Betsy Horvath

Category: Goals and Aspirations

  • Writing Everything Down

    As we all know, Betsy is flailing around like a sock puppet trying to be a successful independent author / publisher. That’s not new. But now she has goals AND a production schedule. She seems to actually be interested in taking her game to the next level.

    However, Skipper, a chipmunk who is a Habit Implementation Specialist sent by the Muse Council to help Betsy develop and meet her goals, has asked Betsy to come see her in her office in Betsy’s brain. Whatever can she want? Isn’t she satisfied with the progress Betsy’s making?

    Let’s see….

     

     

    *Betsy walks into Skipper’s office* *throws herself down on the sofa across from Skipper’s desk*

    Whaaaaaaat?

    *Skipper looks up from the paperwork she’s been perusing* You’re here! Awesome! We need to talk.

    *Betsy flops back on the sofa and closes her eyes*

    Whhhyyyyy? I’m doing what you want me to do. I’ve got goals and a production schedule and everything.

    Yes. *Skipper shoves the papers aside and hops up on her desk* *Strikes cheerleading pose* But there’s still room for improvement!

    Oh, come on! *Betsy arches her back and stomps her feet against the cushion* I’m doing good!

    *Skipper considers her and settles onto her haunches* No you’re not. You’re wasting time.

    *Betsy settles back down* I am not. *She sounds uncertain*

    Right. *Skipper looks at Betsy with her big, dark eyes* How much time have you spent on social media or email in these last few weeks? How often have you checked your KDP dashboard or your Amazon rankings? Sound familiar?

    Maybe I get on the Internet a little bit. Now and then. *Betsy sits up and picks at a thread on the sofa cushion* *Mutters* I have a stupid production schedule.

    *Skipper sits and folds her little paws on her little knee* Do you actually want to hit it?

    *Betsy sticks out her bottom lip*  Yesssss.

    Then it’s not good enough for you to just HAVE a production schedule and goals. You need to work towards them consistently. And that means you can’t waste all of your time.

    *Betsy’s pout deepens* I sit down at the computer. I sit down every day. And I make time to write, too!

    *Skipper cocks her head* And do you write?

    *Betsy picks at the thread* *Mutters* Sometimes.

    Sometimes. And sometimes you don’t do anything but surf the web. You’re making the time, but you’re also getting pulled down rabbit holes into unproductive paths.

    *Betsy scowls at her* Okay, fine. Yes. I surf the web sometimes. But I’m writing, too. So, what does it matter? I’m getting things done.

    It matters because you might be able to work more efficiently and maybe even hit that production schedule you’re so proud of making. But first, you have to see what you’re really doing.

    *Betsy’s scowl deepens* How am I supposed to do that?

    *Skipper smiles* You need to write everything down and track it.

    *Betsy gapes at her* Everything? You mean EVERYTHING everything?

    *Skipper nods* Everything. When do you sit down to write? How much time are you spending? How many words are you writing in that time? What are you writing? Your fiction? A blog post? Everything.

    Oh, good gravy! *Betsy jumps to her feet and flails her arms* I can’t do all of that!

    Yes, you can! *Skipper pumps both paws in the air*  And you need to write down that production schedule and post on your refrigerator, not squirrel, excuse the expression, it away in a notebook somewhere.

    *Betsy puts her hands to her head* That’s so much!

    But wait, there’s more! You also have to write out a task list to tell you the things you need to do that are not connected with the actual writing.

    *Betsy’s face crumples* But whyyyyyyyy?

    Because. You need to shine a light on your process and make it solid. You need to find out what’s really going on and keep it in your mind. You need to know what needs to be done and when you need to do it. That’s the only way we’ll be able to make things better.

    *Betsy crosses her arms and stomps her foot* I hate you.

    No, you don’t. And this is important. Writing everything down makes you aware of what you’re really doing, what you need to do, and by when. Not just what you imagine is happening. It will be a first step we can build on.

    *Betsy gapes* There will be more?

    Yes! Yes! *Skipper’s patience is fraying* Do you want to do this thing or don’t you?

    *Betsy drops her head and scuffs her foot on the floor* *Bottom lip is protruding to a dangerous degree* *Mutters*
    I want to do it. It’s just that it’s such a paaaiiiiinnn to do all of this work.

    *Skipper sighs* We have to know. For example, are you writing more in the morning or the evening?

    I write more in the morning.

    *Skipper holds up a paw* No, you WANT to write more in the morning. But how much are you ACTUALLY writing in the morning?

    *Betsy frowns* I sit at the computer in the morning.

    *Skipper puts her paws to her head and tears out a little fur* Oh, for heaven’s sakes. Do me a favor and just fill in a darned spreadsheet, would you? If you want to write in the mornings, and you’re not writing in the mornings, then we need to change things up so you DO write in the mornings.

    *Betsy shuffles her feet* Okaaaaay.

    And don’t forget the production schedule and the task list. Track everything. Because you can’t tell what you need to change until you see it.

    *Betsy pouts* And I really have to do all of this?

    *Skipper shrugs* Only if you want to get better.

    I want to get better.

    Well?

    *Betsy sighs* Okay.

     

    To be continued…

  • 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.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Finding an Objective

    computerwithcatHello, dear readers, and welcome to December. Soon it’s going to be 2017!  Yeesh.

    I always get somewhat introspective at the end of the year, thinking about where I’ve been and where I’m going.  Because of who I am, I also beat myself up for not making as much progress as I think I should have made.  Then, after weeping softly into my pillow, I pick myself up, look ahead to the new year and determine that the next 12  months will be different and better than the last.  They will!  *shakes fists at sky*

    This year, I am scrutinizing my author “business.”  I put “business” in quotes because so far it hasn’t been much of one.  But I am determined that’s going to change.  So the next series of blog posts are going to be all about my goals and objectives as I try to move forward, the decisions I’m making, and why I’m making them.  I’m looking at every corner of what I’ve been doing, looking for places I can improve, and trying to see how I can make this dream of being an independent author a reality.

    I realize many of you reading have absolutely no interest in being an author, but I thought I would post about this stuff because 1) it’s what I have to post about, and 2) recently a number of people have asked me about publishing a book.  It’s my hope that this series of posts will help by showing some of the decisions that need to be made if you go independent.

    If you don’t give a fig about the author biz, well, think of this as reality TV.  Honey Boo Boo tries to be an independent author.

    And away we go!

    This year I achieved some of my goals by getting out Believing It, and by writing the first drafts for the next novel and novella.  That’s awesome, and I’m very happy to have accomplished those tasks.  But I had also wanted to have at least one of the other two books out this year.  That’s not going to happen.  Why?

    At first, I thought it was simply because I didn’t have enough time.   It’s true that I do have a lot of demands on my time – I work full time, am the caretaker for my elderly mother, and, sometimes, I actually have a life.

    But the more I thought about it, the more I realized time was only part of the problem.  The fact is, the real reason I didn’t hit my goals (or at least get closer to hitting them) is because I was flailing around like a dandelion in the wind, trying to do everything and not focusing on the tasks that I NEEDED to do.  Like, oh, writing. (there will be a future post talking about 80/20 tasks).   I was pulled in all sorts of different directions, flitting here and there, and not concentrating on creating books.  Those other things ate up the time I had.  Then I blamed my lack of time as an excuse for not getting more done.  In truth, I had set myself up for failure.

    Which brought me to my first question regarding my authorial ambitions – “is this a hobby or a business?”  Because if I’m trying to do this as a business, I need to change the way I’m working, and I need to be much more dedicated and efficient.  I need to make some decisions I’ve been ignoring and do things differently.

    In other words, “what is my overall objective?”  It’s important to know because the overall objective will (and should) drive the rest of the goals and tasks that need to be done.  It needs to be identified first.  And then—and this is important—it needs to be written down.

    I’ve been thinking a lot about these questions, and here’s what I think my overall objective is (roughly):  I want to be a reliable mid-list author who makes decent money from my books.  I want to consistently and routinely publish multiple books per year and I want to be paid for those publications.  I want to have a loyal fanbase who enjoy and want to read my books (people other than friends and family – LOL).  I do not necessarily want to be a famous author, or even exceedingly rich–those things each have their own price.  I want to be the workhorse writer you can count on with an actual backlist of titles and series you can dive into.

    In other words, I want to have more than three books out in the world.  I want this thing to be a viable business.  Most importantly, I am ready and willing to do the work to make it happen.

    Okay.  Awesome.  So, what’s next?

    Yeah.  Good question.  I think this is where the individual goals come in.  What needs to be accomplished to make this objective a reality?  What time frame do they need to be done in?  What can I realistically do, and what changes do I have to make to what I’m doing to meet my goals?

    And that’s what I’ll be working on this week!

    Stay tuned, friends, for the next installment of….”As The Writer Turns”

    womancomputernight

     

     

     

  • Focus

    focusToo many distractions can make you forget what’s important.  At least, they can make you forget what’s really important to you, to the reality of your situation and your life in all its many aspects.

    Life goes on despite massive change and uncertainty.  We work and play and love and laugh and pay bills and try to make our way.  We love our families (most of the time), have friends and coworkers, meet strangers.  We survive.

    But if we want to do more than survive, if we want to be the best people we can possibly be, then we have to focus.

    In today’s modern world, we are constantly called to distraction.  Between family, friends, work obligations, advertising, social media, emails, the Internet, politics, finances, sports, television, and a million other things, it’s easy to be to have your attention stretched in so many different directions that you lose sight of yourself and what you need to do here and now, to be successful with your own precious life.

    At least it is for me.

    I get stretched and pulled, and I lose focus.  I lose track of my time.  I sit down to check my email, or look at Facebook or YouTube, and suddenly hours have passed.  Even if I’m disciplined enough to limit the actual time in front of the computer, sometimes I find what I see or read to be disturbing to my equilibrium.  Then my thoughts are hijacked for another couple of hours, and I’m using all my creative energy to deal with those feelings instead of moving ahead in other, more productive directions.

    I need to focus on my financial health, on my healthy body/mind/family health, and on my creative health first.  Then the rest can filter around it.

    So, here’s the plan.  Call it the Betsy State of the Union, if you will.

    I’m turning off the Internet as much as possible.  If it’s not possible to turn it off completely, I’ll get an app allowing me to limit access to the more distracting sites (like email and social media).   But ideally, it will be completely off most of the time.

    I’ve gotten away from my Tiny Tasks.  I haven’t been working every day on fiction writing, other writing, business/fiction planning and de-stressing.  I’m going to re-institute them so I touch each of these areas every day (or mostly every day).  That should ensure that fiction writing, blogs, and newsletters get moving again on a more regular basis.

    I have developed an in-depth financial budget to start getting a handle on my own personal debt crisis.  I’ve already screwed it up over the past month or so, but it’s in place again now.

    I’ve developed a health initiative, which faltered during the stress of the last couple of months.  That is being re-implemented as well.

    I’ve started a writing log to show me how much I’m writing every day, and in which areas I’m spending my time.

    Perhaps most importantly, I’m starting a time budget.  I know how much free time I have every day, and I want to account for it, the same way I account for my money.  I want to spend it intentionally, not have it drip away without my consent.  It’s fine to build in time to check email, look at Facebook, or watch television, but those activities must be scheduled, and they must happen outside of prime creative writing time.  The mindless, blank-eyed scrolling, watching, and reading has to stop.

    On top of that, everything’s going to be written down so I can see exactly where the time is going. That’s the first step to regaining control and focus.  If you don’t know what’s going on or when it’s happening, you can’t change it.

    We are constantly being asked to lose focus.  But our lives are infinitely precious.  We can’t just throw them away because we didn’t notice where they went.

    I’ve fought way too hard to have my life.  I will be damned if I’m going to lose it now just because I didn’t see it walking away.

    After all, today might very well be the last we’re given.  None of us know the length of time we’ll be here.  Let’s make it the best possible.

    We’re the only ones who can.

    distractions

  • Three Big Things

    meditationrocksAs you may have guessed from my last blog post, I’m once again re-evaluating how I spend my time. It’s a fine-tuning process that I’m sure I’ll be going through for the rest of my life. Time is our most limited and precious commodity, so I’m trying to spend mine wisely. Or at least not stupidly.

    I’ve often said that I feel like I have the time and energy in my life to focus on three big things. I do more than three things during the day, of course, but I can focus on no more than three major tasks to be successful in any one of them. Everything else has to fit around the edges.

    Because my financial situation demands it, one of those big things is my day job.

    Because I am a daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, and I actually need to have clean underwear once in a while, the second of those things consists of family and life responsibilities. Whether it’s taking my elderly mother to the podiatrist, or the cat to the vet, mowing the lawn or roasting a chicken, some things just need to get done.

    Those two things are non-negotiable, and will probably always be in place. If I ever have the ability not to work for someone else, then I will be working for myself, taking care of my own business. And I hope that I will always have family and life responsibilities.

    But the third thing…that’s where I can get confused.

    The third big thing is where I tend to flounder. It doesn’t have the set boundaries or expectations of the other two. I need to make a living. I need to live. Boom. Done. But the third thing…well, the third thing is up to me, and that can be a problem.

    I know, and I’ve known for a long time, that the third big thing in my life has to be writing. I may not always act like I know it, but it’s there. And it’s driven me to write and publish (or try to publish) for a really, really long time now. But sometimes the knowledge gets buried under all of the other things I want to/need to do. I feel the pressure of all the tasks I want to accomplish, and forget that I only have the capacity to focus on three big things. That’s when I stall and stand shivering in a corner, not sure which way to go.

    The point of my Tiny Task Initiative (TTI) was to get moving again. And the good news is, I did. But I moved in too many directions at once. Instead of having a third big thing, I had about six smaller ones, all vying for time and attention. I was taking tiny steps forward, but because my focus was scattered, I didn’t make as much progress as I could have in any one of them.

    So, then. Has the Tiny Task Initiative been a failure?

    No. Absolutely not.

    Identifying areas where I needed to make progress, and then actually working on them, has been very useful. It showed me that taking small steps every day can make an impact.

    That’s awesome. The problem came from assigning all five tiny tasks the same priority. The writing, which is my third big thing, had the same priority as walking or vacuuming or creating a print book. Those things are also important, but they are not my third big thing. And, since it is the nature of the beast that I will take the easiest way out, I would often spend more time on one of the other tasks and set the writing aside, instead of doing it first and fitting the other things around it. I needed to remember that I have three big things, and to find the right balance, at this point in my life, with the other responsibilities I have.

    Using the experience of the last few months, I’ve revised my tiny tasks. This is to better reflect the way I want assign priorities, and to give writing the importance it needs to have.

    Here’s the updated list.  Remember, the objective is to do more than the minimum listed here.  These tasks are just supposed to be the gateway to get me moving.

    15 minutes working on the current project – that’s either writing or editing.

    5 minutes working on either planning fiction, or the next project.  I realized that I hadn’t built in any thinking time to figure out what I want to work on next, brainstorm, that kind of thing. Also, when I’m editing the current project, I want to continue to write.  It keeps the channels open.

    5 minutes working on blog / newsletter / business tasks. This is where prioritization comes in. Before, I had these things equal with the fiction writing. I love doing them, but they can’t be as important. Lumping them all together gives each of them less priority.  For now, this  will include publishing tasks.  I’ve learned that the publishing tends to take on an urgency that makes me forget about the more important task of writing.  At this point in my “career”, publishing is less important than creating products to publish.

    5 minutes yoga and meditation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly no yogini, but calming the body and the mind is essential. I need to be in a good mental space to write.

    The main difference between this list and the last one, is that the tasks are either writing, or supporting the writing. That gives writing it’s place as the third jewel in my crown. Other things still need to be done, and I will have other things vying for my attention, but I’m not going to assign them the spotlight of a tiny task. They will either happen, or they won’t.

    So, there you go. We’ll see how it works out.

    By the way, I hope I’m not boring you jabbering on about this stuff. It’s my hope that seeing me stumble around will give you something to think about in your own journey to wherever it is you need to go. Or at least provide some entertainment.

    A reality show.

    Kind of like Honey Boo-Boo with a keyboard.

    curlercomputer