Getting Organized January 23, 2006

When we’re trying to get our brains focused on our writing goals, some writers miss a very important step–getting their physical space organized as well.

It’s next to impossible to be productive as a writer if our writing space is cluttered and messy or if we aren’t sure what we’ve got planned for the day. And it’s difficult to treat your writing as a business if you’re drowning in papers and post-its scribbled with deadlines.

When you’ve just got a few submissions or queries out, are in the early planning stages of a book project, or don’t have a lot of assignments, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you’ll be able to keep track of it all in your head. But all too soon we find our brains–already working overtime to keep track of doctor’s appointments, after-school activities, playgroups, the sitter’s phone number–overflowing with information, and vital pieces start to leak out. That source’s name or editor’s email address that used to come right to mind is lost in a sea of data, and we’ve got to track it down all over again, wasting precious time. Or even worse, a deadline gets blown or our work isn’t as quality as it could have been if we’d been more prepared.

Maybe you’ll want to take advantage of a virtual calendar on your computer. Outlook, which comes built-in to many software packages, offers pop-up reminders of appointments and deadlines. You can keep it even more simple–a spreadsheet using a program like Microsoft Excel can keep track of queries, assignments, submissions, deadlines, and payment information. If you’re technophobic, creating a system on the computer might seem overwhelming or just impractical. That’s OK–keeping track of all this information on paper can work well too. The point is that you find something that works for you. It’s useless to set up an elaborate system on the computer or PDA if you won’t remember to go back and update it when something changes.

I have found that I don’t keep computer calendars as updated as I should–though I use the computer every day, something about the act of putting pen to paper helps me cement deadlines in my head and retain information more effectively. At the same time, trying to keep track of all my queries and deadlines on paper was too confusing. So I use a mix of simple and slightly more sophisticated: a special notebook for jotting down story ideas and keeping track of my to-do list, and Excel files for tracking queries and assignments. I keep the format the same from spreadsheet to spreadsheet, so when a query becomes an assignment I simply cut and paste the record into the "assignment" spreadsheet and add a deadline at the end. And when I’ve been paid for the assignment, I move it into another spreadsheet that tracks my income for the year. This helps me to see at a glance whether I’m on track financially and also reminds me not to shirk the important task of paying quarterly taxes!

If your e-mail account mixes business and pleasure, you may find yourself wading through a pile of forwarded jokes and recipes from your Aunt Sue while you’re looking for an important e-mail from an editor. Separate folders for assignments, submissions, source contacts and personal e-mail can help you from missing something important. You can set up a filter to automatically direct your mail into the appropriate folder, depending on who it’s from, a word in the subject line or other criteria.

What are some ways you keep yourself organized? What tools do you use for tracking research, keeping your e-mail in check or remembering all your deadlines and family commitments? Come on over to the boards and let us know!

Have a happy, productive and organized week!
–Meagan

Taking a Novel Approach January 19, 2006

The titular pun was for the fiction writers in our midst.

Today I’ll examine goal-setting and business planning from a new angle. Next week, look for a new interview with Gwen Moran, co-author of "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans" about building a better business plan from the ground up. We’ll also be running a second giveaway, featuring Gwen’s book, on the message boards so watch for details there!

In a recent online discussion in another forum, freelance writer Dalia Fahmy shared how someone helped her arrive at a new way of goal-setting. Instead of setting outcome-driven goals for the year (i.e., 5 clips in national magazines and 5 in major newspapers), she shifted her focus to process-oriented ones (i.e., writing and submitting 2 new pitches per week).

The shift was powerful. The outcome-based method often left her feeling discouraged if her efforts  weren’t netting immediate results. But when Fahmy began looking at her pitches as sales calling cards and the beginnings of new relationships that could bear fruit later on, she felt like a success even when she received a rejection from an editor, since she was meeting her pitching goals and building key relationships. She’s now also able to follow up more aggressively and ask those editors if there are any areas she might help fill.

The result? Many more nibbles three weeks into the year than she saw for the bulk of last year, two great assignments, and e-mails from editors welcoming more pitches. Powerful stuff, this shifting of paradigms. I’ll check in with Dalia later in the year to see how her new way of goal-setting is affecting her business.

In "The Well-Fed Writer," author Peter Bowerman offers a simple formula for calculating your daily earnings by picking your annual goal and counting backwards. So $100,000 a year equals $8000 a month equals $2000 a week equals $400 a day. When he first did this equation, Bowerman asked himself, "Where’s the 400 coming from today?" He then wrote these figures and the question on a piece of paper, made copies of it, and posted it throughout his apartment where he’d see it often.

When I first read this, it was akin to that moment when the mayor hits a switch in the darkness and you find your town square awash in the glow of brilliant holiday lights. Planning the way I ran my business based on the minimum I needed to earn to make my financial goals had never occurred to me before. I determined my own daily number and wrote it on my chalkboard in my office, where I see it daily, and I ask myself the question, "Where’s my bottom dollar amount coming from today?" It’s a handy trick for helping you see if you’re on track or need to step things up more to make your weekly or monthly goals.

Try these new ways of viewing the future for your own writing business, whether you work with consumer magazines, chapters in novels or nonfiction books, trades, or corporate work. And visit our message boards to tell us how it’s improved your workflow, attitude, and/or results!

Next week, we’ll examine what elements comprise a sound business plan for writers, with the aid of Gwen Moran’s expertise on the subject. Also, we’ll be having a giveaway of her book on the subject on the message boards.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your progress, add your insights, or ask questions on our message boards. Click here to comment!

What Won’t You Do? January 16, 2006

Writers tend to be great at figuring out what we will or would do, if only given a chance.

"If Dream Market magazine accepts this query, I’ll write an article the likes of which they’ve never seen!"

"If only Big Publishing House would buy my novel, I’d work my fingers to the bone promoting it!"

Many of us, however, aren’t quite so good at figuring out what we aren’t willing to do. Where do we draw our lines in the sand?

Every so often on a message board or e-mail list, a writer will ask his or her colleagues "I’ve been offered $X to write a 2000-word article for Y magazine. Should I accept?"

The problem is that nobody can answer that question but you. And you won’t know how to answer that question, either, unless you’re honest with yourself about your motives and really understand your goals.

There are a lot of reasons people write, and a lot of ways to be a working writer. Some people want to have a career writing for prestigious markets like Harper’s and the Atlantic Monthly, and know that they may have to do long, investigative pieces for little pay in order to build up the clips needed to break in. Some simply want to make a good living freelancing and will write for any publication or on just about any topic so long as the pay justifies the hours spent working on the piece. Some writers are just starting out, and though they’d love to take on big assignments with well-paying publications, they’ve got to fill in the gaps before that’s happening with regularity. Some writers hope to eventually publish a book, and take on assignments that will build a platform, whether or not they pay well. And for some, money is not an object, but they will only write about topics that move them or for publications they respect. And so on.

The point is that for every smart writer whose motto is "I won’t take less than ___", there’s another smart writer who will. What makes them smart is not what work they’re willing to take on, but that they’ve thought out their reasons for accepting assignments–or not. They’ve got a plan, and the work they seek reflects the goals they’ve set out in that plan.

Personally, I’ll accept little money–or sometimes, no money–for certain kinds of assignments. Sometimes, there’s a topic I feel personally invested in or would really like to know more about, or a gig that I know will stretch me as a writer. Sometimes, an assignment that looks low-paying on the surface is actually great money when you consider how easy the publication is to work with or how little time the piece will take to write. And sometimes, the clip or exposure will help move my career in the direction I’m trying to go. But when looking at my plan, I understand that I can only take on a certain number of each of this kind of work and still meet my overall goals.

It can be really hard to say "no". All kinds of factors can come into play when you’re considering turning down an assignment work: fear ("If I don’t take this job I may not find anything to replace it and I’ll go broke"), ego (The editor likes your writing, and it can be hard to turn somebody down when you’re feeling flattered), and insecurity ("Who do I think I am, anyway?"). But if you’ve clearly mapped out the path you’re on and where you draw your line in the sand, saying "no" becomes less emotional and more businesslike: You’ve already decided you won’t accept (less than a certain amount of money, a contract you think is unfair, a topic you find boring, etc). It’s no longer personal, it’s just following your plan.

So while you’re thinking about what work you would love to take on, also consider what might need to go in the circular file. Do you want to retain rights to your work so that you can re-sell and re-slant at will in the future? Then you may want to be a stickler for writer-friendly contracts. Are you trying to meet specific financial goals? You may want to set the hourly rate you need to maintain and make sure your workload averages out to that rate. Do you need clips of a certain caliber, or on a specific topic in order to meet your goals? Then you may want to consider avoiding work that won’t provide the clips you need.

Whatever you decide, remember that, while it’s great to look at how other successful writers are running their careers, ultimately your career is your own. What do you want to accomplish? What do you need to get you there…and what will only stand in your way?

Once you’ve figured it out, come on over to the message boards and join in the discussion. We’d love to hear what you plan to do–and what you won’t do.

Have a great week!

–Meagan

Focusing on Your Business January 13, 2006

So far, this month’s theme of "New Year, New Plan" included discussions about goal setting and tearing down the traditional resolution to think about incremental changes. Let’s continue applying some of our ideas about simplicity and clarity to our businesses.

In this week’s interview with accomplished author Kelly James Enger, something she said really struck a chord:

New writers often don’t plan how they’ll spend their time very well—then they get on the Internet or start researching an idea and realize they just lost two hours. Deciding what markets you want to target first and/or what subject areas will make you more efficient (and less distractible) and planning your day/writing time will help you make the most of it.

The more ideas you have, the more markets you crack, the more momentum you build–it can start to become overwhelming. How do I track all of this information? Where should I sell this next idea?

As your career begins building–or even if you’ve been established for a while–it can never hurt to sit down and have a planning session with yourself. Be your own career coach and examine:

• how you’re using your time;
• where you’re frittering away the minutes, hours, days–and opportunities; and
• how you can up your efficiency.

This doesn’t just apply to those of us who write for consumer or trade magazines. As Kelly pointed out in our interview, she budgets time to work on her books, otherwise, those books wouldn’t make it to our bookshelves to help us boost our careers! As she steps it up in one area (honing a book proposal), she cuts down on pitching to magazines in order to sell that book, all the while balancing incoming paycheck projects already slated for deadline. We must each do a similar balancing act – examining what’s working, honing what’s working, and ditching what’s not.

You’ve thought about choosing one good thing to improve your business. Keep applying that idea, adding one "one thing" incrementally as you build good work and business habits.

You’ve considered how to set goals that’ll stick to your ribs because they have some heft to them if you set them properly.

Now think about how you use your time and how you might best focus your energy. Do you need to block out time daily, weekly, and/or monthly for planning? Is it time for you to consider specializing in one or two areas? Maybe it’s time for a new agent or to ditch that low-paying PITA market in order to allow a bigger fish to swim through.

Have a great weekend!

Toni

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your progress, add your insights, or ask questions on our message boards. Click here to comment!

Our Interview With Kelly James Enger January 11, 2006

Our interview with Kelly James Enger, author of "Six Figure Freelancing" and "Ready, Aim, Specialize!" is up. Click here to read it.

We hope you find Kelly’s wisdom and insights as inspiring as we have!

Setting Workable Goals January 9, 2006

How many times have you told yourself "This is my year! I’m going to be widely published, make tons of money, and have plenty of time for activities I love. I may even finish that novel I’ve been thinking about since 1999…"

The problem is that so many of us never get any further than that. Dreaming is easy, but how do you take the visions of success dancing in your head and convert them into a plan that you can actually implement?

It seems simple enough: you have a dream, now go for it. But we’d like to introduce some concrete steps to get you from dream to goal:

1. Write it down.

Don’t skip this fundamental step. It’s not important where or how you write down your goals, just that you do so in a way that works for you. And "works for you" means "in a way that ensures you’ll remember your goals and keep them in mind as your work toward them." Write them in your calendar, type them up in a Word document, or scrawl them on a dry erase board or onto index cards. As Henriette Anne Klauser says in her book "Write It Down, Make It Happen," "By writing it down, you declare yourself in the game."

2. Tell someone about it.

Stating your goals not only helps you define and refine those goals in a way that makes sense to you, but it invites accountability from your peers. And let’s face it, in the solitary world of the writer, having someone to offer a gentle kick in the pants can be surprisingly effective and inspiring. Plus, it feels good to say your great ideas out loud.

3. Break it down into manageable steps.

This step is where many people stumble, so tread carefully. The key is in defining what’s "manageable." An essential part of David Allen’s book on productivity, "Getting Things Done," is in defining "action steps" as opposed to "projects." Basically, if a task requires more than one step, it’s most likely a project and needs to be broken down further.

While you might not need to distill things to this level, the idea is important: break down larger tasks into do-able chunks. Obviously, what’s "doable" for one writer (working from home while kids are in school) is impossible for another (working from home with newborn twins and a spouse who works late nights), so you really have to tweak this planning process to adjust for your current living situation.

Here’s an example for that mom of newborn twins:

Manageable: Write a query a week by: 1.studying the intended market, 2. determining the appropriate editor to query, 3. getting his or her contact information, 4. finding a study or expert to cite, if needed, 5. choosing 2-3 potential sources, 6. blocking out time to write the query, 7. lining up child care assistance if needed, and 8. telling my friends at D2D about this goal and asking them for help with keeping on task.

Not manageable: Write 5 queries a week, set up a functional area in the living room for an office, research one new market a week, read up on web design, read through stack of magazines in den.

The sad thing is, most of our lists look like the second one and not the first. We’re all great at making lists but not at budgeting the time and acknowledging the steps it’ll take to wade through those lists. So let this year be the year that this changes: 1. Write it down, 2. Tell somebody about it and 3. Break it down so you can get it done!

Further reading:

We have a Goal-Setting & Accountability message board on our forums; stop by, state your goals, and request accountability.

On the Message Boards: Setting Reasonable Goals

Write It Down, Make it Happen by Henriette Anne Klauser

Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything, both by David Allen

If you’d like to suggest a resource that has helped you in both setting and achieving goals, please share the title in the comment box. Your continued participation is what makes From Diapers to Deadlines a thriving community for all writing parents!

Coming Wednesday: Our interview with Kelly James Enger, author of "Six Figure Freelancing" and "Ready, Aim, Specialize!" And don’t forget, if you register as a new member and post on the message boards by January 31st, you’ll be eligible for a drawing to win a copy of Kelly’s book, "Six Figure Freelancing" on February 1st!

Have a great and productive week!

Meagan

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your progress, add your insights, or ask questions on our message boards. Click here to comment!

Name One Thing You Can Do January 6, 2006

That would improve your writing business, or your writing process in general.

It’s a new year, and everyone’s already anxious to retire the word "resolution" until December 31st. But while resolutions may seem fated to dissolve faster than Alka Seltzer, tiny, incremental changes actually feel do-able.

January’s theme at From Diapers to Deadlines is "New Year, New Plan." And we’re starting off by helping you derive a workable plan, not some over-stuffed, insurmountable to-do list you’ll never accomplish in a reasonable way. Realistic, small, coherent steps to get you thinking clearly about where you really want to take your writing business. And tools to help get you there.

So let’s start off gently. Ask yourself: what one thing could you do this week to improve your writing?

Don’t pick a whole "program" or convoluted "system." ONE THING. Ditch the "overhaul your entire existence" attitude the media sells during this time of year and just pick one thing and try it for a week. Then come back here and tell us how it worked for you and whether you think you’ll keep it up, and when you’ll pick your next ONE THING.

Here’s one I’m doing: I’m starting assignments right when I get them instead of waiting a bit, sometimes until the day before deadline, as I’ve been known to do with my monthly parenting columns. I have a whole month to write the column, and yet I’m often scrambling to hammer one out the day before deadline. This year, I wrote two columns when I had a couple of free hours, clearing the boards so I could take on other stuff, and reducing my stress levels, too.

Here are some other ideas:

–Spend 30 minutes catching up on filing or tracking expenses

–Work on existing projects before checking e-mail or message boards in the morning

–Spend 15 minutes a day brainstorming new ideas (for: queries, markets, that next chapter, that first draft)

–Tidy your desk every night as you turn off your computer

–Find one thing you can let go of for one week (lurking on message boards, that reality TV show), and spend that time writing instead

–Start each week or month with a flurry of pitches, challenging yourself to see how many you can do.

When you’ve settled on your ONE THING, let us know how it worked for you. Post a comment here, or visit our message boards and talk about how it’s going.

Have a great weekend! And look from a post from Meagan this Monday.

Toni

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your progress, add your insights, or ask questions on our message boards. Click here to comment!