Marathon runners don’t prepare for marathons by running for miles. They start small and build up. It’s that muscle memory thing. Some of our writing assignments can be big and daunting. So we attempt to write only to let ourselves be interrupted many times in the course of an hour.

Meet the Pomodoro Technique. This procrastination busting approach can work great for writers. If GTD works for you (Pomodoro doesn’t replace GTD — it only contains a small part of GTD), there’s no reason to try something different or change it unless you think it’ll work better. After all, if we stick with status quo, we forgo opportunities to find ways to do things better, faster and more efficiently.

If you’re on a roll and can’t stop writing; by all means, don’t! The Pomodoro gives you an option when you’re struggling to write at all or without interruptions. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by all the things you need to do. Stop.

Focus on one task at a time as the following steps quickly show you how the Pomodoro works:

1. Pick a task and do that task for 25 minutes straight.
2. Take a short break — about five minutes.
3. Work on the task again or pick another one to do for another 25 minutes.
4. Repeat until you’ve done this four times.
5. Take a longer break.

While I don’t struggle to get work done, I gave it a shot and it worked well by the second round of 25 minutes. I gave in to my powerful urge to check email during the first one — I’m gosh awful about that.

The tasks can include doing research for a story, writing an article for X publication, blogging for Y client, doing your marketing for the day, completing your administrative work, replying to emails. You get it. Just stick with one thing for those 25 minutes. You begin with a sprint and work you way up to completing the marathon of an article, book, whatever without feeling like, “Oh, man. I have 24 miles to go.” Instead, “I’m going to do two miles. No problem.”

In a way, you’ll build your muscle memory. You complete these tasks in short, doable bites. Maybe you’ll find that this works so well for you that you’ll stretch the time or go on an writing spree. (Remember to take a computer break for the sake of your eyes and hands.)

Of course, you might be anti-GTD and everything and it works for you like it does for Jamie.

How do you complete your writing tasks or projects?

• Getting Things Done with Twitter: Don’t like the idea of paying through Twitter.
• Twitterfall: A New Twitter Tool for Journalists: I get nervous about new twitter tools because they can boost your addiction and time spent on twitter [Link: Esther]. And a link to Twitterfall.
• Becoming a Great Programmer: Use Your Trash Can by Esther Schindler.
• What the Hashtag? Can’t figure out what the # means in twitter? Wonder no more.
• Word Count Plus FireFox Plugin: Counts number words in selected text and total.
• How to Be Likeable: 10 Things You Can Do Today [Link: GL Hoffman]
• SPOGG: Society for the Promotional of Good Grammar
• Poll: What is the first media outlet you look/listen in order to get your news on a daily/consistent basis? Saddened (but not surprised) to see print low on the list. Created with twtpoll (multiple choice only).

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 12 Awesome Foosball Tables: WOW. Hubby would love one of these, but they’ll remain admired from afar just like his favorite Corvette ‘61.
• The Great Pyramid PC Mod: Cool.
• 10 tips to give up Facebook during Lent
• Evaluate tech purchases: Retrevo and Wize [Link: Web Worker Daily]

Many of us ask how we can find more time in our busy days or if we can add another hour to the 24 hour clock. Well, the 25 hour thing won’t happen anytime soon, so the best we can do is look at our current schedule and chop time there as Lifehack gives 21 ideas for adding more hours in the day. I won’t rehash the list and instead share my experiences. Three kids, a spouse, my business and volunteering forces a girl to be wise with her time.

1. TV – My TV viewing habits differ from my kids’, but they’re not learning from my actions. I don’t just watch whatever is on TV and whittle away my free time. I select shows I enjoy and tape them for viewing at my convenience, not the network’s. I still have shows from April that I’ve yet to watch. I usually watch them while doing laundry or exercising as both have to be done.

2. Internet – One thing I rarely do — get my news from the Internet. I read the newspaper every morning, which has a start and end point. Reading news on the Internet could go on and on. If something happens during the day, then I’ll look online.

3. Games – Thank goodness I have the opportunity to review games. I hardly ever played games because of my busy schedule. When Mark Wegner asked if I would review games for him — he created a monster as I review for Gamezebo, too. To avoid temptation of getting carried away with an addicting game, I load them on the laptop not my work computer. Now instead of cutting into my work time, games sometimes cut into my sleeping time.

4. E-mail – This is one of my worst habits. However, I’ll get wrapped up in a project and not think about checking e-mail for a while (which is more like an hour, not half a day).

5. Chores – Well, I’ve put organizing systems in place, but I run into a problem that’s hard to control — the rest of the household. No one cares about organization like I do — not even the spouse.

6. Listening to books – I wish I could do this as I think it’s a marvelous way to multitask while riding in the car or stuck in the waiting room. I carry a book or a PDA with me at all times, so I can read or use an application on the PDA that I’m reviewing whenever stuck someplace.

7. Prioritize – Focus on getting higher priority items or those with a nearing deadline done before the rest. Even those with a deadline about a month away — plan ahead for those. For example, I’m judging many PDA-based applications for Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine awards for all of August. Prioritizing means looking at how much I need to review and the time left. It would be unwise to wait until a week before the deadline to start reviewing. If I do this, it’d require spending all of my time on reviewing when I still have to get client work done. So I planned ahead and do a little each day.

What do you do to help make the most of your time?