I was in my fourth year of writing a second novel when the pandemic hit Victoria. Up until that point, I was having a lot of difficulties finishing a first draft that should’ve been submitted to my publisher several times, several years before. But I didn’t know how to finish the first draft and before I knew it I had 270,000 words and no ending in sight.
This is such a common problem for many people in all different creative practices, and in other industries, and one that I had gone through many times before. But this felt different. Why couldn’t I finish? It wasn’t a question of whether I had stamina – left to my own devices I’d keep on writing this thing forever and never submit. No, this felt more like a question of avoidance: what didn’t I want to write at this very moment in time?
As soon as I asked myself this I found it almost impossible to concentrate on the novel. Or more specifically, I found the idea of having to sit at my desk for at least 8 hours a day to meet my deadline suddenly more confronting than it had ever been before.
And then lockdowns began and everything was really hard. And then I was given a deadline that I could not miss: if I didn’t submit within a month I’d be in breach of contract and it was all over. This was it. And then I remembered a technique I had used many, many times: the Pomodoro.
And you know what? It was exactly what I needed at that moment and it changed everything. I met that deadline.
Here’s why YOU should adopt the technique to either start a project you’ve been putting off or continue toward your goal of finishing. Whether you’re working on a creative project, a university essay, need to get through business admin and chase up invoices: tasks need to be finished. Focusing for an intense but short period of time will motivate you more to complete vs the idea of having to sit for five hours and do a lot of procrastinating and not complete your task.
What is a Pomodoro?
Created by a university student in the 1980s (they used a timer shaped like a tomato) a Pomodoro set is a 4 x 25 minute intensive non-stop work period interspersed with 5-minute mini-breaks. After you work through 4 x 25 minutes, you’re allowed to take a much longer break and give yourself a mental rest before starting all over again. It works best when you set a goal you’d like to achieve in each of those 25-minute breaks (and it can be the same goal too. When I was finishing my draft often my goal was ‘finish the long unfinished sequence in chapter 15 today’).
YPRL Pomodoro Creative Sessions
Pomodoro Creative Sessions at YPRL invites people like you to come together online for a one-hour creative session facilitated by a YPRL staff member. In our online sessions, we’re only going to do 2 x 25-minute Pomodoros (along with short 5 minute breaks) for the hour. We will work for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute breather, then work for another 25 minutes.
We believe that when you also come together as a group and are with people working at the same time, you will feel supported and inspired simply by the act of being with others as a community. Working in isolation can be really hard: we want to help you through that.
Best of all there is no pressure to interact whatsoever. You simply come along, mute your mic and concentrate on your work while the facilitator keeps track of time and lets you know just how far you’ve come!
Our Pomodoro sessions will be running for three weeks, beginning on 14 September. There will be two sessions per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To register for a session, please visit our events page.
Sarah Schmidt
Reading & Literacy Coordinator