The Writing and Promoting Tightrope

Before I begin my article for this week I would like to mention that Patrick, the author of the SciFi post from a few weeks ago, has posted a guest article I prepared for his site. It is about author platforms, how to build one and why you want to. I invite all of you to his site to read the article and check out some of his posts. The link is - http://www.atfmb.com/.

This time of year is hard on us writers. We want to finish our projects; perhaps start a new one but the weather is so nice and inviting that it is just too hard to resist. We, as passionate soon to be published authors, stand tall in the face of this temptation. Sometimes we win and get to writing but sometimes we lose and end up outside playing in the sun. Actually, I would say you win out either way but your writing takes the hit. Fortunately for us the weather is not perfect or nice all the time throughout the year or even the week so we can justify enjoying it when we have it.

There are many things that can take us away from our writing and I'm sure that, like me, you have a list of specific things. We will not be looking at all of these things because that would make for a very long article but we will take a peek at one that will eventually cause us a little stress. In a word it is promoting. I know, that is a general term now a days. Why do we need to think about this now when we are not published yet?

It is always smart to start thinking and even planning because you never know if an agent or publisher will ask for your marketing plan. It goes a little further then that though, we need an idea of how to promote and market so we can find that balance to maintain our writing goals. As I found out from a friend who is published with a second book coming out soon, it is not easy at all to find that balance between writing and promoting. To think that an agent or a publisher will help you with promoting and marketing would be a mistake as more of the weight and responsibility is pushed to the author.

I think now is a time for us to get a taste of that schedule so the culture shock will be minimized when that exciting day arrives. To a degree we promote and write now but we may need to take it a step further. If you look at your day and divide it up what do you get? Many of us work, take care of a home and children and other necessities like that but what about the remaining time? Don't forget about sleep. The remainder is what we typically put towards writing but we need to start exercising our schedules to include blog time, social networking time and events time. Many of you have a blog and you know how much time you need to keep it fresh and current. The same can be said about social networking. The great thing about both is that if they get to heavy handed on your schedule there are sites on the Internet that will allow you to schedule both Tweets, blogs, and status updates for Facebook. That could free up a lot of time.

What about events? We are not yet published authors who attend book signings or readings; however, there are other things happening in our lives that could take there place. What do I mean? Say you have a set amount of words you want to type in a week. You know your average word count per night when you include blogging and networking; now add in that event you have with your husband or child or friend. What do you have to do to maintain your goal? Do you have the time to type the extra words on a different night to reach your goal? If you schedule your posts and updates will that free up the needed time?

It is an exercise like this that will train our minds to be flexible enough to adjust to any situation and train us to remain calm as our schedules fill up. Granted it will not completely prepare us for what could come with a published book but it could get us far enough along to take the edge off. The important thing to remember is to maintain that balance that allows us to write and get our names in the public eye. Writing is our passion, promoting is our way of sharing.