Thank Others

I'm taking a short break from blogging next week for my first little summer getaway. I don't believe I mentioned that earlier this week, my husband and I celebrated 31 years of wedded bliss. With our fifth and sixth kids now enrolled in college, one finishing up next May, we've had some lean financial years. We've stuck together through thick and thin and not matter how thin, my husband has always supported my writing. I've tried to be as supportive of his activities. But in case I don't say it enough in private, I'll say it in public. "Thanks, dear."

Yes, I call him dear. We're going to celebrate our anniversary and Father's Day by going out of town, on Monday. We're still paying a lot of tuition so we vacation on weekdays when rates are cheaper.

This writing journey has involved a lot of help and support from others. I plan on thanking lots of people over the next few months. Today let me thank a very successful writer who has given my so much advice over the years. Not only about publishers, but simple things like questions about word processing programs, web tools and promotion.

Natalie Damschroder has a blog at Indulge Yourself. She writes for a variety of publishers and is a very active member in CPRW, the local chapter of RWA. And she's so generous with helping writers just starting out. She will answer any and all questions and do whatever she can to help others' careers along.

Daily Writing Goals

If you google 'setting writing goals' you'll find lots and lots of advice, most from more successful writers than me. I can only share what works for me.

When I first started, I received a lot of advice on setting goals involving word counts. One thousand words a day, five thousand words a week, thirty thousand per month, two books per year, lots of numbers. And I try to make those numbers though that's not how I set my goals day by day or writing session by writing session.

I set goals by scenes or chapters. Sometimes they might be 10K or 1K. By finishing a scene, I feel like I've moved the story forward no matter how large or small the word count. Then I usually walk away, do chores, sleep on it, do some shopping, all the while thinking on that next scene. When I sit at the keyboard again, I'm ready to dive into the next scene. There are occasions when I already have that next scene ready in my mind. Those are days when the numbers really add up.

Some people have a certain amount of time to write and their goal is to spend that time wisely. I'm not sure how that works out.

But if you're not meeting the goals you set for yourself, perhaps you need to look at different styles of goal setting. Not making your word count? Try setting scene goals.

Do you set goals by words count? By time? By chapter or scene? What works for you?

Full Time !

Yes, the countdown clock is going. I'm officially retired after 34 years of teaching high school. Those last days were hectic and lots of fun. The four younger teachers in my department took my fellow retiree and me out to lunch one day, gave us wonderful cards and gifts. I have a stack of cards and letters from my students, many that choked me up but none that could wipe the grin from my face. On that last day I received lots of calls from my family, hugs from my peers, including the school superintendent, and walked out of that school building with no regrets and lots of plans.

During that last hectic week at school, I also received the (hopefully) last round of edits for First Dragon from my editor at Crescent Moon Press. So between all the smiling and hugging, I worked on those edits, tried to keep up on blogging, facebooking and get in a few new pages on The Queen's Heiress, the follow up book to The Marine's Queen. 

In fact, I spent the last week fulfilling one of my retirement intentions. Keeping multiple projects in the air. And I loved it. Writing easily could have captured more than forty hours during that time. It was wonderful. So edits are done and sent back, 5K done on WIP, and blogs are ready for the week. I have a lot of little things to accomplish but also time for the WIP.

Besides all the in person kindness I received on retirement, Alex Cavanaugh kindly congratulated me on his blog. It was like another hug just to make the day complete. Thanks, Alex.

I know many people will be taking holidays over the  next few months as will I. I'm looking forward to a quick, trip to the Jersey Shore next week. The second week of July, we're heading to Colorado. I'm not sure how much I'll be in touch. Now that I'm a full time writer, I have to wonder when exactly the days off are.

What are your plans for summer vacations? We did stay-cations last year, very cheap. Are you setting some writing goals for the summer months?

InSecure Writers Support Group

Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for starting the IWSG. The first Wednesday of every month, a feisty group of bloggers share ideas, hopes, a few cheers and other tidbits to help each other along.

Though I'm retiring soon and hope to have lots of writing time, I think every person trying to make it in this often frustrating business has to address the problem of time management. As a teacher, I always expected myself to get lots of writing done during the summer months. But last year was the first summer when I actually fulfilled that expectation. The previous years, it seemed the more time I had the less I accomplished. I've heard other writers say the same thing. They do better when they know they only have a few hours rather than the entire day.

Full time writers I've spoken to have described how they establish a regiment of how much time they spend on social media, on email, on promotion and then actual writing time. Some set aside certain times of day to do each thing. It works for them.

I recently read an article in a writing publication from a very successful author where she spoke about how to manage your writing time. She believes in the 'lock the door and stay in the chair' philosophy. Her one statement was to never leave the keyboard to do the laundry. It stuck in my mind because I do the laundry while I'm writing on the time. Some is in the dryer as I write this post. And that works for me. When I'm not sure how I want to say something, I go throw the towels from the washing machine into the dryer. Or I may go chop some veggies or make a cup of tea. I step away from the keyboard and do mindless chores that allow me to ponder.

My point is that reading all the opinions and advice articles in the world, including mine, may not solve your time management problems. You have to find the method that works for you, in your situation, with your personality, your outside responsibilities and that will help you meet your goals.

Have you tried following someone else's advice on time management? Did it work for you? Is time management a problem for you?

Focus?

How focused are you when you write? Do you need perfect quiet? Do you need a clear desktop? Can you close a door and shut out the rest of the world or even just your own household?

I grew up in a large family, four sisters and two brothers. The only desk in the house belonged to my dad and none of us were allowed to use it. I usually did my homework sitting on the floor or on the sofa. The TV would be on and my brothers and sisters would be around doing their own homework or arguing like siblings do. I learned early on how to tune out what was going on around me. It served me well through high school and college when I could read and study no matter what was going on around me.

As an adult with four children, I think I've grown in my talents of concentration. Entire conversations go on around me, sometimes directed  at me, and I might never hear them if I'm reading, writing, or working on this blog. And on the flip side of that, I actually work better when I have a little noise to ignore. I almost always have a movie, Netflix or a DVD, running in the background when I write. (Season 1 of Hell on Wheels right now) I concentrate better. My early training I suppose.  I do tend to pick a video that will fit the mood of what I'm writing. The Marine's Heiress is in a pretty dark, dangerous place right now.

Don't forget today is the official release day of James Garcia's Seeing Ghosts. Check out his facebook page. 

Today is also the last day I have to actually teach at school. The next four days are just babysitting and clean up. A few of my classes choked me up as we said our goodbyes last Friday, but I managed not to cry. Mostly I've been smiling a lot.

How are you at focusing while you write or read? Are you lucky enough to be able to lock a door and leave the world outside? Do you ever set the mood for what you're writing with music or a movie? Do your family or your friends ever get irritated with you because you tuned them out when you're reading or writing?

No Golden Ticket

In a recent online discussion, a hopeful writer shared her discouragement because an agent told her that she didn't want to represent her well-written book because it couldn't be sold. It was a 'niche' book and unlikely to fit into any needs of the 'big' publishing houses. Those rejection letters are disheartening and most writers have received them at one time or another. Some of us have a nice collection of them.

Of course, many people joined the discussion and described similar experiences and offered lots or suggestions on what step to take next. The discouraged writer also posed the question about there being a secret to getting published, a magic ticket to the world of being a published author. Again, many of us have heard amazing stories about people being in the right place at the right time. But even if we save the life of a grateful agent or editor, no one is going to publish our work if it isn't a good story, well-written and structurally ready for publication. There is no golden ticket into the publishing world (unless you're a celebrity just getting out of rehab or prison).

Hard work and persistence will help you write your own ticket. You're probably tired of hearing about my book, The Marine's Queen, that is remaining in the top 100's, even the top 10, in three different categories on Kindle. I pitched that book years ago in a face to face with an editor for one of the big houses. She rejected it, never asked for the full manuscript even. I kept working and contracted numerous books with other indie publishers. Last summer I dusted the Marine manuscript off and did some rewrites and contracted it to New Concepts Publishing. Now it's the best selling

book I've ever had. And NCP pays me better per book than any big pub company would.

Smaller indie presses take chances on niche books, new writers and books off the mainstream. They can help you design your own golden ticket.

Have you ever had someone ask you what the secret was to getting published? If you're with a small press, do you still dream of one of the NY biggies calling you? Can you guess where publishing might be in five or ten years?

Get Healthy Blogfest

Thanks to these great bloggers who are hosting this Get Healthy blogfest. I'm hoping to learn a lot and you can too. Visit any of the hosts and find full lists of participants there.

Alex Cavanaugh
Stephen Tremp
L. Diane Wolfe
Michael Di Gesu

To be a successful writer, you have to spend hours with your butt in a chair unless you're lucky enough to have one of those desks that set on your treadmill. I still want one of those. Especially when you're on a deadline, personal or set by someone else, you'll find yourself relatively immobile for long periods.

I like to jog for my main workout though I'm much slower than I used to be. When I was younger, jogging meant five miles in about forty minutes, but it takes me a lot longer now.  My jogging now is rather pathetic but I enjoy it. The problem with slower paces is the lower level of intensity. Orthopedically, I just can't run like I used to. Too many knee surgeries, so I have to find different ways to keep the intensity up. I do that outside by heading for the hills. Up hill is so much harder than level, whether jogging or walking. But at my pace, I still need to spend a lot of time out there to get the workout I used to get by going faster. Being a writer, I don't always have that hour or hour and a half I need to get a good workout.   The answer, intensity. I can't go faster, so I climb those dang hills.  On the treadmill in bad whether, I really crank up the height angle so I burn a lot of calories.

Time limits on your workout = increase your intensity. You can burn more calories in a shorter period of time.

Do you make changes in your workout when time is short? Do you have a helpful hint to stay healthy? Have you changed how you work out as you get older or do you still go as hard as you did years ago?