Stick to your goals

The last couple weeks I've been really busy, and consequently, a little stressed and overwhelmed. I won't go into great detail of my day, but what I realized is as an author you have to make small goals. If you say you are going to write for six hours every day, when you haven't even been writing one, you will feel overwhelmed from day one and give up.So make small goals. I had to get myself back in the habit of writing, so I said I would write 200 words a day. 200 became 300, then 400. What I found was that if I made a small goal, by the time I met my goal I was warmed up and wanted to keep writing. Sometimes I'd get 700 or 800 words. Also, make sure you aren't over extending yourself- as in, trying to do too many things at once or help too many people. Learn to say no. People think just because you are home you are free. But if you're a full time writer, and are working then you aren't free. J. K. Rowling has an excellent quote: Be ruthless about defending your writing time. Even SHE has to fight for her writing time, because people are always and will always try to schedule other things for you during that time.Establish your writing time, treat it like a real job that you can't just take off or call in whenever you want, and stick to your guns! And make sure your daily goals for writing is something you know you can do- even if it is just writing one sentence. I have found so many times that I will tell myself to only write one sentence and I'll be done, but once I write that I don't want to stop, and end up writing a couple paragraphs or even a page!I know that doesn't sound like much, but the way to walk a thousand miles is one step at a time.

Making small goals

The key to writing a book is persistence- I've said this before. The key to persistence is having a good writing schedule and setting a word or page count goal. Make sure this is a small goal, something that isn't intimidating. Right now I have my word count goal set at 200. This helps me get to my computer and not feel overwhelmed. But usually, when I start writing, I find that I don't want to stop at 200! However, if I set my goal at 1000 words a day, I wouldn't want to even start! It would be too daunting!

Start small. Start! Keep writing every day- even if your word count is 10! The more you write, the easier it will be. Keep at it!

Been a while- But I'm back!

Had a bit of a rough year! Hospitalized twice in six months. YUCK! But, I'm back, I'm healthy, and I'm working on my third book! I was so surprised to see that I have two followers! And I haven't worked on this thing in over a year! I was discouraged because I didn't know how I could get followers. Guess they'll just come when they're ready! So for you, Tamara, and for you, Eli, I am working on this blog!

I was reading it again, because I haven't worked on it since September of 2010, and I was like, "This is GOOD! I wrote this?!" lol personal motto is "Go to hell! It will teach you what you need to know!" I certainly know this past year was hell, but I stuck with it, and learned a thing or two. Or... more.

I've been very influenced lately by the movie The Secret, by Rhonda Burnes. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, DO SO NOW! Right now! Go to amazon.com and order it! It will not only help you see that writing a book and becoming an established author is not an unrealistic goal, but quite the opposite!

So, point here is, I'M BACK! And I ain't leavin'! My goal is to sell 50,000 copies of The Rise of the Synija by June 1st, 2012! Imagine having a copy of Harry Potter at this stage, how much money it would be worth now? Later guys!

(Side note, ha ha ha... I did spell check, and apparently ain't is a word!)