Time Management

Okay so this was actually my husband's suggestion for this post. At first I rolled my eyes at him and then I took a hard look at my life and realized that everything I accomplished does come down to time management. I know I gave you a low down once on how my schedule works and that pretty much remains the same. Except here's some things that have changed: My daughter is a heck of a whole lot more active, I do formatting on the side, I've just gone back to school, and my other pen is quite busy. So what do I do to manage time? A few things. I use a combination of things that keep me on track. Maybe you will find something that works for you.

The first thing I do is the Bullet Journal. Now I've taken this technique and tweaked it so it works for me, my notebook is a combination of the Bullet style and my random notes. Every day in the morning or the night before I write down what MUST be done (top of the list) and what should be done if I have time (bottom of the list) This normally looks like this (with the bullets being check boxes):

• Dishes
• Laundry
• Dust
• Sweep
• 1 hour on school work
• workout 
• 1 hour one editing Twisted Redemption
• 1 hour on InDesign
• 1 hour writing

That's a mild day and some days I get everything done, other days I get through chores and editing. As projects come and go the list changes, but the idea stays the same. So what an hour of work? Really? Does that include the time that I play on fb? Check sales? Check blog posts? No, no it doesn't. You see that's another thing I use. The Pomodoro Technique: 25 minutes of solid work 5 minute breaks. This works great during nap time for me. I close down every browser except for my Kanbanflow board. 

This board comes with a timer and allows me to assign tasks to put that time towards. I love this because it means I can see how long it takes for a project. Example? The first round of edits I did on Twisted Redemption (addressing all comments and fixing a lot of smaller things) Took me about 15 hours of work. To read through and get Druid Blood ready for Betas took me about 10 hours worth of time. Now I have an idea of how much time to allot towards Black and White Desires when it comes in and other projects that are similar. 

Like all people some times I take on too much, keeping with these let's me see when I have taken on too much and how to avoid it next time. When someone comes to me and says "I have this huge editing job, can you fit it in?" I look back at the last similar job and see how long it's taken me and say yes or no. It's great, if you're struggling I suggest you try some time of the techniques above. Even if you alter them to work for you. 

Know When To Walk Away

Sometimes we have to make hard decisions. Tough choices that hurt or might hurt others. It’s one of the suckiest things about being an adult, but it has to be done. It is what it is. It sucks, sometimes you want to cling so tightly to something because it is a part of you, but if you step back you realize that this idea you are holding onto might do better without you... So you have to move on, let it go, and realize that everything is going to be okay... Everything is going to be okay.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to break out in song like some inspirational Disney movie. Just busting out some hard self-truths. When I was little one of my favorite songs was The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. 1978’s wisdom still rings true today.

“You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away and know when to run
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealing's done”

I don’t like to give up, I try not to make it a habit, but there are times when you gotta know when to walk away. I have been working on a project co-writing A Demon’s Heart with Alexandra, we’ve talked about it here occasionally so it would be shady if I didn’t address the changes that are taking place behind the scenes and what has changed for the book.

Full Transparency:

We started this project as our NaNoWriMo project last November. The main male character was a character I’ve wanted to write for a long time. I have a huge obsession with the last Russian Royal Family, Rasputin is by far one of my all time favorite real-life villains, and I was excited to tell their sides of a story that I have had bits and pieces of floating around in my head for years. But 10 days into November my world fell apart. Quite literally the life I had known for 12 years came crumbling down one Sunday morning. Life shattered and the other half of my heart walked out of my house in handcuffs.

I cried a lot. And no, I’m not going into all the details of what happened then or what is happening now. But I am explaining this so that you will maybe somewhat understand where my head has been for the past six months. Those first few weeks were complete chaos and fear. I had no idea what I was going to do, how my kids and I were going to survive while the rest of our lives were held in limbo. I couldn’t write. I had been working on two projects: Steamworks and A Demon’s Heart, and dabbling in Waking Up In Chains when all of this happened. Every time I opened scrivener to try to work on them afterwards my hands would shake, full on panic attack would set in, I would just look at the screen, cry and hyperventilate.

But I am prideful. I am a people-pleaser. Co-dependent. Whatever you want to call it. So starting in mid-December through February I pushed myself to try to help finish ADH with Alexandra, but behind my computer screen I was a mere robot and in order to get any words out for this story I had to simply cut off my emotions and the end result (from my prospective) is a very forced and unfocused piece of writing on my end (and I am only speaking about the parts I wrote and how I feel about it). It was hard, my head wasn’t in the right place. If this were a solo project I would just shelve it because it’s too raw of a pain for me to look at, but this is a co-writing project, therefore shelving it isn’t an option.

The only option (for me) was to look at what was best for this project and for Alexandra. My decision was to take my name off of it. A lot can be fixed in editing but all in all, me not being attached to this project is what is best because I can not heal if I have to constantly look back at what I was working on when my old life came tumbling down. It just rips the scab off of the wound and starts to bleed again.

My life being in shambles wasn’t the only reason I made my decision. I also feel like I don’t have enough fans to help drive sales, this type of book will benefit being under one author’s name and a name that has more of a following. That’s just smart marketing tactics. Some readers of one author might have too much of an emotional attachment to their “author” and wouldn’t want to dip their toes into something new. We all know that feeling, you have your favorite pair of shoes, they are comfy and broken in, it almost feels wrong to slip your feet into some new, unknown pair. Secondly, because of my robot-state I don’t feel like I contributed much to the story, sure the Alexei parts and Rasputin parts are there but all in all, I don’t feel like my contribution deserves my name on the cover or any part of the profits. And third, the books POV should be considered. And that is everything I took into consideration, but mostly, it was how I feel, in my heart. This project is just too much for me to deal with while I am still mentally healing and sorting out this new life which to be honest comes with a steep learning curve for everyone involved.

Now other changes that will happen I will leave to Alexandra to explain if she wants to, as is fitting, this is her ship to sail and that is her project.

I am sad, sad that my vision of character ideas I’ve had for a long time won’t be mine, but one day when the past doesn’t hurt I suppose I can look back at that and maybe enjoy the fact that there are bits and pieces of me that might have remained (after some heavy editing LOL). So bottom line is: Sometimes you gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run.

So this is me “folding” for now. Other projects (ones started while my head and heart have gotten a bit clearer) are in the works. I have not given up on writing. But I am smart enough to recognize when something isn’t good for my soul. And right now, in this moment, this project isn’t good for my soul. And in related news, Steamworks is shelved indefinitely. My path isn’t set in stone and can’t be defined by what other people choose to do. I walk my own path and sometimes that path needs to be cleared of the rubble and debris; and other times I have to veer off that path and start blazing a new one.

If there is one thing I hope you take away from this post it is this: Do what is best for you. Find your bliss, follow your heart, but don't get so bogged down by "what you think you should be doing" that you make choices that aren't in your best interest. Be brave enough to be kind to yourself. Sometimes that is the hardest lesson for us to learn.

Quitter or Failure?

When does a writer become classified as a failure? Who makes that decision? Is there a secret number that if you don’t hit it you are forever ranked as a failure?

There seems to be this idea from non-writers that if the author they know hasn’t hit the New York Times Best Seller List then they’ve failed. I don’t agree, but there comes a time when you probably need to reevaluate what you are doing if you aren’t hitting the goals you set for yourself. (As long as they are realistic goals)

A couple of things happened this past week that have caused me a bit of self-doubt and admittedly some tears and made me wonder when someone becomes known as a failure. Is it after they try to do everything that everyone says works and steering clear of the things that supposedly don't work? Or is it just as simple as, they are a failure when they think they are one?

1) I see authors behaving badly on social media. Responding to bad reviews, calling out their friends for not buying their books, bad mouthing other authors, and throwing themselves pity parties all because they’ve been doing this for so long and have nothing to show for it.

They do the one thing that every single Marketing book says not to do and yet they are top-selling in their genre. Although if you listen to them they are barely selling, but look at their numbers and they are tops in their genre.

This leads me to believe that maybe people really do inherently flock to drama. Maybe these authors aren’t so much “behaving badly” as they are marketing geniuses!

That’s crazy, you say? Really? On any given post on social media by an author bashing a bad review, talking about giving up because sales are low, or threatening to cull their friends lists to get rid of “haters” you will find – I shit you not- between 25-100+ comments on those threads. Either backing up the authors claims that the bad review is bullying, ego stroking them to tell them not to quit and recommending friends to buy the authors books, or begging to stay in that author’s “Inner Circle” because they are such loyal fans.

It’s a marketing win! Hello! These people are getting fresh exposure whenever they do these posts. It’s genius.

I still won’t go that route… But hey, they found something that works, and even better not a lot people do it (since we all read the books that say it’s a no-no). They reap the benefits. Good on them, but it still leaves me feeling blah about my own marketing. And so, I need to reevaluate my plan. Their plan won’t work for me but my current plan isn’t working so well either.

2) The other issue comes from family. Extended family, but family none the less. I could probably just leave it at that, since Family, even distant family, always knows how to hurt you most. They know the weak spots in our armor.

An extended family member asked me how my “little writing thing” was going. When I said, “It’s going.” They asked how many books I’ve sold… I hate that question. It seems so inappropriate. I would never ask someone how much money was in their bank account or how much cash they have in their wallet, but for some reason being invasive is okay when the person is merely writing “little stories”.

Anyways, I told them my numbers and they gave me one of these --> O.O <-- looks and said, “Wow… That’s it? I think it’s safe to say it’s time to throw in the towel and call it a good try.”

I didn’t feel up to arguing after that ego punch so I simply nodded and walked away. When I got home I let it eat at me. In truth it is still eating at me. I started looking at all the things I am doing wrong…

I’m spending too much time with my family. I could be writing more if we didn’t go do things or if I sent my kids to tutoring instead of helping them with homework. I spend too much time with my animals. I could probably learn something like formatting if I didn’t give them so much of my attention… But honestly these are things that I will not give up.

So I started looking at the other wrongs I’ve committed: I don’t have a dedicated editor. I rely on beta readers and numerous rounds of edits. Sure I’ve had people (several different people) edit my books, but I have no one who I have their full attention because the people I work with also write for themselves and have work of their own to do. So I started scanning the internet trying to find someone affordable… Still waiting on that.

I don’t know how to format. I have to rely on others and hope that I am not imposing on their time to get my stuff formatted.

I don’t know HTML… That could be useful too.

As my extended family member reminded me the other day: Successful authors pay for editing, formatting, and web-based stuff… Hell they have assistants, street teams, agents, etc… And I am here trying to do it by myself with the help of friends and trying to offset favors with trades and in the end feeling like I am spread too thing and failing.

I told my husband the other night “I’d rather quit than be a failure.” He said, “You’re only a failure if you quit.” (Which is what Alex said to me too.)

Would I really quit? No, not really. I just needed to say it out loud for a moment and embrace my own private pity party. I’ve been writing and telling stories long before anyone cared to read them. So no I am not quitting.

I don’t have huge sales, I’m not selling 50 books a month. I don’t have 100+ comments on my posts, but in the end what I do have is a handful of real friends who read what I write and tell me they love it. I have some solid reviews, even if they don’t number in the thousands. And lastly, I have my kids and ironically an estranged husband who are proud of me for doing what I am doing and for not giving up and who will always indulge me when I need to cry, or vent, or have myself a pity party.

That’s really all I need. I’m not here with delusions of making it big, hitting #1 spots on lists, or to have 5000 friends. I’m here for me, my stories, and for my friends and family who support me in this adventure.

Am I still feeling blah? Sure, but later today I’ll fire up Scrivener and write some more, because I can’t – not write – it’s in my blood and if I stopped I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

P.S. After writing this all up I received an email about my Ellora’s Cave book, I got my first blog review for Twisted Revenge and it was a 4.5 star review. That helped make this day less gloomy. So while that has nothing to do with the self-publishing aspect it serves as a reminder: There’s always a silver lining.

Oh The Places You'll Go....

When I graduated high school my grandmother followed tradition and gave me a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go." This book meant a lot to me because it showed that she believed in me and Dr. Seuss is one of my idols. What's the point of me telling you this? There's a few lines in there that really speak to me as an author:

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.” 

Let's break this down and why I bring up these particular lines for the day. "So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act." As authors, artists, and just people we often tend to post negative things, some times out of frustration and sometimes out of jealousy. Now, we all have our moments where frustration comes out, but the problem is when that frustration is aimed towards attacking people. Spit. Jealousy. Sour Grapes. Whatever you want to call it, you don't bash others in your fields (Or other fields) publicly. It's bad JuJu and my friends that is not the type of attention you want. You will lose a lot of respect that way, you will be blacklisted by readers, and honestly you're just inviting trouble to yourself. (Think of the trolls on Goodreads and other websites, do you really want to show yourself as an easy target for them?)

There is a fine balance that you have to find. Yes it's frustrating when someone seems to become a big name over night, but they too had their troubles when they started. Ask any author, they won't tell you it was easy to get where they are. I'm always telling Mia that we have to remember that and not get discouraged.

"And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."

And most of us will get that success, but it'll be those of us who actually put the effort in. How does one move a mountain? A stone at a time. Small steps. You climb one the same way. There are steps to be taken and stumbling stones along the way.

Again, why am I bringing this up? Because I read an article the other day where an author stated that a big name author should stop writing (adult) fiction to allow room for new authors. (she made it clear that said author could continue to write for children or for his/her own pleasure, because she would NEVER deny that to someone...) So instead of going on a rant about it, I wanted to remind people that no matter how successful you are or are not everyone started at the bottom. There are no magic words, spells or tricks to 'hitting it big' you have to work for it. And if you're not willing to do that, then you will fail.

Now, get over your sour grapes, you have work to do.

New Genre Territory

Keeping your brand clean is important. Not clean as in "squeaky clean, nothing dirty" but clean as in "clearly defined" Authors with successful brands stick to their genre and don't confuse their readers by venturing too far out in a different direction. If I had a huge following of fans for my paranormal romance switching my next book to a western suspense novel might throw some of them for a loop. Yet when some genres fall closely together, yet are totally different what do you do?

A)    Hope your fan base follows you along on this new adventure.

B)    Create a new brand for this new side project.

 There really is no C option. Those are your choices, take it or leave it. So I guess in a way there is a C option, it's called just don't do it. I am considering publishing some stories under a totally different genre and because of that, if I do it, I will do so under a pen name. But I have another dilemma, even though I am an indie author I also have been picked up with Ellora's Cave, and I do enjoy writing submissions for smaller anthologies. But those anthology submissions don't always fall into the paranormal romance/paranormal erotic genre. So the question becomes, what do I do? Do I still write outside my genre if it is only for smaller anthologies? Do I just say screw it and write what I want without worrying about my brand I am trying to build?

Right now I have no answers for myself. I do know if I go too far off my path it would require reconfiguring my brand, I think for now dabbling in the shallow end with small submissions might be okay. It's a question of branding vs. getting my name out there for people to take notice. And this early in the game, getting my name out there might be the more important piece of the puzzle.

How do you feel about authors jumping from different genres under the same name? Would you prefer they stuck to one genre and used a separate name to write something completely different? Let us know.

2014- The Road Ahead

Last time I posted it was my year in review, so this time I thought I'd lay out the year ahead of me. My personal goals aside, I have quite a few professional goals I'd like to make happen this year. Most importantly will be writing more books. I'd like to have 3 releases under my belt this year, not counting the book I'm contracted for. I'd also like to submit at least one more thing to my publisher, but since this is about self-publishing let's just stick to that.

I'm currently working on a co-writing project with Alexandra. Hoping for that to be released some time in Spring, but for my solo projects I am working on Waking Up In Chains (book two in my Arcadian Veil series) which is paranormal romance, Mirage which is a paranormal erotic romance, and Steamworks- a steampunk BDSM novel.

Steampunk BDSM, you ask? It's a genre that has some very stiff cons but I think and hope I can do it right and put a new spin on some familiar tropes. First risk is that most people think that BDSM books are all about weak females (which it's not) and that steampunk is a genre about empowered females (which is very true). I happen to view both of these genres as having strong females (when written correctly and not having the female act like a wet noodle) and I think that my story fits the way I view things. It shows that there can be strength in submission and women who submit aren't always treated like children by their Doms. And that a good spanking with handcuffs can be fun. The other risk with writing in this genre is being compared to other authors. It seems that the BDSM genre really suffers from this type of stereotyping more so than any other genre. If I were to say to someone "I write science fiction." Most people would not respond with "Oh are you trying to be the next Orson Scott Card?" But if I say to people "I write Erotica." Or "I write BDSM." The first thing out of 95% of people is something snarky like "Oh are you trying to be the next EL James?" or "So you write that 50 Shades of Grey stuff?"

I don’t want to be compared to anyone else, I want to be my own person without having the cloud of everyone else thinking I'm trying to stick the same stuck pig to bleed out some money. It's about telling a story, one I want to read, one that is in my heart and my head, one that these voices tell me constantly and it is just my job to type it all out and hope one or two people read it and say "Wow, I really enjoyed that."

Bottom line is this: In 2009 I found my bliss again, writing. It's something that everyone in my day-to-day life told me I was never good enough for and that I could never do it. In 2010 I started to believe that I could write but only as a hobby. By 2011-12 I knew I wanted writing to be my career, but I still wasn't sure if I had what it would take. I listened to others tell me I was "okay at writing" but that I'd never be "one of the greats" I'd never be "elite" (whatever that means). But luckily I had some great ladies who told me the opposite, who said "You can do this. You are talented." 2013 was an up and down year but in the end I stood up and put myself out there and it paid off and now I have the belief I needed in myself. 2014 is my time to make it happen, learn, fall down, pick myself back up, and keep going.

But the one thing I couldn't do it all without is my friends and my kids. They are my much needed support system, they help me, encourage me, and stand by me. Which is a damn good feeling.

This year will be nothing but hard work, drive, and positive thinking.

Release Date Jitters

Release day jitters. Plain and simple, my stomach is doing Olympic high-dives every time I think about it. Waking Up In Bedlam has an official release date: November 14, 2013 and to be honest I have no idea what I am doing.

Downfall of self-publishing is that it's all on you. And when you don't know what you are doing it is like swimming in fast drying cement carrying a bowling ball. But here is the game plan.

Alex offered to help me set up a Facebook Event before the launch. I need to start pimping myself out. Maybe posting some snippets, giving away some swag. I need to find some book reviews and hopefully get a couple of reviews before my release date.

All in all, it's a lot to do before the 14^th but hopefully it will help me share my story and my characters with lots of readers who will hopefully enjoy what I've crafted.

I am firmly planted in reality. I know not everyone is going to like what I put out, I know that this won't be easy, I certainly understand that (in most cases) you do not get rich going this route and I don't expect to. I want to share what I've created, I hope that I've done the characters in my head justice, and I hope people enjoy it.

So while I am experiencing some major jitters in regards to actually giving myself a release date I am keeping the date, facing it all head on, and going to do my best to get over my fears and actually promote myself.

In the next week or so I will figuring out my marketing plan, when I have that all sorted out I will share it and we will just have to wait and see how it goes.

Balancing

Life is a balancing act. We all know that and some times the best plans fall through the cracks. I hate when that happens. I'm a scheduler. I like to know what time, when, and where long before it's supposed to happen. However, that rarely happens. I live in a house with my husband, my child, two cats, seven puppies (outside) and one adult dog (also outside), but my life can get unpredictable. So can my writing. I know you've all been waiting eagerly for Mia's Waking up and Bedlam, and I hope you've all been just as eagerly waiting for my In Black and White. The thing is, our writing life kind of caught us by surprised, dragged us under, and held us hostage.

We were both contracted to write books for Ellora's Cave. Crazy, I know. But as this blog is about Self-Publishing, I'll keep that business to a minimum, because obviously, that is not part of SPE. That being said, we've both been busy trying to balance everything, and that's going to happen to you.

As an author, you don't just write one project and say 'I'm done!' Especially as an indie author. If you read any of the marketing books out there for authors, I can promise you with in the top 5 ways to market, "Write the next book." Will be one of them. Okay, well you can write the next book after you edit, spit polish and shine and release the first one, right? Well, that depends on the type of release schedule you want to have and how many series you have. Typically in the traditional author world, it takes about a year for the next book in the series to come, some times six months. And fans are willing to wait for that, especially if they love the author. It can work that way in the Indie world too, but you don't want people to forget your name.

Now, I'm not telling you to write crap and throw it out there, because you want quality, but quantity counts for something too. My point is, never stop writing, figure out how to balance your life, your kids, your husband, your work. Stop making excuses like 'I'm too busy' or 'my day job sucks the life out of me'. I get that. I do, when I wrote one of my first novels I was working three jobs. I wrote on Lunch, between shifts, and late at night, granted I was young then, but I managed. On top of that, learn to roll with the punches, sometimes you have to put a project on hold, or sometimes something unexpected happens for it. Black and White is in limbo until I hear back about something pretty specific for it. It drives me nuts, but I have to work with it.

There's an experiment in Chris Baty's No Plot, No Problem, that I thought worked great for finding time to write. Take an spreadsheet, and put times down the side of it, starting when you wake up and going to your typical bed time. Now, track what you do each hour of your day, once you've done that for a week, go back and look at it. Anything that could be consider a time waister (I.E. Playing Candy Crush on Facebook and hour before bed. Watching that TV show you're really not into, but it was on anyways.) highlight it in red. Now look at that, really look at it and you will see when you can fit writing in.

Here's a glance at my typical weekday (I normally take weekends off for more family time.):
5:30am: Get up, make husband his lunch and breakfast
6:00am: Go back to bed. (you'll see why I do this in a bit.)
8:00am: Get up with daughter, get ready for the day, make both of us breakfast
8:45am: Feed dogs and cats, make sure there are still 7 puppies.
9:00am-11:30am: Spend time with daughter, work with her on shapes and colors, play games, attempt to work with letters. (if there is any independent play time here, I use it to do chores and occasional research.) some times go to the park, that kind of thing.
11:30: Lunch time
12:00 (some times 12:15): Daughter goes down for nap, I work on what ever is on my to-do-list. (writing, editing, blogging etc.)
2:30ish: Daughter gets up from nap, so we read, chase her around, love on her.
5:00pm: Start dinner
6:00pm: Eat dinner
6:30pm: bath time for daughter
7:00pm: Bed time for daughter, work out time for mommy. (this is normally a 30 min run)
7:30pm: Shower
8:00pm-12am: Work, writing, editing, whatever is on my list. My rule is, if I'm too tired to work, I have to go to bed. I can't play games until midnight
3:00am: Get up, feed cat.

So that's kind of how my day goes, I'm sure there are little details missing, but I tend to get a lot done during the day. The point of this post? Balance your life, find the time to get shit done, stop making excuses.