I'm Back!!!

Okay, I admit, the end of last year sucked for me and writing. As in, I didn't write a word on my book from about mid-November on. So I've made some changes in how I keep myself accountable.

First, I've recommitted to writing as a regular activity. While I didn't write anything for the past month and a half, I did read a lot of blogs about self-publishing, and things are changing. Authors are starting to see success without having a huge back list. A ton of e-readers were sold for the holidays. If there ever was a time to be self-publishing e-books, it's now. Writing for vanity is one thing. That's easy to procrastinate. But writing to make real money? Hey, that's worth making a priority.

Okay, so all well and good to say I've made it a priority. That and $1.69 will get me a medium iced tea at Panera. What specifically have I done to make sure writing happens?

For 2011, I have three areas I am focusing on, for work. One of them is publishing. The other two are related to my coaching business. Each morning, I am dedicating time to planning my day. One of those three areas must be represented each day. And each evening, I look back on the day and write down (in my iPhone, of course), what I did that day to advance each goal. So far, I'm on track for the first two days I've used the system.

I'm also being more specific about my tasks. Instead of a recurring "Work on Werepuppy" task, which I mostly ignored, I'm creating specific tasks based on what I think I can accomplish that day. For the last two days, the task was "Re-read Werepuppy." It had been so long since I'd worked on it that I thought I needed a refresher.

Starting today, my goal is even more specific. Today the goal is "Write 2000" words. I think I can do that since I don't have any meetings scheduled, and I've burned through a lot of admin-type tasks that accumulated over the holidays. Other days, the goal will be smaller. Some days, I won't work on the book at all. That's okay. I'm looking at each day and setting realistic, specific tasks for the day.

I think it will work. I committed to my coach to work on getting these systems working by the end of the month. I'll report later on how it's working.

Enough about process, though. Tune in next week when we have some fun. I'm going to be interviewing my main character, Dafydd the warlock. If you have any questions you want to ask him, put them in the comments, and I'll include them next week.

Here's your chance to ask a fictional character anything you want. Don't miss out!