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Tips to Manage Your Time As an Author

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self-publishing author time management

I think it’s safe to say we are all guilty of some degree of procrastination. You set a goal and the deadline tends to get pushed back again and again because you just run into roadblocks along the way. Sometimes the roadblocks are in the form of writer’s block, or other priorities simply get in the way. As an author, you do have to be a little flexible with yourself. So for example, if you have an event that you would like to present your finished book at, maybe allow yourself 2 months longer than you think you really need to complete your book. Give yourself some wiggle room so that your quality of work doesn’t suffer from feeling pressure to finish writing. Here are a few tips to manage your time as an author:

Productivity Timing

Everyone has a time of day that they tend to be most productive. For some people, such as myself, they can wake up, have a coffee, scan the news, and then sit down to work by 8:00 am. It’s the afternoon where productivity begins to decline as distractions arise and the mind begins to wonder. For others, however, the evening might be the time when they are most productive. Maybe this person feels a creative spark after dinner, when their day is calm and there are no competing tasks to eat away at their time. Either way, figure out your best time of day to be productive and creative and schedule your days around that.

Calendars

Once you have figured out your prime time of day to write, plug it into a calendar. I personally like Google Calendars because they sync to all of my devices and are user friendly. So if I’m sitting on my laptop I can pull up the calendar and update it, and then it will automatically update on my phone as well.

I color code my calendar based on the activity. So I use pink for hours working, blue for appointments, green for reading/downtime, red for dinners and time with friends, and yellow for volunteer work. This makes it easy to read and set up my days. As an author, I would suggest blocking out time for writing first, and scheduling the rest of the day around that. You have to prioritize based on what is most important for you. Writing shouldn’t feel like a chore, so you don’t want to squeeze in a session among everything else you have going on in a day.

To-Do Lists

A good idea would be to attach a to-do list to your calendar. It feels great to cross things off as you complete them. If you want to take it a step further, you can use a number system of 1-5 to determine the level of priority or urgency of a task. this way you can organize your tasks and not feel overwhelmed.

Reward Yourself

Humans tend to respond well to being rewarded for their work in some way. Something that I used to do when I was in school would be to set a goal such as a textbook chapter I want to complete and then decide that when I accomplish the task, I will reward myself with something such as a nice relaxing bath, or a piece of cake, etc. Not only does this system subconsciously train you to willingly accomplish your tasks, but it also gives you enjoyment so you feel like writing is less of a chore.

Conclusion

Writing a book is an exciting and rewarding endeavor, but it requires strong commitment and determination. Using some of the suggested tips to manage your time as an author and will help you feel in control of your book and all-around more organized.

We have plenty of resources available for authors throughout our website https://blitzprint.com/author-self-publishing-support/. Additionally, feel free to contact us at books@blitzprint.com for any questions about self-publishing.

Featured Author: Amelia Lionheart, Local Calgary Author

by admin
Two of the books in the JEACs Series

JEACs

These books are Educational, Fun, adventures, where the Facts about the animals are accurate, while the locations, plots, incidents and the characters, are fictional, but plausible. There are five books, so far, in the series, and the adventures are based on animal conservation centres – in different countries (Amelia has lived in, or visited, these countries), with the focus on a different animal in each adventure. In the books, children are introduced to basic information/ideas on topics such as: captive breeding; releasing animals back into the wild; relocation; and other work being done in Conservation Centres, in Canada and around the world, to protect animals from becoming extinct or endangered. The JEACs in the books travel to different countries during their vacation from school and have an adventure!

The books are cosmopolitan, and have basic good values such as: respecting everyone, empathy and caring towards others – especially those not as fortunate as ourselves, self-discipline, humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves, teasing but not bullying, understanding and not discriminating against people who are different from us, etc. They encourage: fundraising, volunteer work, discovery and use of talents, etc. Since French, Spanish, Latin, Hindi, Sinhala, Italian, Australian, as well as some very British words and expressions, are used in the books – each book has a Glossary.  The Snow Leopard and Grizzly Bear books also have a Foreword by Dr. Doug Whiteside. Dr. Doug, is the Senior Staff Veterinarian at our Calgary Zoo, and is an eminent Zoo Veterinarian in North America. He is also a Professor at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. 

Amelia is thrilled that the REAL GROUP OF JEACs in Calgary – incredible and talented groups of youngsters, have done amazing work and have participated in numerous fundraising events with her.

What inspired you to write your books? One of my assignments when I was doing my Diploma (I have a Diploma in Writing for Children and Teenagers from The Institute of Children’s Literature, Connecticut, U.S.A.), required me to “state 5 facts, and then use all, or some of them, in a 2,000 word story”.  I chose to write a story titled “Peacock Feathers” about a boy on a Conservation Centre, named Rohan. My instructor told me it would make a good adventure story; I “fleshed it out” from 2,000 words to around 60,000 words, added several characters, (Rohan being the eldest of the JEACs, and one of the MAIN CHARACTERS, did a great deal of research on conservation centres, animals, etc., created the JEACs groups in the first book (Peacock Feathers), and – Hurray! My JEACs series began! 

I adore animals, I’m a bookaholic who reads an eclectic selection of books, loves series, education, knowledge, learning, and humour and, naturally, big and interesting words; travel and multiculturalism, fundraising, volunteer work etc.!  I have always loved Fact and Fiction, and believe very strongly in the conservation of wildlife and, in particular, the conservation of endangered species; I am convinced that awareness of this issue, when imbued in children at an early age, is a vital step towards saving our planet.  I enjoy working with the JEACs, and other young people who are aspiring authors!

If you could go back and change one thing about the process of writing or designing what would it be? I wouldn’t change the creative process at all, and my publishers are great!

Please visit the following link to learn more.

www.jeacs.com

Email: amelia.lionheart@shaw.ca – Please note, ALL children who contact Amelia, either through her website or email, MUST COPY A PARENT IN THEIR EMAIL.

*If you have printed a book with us and would like to share your story, please feel free to reach out to books@blitzprint.com.*

If you have a book that you are looking to print or inquire about publishing, please get in touch with us here

Common Self Publishing Mistakes

by Blitzprint Inc. Leave a comment
Common Mistakes Authors Make

Each day I have the pleasure of helping authors take their final step in the journey of being self published – getting the book printed. For some the process takes weeks, others take months and some can stretch beyond a year. Among all of these authors, however, tends to be a series of common mistakes made by self publishing authors.

The biggest factor is preparation. Are you really ready to print?

At Blitzprint we are a digital printing company which means we work with digital files that we then send to our printing machines (think of it as a giant printer) The files that we can send to our printers must be in PDF format. Before we can get to this stage we need to make sure your file is “print ready”.

So let’s start from the beginning:

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