I would be remiss if I didn’t start off my first blog post at Routines for Writers by saying how honored I feel to be blogging next to these three ladies. I have been a fan of this blog for years and now I’m really proud to be a part of it. Thank you Shonna, Kitty and Stephanie for having me.

The ladies have asked me to contribute to Routines for Writers by posting a monthly blog about productivity, something I’m always working to improve on, being the mother of a toddler and the mother-to-be of another daughter at the end of the month. No matter how busy I am, my writing is always important to me. It’s the thing I do for myself, which means that making time to write is even more important–for busy moms, people with demanding jobs and family and friends, and the million other commitments we jam onto our ever more crowded plates.

So today I’d like to talk about a productivity tip that is incredibly simple yet has been the single most effective thing in accomplishing as much as I have with my writing over the past few years. “Set a weekly writing goal” has been said a thousand times already, I’m sure, but things like outlines and goals have negative connotations to a lot of writers so I’d like tell you why I think it’s important to try to stick a plan anyway.

Weekly Writing Goals

Why weekly? Well, I do set yearly goals, monthly goals and daily goals when feasible, but I think weekly is where the productivity magic happens. Yearly goals are great for career goals and monthly goals break those down into easier to swallow chunks. Daily goals are great to have but they can often get derailed by unexpected grocery shopping trips, family emergencies, or simply not feeling well. Weekly goals create the perfect balance between focus and flexibility.

Focus

I set my weekly goals every Sunday night. To me, the productive weeks starts on Monday when the weekend is over and the world hits the refresh button. By setting them the night before, I go into the week knowing what I’d like to accomplish. This is a great time to pull out your monthly or yearly goals so you can break down your long-term goals and make them attainable by picking away a little at a time. I try to touch on each of my yearly writing goals at least once a week, even if it’s with a simple, five minute task. Keeping them fresh in my mind means they won’t be a surprise when December 26th rolls around.

Flexibility

A suggestion Krissy Brady made back in January in a post entitled, “6 Small Changes to Help You Reach Your Writing Goals,” really stuck with me and is something I’ve incorporated into my goal setting. She said, “We have a tendency to create schedules that will work out fantastic… if we don’t eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, or talk to anyone. Then when we inevitably end up behind, we don’t give ourselves the time to catch up, because we’ve already packed our schedule to the hilt.” Um…yeah. That’s me. Is this you? The thing is, being behind tends to make feel like getting less done, whereas being ahead gets me pumped and makes me want to accomplish even more.

Krissy suggests creating your “perfect” list and then cut it in half. I agree. I think it’s important to be realistic. I set goals that will take me five days to accomplish, not seven, because inevitably something will always come up. And then, if nothing does (ha), I can always do a little more with my free time. Most of us aren’t full time writers so we have to be realistic about what pays the bills until we get there, the commitments we have to our family, and the time we need to make for ourselves to rejuvinate. Yes, that’s important too!

If “Goals” is a Dirty Word

Make it fun! It doesn’t have to be scary or asphyxiating. If you run from goals, start with one small goal a week and build up to more until you find your groove. I have a white board in my office and I like to write my weekly goals in colorful markers. Writers are, by nature, office supply-aholics so go crazy with whatever sticky notes, highlighters, or corkboards float your boat.

Remember, these goals are for you, no one else. No one is holding an axe over your head if you don’t reach them all. It’s just a tool to keep you focused on your priorities. There is no such things as “failing” with weekly goals because there’s always next week. As long as you keep moving forward, one week at a time, it’s impossible not to reach your ultimate productivity goals.

Jamie Raintree writes what she likes to call everyday fairytale love stories, featuring the little moments in life that are truly magical. She’s a NaNoWriMo-aholic and looks forward to that thirty days of coffee-drinking, twitter-whining, blog-ranting, life-questioning insanity each November like her life depends on it. She lives in Arizona with her husband and daughter and is currently editing her second novel. To read her web fiction, visit her website at http://jamieraintree.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo by Artois Bibliotheques

My guests during this Author Crush Month have all talked about some form of self-publishing. James Scott Bell talked about self-publishing his short stories and novellas. Jacqueline Diamond told us about self-publishing her backlist. And Debra Holland shared her experience in self-publishing her fiction even though she’d traditionally published her nonfiction. To finish off my part of the month, PJ Sharon is going to tell us how she ended up self-publishing all of her books. Please welcome PJ!

Thanks for having me, Kitty. It’s a pleasure to be here, and I’m very excited about the indie-pub road that’s available to writers these days. I traveled the traditional publishing route for about three years and started to feel like a hamster on a wheel chasing a withered piece of lettuce. My dream of being signed by a big six publisher was looking less and less attractive. There is something intrinsically wrong with doing ninety percent of the work and getting paid ten percent of the profits.

After being self-employed for the past six years, I knew I didn’t want to work “for” someone ever again, and the traditional publishing model did not come across as being author friendly or what I would consider a collaborative effort. I had two young adult manuscripts that no one wanted, despite the contest finals and persistent submissions. I totaled about fifty rejections before I considered the alternative. When I wrote HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES, I knew I had a winner. But I also knew that on the trad-pub trajectory, it would take at least a couple of years before it would see a book shelf, if ever.

I first decided to self-publish last March. I had spent several months researching and reading everything I could get my hands on about self-publishing. My husband was all for it and basically double-dog-dared me to “just do it.” So I set up a Facebook fan page, Twitter account, and created a website with the help of my techno-genius hubby. He created my covers and agreed to do my book trailers and all my formatting, so I was halfway there. I was already working with a freelance editor, so I had a team in place.

My first book was a huge learning curve with lots of expenses that I learned later were unnecessary. I paid for editing, cover art, book trailer pics, and paid ads that didn’t amount to much. The second book, ON THIN ICE, cost me half as much, and my third release, SAVAGE CINDERELLA, has cost me one tenth of what the first book did. It’s been a wild ride with three books out in six months, but I’ve recouped my expenses and am now turning a profit, albeit not enough to pay my bills and quit my day job—yet. Each effort is less stressful than the last, and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it all. Having the three books completed ahead of time allowed me to put them out in quick succession, which I think is a good strategy for getting the ball rolling and creating a backlist.

As far as the actual process, my plan was to try to duplicate the traditional publisher’s process. I figured they’ve been publishing books successfully for about seventy years. They must know how to get the job done. Once I decided to self-publish, I set a production schedule and picked a release date about six months out so I would have all the time I needed to put everything in place. Hiring an editor, a proofreader, and having a few beta readers is crucial to putting out a finished product. I would also recommend paying for cover designs unless you can create a professional product on your own. I happen to really love my covers and have gotten very positive feedback about them.

I like having books for print since a lot of people I know still prefer paperback books to e-readers. I wanted the option of print on demand, so I used CreateSpace for hardcopies. I upload and order four copies a full month before the release date. One goes to my editor for a once over, then to the proof reader. I keep a copy and I send out the other two to reviewers. Once I have feedback, I do another round of edits before the final copy gets uploaded to CreateSpace and then to Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.

For my third book, I will try the KDP Select program since I sell very few books on B&N. Smashwords is great for offering free books as giveaways and review copies, but I’m hoping that the Select program and the opportunity to offer my book for free for five days during the ninety day exclusive period will impact the sales of all my books. It’s all a grand experiment at this point, but I’ve learned so much by following other indie authors through sites like WG2E and groups like Indie Romance Ink.

When I heard that most new authors never sell more than a thousand books, I set that as my short term goal. I met that goal in about four months with the first two books, and I expect to see that number grow exponentially with every new release. Having a backlist and consistently putting out new material is the way to grow your following and increase sales. I’ve seen it with many other indie authors with varying degrees of success, so I’m just following the trail that has been blazed ahead of me.

I plan to release the first book of a Dystopian Trilogy in July and I have a companion short story that will be a part of a WG2E anthology in October. If I can manage it, the second book in the trilogy will come out in December—unless a publisher wants to offer me a good deal on the series. I would still be happy to talk with an agent or publisher about working together on a project. The wide distribution opportunity that is available through traditional publishers, collaborating with a team to produce a high quality product, and the possibility of a healthy advance, appeals to me. I’m much more confident that I could work with a publisher now that I know how to actually publish a book myself. But I enjoy the freedom I have now to write what I want to write and have creative control over my covers and my career. We’ll see where it all goes.

If I had to say what my least favorite part of the process has been, I would say that promotion is by far the hardest part of this job and the most labor intensive. I’m slowly finding a balance in creating time to write, to network, and to promote, while still making time to take care of myself and nurture the people in my life who love and support me. It’s a precarious balancing act, but with each new effort, I learn ways to streamline the process. It’s not getting easier, but I’m definitely getting better at it.

PJ Sharon is author of several independently published, contemporary young adult novels, including HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES. Her stories have garnered several contest finals, including two awards for ON THIN ICE, and a place in the prestigious Valley Forge Romance Writers and the Florida Romance Writers Golden Palm contest for SAVAGE CINDERELLA.

Writing romantic fiction for the past six years, and following her destiny to write Extraordinary stories of an average teenage life, PJ is a member of  RWA, CTRWA, and YARWA. She is mother to two grown sons and lives with her husband and her dog in the Berkshire Hills of Western MA.

Follow PJ on Twitter or on Facebook, and watch her book trailers on YouTube. Read her blogs at Extraordinary Stories of an Average Teenage Life, on Tuesdays at Writing Secrets of 7 Scribes, and on Fridays she writes a Healthy Teen Tips blog at YA Beyond. Her books can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and CreateSpace.

I’ve mentioned reading Art Holcomb’s articles on Storyfix a couple of times. I find them very inspirational. I’m sure you will, too.

The Continuum of Story:
a guest post by Art Holcomb

Let’s talk for moment about your current writing project and the Continuum of Story.

George Lucas, the creator and point-of-origin for all things “a long time ago and far, far away”, is a master of story.  The original STAR WARS film, released in 1977 (I was in college at the time), followed the three act pattern precisely, and you can go back now and easily apply all the principles of classic story engineering and structure to that film.  But as amazing a story as the first film was, fans were all a bit puzzled when the “roll-up” of words at the beginning of the film read “Episode 4: A NEW HOPE.”

It was the biggest tease in the entire film. Each cheering fan, as s/he walked out of the theater, knew that there was more Lucas-y goodness to come.

Of course, we would all have to wait three years for it to arrive. . .

Then, in 1980, we saw that A NEW HOPE really had been just Act I of a larger three act story that would soon include Episode 5: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (as Act II) and Episode 6: RETURN OF THE JEDI (as Act III).  True to form for every good serialized story, we were delighted each time to have these ambitious and fascinating characters back for further adventures.  And in the years between each film, the public’s love of STAR WARS was fed by books, comics, conventions and all manner of Jedi/Empire/Republic-related merchandise.

And even more was promised to a hungry public by the great Jedi Himself.

Of course, this time we would have to wait 16 years . . .
In this interim, we found out that these characters were always planned to be part of a larger arc of 9 films (some even have said 12). The original episodes 4,5 and 6 making up now a new Act 2 of the complete saga, Episodes 1, 2 and 3 back- flashing us into an Act 1 of this new paradigm and the three (as of this date) unreleased films (rumored presently to be entitled Episode 7: THE HIDDEN CIRCLE, Episode 8: THE REPUBLIC IN CRISIS and Episode 9: VICTORY OF THE FORCE) – and said at this writing to be in various stages of production and pre-production – as the Act 3 finale of perhaps the most ambitious single filmed story every told.

Now . . . why do I bring this up?  

For you who are writing or planning a book or film series with sequel and prequels, the lesson is clear. Chart the larger arc out first and then decide when you want to start telling the story.
Good for continuity – good for character development.

But I want you to think today about the story you’re currently working on.- the one you think of as a stand-alone piece.  Consider the effort you’ve made thus far: you’ve hopefully created powerful characters, used the building blocks for story engineering and structure to set them against substantial obstacles and will, in all likelihood, bring them all home safe and sound.  

That said, think for a moment like George Lucas and consider your story and characters now as part of a continuum. Although you probably haven’t written your characters’ back stories yet, you can probably imagine tales in their “past” or “future” just as compelling as the one you’re currently writing. It means that you now can look at back story less like a developmental exercise and more as a source of potential story

Consider it for a moment:  Your Main Character’s true beginning, and even truer End.  A timeline now stretches out before you: to your left is your character’s past, to your right, his/her future . . . and in the middle, directly in front of you is the story you’ve decided to tell.

My point here, though, is not to get you to create a novels series or a brace of related screenplay but to get you to look at each individual section of that arc and see which story therein really excites you. What really is the best tale for these characters to tell? There may be more than one, but there will certainly be one that really excites you, one that you can see bounding out of bed each day or giving up happily those hours in the evening and early morning to write about.

To do your best, you will need a story that holds your attention the way you want your prose to hold your reader. An exciting story means an excited and dedicated writer – which, in turn, gives you your best chance at reaching your reader in a powerful and memorable way.

Thirty-five years later, I can still see the original STAR WARS film in my mind, so powerful in impact it made. And the following movies, even though their quality varied, wove together a great tale – one that might not have been so memorable had Lucas started somewhere else in the saga.

So, give some serious thought to your current project and ask yourself:

Have I seen the entirety of my story?

Am I telling the best story within that continuum?  

Am I spending my valuable time telling the story in whose characters’ lives that I feel is most compelling?  

Will my interest in this segment of the continuum maintain the enthusiasm necessary to not only propel me to the end of the story BUT give me the excitement I need to do my absolute best work?

Because if this is not going to be the best thing you’ve done by far, why type another single word into this story??

Each writing moment is an opportunity.

To show yourself the breadth of your talent. To breathe skill and life into these great characters and make them come alive for your audience.

But your characters, your audience and you all deserve a story that propels you to that keyboard.. Respect the process and yourself enough to not spend your time on a weak and uninspiring plot. Find the greatness that lies within your creations and TELL THAT TALE!

Remember: your time is limited.  

And mark my words . . .

Do this once and your writing changes forever.

Art Holcomb is a screenwriter whose work has appeared on the SHOWTIME Channel and a comic book author of such comics as Disney/Marvel’s X-MEN and Acclaim’s ETERNAL WARRIORS. A number of his recent essays appear in the collection: Warm Hugs for Writers: Comfort and Commiseration of The Writing Life (Amazon Books US and www.storyfix.com). He appears and teaches at San Diego Comic-Con and other conventions. His most recent screenplay is 4EVER (a techno-thriller set in the Afterlife) and is completing a work book for writers entitled The Pass: A Proven System for Getting from Notion to Finished Manuscript.

He lives in Southern California.