It always seems to come as a shocker of what I originally thought the author life was going to be like. Looking back at the way I went about promoting Prossia tends to make me go "How did I possibly think that was going to work?" At least time can bring wisdom if we look for it hard enough, right? ;)
So, after spending what I consider two years of bad marketing for my book, I saw the need to play "catch up" with the new knowledge I gained this year. After coming back from the Superstars Writing Seminars in Las Vegas this year, I finally felt like I had the knowledge to get on the right track. Because of that, I started running right when my feet hit the floor once I got back home. The following days and weeks following the seminar included the following for me:
- Blog shopping
- Network building
- Graphic designing
- Facebook Page building
- Facebook club maintenance
- Agent Queries
- Editor Queries
Yep. Right when I woke up in the morning all the way to going to bed that night, this was what I did for days. I was so fired up, I was ready to do anything and everything to help market my current book and future books. . . except for one thing.
While I cannot stress the importance of finding one's own method up promoting our stories, I forgot one itty bitty thing on the list. Taje a look. Do you see it? Yep. I didn't save enough time to write. Ironic, isn't it, especially after the seminar stressed the importance of making time for that little to-do item? ;) As we go about branding ourselves as writers, lets not forget that one thing that gives us such a title, and that's writing.
Most if not all established authors will tell us that we need to have a complete manuscript before we can even think about those several examples I have bulleted above. There is SO much work involved beyond making sure that the story we're writing is a good one. So we better make sure we have something already written down before we're all gung-ho. Still, it's vital to keep our creative juices flowing even when we're marketing that story that we dream about being a NYT. :P
Write some short stories. Get started on the next installment if a story is a series. Whatever it is, we need to make sure we're doing some form of creative writing even when we're in the "post-production" of our latest book. I'm afraid I can't give a guideline as to how one is supposed to fit writing in a schedule that is already severely cramped. We all have different jobs, families, and other obligations that require our daily attention as well. So, while some of us can find enough time to get 3,000 words out in a day, some of us might only be able to get out 1,000 or even less. Whatever it is, each word we write down is making us better at what we love to do.
Don't forget to write, writers. This lifestyle we've decided to give into isn't anywhere near as romantic or luxurious as many would fancy it out to be, but we still do it, don't we? That's because we love the world building, the character development, that tingle we get in the back of the neck when we know we're closing in on one of the most powerful scenes in our adventure. We do it because we love to write. So, as this lifestyle takes us away to meet so many other obligations, there's nothing wrong with rewarding ourselves with a little creativity from time to time ^_^. Happy writing!
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