Peace and love everyone. People have been asking me about my writing journey and if I could share some tips on the steps I took in writing a book. The first step I’m going to share with you is one that some people shy away from or don’t like to talk about and that is accountability. Yep I said the “A” word Accountability! Its time to do some soul-searching and find out what is going to work for you so you can hold yourself accountable from writing your book all the way to promoting it.
A couple of things that have worked for me is that I have an electronic list of things of what I want to do for my book and as I get them done I check things off. (Such a great feeling when you can check things off)!
I also like visuals. I’m a visual learner and I have that same electronic list on a huge piece of chart paper that hangs up on a wall so I can see it everyday.
(Image doesn’t belong to me).
Whether you want to carry your list in your phone, write it down in a journal, put it in your calendar or get big and use chart paper you want to make sure it’s somewhere accessible and where you will look at it. If it gets too hidden or buried chances are you’re not going to look at your writing things to do list.
Some of us need accountability from an outside source so whether that’s a friend or a writer’s group or center that you find. You want to make sure that you have a good accountability partner and set up times where you would like for them to check in on you to see how you’re doing with the writing process.
Another thing I like doing is what I call an editorial calendar. I’m old school. Have an actual planner that I carry around (it’s cute and vibrant) and I lay out how many pages a week I would like to write. If I’m writing an article I have the deadlines in this planner and my planner is only for writing. Nothing else is in this planner except for my writing endeavors which makes a huge difference. My writing does not get lost in the shuffle of everything else I’m doing in life. I’m also honest with myself and if life happens and something comes up that’s important and I have to reschedule my writing plans then I will put it in my planner but hold myself accountable to doing it when it’s time.
(Image from Anthropologie).
Stay tuned for another step coming up in the near future which is writing your book! Be blessed.