I finally took a break from book-writing and spent it preparing some articles for publication. I sent 5 different articles to 5 different publishing-related publications. Some of the articles have already been accepted. I’m actually between books. We finished my new ebook, The Successful Author’s Handbook. I’ll officially break out the champagne and give you the link to the book at my website once my webmaster gets it posted.
Now I will focus on the new Catscapades book. You probably recall when I came out with Catscapades last year. It was an ebook that we sometimes printed out and produced in comb-binding. Some of you may have a copy of it. Well, I’m revising it, putting a new cover on it and publishing it as a sweet little perfectbound book. I’m excited!
If you have friends who love reading heartwarming, humorous, delightful true stories of cats, you’re going to want to purchase copies as gifts throughout the year.
This is one of the easiest blog posts to write—the one where you just tell what you’ve been doing or you’re just talking about something that’s on your mind. But what does that do for you faithful blog readers? How does this help you other than, maybe, to inspire or motivate you to work on your book or write an article? So, even though I have a busy day planned and little time to spend with this blog post today, I want to offer you something of potential value in your quest for publishing success.
What keeps you from completing (or even starting) your dream projects? Do you wish that you could say, “I’m a published author,” or “My article appears this week in ‘so and so’ magazine?” Do you have ideas and even material related to a book or an article, but you just haven’t pulled it together, yet? What are you waiting for? Here are some prompts that might help you start or complete your project:
• If the idea of writing an entire book or even an article is daunting—overwhelming, view the project in sections. Work on it one chapter or one portion or one task at a time.
• If finding time to write or do the research is a problem, examine your schedule—I mean right down to the minute—and discover where you could make sacrifices. Few authors or freelance writers succeed without having made sacrifices somewhere along their journey.
• If you just don’t know where to start, organize yourself. List the tasks involved with your project—interviews, research, taking photographs, writing. Schedule each task and give yourself deadlines.
When you aren’t accomplishing the things you truly want to accomplish—if you make one excuse after another as to why you haven’t started or completed the project—then it may be necessary to trick yourself. Rather than moving through life on your current, go nowhere path, start veering off in other directions—directions toward your goal. If it is a worthwhile goal, you’ll be glad that you shook up your life enough to finally include the things that will bring you the most joy.
If you need help with your project, remember that I work with clients on their projects. Within the past ten days, I have helped an author write a more powerful query letter, I edited a chapter in a tour guide and I edited a chapter in a nonfiction book. Later this month, I expect the last section of a novel back for editing. Call on me for editing work or a consultation with regard to your project.
You might also find the help you need in one of my books—the newest one, The Successful Author’s Handbook, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, The Author’s Repair Kit or A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles, for example.
http://www.matilijapress.com