intense.

Here are a few strategies I’m trying out–to conserve creative energy where I can so that I can “spend it all” where I feel called to.

  1. Prioritize. I’m blessed to be focusing mostly on the creative development of projects. Other tasks that come up—usually the technical stuff—goes lower on my priority list. “Can it wait a day, or a week?” I ask myself. For juggling the various creative projects, I always try to find out (or predict) which projects are urgent or will develop deadlines; those go at the top of my list. While I schedule time for email and other tasks on a daily basis, I do them after I’ve put in a good chunk of time on the top creative project(s). If I have any doubts about what to put first, I bring it to my daily Hour of Adoration. Jesus and I seem to come up with good decisions together.
  2. Organize my work space well. One benefit of moving is starting off with a new, empty office. But I haven’t taken full advantage of that yet. I want to set up the drawers and shelves that I have so that by the end of this week I’ll have an accessible place for every project and also for the department business that comes up. Thoughtful organization of files on my computer is essential, too—finding what I need quickly.
  3. Choose to collaborate with other creative people when possible. I can’t precisely describe my instinctive working style, as I seem to adapt to my situation. However, for the past ten years I’ve mostly worked solo. Writing a book—even co-authoring  the way Sr. Mary Lea and I did—is mostly researching and writing on my own. But my new assignment involves working closely with two different creative teams. I no longer have to put out all the creative energy, nor do I have to push a project to completion on my own. Our team shares that responsibility. I believe the secret to collaboration is to see and cherish the gifts that God has given to each person. If I can understand and trust what each person can best offer to the project and process, then I can allow that to happen organically. This approach both focuses me to offer my best, and frees me from trying to do all the creative weight-lifting. We’re in this together.
  4. Take time to nurture my creativity—the time it deserves. I can’t forget that, with the many projects and demands on my time, my task is to respond creatively. So it’s critical to take the time both to think through each project and to charge the creative “batteries.” For me, that might mean bringing a project to prayer, taking an afternoon to brainstorm and research before diving in to a project, journaling so that I can get below surface thoughts and feelings, taking a prayer-walk to clear my head and reset my priorities in the light of faith, or sneaking in forty minutes a day on a creative project “just for fun” like a NaNoWriMo novel.

All of us are committed in many directions. In light of yesterday’s (Sunday’s) reading from 1 Thessalonians, how do we discern God’s will for us and the gifts He has given us when we multi-task and multi-write? For me, being “in flow” doesn’t just refer to a creativity that carries me through a writing session, but, more importantly, feeling that I’m fulfilling my personal vocation and doing what God intends me to do:

To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thes. 1:11-12).

I’d enjoy hearing how you keep your creativity flowing and give priority to your personal mission?

Sr. Marie Paul Curley, fsp, is a member of the Daughters of Saint Paul, who seek to communicate Christ in their lives and through the media. Originally from the Boston area, she entered the Daughters of St. Paul while a teenager, convinced that she had discovered God’s plan for her life. Twenty-five years later, she still rejoices daily in God’s loving plan for her. Sr. Marie Paul is currently missioned in Boston, MA, where she writes for Pauline Digital and Pauline Studios. Her most recent books, Saints Alive! The Faith Proclaimed and Saints Alive! The Gospel Witnessed, are novelized short stories of saints from every walk of life.

By Catholic Writing and Publishing4 Comments on Multi-Writing

4 Replies to “Multi-Writing”

  1. Kassie, thanks for the kind words!

    Don, I admire your participation in the CWG, so I know that you are doing plenty of multi-writing. Honestly, I think in our day with social media and the opportunities for evangelization, multi-writing is becoming part of our call to write.

    Nancy, thanks for your tip, too.

    Although I feel a special responsibility to pray for all the members of the CWG (as a Daughter of St. Paul who is called to pray for those who work in the media), I’ve decided to keep all the “multi-writing” CWG writers in my prayers in a special way this week…

  3. Thanks for the tips. When I have many projects I assign a day or half day to each project and do that first. This gets it off my mind for the rest of the day and I know the emsul and other routine tasks will get done faster.

  4. Sr Marie~ Thanks for this awesome post. You are right about the “multi-writing” and “multi-tasking.” This was a timely and meaningful piece for me to read this morning. I look forward to seeing more of your writing 🙂

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