Anne Conley's Blog - Posts Tagged "process"
Funerals suck
I just spent the last weekend with funeral activities for a family member. Funerals suck, unless it's a 102 year-old woman who dies, and then it's a celebration of life. When my Grandma died, she'd been alive so long, and was so mean during her 102 years, there were a few rousing renditions of "Ding dong the witch is dead..."
But this weekend was not one of those kinds of funerals. This one was a 53 year-old woman who had ALS, and it was positively awful. Aunt Lisa was a woman who inspired women all over the country to succeed with whatever they wanted to do. Including me. She was a successful entrepreneur, a fabulous mother, and a dedicated wife. This isn't supposed to be a eulogy, just a little post to give credit where credit is due.
Every morning, I wake up, and ask myself, "What am I going to do for my business today?" Because writing is a business, whether it's getting a word count completed, finishing a scene, making friends on a social network to get the word out, or updating a blog. It all needs to get done. Aunt Lisa taught me to do something every single day, not matter how small. It all counts.
Yesterday, I woke up in a residual funeral fugue, to start catching up on email. In smashwords, I glanced over at the left side of the screen to see, "Account Balance: $312.57." I thought to myself, "Great, I owe somebody else money." The last time I'd looked, it was $7 and something. As I browsed around, trying to figure out what happened, I realized that Smashwords owes me that money. Their quarterly reports came out, I couldn't think about anything else the rest of the day.
Aunt Lisa, I just want to tell you thanks. You told me to believe in myself, and I did. And now, apparently others do too. Seven dollars is nepotism. Three hundred dollars is a great start to a business.
I'm looking forward to implementing more of Aunt Lisa's tricks into my new marketing endeavors. She was a top seller/recruiter in the nation for a direct marketing company. I've implemented the obvious ones, now I just need to do a little more thinking outside the box and figure out where to go next.
But this weekend was not one of those kinds of funerals. This one was a 53 year-old woman who had ALS, and it was positively awful. Aunt Lisa was a woman who inspired women all over the country to succeed with whatever they wanted to do. Including me. She was a successful entrepreneur, a fabulous mother, and a dedicated wife. This isn't supposed to be a eulogy, just a little post to give credit where credit is due.
Every morning, I wake up, and ask myself, "What am I going to do for my business today?" Because writing is a business, whether it's getting a word count completed, finishing a scene, making friends on a social network to get the word out, or updating a blog. It all needs to get done. Aunt Lisa taught me to do something every single day, not matter how small. It all counts.
Yesterday, I woke up in a residual funeral fugue, to start catching up on email. In smashwords, I glanced over at the left side of the screen to see, "Account Balance: $312.57." I thought to myself, "Great, I owe somebody else money." The last time I'd looked, it was $7 and something. As I browsed around, trying to figure out what happened, I realized that Smashwords owes me that money. Their quarterly reports came out, I couldn't think about anything else the rest of the day.
Aunt Lisa, I just want to tell you thanks. You told me to believe in myself, and I did. And now, apparently others do too. Seven dollars is nepotism. Three hundred dollars is a great start to a business.
I'm looking forward to implementing more of Aunt Lisa's tricks into my new marketing endeavors. She was a top seller/recruiter in the nation for a direct marketing company. I've implemented the obvious ones, now I just need to do a little more thinking outside the box and figure out where to go next.
The Process
I'm extremely focused on my writing goals. As I stated in my first post, I'm doing the Indie Author thing because I want to make money. I'm tired of living on peanuts, and I share the American dream of providing for my family doing something that I love. I have a business plan, and part of that plan includes publishing something every three months, to stay on top of some sort of algorithm the epublishers have working. I don't even know what an algorithm is, but I'm trying to work with it. So, yesterday, I tore apart a calendar that we got from the Chinese buffet here in town, and wrote my writing goals on it.
On the calendar, I have noted publishing dates, and based on those dates, when I need to get my manuscript to my editor, Catherine. I have blocked out weeks for revision, weeks for promotion, and weeks for beta on each WIP. I felt a supreme feeling of accomplishment, just putting all of this on a visual format for me to look at every time I walk down the hallway to my bedroom.
View entire blog post here Conley Corner
On the calendar, I have noted publishing dates, and based on those dates, when I need to get my manuscript to my editor, Catherine. I have blocked out weeks for revision, weeks for promotion, and weeks for beta on each WIP. I felt a supreme feeling of accomplishment, just putting all of this on a visual format for me to look at every time I walk down the hallway to my bedroom.
View entire blog post here Conley Corner
