Traffic Patterns and Writing Routes

Do you remember the last time you went on a vacation that required a lot of driving? My family and I recently made a trip to visit friends and relatives in Pennsylvania. The trip out was easy and uneventful but the trip back home was a bit more complicated. That’s frequently how my writing journey has been and you probably have a few of those trips on your own previous itineraries.

1.      Take it to the limit

The legal speed limit is different depending on what area of the country you may be driving in and I know it’s also different in other countries. We have friends who lived in Morocco and the stories they shared were enough to terrify race car drivers. Okay, maybe not race car drivers but you get the picture. I like the legal limit most of the time but have been known to get a heavy foot. My writing speed could be described as definite slow lane travel. How about you? I’ve admitted in the past that I’m a turtle when it comes to writing. I am finally getting a better personal route to achieving daily or weekly word count after three books. I don’t know how those NaNoWriMo speed demons do it. I’m in awe.

The first sign of trouble came when a police officer detoured everyone on 70 West. We never did find out why but not long after that traffic slowed and then came to a dead stop. We were only about thirty minutes from our next scheduled stop and it took us more than an hour to get there.

2.      Detours

I don’t like detours regarding traffic or writing issues. That’s not to say they aren’t good and are in fact sometimes necessary. We discovered the slow traffic was do to construction efforts. That’s what my writing detours are usually about too. Plot construction, character construction, etc. My current novel, Chameleon, that released in May was a construction nightmare. I wrote in scenes that never quite melded together the way I anticipated and caused me no end of headaches. But eventually I was rewarded with a wonderful novel and a story I think you’ll enjoy.

While we were eating at Bob Evans we asked a couple different people that lived in the area if there was a road that ran parallel to the interstate. We were told by both people that route 40 would get us to Columbus.

3.      Check Your Facts

Don’t take others advice too quickly. We tried. Really we did. We never did find route 40 but we did notice that about 10 minutes out on the very curvy road we were on that the interstate traffic had started to move. We went back and got back on the interstate. No more problems after that, but it had been so frustrating. So even though we’d asked for help we still got lost. Writing is like that. We have to check and double check our facts to make certain we understand where we are really going or we may end up wasting time and turning around.

Have you ever experienced similar frustrations on the road or in your writing routine?

Are You On Track?

Do you remember what resolution or word you chose to encourage you or make a significant difference in your life this year. We're already beyond that halfway mark for the year. So how are you doing? I went the Debbie Macomber way and picked One Word to carry with me through the year. The word I chose was organize and I've made some headway both at home, at my day job and with my writing.

My counseling office

1. Home- I've picked little tasks to tackle. A corner here, a stack of books there, a trip to Goodwill with clothes that don't fit now and then. Small but helpful steps toward a more organized home.
2. Day Job- I got lots of help with this one. I came back from a vacation and found that my office had been painted and all the mess packed away in boxes for me to go through, and I am. It's awesome. Sometimes we do need a little or a lot of help from our friends.
3. Writing- I've become more organized with how I approach a project. Yes, I'm a seat of the pants writer which probably contributes to my disorganization within my writing projects. But I've become a bit more organized within those parameters. A little plotting here and a little time line there and it's a bit easier.

So no matter how great or small your progress with whatever word or resolution you chose for the year the important thing is to move forward. If you've fallen out of step with your plan now's the time to get back on track. Every day is new.

Are you on track?

WOW FACTORS!

 My most recent WOW FACTOR idea came from my day job!

I love trying to come up with new ideas to my books into the hands of readers
I work as a counselor for nursing students. Last week the golf enthusiasts from the college had a beautiful day to play and raise money for the college scholarship fund. This was the 4th Annual Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science Scholarship Fund Golf Outing.

It's wonderful when the day job is proud of and encourages my writing career. Here you see the awesome ad that I paid $25.00 for to help the college cause and my own. How cool is that? So all day long everyone who came to the golf course got a glimpse of my second novel, Chameleon.

Secondly, share a colorful WOW review now and then. 
 

I've been blessed with good reviews. This one by Margaret Metz at Through the Fog got me. You can also see it at Barnes and Noble. Even though we all know where to find our reviews I believe it's a good idea to share some of them now and then. I'm always hearing that if you have too many good reviews and not enough bad ones that it doesn't create enough controversy and readers will be less likely to want to buy your books. Do you believe that? I don't. Everyone's got an opinion and what I've found the most is that some of the one star reviews are complaints about other things than the writing itself. They don't like the cover, or they got to review and they don't enjoy the genre, so why did they review it? What I love about the following review is that the reviewer also totally got me. :)

She totally got me! Okay, I know I'm supposed to ramble on about ...

She totally got me! Okay, I know I'm supposed to ramble on about the beautiful cover (isn't it gorgeous?), and the author's mad skills in creating characters, but I'm overwhelmed by how cleverly she crafted this plot. I can usually reason out the answer to mysteries pretty quickly. I didn't know anything until she wanted me to. I would guess and then some new bit of information would come out . . . It was fantastic!

I truly enjoyed the first book and was thrilled to meet back with so many of those characters again. Victoria was a fantastic leading lady and I loved her nickname. I have a chronic illness myself and totally understand her focus on studying people -- almost as if you are living vicariously through them. She has brains, beauty, and enough will to make her equal to any task. I liked her a lot.

Witt was my favorite kind of hero. He's a little bit of the bad boy -- though more misunderstood than truly bad. He has let his past define the man he is today. He's closed off, reserved, and private. The mystery in those grey eyes makes him even more attractive to Victoria.

The second book continues to address the treatment of the mentally ill, but it also touches on how women were viewed and what their roles should/could be.

This was a fascinating story that makes my favorites list. I want to thank the author and her publisher for providing me a copy of the book. It in no way influenced my review.

So what are your WOW  FACTOR thoughts? What do you think about sharing a review now and then on your blog and other social media that wowed you?

Five Things I Learned From My Personal Writing Retreat

I took my very first personal writing retreat a couple weeks ago to finish the third book in my current series. I wasn't sure what to expect since I'd never been to this retreat center. I've never been to any retreat center to stay more than one day. A trusted friend suggested I try it. I stayed an entire week at Potter's Ranch.

The picture to your left is a road I walked up and down every evening thinking about very little after spending most of the day writing and knowing the evening would be spent writing as well. There were horses everywhere. I could actually stop and listen and hear nothing but crickets, geese, and birds.

My cabin was awesome and had two bedrooms and two baths, a full kitchen, and lovely living room. I brought snacks and breakfast food with me and joined the staff and other guests for lunch and dinner every day at the lodge. There was no television channels but I could watch DVDs. The only thing I brought with me was season one of Downton Abbey. I watched the entire season again but only after I'd met my necessary quota of words for the day. :)

Five things I learned from this experience.

• FOCUS is a powerful tool. When I write at home it's so easy to be distracted. But when I scheduled my time to run away from home I didn't have to worry about the dishes or dinner, laundry or running to the store. I was able to stay in my story and that helped me get more done faster.
• ACCOMPLISHMENT fuels me to want to accomplish more. After all, I was by myself. I didn't have anything else to concern myself with.I accomplished more than I thought myself capable of doing.
• SELF MANAGEMENT is more than managing my time. I took breaks to keep my back from aching and keep my head clear. I used the timer on my cell phone to see how many words I could write in 15 minutes, in 30 minutes, and in an hour. 
• PEACE is essential. I knew that, but I rarely experience it. To walk and not see anyone, to spend time with God and just let all my worries pour out. Great therapy by the way. To read my Bible looking out over fields and trees, was like living on another planet for me.
• CONTENTMENT blooms from within when I allow it to happen. Life can be crazy, can't it? The days fly by me so fast and until I took this opportunity to go away, even though I had the specific purpose of finishing a book, I received so much more.

 I hope you will treat yourself well and think of doing something similar for yourself down the road. We can't always run away from home, but with some good planning you can find a way. Maybe you can't get away for a week but even a couple of days will bless you.

Now that I've had my retreat I'm looking for ways to keep retreat alive in my daily life. What about you? Have you enjoyed a personal retreat of some kind? What did you learn?

UPDATE ON MARKETING CAN BE FUN, REALLY!

I am updating this post that I sent out last year for two reasons. First, I'm on deadline and secondly I needed to remind myself that I do enjoy the marketing aspect of selling fiction because my new novel, CHAMELEON  is out and available. This week you can leave a comment here at Lena Nelson Dooley's blog to have a chance at a free copy and you can also check in at Regency Reflections on Wednesday for a chance at a free copy and some interesting questions I answered regarding the time period of my novel.

If you think marketing is difficult, don't panic. Once you are published you do have to work hard to help push your sparkling new story into the world so you can reach readers. You don't have to have all the answers and all the knowledge, this develops over time, but I'd encourage you to educate yourself. I'm no expert but I'm learning a lot and I'm not afraid to try things that I haven't done before. Be brave! Be bold! Be creative!

Discover what color your marketing parachute is and jump. Prior to the release of my debut novel on May 3rd 2011 I had taken what I consider two very important steps for marketing my novel. I hired Kelli Standish and team at PulsePoint Design to help me achieve the look I wanted for my online presence. Kelli has moved on to another life phase and she left me in the capable hands of Jones House Creative. This is an investment in your career and I encourage you to look at it that way. Your website is hopefully going to be where your future readers are going to visit and you want to practice hospitality or no one will visit often. There are many places on the web for readers and writers to visit, so ask yourself why they may want to stop by your online home.

Get yourself some classy business cards. The PulsePoint gang also helped me with that and coordinated my book cover and my web design to be on my business card. The Jones House Gang is now helping me with updates and keeping me current. It was Jones House that did my timeline for me on Facebook This makes a great impression. My husband who also happens to be my best publicist talks my novel up all the time and hands out my business cards. He and I both asked the hospital gift shops where we work if they would consider carrying my book and both said yes!

Realms/Charisma, my publisher created a beautiful video trailer for my first book. You can see it here: Secrets of the Heart. You'll also notice that you can click on the book and go to Amazon to order it. I think it's really important to make buying your book as easy as possible. I also have all my endorsements listed on this page for my first novel and will be doing that for my second novel as well. I also asked my publisher if they could help with promotional items. They gave me postcards for Secrets of the Heart and for Chameleon I got bookmarks. I asked for these items knowing that the answer might be no due to the fact that I'm a new author and budgets are tight.

Last year I took advantage of another opportunity, made a suggestion, and here is the outcome over at Christian Fiction Online Magazine I hope you'll take a look at this column that launched last August called The Well Writer.

Talk to your librarian. I have lots of friends at my local library. They ordered my books for the Cincinnati Public Library and they also told me about Books by the Banks which I participated in on October 22nd 2011 because I followed my librarian, Betty's, advice and applied to get into this event which brings in hundreds of readers. My video trailer (on this page) for Secrets of the Heart, which also introduces me as a new author will be running with other video trailers at Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together on June 2nd where I'll be signing both novels. You can also read the first chapter of both my novels on this page So be open to opportunities that come your way. We writers are a creative bunch. There's no reason we can't be creative marketers too!

These are the marketing ideas I've utilized these past two years. Some of the others include a radio interview, an Amazon Author Page, and besides this blog I also blog at  Just The Write Charisma. You can find me at www.jilliankent.com, @JillKentAuthor and https://www.facebook.com/JillianKent

I hope you will find encouragement related to the many things YOU can accomplish as the director of marketing for your own novels.

What's in your marketing tool box?

Smiles and Blessings!

The 2012 National Memorial Day Concert

National Memorial Day Concert