Betsy Horvath

Category: Career

  • My Current State

    My Current State

    Hello, friends!  This is just a quick blog post to let you know what’s been going on around here at the Palatial Horvath Estate over the past few months, lest you think the answer to that is “nothing,” which has sometimes been the case in the past.

    As I hinted in last week’s post, I might not have been blogging much, but I have actually been working!  Shocking but true!  I don’t even KNOW me anymore!

    Throughout January and February, I was able to write 90,000 words of the next Hardy Falls novel.  For a reference point, that is a longish, full-length book.  But at the beginning of March, I realized there was one teensy, tiny, wee bit of a little problem with all of that.

    Those 90,000 words, although swell words in themselves, and just peachy keen to read, were not a book.  They were a collection of scenes randomly racing about in a lot of different directions.  Some of the scenes went out together and danced the macarena, and some were living in isolated huts deep in the rainforest and hunting poisonous frogs.  And none of them added up to a novel.

    *Sigh*

    How did this state of affairs develop?  Especially since I thought I had a plan at the beginning of the year?

    The first reason is, I was flailing around and trying to find my footing in a lot of different areas of my life. Since a creative pursuit like writing comes from the inside, as I was flailing around, so thus was what came out of me. The words I wrote did not line up like little soldiers following the commands of the outline.  No.  They were children at a candy store, skipping from scene to scene to scene to scene to scene.

    Still, that’s not too unusual for a first draft—at least not for one of my first drafts. But it did make me a little sad because I had hoped for a better result since I really did have an outline this time.

    And therein lies the second reason the scenes I had written did not come together.  I was determined to use my outline, even when it became somewhat obvious that I needed to regroup.

    Once I got further into things and got to know the characters and the circumstances better, it became clear that the underlying story structure of the outline just didn’t work.  But I tried to make it work.  I had made up my mind that it would work.  I was COMMITTED that it would work.  I jammed square pegs into round holes over and over again, because damn it—this was going to WORK!  It WAS!  There was an OUTLINE, by gum!  And that outline would be followed!

    But, in the end, it did not work.

    It did not work to the extent that even *I* had to admit it did not work.

    Obviously, I need more practice with outlining.  Or MAYBE, just maybe, using an outline in the way I was trying to use it is not something that works for me and I need to embrace my inner Betsy and find my own processes (more on that in another post).

    Anyway, the story didn’t work.

    *Sigh*

    So, I bit the bullet, contacted my long-suffering editor to let her know I was going to screw with her schedule and dove into the mess.  Hence, last week’s blog post.

    I’m calling the draft I’m working on now the “Avengers Assembly” draft because I’m taking what’s been written and trying to piece it all together.

    Maybe the “Frankenstein” draft would be a more accurate name.

    The good news is, the Frankenstein draft is almost halfway finished and I have 40,000 words or so that are proud to stand up and be counted.  They are words I can look at with pride and pet and love.  Of course, the part of the story that’s left to pull together is the most problematic because it’s the part where the scenes already written really went off to party like it was 1999.  It will take the longest to fix, if it can be fixed at all.  What else is new?

    Wait?  What’s that sound?  *cocks head* Is that a gentle breeze rustling through the trees?  No.  No, it’s the heartfelt sigh of a long-suffering editor.

    But at least, as of the moment that I am writing this blog post, things seem to be sliding into place on the home front and the book front, so I’m hoping to have the next Hardy Falls book finished soon.

    The usual disclaimers apply.

    Oh!  You might also be interested to know that, thanks to Kobo promotions for their romance free book page and Google Play being big internationally, as of today my books have been downloaded / purchased in at least 91 countries.  I think that’s pretty cool.  When I see countries listed that I didn’t even know WERE countries, and I realize someone there (or maybe even a few someones) is reading about Hardy Falls, or at the very least has the book on their e-reader…well.  It’s something special.

    So anyway, for those who care, that’s what’s been going on in my life at the moment.  It’s really quite boring since I basically just sit at my desk and stare at a computer or out the window, but never fear!  There’s always something right around the corner.

    Just FYI – I’ll be sending out a special little story to the newsletter subscribers this Wednesday.  I’ll let you guys know about it later, but if you want to join the newsletter and see for yourself, you can click HERE.

    And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of your support.  You guys are the best!!

     

     

  • Back Again

    Hello, my dears!  My, but it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, hasn’t it?  Sorry about that.  One reason I’ve been delayed is that I keep thinking I’ll write a funny little story-post with the Muse and Harry and Skipper and all the rest.  Then time slips away and I don’t do it.  This week I decided to give up on the grand schemes and just write something.

    But don’t worry!  Harry shall return.

    It has been a strange, strange summer.  As you may know from one of my last posts, my day job was eliminated in May, but I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to keep working at my company for a while.  Subsequent events proved that the company itself was going through upheaval, and now nothing is certain.

    But nothing is ever certain, is it?

    Anyway, I spent a great deal of mental energy this summer dealing with the situation and trying to decide what the best way was for me to respond to it.  In the midst of all that I also had to write resumes, get on LinkedIn, and do the multitudes of mundane work associated with uncertainty.  It took time and energy and maybe I’ve been a wee bit anxious, which kills creativity and wrecks sleep patterns.

    After stewing and stewing, I began to work out the best solution for me, which has been a great weight off my mind.  It may not be your plan, it may not be a good plan, but it is a plan.  Plans can’t be overestimated in my opinion.

    Getting that weight off my mind bumped my writing back into high(er) gear.  I’m proud to say that I kept working on my latest book through it all, but progress was slower than I wanted it to be, thanks to upheaval and stewing and resume-making.  There were also some other things thrown in there for good measure–like finding out one of my cats has cancer and trying to deal with my credit reports.  (The cat is doing well so far, the credit reports are frustrating).

    Making a decision on how I wanted to proceed day-job-wise let me put focus back on finishing my book.  I’m pleased that as of this writing I am about 85% finished with the next Hardy Falls book.  Although I’m at the phase in the proceedings where I doubt everything I do, I am soldiering on.  After I finish, I have to run it through a grammar program and then it will be ready to go to the editor, assuming the editor can take it (considering it’s about three months late).

    The Hardy Falls novella coming after this is already written and needs to be finalized.  Since it’s half the length of the book I’m working on now, and not quite as complicated, I’m hoping I’ll be able to knock it out more quickly.  But I don’t want to jinx myself.

    More info on the book, including title and cover, to come.  Right now I’m just focused on getting the bloody thing finished.

    Regarding this blog.  I’ve gotten comments from people saying that they thought I had stopped writing it.  That is not the case – I just got derailed for a bit.  I expect there will be regular (or at least semi-regular) blog posts now that I’ve gotten going again.  So much mental angst to expose to the world!

    The newsletter, too, has been derailed.  If you’ve signed up for it and have noticed the monthly newsletter has been conspicuously absent for the last couple of months, I do apologize.  I’m going to get one out this week, and then get back on a regular routine with that as well.  I’m contemplating sharing an unedited excerpt from the book I’m working on in this month’s edition, so stay tuned!

    And I wanted to thank everyone for their support and good wishes and patience during this time.  Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.  I got a little splattered over the last couple of months, but I’m pulling myself back together.  One inch at a time.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Starting Again

    My friends, today I’d like to share a great secret with all of you.

    You can have as many ideas and good intentions as you want.  You can have goals and dreams and freaking aspirations.  You can give yourself pep talks.  You can have a production schedule.  You can even actually write things down on a calendar.  You can have a plan.

    But if you get a head cold from hell, none of that matters.  Everything – everything – comes to a full, complete, dead stop while you deal with rivers of mucus and sinus pain making you want to yank out all of your teeth and trying not to hack up a lung every night.

    Trust me.  I speak from sad, sad experience on this one because this is how I’ve spent my last couple of weeks.

    *sigh*

    Let’s just say that creativity has not been top of mind lately.  In fact, nothing has been top of mind.  Except congestion.

    The good news is I can finally say I’m feeling back to normal.  The bad news is that now I have to start again.

    I think everyone knows how hard it is to get moving once you’ve come to a complete stop.  As Sir Isaac Newton says:

    An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force.

    An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

    If you are at a standstill and you want to move, you have to apply force to get moving.  And that can be a LOT easier said than done – it’s ridiculous how hard it can be to get going once you’ve stopped.

    I think it’s because when you’re moving, you don’t really pay attention to what you’re doing.  You just know that you’re moving.  But when you come to a complete stop, you look at the overwhelming mountain you’re trying to climb and you freeze because it seems impossible.

    That’s where I am right now.

    Now the question isn’t whether I should start again – because of course I should.  The question is HOW do I start again?  How do I start to climbing when the hurdle looks impossible from where I’m standing?  How do I get going again when I don’t have any momentum?

    How?

    Maybe the first thing I need to do is not be angry or disappointed with myself because my body needed a full stop.  Maybe I can’t be discouraged and give up simply because I couldn’t keep going the way I thought that I should. Maybe I need to realize that this is life, and life happens.

    Then I need to start small.  Instead of looking at the big picture, I need to find tasks I can complete.  For the writing part of my life, that means writing this blog post and the February newsletter.  Next, is actually opening the document I’m editing, even though I’m terrified that I’ll never ever ever ever be able to find my footing.  Then I need to start reading that document.  Then I need to sink into the actual editing.

    The focus is on moving forward, step by step, inch by inch.

    Starting again.

    And…here we go.

     

     

  • The Importance Of A Production Schedule

    Although I love the holiday season, I’m a HUGE fan of January 1st.  That’s when the new year stretches out before us unsullied by our footsteps. What will happen in 2017?  What will we accomplish? Anything is possible.

    But, as with everything else, possibilities only become realities if we actually do the work to make them happen.

    Most of the time I just have vague thoughts about what I’d like to accomplish. And, as you might expect, those thoughts don’t matter much in the long run. So this year I’m going to try to take steps to turn possibilities into probabilities.

    If you read the post about my goals for the next few years, you saw that one was to have 3-4 more products available by the end of 2017. (I’m actually aiming for more than that, but I don’t want to get my hopes up). Another was to set up a production schedule.

    The new products goal is to meet my longer term objective of “15 total products by the end of 3 years, excluding “Hold Me”.” The production schedule is the roadmap to get there.

    In the past, I’ve been reluctant to commit to an actual production schedule. It makes it all seem so bloodless, doesn’t it? How can I have a schedule for creativity? How can I know when a book is going to be finished? Isn’t that taking away the mystique of the whole thing?  Don’t take away my mystique, darn it!

    But if your goal is to produce more books, you need some structure. If you are swimming upstream (or in your own little pond entirely) you need to provide your own deadlines and expectations. They might be self-imposed, but they need to be important to you. You need to care whether or not you hit them. A schedule tells you what those deadlines are, what those expectations are, and helps you fit them into your life.

    My timing is still up in the air because I’m working at becoming more efficient in the various tasks needed to produce and publish a book. So in my schedule, I made plans based on what I think I should be able to do, but I’m sure things will change as I grow my skills.

    I started with some hard deadlines I want to meet. “Welcome to Hardy Falls Book 2” takes place leading up to Thanksgiving, and “Welcome to Hardy Falls Book 2.5” takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’d like them to be published at times appropriate for those holidays.

    Using those deadlines, I worked backward to try to build in time for all of the various tasks needed for publication – editing, covers, beta readers, and all that.

    In addition, I am working on a short little novella about Mary Alice and Johnny (from Hardy Falls) for newsletter sign-ups. I’d like that project to be finished as soon as possible. Hardy Falls Book 3 needs to be basically finished by the end of the year, if not sooner, so I’ll be drafting that as soon as 2 and 2.5 are done.  I also have ideas for other series that need to be fleshed out, as well as Hardy Falls book 4. Then the blog and the newsletter require writing time and need to be scheduled.

    I think you can see how easy it is to let things slip if you don’t have a plan!

    I came up with a rough schedule for next year and started implementing it in December.  I’m not going to share it all now, mostly because I really don’t know if it’s realistic, but here are the first two time blocks –

    12/4-12/17 –

    Keep up with current blogs and newsletters. Clean up my task list as much as possible. This means dealing with all of the millions of things needed to maintain my current books, my website, and my newsletter, and hopefully make them better and more professional. Plot out Mary Alice’s short novella.

    12/18 – 12/31 –

    Keep up with the current blog and newsletter. Write a backlog of blogs and newsletter articles. Write first draft of Mary Alice novella.

    Okay, that was the plan for December.  How did I do?

    The first goal – to clean up my task list, took longer than expected when I decided to re-read the first two Hardy Falls books and make some minor proofing changes. I wanted to feel as good about them as possible now that they have new covers. Because there were some changes in the texts, the ebooks and print books needed to be reformatted, which took time.  I also went hopping merrily down some rabbit holes that were not exactly productive.

    In addition, I had some personal issues (including the whole “worm incident” mentioned in this blog post – ick) which stole time as well. However, I did bust through most of my task list, and the books are reformatted and republished. Now except for one or two straggling issues, I can set them aside and not worry about them. I managed to do a rough plot for the novella.

    For the second two week period, I got blog posts and the newsletter for January written.  I planned out the blog posts through April and the newsletters for the rest of the year.  I did some good work on the Mary Alice novella, but it is far from finished.

    Because the Mary Alice novella is a priority, I’ve adjusted the schedule so this block will go through 1/7, to give me a chance to (hopefully) finish the first draft.

    The next period will go from 1/8 – 3/15.  I have ambitious goals to finalize a lot of stuff, and I’ll be trying to become much more efficient with my self-editing process.  I’m not sure right now whether these goals are do-able – dates may need to be adjusted. I’ll split the block into periods for each product once I see how it’s going.  First up is Mary Alice, then on to Hardy Falls book 2.

    I’m planning on doing regular blog posts about the production schedule and whether or not I’m meeting my goals (at the beginning of every month). You’ll be able to see how I do in real time! Watch me run! Watch me leap for the ball! Will I catch it, or fall flat on my face?

    Only time will tell.

     

     

  • It’s Good To Have Goals

    As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, I’ve become quite introspective here at the end of the year regarding my author business.  Or lack thereof.

    This introspection has led me to think about my reasons for doing this writing thing (again) and to identify a primary objective for what I want to achieve with it (again).  Basically, my primary objective is to be a midlist, professional independent author, producing work regularly and being paid for that work because readers buy it.

    With this objective in mind, I’ve come up with some longer-term and shorter-term goals to give me a map for moving forward.  After all, the primary objective drives the goals defined, and the goals defined drive the decisions made.  And habits support them all.

    If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get anywhere.  If you don’t have a path to your destination, you’ll get lost.  And if you don’t have the tools or the determination, you’ll just sit still.

    At least that’s the way it works for me.

    So.  Goals.

    First, I have to determine what’s under my control.  If I make a goal for something I can’t control, it’s just pure dumb luck if I achieve it.  I really don’t know whether or not people will buy my books – all I can do is work to make sales a definite possibility.  That means sales goals are more mile markers to show me I’m moving in the right direction than true goals.

    Production, publication, and craft are all under my control.  The writing is under my control.  The business is under my control.  Making my books enticing to read and appealing to purchase are under my control.

    In other words, the part of my primary objective where I need to focus is the “midlist, professional independent author, producing work regularly” part.  Then I have to let people know the books are out there so the second part – “paid for that work because readers buy it” – has a chance of happening.

    Okay, so what are my goals then?  Here’s the rough breakdown – I’m starting with the longer term goals because they feed the shorter term goals.

    • End of 3 years – 5,000 total books sold, excluding Hold Me.  15 total products, including Hold Me.
    • End of 5 years – 10,000 total books sold, excluding Hold Me, 25 total products, including Hold Me.
    • End of 10 years – 100,000 total books sold, excluding Hold Me, 50 total products including Hold Me.

    The “total books sold” numbers are pie-in-the-sky mile markers – I have absolutely no idea whether or not they’re realistic, so I’ll probably be adjusting them as time goes by.  For now, they give me something to shoot for.

    The “total products” numbers are under my complete control, so that’s where I’ll be focusing along with building platforms to make the sales numbers a possibility.

    What do I need to do to make this happen?  These are the shorter term goals and objectives-

    • Speed up my self-editing process – finalize the next books in 2-3 months instead of 7-8 months.
    • Learn to outline and use my writing time more effectively – write the first draft of next book in 1-2 months instead of 3-4 months.
    • Create a production schedule with date deadlines – I already have this roughed out.  It will help me know what tasks I need to be doing so I don’t wander around thinking I have all the time in the world.
    • Outsource some production tasks I’ve been trying to do myself and concentrate on writing.  This will not only free up precious time, it will also let me present my products more professionally and competitively.
    • Work to build up my newsletter list – write a free novella for newsletter signups by end of January.
    • Write shorter blog posts so I can post more regularly – maybe go back to twice a week after the first of the year.
    • By the end of 2017, have 3-4 more products available (one will be that free novella).
    • After there are more books in the Hardy Falls series, start looking into promotion (like Facebook ads).

    Wow, that sounds like a lot of work.  And I’m not going into especially great detail here regarding timing because I honestly don’t know what I’m capable of achieving.  But I know if I want to meet my primary objective, there are steps I need to take.  I also know that I have a lot of plans, and I want to achieve them.

    In the immortal words of Yoda – “Do or do not.  There is no try.”

    I’m not going to try.  I’m going to do.

    I am, darn it! *shakes fist at sky*

    Now that my primary objective has been defined, and I’ve shared some of my goals to get there, I’ll talk about different decisions I’m making, and why I’m making them.  Assuming I know myself.  Which, as we all know, is a little uncertain.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Just Chillin’

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    As you may, or may not, know, Betsy is on a Quest to become a successful independent author / entrepreneur. Her Guide on this Quest is a white gerbil named Harry, who lives in her brain and annoys her on a regular basis.

    Betsy has been known to yammer about goals and objectives here on the blog, but today she does not seem to be in her office. Her desk sits empty, the lights in her brain are dark. Where is she? What in the world is going on?

    Let’s find out…

     

    *Betsy lounges by the ocean that rumbles through her mind* *watches the dolphins and whales playing out in the waves* *digs bare toes in the sand*

    Hey, doll. *Harry walks up to her* Whatcha doing?

    *Betsy lets out a deep breath* Just chilling, bro.

    Oh. *Harry sits down on the sand next to her* Aren’t you supposed to be working? I thought you had a ton of stuff you wanted to do.

    Tons. *Betsy smiles at the sunset* Too much to do and not enough time to do it all.

    Uh huh. *Harry considers her* Then why aren’t you a little more, well, frantic?

    *Betsy shrugs* I’ve decided I’m not going to let writing and publishing stress me out anymore.

    Really? *Harry frowns* You’ve been stressing about that for years.

    I know, I know. *Betsy lays down on the sand* I think it’s because of the people.

    People?

    *Betsy waves her hand* There are all these people out there saying “do this”, or “don’t do that”, giving their opinions about what they think is right and correct. And when you listen to them, you can forget what it is YOU actually want to do. Or, worse, you wake up and realize your whole life has drifted away because you’ve been busy chasing after what you think you SHOULD do. I’m not going to do that anymore. The thing you love should enhance your life, not steal it, right?

    *Harry lays back on the sand* You have to craft your Quest your own way.

    Yes! *Betsy sits straight and points a finger at Harry* I’m going to live my life my way. And part of that is taking a few minutes to just enjoy. Not always be stressing because I should be doing something else to be successful.

    Because if you can’t enjoy your life, what’s the point?

    Yes!

    *Harry yawns* So you wasted all of your time reading blogs and books and whatnot trying to figure out the whole independent writer gig.

    No I didn’t. Don’t be a jerk. *Betsy frowns at him*

    What? *Harry blinks up at her* You said it yourself. Listening to all those people made you cray-cray.

    No. *Betsy’s frown deepens* I had to know what I was getting into. I had to research the crap out of the thing. Immerse myself completely. That’s what you have to do if you love something. You have to read everything about it, talk to people, understand the ins and outs, sit at the feet of the darned thing. Maybe for years.

    *Harry sits up* Years?

    *Betsy shrugs* I don’t think there’s a shortcut. I think you have to study everything, learn as much as you can. But then, at some point, the stress of trying to live up to what you think you “should” be doing gets to you. That’s when you have to let it all go and go your own way.

    So, it’s like when you learn to paint. First, you mimic other painters, and then eventually do your own thing. Right?

    Right. *Betsy shrugs* It’s the timing that’s kind of sticky. You need to learn. You need to mimic. But then you need to do what you think is right for you.

    *Harry nods* Because your path is different.

    Mimic too long and you’ll never be you. Don’t develop your understanding and you’ll never be you. And that goes for the whole deal — writing, publishing, marketing, everything. The whole “being an author” thing. *Betsy frowns* Actually, for the whole “being an anything” thing.

    *Harry scratches side, then leans back on paws* So, the point of this blog post is to say you’ve decided you’re okay with doing this writing gig your own way, no matter how other people do it?

    *Betsy lays back on the sand and looks up at the sky* Pretty much.

    *Harry lays down next to her* And you’re not worried about screwing up?

    *Betsy shrugs* Kind of. But at least it will be my screw up.

    *Harry rolls head to look at her* But we’re not stressed?

    Nope.

    We’re chillin’?

    *Betsy grins at him* You got it, little dude.

    *Harry rolls his eyes* Never call me that again.

     

    To be continued…

     

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