Summer is coming to a close for my kids and I CAN'T BE MORE HAPPY!! Not really happy that I won't be seeing my kids all day, but HAPPY that I'm going to get my writing time back!!
Summer break isn't writer friendly. I know I preach about 'HOW BAD DO YOU WANT SUCCESS," and taking every single free minute to get your writing done. I do that! But it leaves me frazzled nonetheless.
(This was me yesterday in Cincinnati traffic.....stand still! So I edited!!)
But this still doesn't relieve the stress that we all feel when we are being pulled in a million directions when it comes to our families. Not to mention the stress we put on ourselves to put out the next book.
We make our own publishing schedule. Here is the next FIVE months of mine:
August: Release of A CHARMING CURE (second book in the Magical Cures Series)
September: Release of Color Me A Crime (second book in the Olivia Davis Mysteries)
October: Begin the third book in the Magical Cures Series
November: Nanwrimo the novel, POSTCARDS FROM PARIS
December: Release of A SUPERSTITIOUS WEDDING (Grandberry Falls Christmas Ever After short story)
**I'm not even including my novel with agent!**
Umm....
I'm fried!! I'm fried because I'm NO WHERE near my production schedule and I'm a little stressed. Life is going to slow down, way down, in a week. My guys will be going back to school, and I will get back to my writing schedule, along with fixing up my environment.
If you are anything like me, you also need a good MOJO writing environment. Here are some great tips to help get your environment in the grove of writing to help you hit your production schedule.
1) LOCATION
You need to find a great place that helps recharge your creativity and maximum focus on your novel. It could be as simple as your bedroom, coffee shop, library, van (Yes! I use to write in my van!), wherever....just figure that location out and get to work.
This summer I redid my office! Not only do I have doors (yes, I didn't have doors before), I have a new desk and a chalk board wall!! I'm very excited to sit down in my office, not worry about taking kids here and there (which I do love being with my guys), and enjoying my muse talk to me while I start hitting my production schedule.
2) UTENSILS
Now that you have your location, what do you need to help you be productive?
Laptop? Pen/paper? Research information? Coffee? Chocolate? Candy? Stuffed animal cat? Red Hots? (ummm....)
We all have our quirky items that we HAVE to have when we are writing. These little comforts make us happy and let our creative juice flow.
3) Time
Do you have a time of day that you are more productive than others? My prime-time is from 10am-2pm. After 2pm, I'm usually ready for a little nap and some reality TV:) And before 10am, I'm generally doing all of my marketing and promoting.
So figure out your writing time of the day and get to it!
Does summer throw you off? Do you have a production schedule you stick to?
