Managing Time
One of the most important skills you can learn, no matter what field of work you are in, is how to manage your time. As an employer, you are going to want employees that can deal with prioritizing and being punctual. Those are two of the most important pieces of managing time. Mix in a schedule and you are basically a time expert.
You need to be prepared whether you are writing a book, marketing, doing a tax return. There needs to be a structure of how you finish tasks. Time is a variable you can control. Make it your friend instead of your enemy by putting deadlines on yourself and working backwards.
Right now I am breaking my time as follows:
- 1-2 Hours of Social Media/Email
- This is my daily work health check
- I respond to new messages
- Try to post new content
- Try and find new followers
- Review my website and my links to ensure everything is working
- Review emails for any priority communications
- 1-2 Hours of Marketing
- I have a spreadsheet with all my potential leads for Bloggers, Bookstragrammars, BookTubers, and book websites
- Try to reach out to a few every couple of days
- 4-6 Hours of Writing, Brainstorming, Editing, Reading
- Depending on where I am in the process, I usually break this into two 3 hour blocks
- I separate the blocks with a chore, jog, or dog walk
I have no “employer” but I treat my writing/marketing like a job and generally do this 6 days per week. I will break away from the schedule to deal with social events with family/friends, high priority opportunities, or ride a creative wave, but that will only be for a few days at most.
Breaks are also important. It’s good for creativity and perspective to step away for 30 minutes to an hour.
During the summer I start my days around 5:30 with a coffee and a walk (sometimes a jog). Not a big breakfast eater. By 7:00 I am usually working and I spend about 3 hours. Then I take my first break. I do a chore and then grab a little snack/meal. Sometimes this break can be over an hour. I get back to work for the afternoon, usually stopping for a dog walk. If I am feeling the task, I will do an extra 3-hour block after the dog walk. If not, I then usually watch something on Netflix or I read.
I will keep this up until I have PULSE ready for beta. At least 6 more weeks. Then I will set new goals and work backwards, scheduling the various milestones.
Creative Inspiration:
Still watching AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. Just wrapping season 2.
Also watched ENDER’S GAME again. It is a sleeper sci-fi. If you don’t know the story, the last 30 minutes are pretty strong. Wish they had made sequels. Had been a few years since I watched it and still enjoyed it.
Work:
- Working with PumpUpYourBook on a scheduled tour (https://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2020/06/30/%f0%9f%93%9a-pump-up-your-book-presents-someones-story-virtual-book-publicity-tour-ya-comingofage/
- Self-organizing more promotion with Book Bloggers, BookTubers, and Bookstagrammers
- One of the first Bookstagrammers partnerships went live this week! https://www.instagram.com/p/CCOGxIIAe-g/
- I used the Readers’ Favourite press release feature. Never done this before so we’ll see if any of the backlinks pay dividends. Have my doubts. I also manually sent the press release to Canadian news outlets (mainly where I live and grew up)
- Still plugging away on IT and CUJO looking to capture a bit of the Stephen King energy.
- Received my editor notes back on PULSE. Will be spending the next 6 weeks trying to edit/write my manuscript with the hopes of a beta read happening in August.
B.A. Bellec 