By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’m not so much of a fan of New Year resolutions. They seem too ephemeral for me…like a bucket list or something. There’s no meat to them. It’s a wish list. Instead I take what I want to accomplish, create a production plan, and put dates and ‘to dos’ on my calendar.
Although this makes me sound like a wonderful planner, I’m only a halfway decent planner. The truth is that I need to get on the calendars for my production team—in particular my cover designer.
Next year’s releases: At this point, I’ve also announced upcoming titles to my readers in both the backs of 2015 releases and on my website. This holds me accountable to my schedule and keeps me on track as well as ensures that readers are looking out for more launches in the series they’re reading.
I also like the idea of end of the year reflections, or at least would like to take a thoughtful look at the past year to see where I can continue successful practices and either discontinue what isn’t working for me or tweak it to make it work better. I think these reflections accomplish a couple of things. For one, they help us acknowledge our successes, which are too frequently overlooked in the haste to get on to the next thing on our to-do list (for me: books published, technology learned, an email inbox that’s under control. Even the personal examples—I was able to sustain a modest exercise routine for the entire year which prevented a recurrence of my Unfortunate Writer’s Back issue from 2014). These reflections also help us make a more conscious effort to improve strategies (I need to create some canned responses on Gmail for things like guest post requests from content creation companies, etc.)
In the same vein is my search for time savers. For instance, I had a reminder every month this year on my calendar to print out the KDP reports. I was keeping them in a binder where I could look at them altogether and see the peaks and troughs of sales. I don’t think I’m going to do this in 2016, although it’s not a bad thing to do. I think I can just pull up the reports I’m interested in, online, instead. This is a small example for me…for you it might be cutting back on blogging one day a week, cutting the cord on a social media platform that you’re not able to check in on enough, dropping out of a group blog, etc.
On top of that is a long-term to-do list. This is publishing-related, but not limited to writing. There are things that I would like to experiment with (ads, in particular) or things I’d like to learn how to do for the upcoming year (website related items, experiments with new forms of social media).
Then there are maintenance items that I schedule reminders on my calendar for. Some are tax-related—periodic reminders to me to include business-related expenses on a list for my CPA. Some are related to website maintenance…have I updated my site lately? Is all the information current? Am I still calling a title an “upcoming release” when it actually launched weeks ago?
I’m also, for 2016, trying to schedule in more downtime. Because, apparently, I don’t take downtime unless I see it on a to-do list (classic trait of type-A , maybe). Since I did so great with exercising this year (which must be my all-time unfavorite activity), I’m now trying the same with other things that keep me from getting too stressed. My husband and I enjoy watching plays and we have a favorite local theater in Charlotte that provides low-key entertainment. I’m looking ahead on their calendar and adding possible events onto mine.
And then I’ve got the reality check portion of my scheduling. The school calendar is released for the following school year and I’m putting that in. On Gmail, I subscribe to a US Holidays calendar that automatically adds in dates I need to remember (especially Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, which have a habit of somehow sneaking up on me). You can do the same (or put in other calendars that automatically populate) on Gmail: go to the drop down arrow in the left margin next to ‘other calendars’ and click ‘browse interesting calendars.’ I also sync my calendar with the JV cheer calendar for the high school, etc…anything that I can do to keep from 1. dropping the ball and 2. having to input everything myself. The reality check portion is to keep me from setting myself up for failure by expecting too much of myself during a busy time.
What kinds of tasks are you putting on your schedule for 2016?
Tips for writers for scheduling the upcoming year: Share on XImage: MorgueFile: bkornprobst
I agree with you, Elizabeth, that resolutions don’t always have the ‘teeth’ that action plans have. It can be really effective to take one goal and break it down into a set of objectives that you can accomplish throughout the year. And reflection is definitely a part of that. Without reflecting, you don’t know exactly what your plan should be, because you don’t know what’s working and what’s not working. I think it’s important, too, to plan small interim objectives – things you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. Makes things seem more feasible and less daunting.
Margot–Very good idea! I always have a couple of really quick and easy things to knock off of my *daily* to-do list (makes me feel as if I’m really making strides in accomplishing things), but I hadn’t thought about the importance of putting those on the yearly list.
Great job on the preventative exercise! Nicely done. Dragging a leg around the shop now myself a bit like Igor or Quasimodo. No minion should be free from deformity: it’s in the union handbook.
2016 – looming. Looming. I’m looking at conferences again and am seriously considering Dayton and the Erma show though it is already sold-out.
I plan to spend the first half of 2016 wandering around my days with a Styrofoam coffee cup in my hand half bent-over (not too hard to do with the back) and hope that channeling poorly-produced detective/P.I. shows of my youth will help out. Cannon. McMillen. Mannix. Kojack. (Sugar-free candy, of course. And fair-trade coffee. )
Frankly, the humor of it all is getting to me. I blew up another cow in a story last week. Well, it was funnier in the story.
“Love Letter To a Crime Scene Investigator.”
Maybe the Bombeck conference has a cancellation. I don’t think I’m Bouchercon material these days.
Jack–Oh no! Hasten to ye olde sports medicine doctor. :) I was fussed at by both the doc and the PT people for writing on the sofa, feet on the coffee table, laptop on my lap. Apparently, this is not what we should do! This year I wrote at the kitchen counter and the kitchen table and occasionally at my desk. And I did the core strengthening stuff and stretches and all that. Miserable. But so much better for my back.
I’ve also been eating lots of quinoa and chickpeas and stuff. Trying to be healthier. Getting old sucks, I’ve decided.
I like “Love Letter to a Crime Scene Investigator!” And I love Bombeck. :) But then, with the kind of slapstick I write, maybe I’m not the one to offer an opinion, ha!
Wow–I’m still stuck on the holidays, but now I’m thinking a little further… or at least trying to. Today will be the start of year reflections.
Just went into Google calendars, which I’ve been half-heartedly using. I think I’d feel a lot less flustered if I used it for everything–I’m still trying to remember half my schedule in my head. First step: schedule in scheduling:)
Thanks for the inspiration once again
Rebecca–I think I’ve got a lock on the holidays now (although a couple of days ago it occurred to me that I needed to find lodging for our corgi during any travelling. So I shouldn’t brag!)
I now put *everything* on the Google calendar. This is mostly because I drop the ball so badly if it’s not all in one place. So it’s got the dog’s heart-worm pill reminder, my daughter’s activities, my grocery list, my to-do list. I’m basically outsourcing my memory. The nice thing is that I’ve got the calendar with me all the time because my phone is always with me.
I felt relieved just reading your response about outsourcing your memory… which suggests I need to do this:)
Rebecca–I’m a fan of the Google calendar. :) I also like that I can set a recurring event…friends’ birthdays, reminders about oil changes or vehicle maintenance. Even monthly bills to be paid. Like you’re saying,it’s just a relief. So nice to not have to rely on my (faulty) memory!
Hi Elizabeth – there is so much more we could do for ourselves to help us through the days and the ‘needs do’ list. Well done on keeping up the exercise routine and getting your back under some form of control … those little moments of space all help with an exercise routine – it’s only a habit after all. Someone mentioned they were writing and then getting up and doing housework, and repeating that process … seems a necessary and good approach. Now I’d better get to it!
I loved the idea of the Canned Response … not to say I need it at the moment .. but must explore the gear settings.
Must work out calendar too .. I hate the constant reminders popping up – there must be another way round … I’ll sort something!
Thanks Elizabeth – another useful jogger post for us all .. with some excellent ideas and tips – cheers Hilary
Hilary–I like interspersing housework with writing, too. Sometimes, on a bad writing day, even housework is better than writing!
You can disable those reminders…here is some help: http://www.solveyourtech.com/how-to-stop-email-notifications-from-google-calendar/
Hope you have a great weekend!
My production schedule is in an Excel spreadsheet, so that I can see each of the steps in the process for each book (write, edit, beta readers, format and publish kindle & paperback, promotional opportunities, kindle freebie, Goodreads giveaway, publish to Smashwords, etc.)
That way, even if one project slips, I know where I am supposed to be on the others. I actually had one book leapfrog over another this year that had unexpected delays.
It’s not written in stone. Since it is in Excel, I can quickly move pieces as I need to (actually, something like Microsoft Project with a Gantt chart would work even better, but working across several platforms makes that more complicated.) I had one book that I was going to publish next March, but another book (which was not scheduled to be written but sort of attacked me in August) is nagging at me to get published right away. I also decided to write the next two in the series for the one I was going to publish in March, so it makes sense to release the first three books in the series several weeks apart and build that Kindle Select magic. So I’ve just bumped that three-book release to next Oct-Dec, and will publish the one that is bugging me in March instead.
P.D.–I need to do more Goodreads giveaways. Those always do work out well.
Attack novels! Yes, they have a way of knocking us off-schedule. I rearranged my 2015 sched. for the cozy zombie book (!) But the nice thing about these schedules is that they’re flexible.