Random Writing Tips – Schedules

A couple weeks ago, I posted a blog about my writing goals for this year.  One goal I didn’t mention because it’s not actually writing, is to sell more of my books.  Great idea, but how do you go about that?

I figure a good place to start is to just have more people know I exits.  Again, that’s a great idea, but what do I do?  More importantly, what can I do that is simple and cheap?  One idea I had is to actually blog more.  For the last couple of years I haven’t really done much blogging.  Part of it was that for a time I was on several sites where you got paid for interactions with your posts, so I put all of my stuff there.  But one by one those sites went belly up, and I kind of lost interest in posting stuff.  I’d post the occasional thing if the mood struck me, but there was nothing regular.

When I figured I should start blogging more, I remembered reading an article years ago on making the most of your author blog.  I forget who the author was, but they said that one way to have meaningful interactions with potential readers is to stick to some schedule.  If readers know that every Monday they’ll get to read some writing horror story and every Thursday they’ll get some writing advice, then they’ll keep coming back.

It’s great advice, and I think I tried to follow it years ago, but I think I overdid it.  It’s the classic story of having to split your finite time between writing your novel and writing the two or three blog posts for this week.  I tried to do too much, fell behind, and got discouraged.  So this time, I’m keeping it small.  On the first Tuesday of the month, I’ll post a blog about something, such as my writing goals for the year, and on the third Tuesday I’ll do a Random Writing Tip.  I’m also doing a couple things on my other blog, so I’m averaging about a blog a week, which I hope won’t strain my time. 

So that’s my … secondhand tip.  Make some schedule for your writing.  And it doesn’t have to just be for blogs.  It could be anything from writing a blog every Wednesday, or working on your novel on odd numbered days and your poetry on even, or working on your stories during the week and revising on the weekends. 

Like most good advice, this all sounds easy.  Sticking to it, that’s the hard part.  Of course, there are a couple things to keep in mind with your schedule.  First off, it should be achievable: don’t schedule yourself to write a novel every Thursday.  And secondly, and probably more importantly, don’t get discouraged if you fail to keep to your schedule.  If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that unexpected shit happens.  These schedules aren’t carved in stone, they can always be adjusted or replaced with a new schedule that better suits your current situation.

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Image from Pixabay.