Budget! I'm referring to the budgeting of time. Any author's life is filled with a multitude of responsibilities including family, friends, not to mention that most of us have a day job. I mention friends and family as responsibilities because we'd be awfully lonely without those we love in our lives, so they deserve our time and consideration. So then, it becomes doubly important that we budget our time for writing and promoting.
I belong to several yahoo groups as well as Linkedin, Twitter, and Triberr. These are all things that I am part of in order to chat with readers and promote my erotic romance books. I check emails each morning and usually before bed. In between, it becomes a matter of budgeting my time. After all, I'm the main one who cooks and cleans, so if I want to work on the next book, then I better make good use of my time.
Ah, another crucial B word…Book! Writing the next book needs to be our first priority as authors. Readers look forward to our next new book whether we are writing a series or just singular stories. As a reader myself, I know this to be true. Immersing ourselves in the creation of a story can also be thought of as our temporary escape from our demanding lives. We should enjoy what we write, not worrying whether the next story will sell or not. Each new book deserves the love of an unencumbered heart. While it'd be great if the next book made us rich, we can't write something worthy of reading under such pressure.
Our last B of the day is Blogs! Having recently started my own blog, I've come to realize that promotion work needs to be done, and done with enough efficiency not to leave us exhausted. This is one reason I've always loved doing guest blogs. I keep it to one or two a month, which allows me to meet an intriguing new group of readers from each blog. Exciting fun!
So what are your thoughts on Budgeting your time? I've tried multi-tasking but dinners tend to come out crispy and dark. Lol. Especially, if a particular scene is particularly hot and spicy.
How do you manage your time in order to get the next book written?
Mary Corrales
8 comments:
Great post, Mary, but you forgot to mention B for "BUGGIES"! You know, those people that just cant stop themselves from interrupting you constantly, and always saying: "Oh, were you writing? Wanna do something?"
LOL!!!
hugs, Kari Thomas, www.authorkari.com
Lol. I did forget those people. Maybe they figure that we can write anytime but they have something more exciting for us to do.
Yep, been there. :)
Great post! It's definitely not easy to squeeze in time for writing, especially given the other demands of the day. I usually have to just sit down and forcibly ignore other distractions, at least for a little bit!
I find that when one thing goes another comes. My children are grown up... but now I have to cook for my father and since he doesn't eat what my husband and I eat that means a separate hour spent cooking every day at his place. I've also been out for two hours a day exercising for a few years but for the last seven weeks I've been sick with a virus that won't go away. Alas, even with two extra hours a day i feel too ill to make the best use of my time. Sometimes I wish for a quiet island...
Great post. And I seriously need to learn how to budget my time better.
Lara, yes it's sometime the only way to get writing done is to tune out distractions. Afterall, the house won't fall down if the laundry is done later. :)
Sally, oh so sorry to hear about that nasty virus. It must be so frustrating not to be able to exercise while sick. I enjoy exercising ten minutes throughout the day, as I can.
Feel better soon, and if I find a millionaire with a quiet island, I tell him you're looking for him.
*Wellness hugs*
Brenda, good luck with the time budgetting. Remember it's more satisfying to get a little bit done, than nothing at all.
Of course, be flexible because life does like to go awry. :)
Thanks for commenting!
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