Writers in the Storm

As writers we know the tricks to time management. We know we have to treat our writing as a job, not a hobby. We know we have to set boundaries between our work life and personal life. We know we’re supposed to sit our fluffy behinds every day in front of the computer and put down words.

So, pop quiz …

• Who uses tracking software to see where they are with word count? *raises hand*
• Who has a lovely writing office without the clutter of life? *raises hand*
• Who’s blocked off time on the calendar just for writing? *raises hand*
• Who sets monthly goals to meet their deadline? *raises hand*

And yet, we’re at the end of February and I’ve written a total of 1,000 new words on my work in progress. My target for the month was 25k. Way to rock those writing goals, eh?

It’s not because I don’t have the tools or the knowledge or the time. It’s because, to be perfectly honest, I’ve allowed guilt to paralyze me.

See, life hasn’t been, how shall I put it -- creatively inspiring lately. There have been a few too many personal hits and each one has taken a toll on my physical and emotional energy. But I’ve always believed that personal shouldn’t interfere with professional. That works up to a point. It worked with running WFWA because I could lose myself in the details and by helping others, so I felt like I was doing something productive. I didn’t have to think about me. It worked on organizing a writing retreat because the logistics dictated the timing.

But it doesn’t work with writing. Why? Because writing requires the emotional energy. We write from a place deep inside and when that place is littered with confusion and hurt and disappointment, the words have a hard time finding their way to the surface.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I got a triple dose of guilt in the character traits serving line. With guilt comes shame. I feel guilty that I have this time to write and I’m not making the most of it. I’m ashamed to admit that instead of sitting on my life problems until they succumb, I’m allowing them to push me around.

I spent most of the last few weeks decluttering my basement. We’re having new flooring put in so that meant taking everything out. Amazing how much crap you manage to accumulate. As I was sorting through things and putting them in the stay or to-donate pile, I started having twinges of guilt over some of the items in the to-donate pile. (Of course I did!) It took a bit of effort and a particularly hokey article that surprisingly helped, but was finally able to say thank you for serving a purpose to each item that was giving me a guilty hiccup before putting it in a bag.

What does this have to do with writing? Remember the extra dose of guilt and accompanying shame? Time spent cleaning is not time spent writing. And that, of course, sent me into another downward spiral.

When the charity folks picked up all those bags, I felt the guilt go with it. Granted, letting go of toys and books isn’t the same as emotional baggage, but it’s a step. And it got me thinking … if I was able to put the guilt aside by confronting the item (sounds so ridiculously stupid now but hey, it worked, don’t judge!), could it work in other areas?

As much as I’d like to stuff some of the personal problems into a large garbage bag and have it schlepped away, I can’t (I think there are laws against that ;-) ). But there are a couple of things I can do …

1) Admit defeat. What? You were expecting me to give you a rah-rah-overcome speech? Nope. Life happens. No way around it. And by admitting that it happens and that you can’t always control how it affects you, you give yourself permission to stop feeling guilty.

2) Manipulate. I see those eyebrows poking up and that’s not what I’m talking about so chill. I can’t change some of what’s happening around me but if I stop beating myself up, I can actually use those feelings to fuel story ideas.

I may not be close to my 25k goal for the month and I may still be teetering on the balance scale but once I let go of the guilt over not writing, I was able to start writing again.

So there it is folks, the secret to balancing your writing and personal life is …

Letting go of the guilt.

Let it go.
Let it go ..
*apologies for anyone who now has that blasted Frozen song stuck in their head*

What strategies have worked for you when life gets in the way of your writing?

About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet. When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She is rep’d by Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency LLC.

Orly’s debut novel, The Memory of Hoofbeats, will be released by Forge in 2017.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonig, on Facebook at OrlyKonigAuthor, or on her website, www.orlykonig.com.

I can hear you saying, Noooooo! Not another thing I have to do to build a platform! I'm already on FB, Twitter, Pinterest, I Blog, have a website, Instagram, Google Plus , Linkdin, Goodreads . . . Okay, I'll stop, because I'm depressing myself, but just know that I could go on.

But what if there was a passive marketing tool? One that you create, send it out into the webverse, and forget it? Like a satellite, it goes into orbit, and does it's thing, without any maintenance? Would you be willing to try it then?  What if it gave your creative side a facial and a relaxing massage at the same time?

Impossible?

Nope.

Enter:

 

Oh, you say, the software that makes cat memes? Well, yes. But I'll bet that you pass on those cute memes every day on social media. Come on, admit it. Cute cats, funny sayings, or, in Orly and my case, coffee, goats, horses, mini pigs, squirrels with purses, and an occasional ostrich.

But wait, there's a lot more to it than cat memes!

If the meme links to something - a website, an article or other info, I sometimes click on it, don't you? Even if I don't, when I share it, all my followers see it, and I get up to 30 shares on a typical day.  Many of those people have friends that share too. On and on. Social media is The Force.

All you need is an eye-catching photo, and something to say. Hey, we're authors. We have LOTS to say!  Some of you know that I'm a quoteaholic. I post a Cowboy quote and an Author quote every morning on Twitter (@PBRWriter). I have books full of them. Universal truths are universal for a reason; they touch everyone. Hello, shareability! And, if the quote says something about the books you write, all the better!

PHOTOS:  They're free on many sites. My favorite is Photopin, but Morguefile, Gratisography and many others are good, too. Or, you can use your own personal photos. The main thing to remember (besides giving credit to the photographer or the site), is that you want a lot of blank space. Preferably monotone, so lettering shows up well.

I love the one below - it goes perfectly with the saying - but the saying is hard to read because  of the color shift.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to put your info on it!!!! I refer to my website.

Canva has tons of layouts, a good choice of fonts, and you can use their backgrounds and photos if you'd like. Some are free, some are cheap. And it's EASY to USE!

 

                   

But wait, there's more!

You can use Canva to make memes for your books as well. The saying? Your logline, or a great line from your blurb. Or a great line from a review. Something compelling that will make readers want to pick it up.

Here are two I made for my recent release.

I post these everywhere: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, my website . . . every platform I have. If I were into swag, I'd have postcards made.

Here are some tips that may help you dive into Canva:

• There are many sizes to choose from for posts - horizontal, vertical orientations, even ones that fit FB, etc. perfectly. Or, you can make one that's a custom size.
• You can upload your photo, or buy one for $1 from Canva.
• There is a section called 'Elements' that give you the option to put 'shapes' (squares, elipticals, etc) into your design.
  
  OR
• You can choose one of their custom layouts (most cost, but they are very nice).
• You can choose from custom backgrounds - either colors, or textures. The nice ones are $.99
• Text - they have quite a few fonts and sizes to choose from, and you can use any color you can think of. Or they have custom ones (for cost).
• When you're done, I'd suggest downloading your design to your computer, and posting from there. The ones that come straight from Canva have their ads on your post.

This may seem overwhelming, but it's not, I promise. If I know what I want to do, I can create a design in a half hour or less.

So what do you think? Have I convinced you that Canva is worth your time? Oh come on, you know you want to go create a cat meme!

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About Laura

Laura Drake is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. She writes both Women's Fiction and Romance.

She sold her Sweet on a Cowboy series, romances set in the world of professional bull riding, to Grand Central.  The Sweet Spot won the 2014 Romance Writers of America^®   RITA^® award in the Best First Book category.

Her 'biker-chick' novel, Her Road Home, sold to Harlequin's Superomance line (August, 2013) and has expanded to three more stories set in the same small town.

In January, Laura released her first Women's Fiction, Days Made of Glass.

In 2014, Laura realized a lifelong dream of becoming a Texan and is currently working on her accent. She gave up the corporate CFO gig to write full time. She's a wife, grandmother, and motorcycle chick in the remaining waking hours.

Twitter  Facebook

Jamie Raintree

When we first start writing, it's only natural to start with...well, writing. I remember when I first imagined the idea of writing a book. It was an absolutely ridiculous thought. Me? Write a book? Wasn't that reserved for the elite of the world? Was there some kind of qualification process someone made you go through before you were "allowed" to attempt such a thing?

I tentatively dipped my toe in for the first few years, not even thinking about whether pursuing publication made sense for me until I was 5 years into this lofty experiment. Up until then, it was mostly one project at a time, one draft at a time, one day at a time.

When I signed with my agent, though, it (or something that rhymes with it) got real. I was suddenly facing my writing "career" becoming an actual "thing" and I realized I had no idea what that meant for me or my future. I knew that if I wanted to do what was necessary to have a career, I couldn't keep thinking of my writing as a hobby that I did when I had free time. And even more than that, if I wanted to be successful, I needed to have some vision for my writing future.

GETTING CLEAR ON THE BIG PICTURE

So I did what I do whenever I'm freaking out--I organized. (I may have been compared to Monica Geller once or twice in my life.) More specifically, I created a Career Plan for myself. In truth, I was still pretty unsure about how things would unfold for me and my book--I'm still not sure--but I knew that if I could at least start to put my vague thoughts on paper, they would eventually bloom and unfold into something that made sense.

Maybe you have some experience with that?

I wrote out my first writing career plan two years ago. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to update it and while I was surprised by how much had changed, I was also surprised my how much had stayed the same. My ambitions for my career have certainly grown as I've gotten more in tune with who I am and what my strengths are, but the heart of my dreams have remained steady. The goals that have evolved did so because of the quick progress I've made by having a clear vision for my career in the first place.

In the beginning, we must start from the bottom, with the daily tasks. We have to figure out if this writing thing is really for us anyway, right? It makes sense to be sure that you can dedicate enough time and heart to make a real go of it.

Once you've decided on the path of publishing, though, the path can be a lot smoother if you take a big picture look at your career and where you'd like it go. After all, you may need the support of an agent and/or publisher to get your book out into the world, but when it comes down to it, you will always be the driving force of your career. Your career plan is your map.

THE BENEFITS OF HAVING A CAREER PLAN

Here are some reasons I believe it's important to have even a vague and elementary career plan:

• Knowing what career goals and values are will help you make in-the-moment decisions. It will be easier to stay in line with what's important to you if you have it written out in black and white.
• Once your big goals are determined, you can break those down into smaller tasks that you can make progress on every day or every week. No longer will months or years pass without real progress.
• You will feel more in control of your career. You may not be able to control whether or not an agent or editor says yes to your work, or how long from signing to book release you have to wait, but if you know what your goals are, there will always be a next step that YOU can take.
• You will be able to see what skills you need to learn and who you need to make connections with in order to move forward.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN CAREER PLAN

To create your own career plan, here are some questions you can ask yourself:

• What is my purpose in creating a writing career? i.e. Creating an income? Leaving a legacy? Entertaining readers? Sharing my message?
• Whose careers, skills, books, and values do I admire? In short, who are my role models that I can model my career and myself after?
• What genre(s) do I intend to write? Will there be a common theme or message throughout my books? What impact do I hope to make on readers?
• What will the breadth of my career be? i.e. Books--fiction and/or non-fiction? Short stories, freelancing articles, and/or blogging? Speaking or teaching? Movies and screenplays? Editing?
• What do I want my professional presence to be? Will I be highly available to my readers or do I prefer to keep a respectful artistic distance? How much time will I spend networking with other writers and industry professionals? How do I want to be viewed in the writing and reading communities?
• How will writing fit into and support my overall lifestyle? What will my work/life balance look like? How will my writing income and lifestyle support my life goals?
• How do I want to feel in my writing career and in my life life?

Have you created a career plan for your writing? Do you have any answers to the questions above that you'd like to share?

Also, if you'd like a free downloadable and customizable template based on my career plan, you can get it by subscribing to my newsletter here.

WITS Announcement: The two class winners from Laurie Schnebly Campbell's Friday post are Lyn Brittan and Janet Kerr. Please see the comments section in the post for instructions.

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About Jamie

Jamie Raintree is a writer, a writing business and productivity instructor, and the creator of the Writing & Revision Tracker. She is represented by Regal Literary and is currently working on her second novel. Subscribe to her newsletter for more blogs, workshops, and book news. To find out more, visit her website below.

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