Tag Archives: time management

Days Like These…

http://t.co/sgvHLs4o

Okay, I have to admit lately this video makes a ton of sense to me.

With a recent book release, Immortal Heat (self-published), Distilled Spirits, the sequel to Wanted: One Ghost coming in December, and the sequel to Immortal Heat, Immortal Angel to be written and released in January my head is about to explode! But it’s for the Greater Good….’the Greater Good’.

So if you see me around with a weird smile on my face…it’s just the Zoloft taking effect.  (LOL).

Seriously, it’s a great time but crazy. Trying to wear all the hats in a business (and anyone who tells you being an author isn’t a business should be boiled in peanut oil and salted…because they are NUTS!) is not an easy task. That is why there are so many ‘helpers’ out there (and no, I don’t mean the happy pills).  There are editors, agents, and promotional specialists who are out there to help take the burden off some of our duties and they are a godsend!

I also have my daughters who are big helps when I need my kitchen cleaned because I’m on deadlines or meals prepared. But still, the job can become overwhelming. I’ve always been a person who deals with To Do Lists, and even they are starting to look like a jumbled mess of manuscript needing to be edited.

So yeah, it’s a job and days like these…well they happen.

What do you do to get through “Days Like These” ?

Hugs!

 

 

Getting What You Wish For

Just in case you didn’t hear me shouting it from the rooftops . . .  I sold my first book!  Lori Wilde’s Indulgence line at Entangled Publishing will publish SOUTHERN COMFORT sometime in the near future (and you know I’ll let you know when!)

Even after having days to process the amazing moment of getting the call (described in detail on my blog) I still crack a crazy grin whenever I think about it. But, I quickly realized that I now had some work to do.

And, don’t get me wrong – I love every minute of the “next step” tasks. But, they did make me sit down and seriously reorganize and plan to maximize every opportunity I worked, hoped, and dreamed about.

Obviously, I need to prepare to hunker down and complete my edits when they arrive.  Turning in a quality book which will wow my readers is the number one priority. In addition, I need to complete the sequel, SOUTHERN NIGHTS.  Second only to making sure SC is the best it can be is the desire to sell the next book . . . and the next . . . and the next. I’m in this for the long haul.  This will required me to step up my dedication to my 2k per day word count and keep to my schedule.  I work full-time. I’m married and have two small children. I can’t waste a minute of writing time.

In the end it’s all about the writing. Period.

Next, I need to focus on and put into action my marketing plans.  I’ve read tons of books on the topic of marketing and branding and my favorite is “We Are Not Alone” by Kristen Lamb.  When I first read it, I knew that I wasn’t at the point where I needed to spend the money on getting a website designer and researching marketing tools and giveaways, but now I am.

So, I’ve embarked on that part of the journey. My attorney filed my incorporation papers last week for the creation of “Burning Up The Sheets, LLC” (I’m a lawyer and needed to do this for my peace of mind due to liability concerns) and I’ve chosen a website designer and just need to give him the go-ahead.  I’m updating my biography and filling out paperwork for my publisher and setting up an author page on Facebook (stop by and “like” me!)

It’s all good. It’s all fun. It’s exciting and terrifying and the most wonderful thing all at the same time.

So, be careful what you wish for . . . you just might get it. And, I hope you do.

Robin

The Subtraction

I am a busy person.

Yeah, yeah . . .  so are you, right?  We are all busy.  On my living-my-life list (it is so much more than just a “to do” list)  I fill many roles:   wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, band member, attorney, author, girl scout volunteer, basketball mom, mentor . . .  whew!  I really don’t know how I get it all done but, in the words of the very funny Ron White: “I’ve seen me do it!”

But, I’ve realized that while I’m trying to get it all done, there are some things I’m not doing very well.  And, really – what’s the point of that?  So, since I refuse to make resolutions, I decided to  make a change. I just didn’t know what to call it – and it seemed like something so momentous needed a name. All the biggies have a name, right?

The Apocalypse.

The Change.

Oprah.

So, I was reading the weekly newsletter from one of my favorite artists – Ali Edwards – and she was talking about subtracting things instead of adding things and it resonated with me. That is how I’ve been feeling since the New Year – what can I remove from my life to make room to experience other things more fully? I call it  . . .

The Subtraction.

Ali said it best: “Subtraction is not always about taking things away to make room for more. Sometimes it’s simply to create space. Space to breathe. Space to listen. Space to see.”

I. Love. That.

So, I’m making room to feel, see, and taste the things I really want to devote my energy towards:  family & friends, writing, art, physical fitness.  I’m getting control of things that detract from the space I am creating.  I’m scaling back on my internet time.  I’m declining requests to run things on various committees – I can serve on them and not be in charge.  I am cutting back on the amount of work I bring home.

So far, I’m seeing a great shift in my productivity and my attitude.  I’m less-stressed, I have written more words. I’m enjoying time with my family more.  I’m completing the P90X workout.  I’m scrapbooking (see some of my projects on this post).

It feels good.

Are you ready for “The Subtraction?”

Robin

The Dreaded Synopsis

Tell me, how do you write the synopsis to your W.I.P.? Because here’s how my typical synopsis writing day goes. 

First, I remind myself and anyone within earshot of how much I hate writing the synopsis. Then I open a Word Document. After staring at said blank page for about three straight minutes, I toggle over to Twitter and tweet about how I despise the synopsis.

Then, I eat something. After that, I let the food digest. We’ve all heard our mothers remind us to wait twenty minutes after we eat before working on our synopsis. Don’t want any writing-related cramps after all.

Finally, I go back to the blank page and eek out two lame sentences. I berate them. I judge them. Then I take the time to berate and judge myself. You suck, Kerri!

If there is any time left I send my BFF an email expressing my extreme suck-age. And then she tells me over g-chat that I don’t suck and reminds me of her favorite thing I ever wrote, which was my first attempt at a romantic suspense novel and involved a shattered woman, FBI agent and a fat cat. Personally, I think it blew. But seven years later, she still insists it was fabulous.

And then she tells me what she had from Starbucks that day. Usually, a Chai Latte.

Why do I hate the synopsis so much? It’s a part of writing after all. And I love writing! When I’m writing a novel the words just flow from my brain (or heart?) through my fingers onto the keyboard and out to my computer.

But the stupid synopsis? That feels like work. Like school. Except I actually liked school. So like the gynecologist. Yes, that is more appropriate. The synopsis as a gynecological visit.

Or, maybe… writing a synopsis reminds me that I have finished a manuscript. I’ve spent countless hours conceiving of an idea, creating characters and plotting out the best story I can. That means it’s time to send all that hard work out into the world for editors and agents to have the opportunity to reject.

I’ve dreamt the same dream scenario as many of you. You get a call on the first query you send out begging you to sign with that agent or editor. I will be the exception to all of the rejection stories we’ve heard.

But dream time is over. I have to send my baby out into the world. For better or worse. (And then I call my BFF just to hear once again how much she liked that sucky story seven years ago….)

So I ask you, fellow writers: Any synopsis-writing advice?

The Write Time

You can’t see her but she’s there about halfway down the to-do list and she’s pissed off. How do I know? Maybe it’s the way her perky button nose is snarled. Or it could be the smoke pouring out of her ears. Perhaps the laser beams shooting out of her dark brown eyes was the give away. All I know is that right now I’m glad she’s not a real person . If she was, she’d be swinging and I’m a big wimp who can’t take a punch.

The she in question is my heroine. She’s stuck in a story after finding out the identity of the villain. She’s primed and ready for action, but is floundering around ignored by me as I work my way through the to-do list. More insistent that a hungry two-year-old who hasn’t had a nap, my heroine is ready to get moving but I’m still searching for the time to get the next chapter on paper.

Yes, time management is the bane of an author’s existence. Whether it’s a day job, Internet gossip sites, writers loops or the hot guy mowing the lawn across the street, it’s easy to find other things to do besides write. I fight the time sucking demons myself (as my poor heroine will attest), but here’s how I try to avoid them.

First a caveat: My day job work schedule is super flexible, which is awesome and not an advantage that everyone has. Some days I’ll only work a few hours. Other days, I’m burning the midnight oil way past midnight. It all depends on the workload.

Plotter or Pantser?

I’m a hybrid. I plot out the main turning points of the novel. I write four or five things that have to happen in each of the first four chapters. Then, the urge to write overwhelms me and I start. I go and go until I’ve written myself into a wall. Pulling back, I consider where I am in the overall plot. Next, I outline the chapters I’ve written (often I’ll find and fix plot holes here) and four or five things that must happen in the next four chapters. This revs my writing engine up and I’m off again. Believe it or not, I’m an organized soul and would love to be an actual plotter. However, like many writers I have to fit my writing in whenever I can, so this process works with the scheduling craziness.

Time to Write?

I schedule two hours a day to write Monday through Thursday. Yes, I actually block off the time on my calendar, turn off my e-mail and hide my cell phone. Some days the words flow like crazy, other times I spend those two hours beefing up previously written pages. In addition, I take Fridays off to write, at least until I have to pick up the kiddies from school. This gives me a huge chunk of time to just go for it. I look at these days as a type of book in a day exercise. I write without revision as much as I can in that time period. I’d love to say I don’t have to spend any time with revisions, but that would be a big fat lie. So I fit in my smoothing, beefing up and tweaking for about two hours a night. Yep, the kiddies go to bed and I write until 10 p.m. Then it’s a beer and some trash TV – oh how I love The Soup. Joel McHale is my TV boyfriend, don’t tell the hubby.

So, why is my heroine stalking me? Because life has a way of messing with us authors pulling us away from what we want to do and forcing us to do something else. Hey! That sounds like the definition of conflict. Now I know why we write about conflicts, it’s cheap therapy.