A Valuable Lesson About Productivity
As some of you know, I had a small operation last week. Everything went well and the Doctors are pleased with my recovery. All being well, I should have the stitches removed by the end of the month, and more importantly, get the test results back. I'm hopeful that that will be the end of this little adventure and that I won't have to set foot in another hospital for some time. Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes. You Rock!
Those of you that know me, know that I'm not very good at doing nothing. I fact, if I get told I can't do something it just makes me want to do it more. I'm also not very patient. This past week has therefore been tough for me.
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| image via Pixabay |
Whilst I haven't really been at my computer for the past week, I have had lots of time to think, and thus managed to be super productive anyway. Yes thinking counts as work... well it does for me anyway. I love a good brainstorming session. They always help me tweak my projects, marketing plans, and overall business plan. So whilst I have slowed down and given myself recovery time, I've still been busy.
So what have I been brainstorming?
The quick answer here is "a bit of everything".
I'm guessing you want me to be a bit more specific though right?
Let's start with my marketing plan. As you probably know by now, I'm in the process of doing a huge make over of my marketing plan. I'm experimenting with new strategies, search everywhere for ideas, tips, and tricks to try out. For the big lowdown on what I've been doing and all the results, stats, etc... you'll need to sign up for my monthly newsletter, but let's just say I'm already seeing a noticeable change in traffic and an increase in both followers, and engagement on my social media channels. I can't wait to try out some more of the ideas I've added to my list!
My books. This is an area I've been neglecting. Not because I don't have projects to work on, and not because I don't know what to write. I do. I have several projects I need to get finished and I'm bursting with content for all of them. So what's stopping me from making progress? 1) The heat. I'm a big fan of summer. I love having nice, warm, sunny weather. This is not nice, warm, sunny weather though. It's cook in your own sweat hot. Too hot to do pretty much anything. 2) Too many ideas. When I have too much going on in my head it's hard to separate it all and concentrate on the one task. With this in mind, I decided it was better to spend time brainstorming each task than trying to just sit and write the books. It's helping me get focus for each project, and I now feel charge up and ready to write.
The first of the above mentioned books I'll be finishing soon is called Quick Tips for Authors and is based on my Quick Tips video series that I publish each week. Bite sized tips to help authors build their brands and market their books.
Then there's How to be Pinterest Perfect (the 2nd book in the Writers and Authors Guide to Social Media Series). Although I started writing this one a while back I decided I needed to do more research and add in some new chapters. I love Pinterest and find it very addictive. There's a lot more to it than just pinning though. I want this book to be as complete as possible and so that's why it's publication has been moved back a little.
Then, of course, there's my fiction books. I've been thinking a lot about both my thriller, and my chick-lit novels lately. I miss my characters and have come up with some new twists and adventures for them all to face. I'd really like to finish both of these novels by the end of the year, and thanks to this weeks brainstorming might just manage it. Well, the chick-lit will be finished. The thriller may need a rewrite as some of my new ideas will change some of the story already written, and so it's a more complex job. I'm feeling optimistic though.
As I brainstormed the various books, I couldn't help but brainstorm marketing ideas for each too. I'll be self publishing the non fiction books as I have in the past, but I'm considering going the traditional route for the novels. Partly because it's a whole different ball game, and partly because I'm just curious to see what it's like working with a traditional publisher. I love a good experiment ;)
Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm working on edits of my children's picture story book The Bedtime Book too. I'll be starting to work on the final illustrations soon, and can't wait. I'm going to be trying out some new techniques for this one.
This week has taught me a valuable lesson about productivity. You can be productive without being busy all the time, and that sometimes slowing down can actually speed things up in the long run.
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