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Struggling to Write? How to Stay Motivated When Life Gets in the Way

by Kimberley Grabas

Struggling to Write? How to Stay Motivated When Life Gets in the Way | YourWriterPlatform.com

Even if we love what we do, we may find our motivation waning from time to time. It happens to the best of us, and when it does, it can compromise our focus, productivity and confidence. Guest author Angela Baker shares some of her best ideas on how to stay motivated even when life gets in the way.

Books don’t write themselves and lack of motivation can be one of the biggest impediments for aspiring authors.

Maybe you’ve written a few books already, but don’t know how to get them out there and you feel like your voice will never be known. Or maybe a personal problem is taking its toll on your creativity and you’re experiencing writer’s block. 

No matter what keeps you from moving forward, experiencing ups and downs is a normal part of your writing career.

Even the world’s most famous and talented writers struggled with lack of motivation at one point, but it’s important to keep going and develop a strategy to pick yourself back up when words no longer come easy.  

Write Every Day, No Matter What 

Maya Angelou’s ‘just write’ strategy isn’t always easy to apply.

What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’

– Maya Angelou

Forcing yourself to write every day, no matter what, can actually be tedious and painstaking, especially if you tend to be self-critical.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Productivity Tagged With: planning, productivity, writing

Craft Your Self-Publishing Plan for Success: Tips From an Indie Author [A Case Study]

by Kimberley Grabas

Craft Your Self-Publishing Plan for Success Tips from an Indie Author | YourWriterPlatform.com

If you are like most aspiring authors, you may just want to write. However (like most authors), you’ll soon realize that when you decide to self-publish your work, you become the CEO of your own startup – the business of writing, producing, and publishing your own books. And to do so successfully, you need a plan. In this post, my friend and fellow author, Laini Giles, shares her self-publishing plan for success. 

It’s hard when you’re a writer and you have no idea what to do with your books, other than write them. The whole marketing business is a big mysterious deal. Why do some books seem to get a huge push and others just sit there?

After 176 rejections, I finally decided that I was going to self-publish my novel The Forgotten Flapper. But I had no idea what to do, so I created a plan.

So many self-published books I saw were badly done—badly written, typos, awful covers, and other amateurish characteristics that I didn’t want to emulate. If I was going to self-publish, I was going to kick ass at it. I was going to create my own new genre, and I was going to succeed at it.

My Goals:

  • I would self-publish at a high standard (professional editing and covers that are indistinguishable from professionally published books at big bookstores).
  • I would create a well-coordinated marketing plan.
  • I would establish a solid foundation for future books.
  • I would eventually earn a liveable income as a writer.

My Challenges:

  • That I was working in a relatively narrow genre.
  • That I was working with limited resources.
  • That I had one year to learn everything I needed to know.

I gave myself a year to learn everything I needed to know about self-publishing. But when it came to thinking about marketing, about 6 months out from the release day I’d picked, I knew I’d need to come up with a well-coordinated plan, and put it into play. Here’s what I did. Maybe it can help some of you! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Business of Writing Tagged With: author platform, book marketing, planning, self-publishing

5 Invaluable Strategies to Help You Reach Your Big Goals in 2017 and Beyond

by Kimberley Grabas

5 Invaluable Strategies to Help You Reach Your Big Goals in 2017 and Beyond _ YourWriterPlatform.com

Ahh, a new year.

All fresh and shiny, with it’s endless possibilities and your newly-minted resolutions…

It’s hard to believe that in just a few short weeks, your 2017 “to-do” list will morph into a hot mess (if it hasn’t already).

And much like last year, you’ll be flying by the seat of your pants – chasing the urgent over what’s truly important – detached from your goals and dreams and lost in the tangle of it all.

Unproductive and uninspired.

Ugh.

How about we hop off that hamster wheel? Instead, I’ll take you through five fundamental strategies that will help you get inspired, realign with your dreams, and allow you to confidently make the decisions that will move your writing career forward in 2017. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Business of Writing, Platform Building Tagged With: goal setting, planning, productivity

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