It's that time again. Time for the first Wednesday of the month, Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Alex J Cavanaugh started this group for writers to come together and liberate themselves from their fears and encourage one another.
2011 has been a busy year for me.
I decided I wanted to focus on blogging. I only had around 15 followers and then I found Alex's blog. I took the plunge and joined his A-Z Blogfest in April. I couldn't believe how much fun it was and wow, I was actually getting comments and new followers! I was also finding great new blogs to follow myself. I started posting more and visiting blogs more regularly. I entered as many blogfests as I could and loved every one of them.
Then along came Rachael Harrie's Platform Building Campaign over at Rach Writes. I was totally hooked. Every challenge was tons of fun! And now we even have a book of entries to show for it. Cool! It rejuvenated my creative spirit and roused my desire to work on a novel again. (I had been focusing solely on children's picture books and nonfiction articles.)
With all the great support I received from all of you, I entered Nano for the first time and I have a great start on my new novel.
But now my big worry is, how do I split my time between keeping up with blogging and platform building and finishing my novel? There are so many important activities (reading, blogging, noveling, visitng other blogs, playing with the kids, eating, sleeping, working...) that eat up time I'm not sure how to fit them all in.
I'd love to hear your suggestions on how you delegate your time to accomplish all you do.
And thanks so much to all my followers and supporters! You guys rock!!!!
Kathy :)
It's all about pacing yourself and giving yourself grace that you can't do it all in one day! I loved the A-Z challenge. Glad to meet you.
ReplyDeleteWrite on!
Time is the ever present challenge. I only manage because I'm single. If I had others dependent on my time, I don't know how I'd do it. I also make good use of little pockets of time. It doesn't feel productive but it actually is.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by so I could do the same.
Hey there, I'm a new follower via Alex's IWSG. Isn't Alex great? He's helped expand my blogger world and follower army, so I owe him a lot.
ReplyDeleteMy advice to you is to focus on your novel first and your blogging second, and of course, all that comes after the family. Blogging is fun, but it takes a lot of time and energy that is better spent on finishing the product, the real reason we are all out there building our platforms. Good luck and I hope to see you around!
Thank you for saying that we followers rock. You rock as well. Oh and the blogfests are fun. It's like the whole world gets excited all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time splitting my time between blogging, writing, working a day job and getting everything else done. But, I do try to keep a timed schedule. It has helped me get better organized. Then again, I have spent many a late night catching up on things in spite of the schedule. ;)I'm so glad to have met you and thank you for the wonderful comment and follow. Your support means the world.
ReplyDeleteI do the best I can. But sometimes life gets all wacky. So I shut everything down and tackle finances and house cleaning with the wife. These are two things you cannot let slip away and get out of control.
ReplyDeleteyour post was way more positive than mine! i have learned that i need to cut back on blogging, more family time & more writing. my new year's res =)
ReplyDeleteprioritize!
Of all the things you listed, decide what you love to do the most and just do that one thing - at least once a week. You’ll be amazed how much progress you will have made by the end of next year.
ReplyDeleteKnow that you don't need to do it all.
Oh boy... that's a really tough one. Blogging is a major time suck. When I'm working on a novel, I tend to blog much much less. I try to keep up posts once or twice a week but usually only visit those blogs who comment on mine ... simply because of convenience and time constraints. Once I finish a draft tho, I spend much more effort with blogging. I've learned it's not gonna make or break you where selling your book is concerned. It helps, but it's not gonna hurt you if you're not keepin up with the blog as often as you'd like.
ReplyDeleteOh my, I have no answers of suggestions for you. I battle this problem every day. How to fit it all in. When you find a way...stop by and fill me in!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI make sure to get my writing done before diving into the blogosphere. And then, I set myself a certain time - say, an hour - to blog. I think having downtime is important, too.
ReplyDelete