“Anyone who knows me – even a little – knows that organization is not my strong suit, Not even close. To deal with this, I have created my own 12-step program to survive and thrive as both writer and marketer without killing someone or someone killing me. Making time for a blog is step four. It is a work in progress, so I thought I would share steps one through four with you today.”
I wrote those words 13 months ago, and at the time I promised to come back and tell you how I was doing…so here goes.
STEP ONE SET GOALS
At the time my goal was to finish. I am happy to report that I am making good progress on this one. This is a big hurdle for me in life, but not in writing. Since writing those words, I have finished two more books and a novella (soon to be seen here…stay tuned). I have incorporated Bedeviled into a collection, Sultry Nights, and am working on input to a second collection this spring. And for those watching for book four in the Beguiling Bachelor Series, it will be available in the spring.
Now I have more ambitious goals, to finish a certain number of books per year, increase readership of my books and my blog, attend a writers conference, increase the number of people who sign up for my email list (have you? If not please do.). The problem with my success is that I feel the need to build upon it.
STEP TWO – MARKETING AND PUBLISHING
“Step two: learn publishing, marketing, social media marketing, pick up some new valuable and very time consuming skills. Take some courses, read some great books. “On Writing” by Stephen King remains a favorite. Pay better attention to writers I love, from Jane Austen to Julia Quinn to Karen Marie Moning and lots in between. Need more organizing.”
This one continues to bedevil me. I am way smarter than I was a year ago, downright savvy in my use of social media – okay, that might be a little exaggerated, but I am certainly mastering Facebook at long last. Instagram still awaits. I am reading new authors and attending webinars and online courses to improve my skills. The problem I have is transitioning from the learning to the doing. I love the learning, I fear missing out on some new tool, secret, or skill. I am still a little stuck on step two, but I suspect I always will be, so let’s move on.
STEP 3: WRITE AND THEN WRITE SOME MORE
“Step 3: Write, and then write some more. Write some short stories and give them away to thank my loyal, generous fans. Finish “Bedazzled” then “Beholden”. Schedule my first book talk. Holy crap! I am an author/publisher before I know it.”
These were all accomplished and then some! How cool is that? The truth is that I love writing. I feel natural, at home when I am writing, Everything else feels like an intrusion, unnatural. So the writing flows, just see step one above.
ENTER STEP FOUR
“As I move through steps two and three I decide I want to blog, to share my experiences as writer, publisher, marketer, mother of cats and consumer of DVR’d television. But this requires arranging my schedule to accommodate everything. How to blog, tweet, pin and post and still find time to write?”
Enter Step 4: Find a way to organize all this.”
Well, here in the land of trying to organize myself, a lot has changed and a lot has remained the same. The same, the closet remains a mess, and Katie Schuppler is returning next week to make sense of my wardrobe. I have a new personal assistant, Crystal Benedict. She is my sanity and salvation, but I have a part-time job now too, which pays me the wages I need to cover the cost of Crystal. That is good news and bad.
Surprisingly, the job is not the bad news. Quite the contrary. Sitting at the front desk of the B&B inspires new story ideas, and the schedule helps organize me. So that’s the good news. The bad is that it takes me away from everything else on my todo list. So, still…lots of work needed here, but the blog gets out twice a week, the books get written and marketed, and I still have a life. Definitely progress.
STEP 5: OH NO, AN EXERCISE PLAN!
The first blog I ever wrote ended with those words. I am happy to report that I figured out a solution exercising the way I solved many of my problems – let an expert help. In this case it is my Fitbit. I set goals, and the Fitbit vibrates on my wrist hourly to remind me to move. It’s working. My steps are increasing.
It’s not going to get me up and running a marathon, but in my world, walking is an excellent start. Sometimes I am lucky enough to have a walking partner – my friend Nancy and her dog, or my sister, or my partner, Michael. Sometimes I dance in my livingroom like Tom Cruise in Risky Business. But I am moving.
WHAT’S NEXT?
I said twelve steps when i wrote that first blog but I never really thought about what would come next. Now I have some concrete goals. More emails and promotions that are meaningful to my readers, more interactions with other authors, more time with family and friends, more cooking. And more writing – always more writing.
When I wrote my first blog, I asked you to let me know if you enjoy it. That has not changed. Send your comments, share on Facebook. Sign up for my email list. In exchange, I will promise another annual status update on my writer’s journey.
You might also like:
- Confessions of a New Author Part 1 November 17, 2016
- Confessions of a New Author Part 2 December 1, 2016
- Confessions of a New Author Part 3 December 15, 2016
- Announcing Maddy’s Romance Madness March 9, 2017