Planning is Not a Dirty Word: 5 Tips to Being a More Productive Writer by Susan Sleeman, & Kudos, MoGo, & a Free Book!

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/koratmember

Yep, It’s April 15: A Great Day to Have Author Susan Sleeman Talk About PLANNING (And we’re NOT talking about taxes!)

Feel like you’re drowning in tax advice? Don’t worry, we’re not going to talk about the IRS. No, no, no! We’re going to talk about IMPORTANT stuff, like planning our novels! And that’s something all us novelists need to hear.

I’m thrilled to have Susan Sleeman with us today as she shares her five tips to being more productive as a writer. Be sure to read her bio below, but let me tell you that Susan is an award-winning and award-nominated author, so if she speaks, I think we should all be listening!

We’re also going to brag on CWD writers and give away Michelle Cox’s book, but first things first. What will YOU do to keep from drowning…and get YOUR novel finished this year?

Planning is Not a Dirty Word, by Susan Sleeman

I’m one of those organized people who plan ahead. If you’re not a planner don’t stone me. Just hear me out as I believe even a little bit of planning and goal setting will increase your productivity. Honest! Published or not if you apply these five easy principles, I’m sure you’ll be more productive.

1. See yourself as a professional writer

Attitude is critical for success in this business. If you believe you’re a writer, you’ll do the things necessary to become a published writer. Set up a dedicated writing space. Even if it’s an orange crate and a chair. Then write, write, write. Whether you feel like it or not. Whether you’re turning out award winning prose or garbage. Write. Why? You’ve heard the old saying practice makes perfect. I don’t know about perfect, but writing on a regular basis grows your skills.

2. Set a Goal and stick to it

Decide which days of the week you’re going to write and set word goals. To keep up my publishing pace, I must write at least 2500 words 5 days a week. Do I always want to write 2500 words? “No,” I scream loudly. But by setting a word goal, it allows me to see at a glance when a rough draft will be finished and contract other books accordingly. Plus it keeps me on target. If I fail to hit 2500 words one day, I know I have to make it up the next day.

3. Don’t let distractions get in the way during your writing time

Easier said than done right? Especially when there’s email and social media at our fingertips. So how do you avoid spending too much time on them? I allot myself the first hour of the day as I am coming awake with my coffee to read email, Facebook, Twitter, etc and again as I eat lunch. When time’s up, I have a calendar program that reminds me to get to work. A good computer calendar program to give you reminders is invaluable in so many areas of a writing career. And you don’t have to spend any money on one. I use Mozilla Sunbird, which is a FREE program. I put deadlines and other events on the calendar and set appropriate reminders. For example, if I have a blog post or interview due, I set the due date and the calendar tells me when I should be working on it. Until then, I can put it out of my mind and concentrate on writing.

4. Set a book deadline whether the book you are working on is contracted or not

Any published author will tell you that a deadline will make you do super human things to complete a book on time. But you don’t have to have a contracted novel to do the same thing. Give yourself a deadline. Treat it as if an editor is waiting for your manuscript and stick to it. After all, once you do get that contract, you’ll have to work under deadlines. Learn to do so now when the pressure isn’t as strong.

5. Plan out your novels – okay I know this is going to start a seat-of-the-pants writer versus plotter argument, but read on anyway

When I first started writing, I didn’t plan a word. I didn’t even know where the book was going or how it was going to end. When I was able to contract with a publisher on proposal only—the first three chapters and a synopsis, I had to learn to plan my books in advance. And that’s what I did. I took the high concept, figured out character conflicts and the main story conflict as I had always done then expanded it to create a list of scenes that fit the book. Learning how to go from pantser to plotter would take a whole series of blog posts, but I bring it up for two reasons. 1) If you want to stay on the schedule you set, I believe you have to know where you’re going. If not, you’ll write, rewrite, and cut many words that will then put you behind schedule. 2) If you can’t plan ahead, you will never be able to sell on proposal and that means writing entire books that may or may not sell.

Well, there you have it. My five tips to being more productive as a writer. So what do you think? Can any of these tips help you get more words on paper?

BIO: SUSAN SLEEMAN is a best-selling author of inspirational and clean read romantic suspense books. Her first book, High-Stakes Inheritance was an ECPA bestseller. Award nominations include The Christmas Witness for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence and Thread of Suspicion for the 2013 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Best Book Award. In addition to writing, Susan also hosts the popular website TheSuspenseZone.com. She currently lives in Oregon, but has lived in nine states. Her husband is a realtor and they have two daughters, a son-in-law, and an adorable grandson.

To learn more about Susan stop by any of these locations on the web.
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Book Review Site

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Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/m_bartosch

Another Opportunity to Celebrate YOU!

Congratulations to these Christian Writer’s Den writers who have great news to share!

1. Cheryl Barker (KS): The Salvation Army magazine War Cry accepted my article “From Generation to Generation” for publication. So thankful for another opportunity for my work to be used!

2. Marilyn Turk (FL): I’ve signed a five-book contract with Elk Lake Publishing for four novels in a series and one devotional book. Yay! Needless to say, I’ve been really busy lately, a condition that will not end anytime soon, praise the Lord! (Vonda here: Wow, Marilyn, that’s quite an accomplishment! Congratulations!)

That’s it for this month’s kudos. Be sure to watch for next month’s call-out the first Tuesday of May. We’d love to know what you’ve been up to…and celebrate with you!

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And Check Out Our MoGo7000 Qualifiers This Month!

These CWD writers have earned a March entry into the end-of-the-year drawing for $100 in cash!

#7: Sue Badeau – almost 22,000 words
#8: Susan Baganz – 17,687 words
#9: Jeanne Doyon – 7,319 words

Congrats, friends! Keep up the good work and you’ll earn even more entries into the drawing.

Writers, want to know how you can qualify for the $100 challenge? Check out the MoGo7000 Challenge here. It’s free and open to everyone all year long!

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And Last, but Certainly Not Least…Who Won Michelle Cox’s Book, Just 18 Summers?

The winner is…(drumroll, please)…

Sally Matheny! Congrats, Sally! Now, just contact me with your snail mail address and Michelle will get the book right out to you!

And friends, I know you want your own copy of Michelle’s book, so here’s a direct Amazon link to Just 18 Summers(R). Don’t let the summers get gone!

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Thanks for joining me again today, sweet friends. I hope you know how much I appreciate you. Without you, The Christian Writer’s Den would be a lonely place!

Happy writing!

Vonda

(Water and celebration images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Vonda Skelton - Christian Speaker, Author, and Funny Lady