Another satisfying day! Warmest spring day so far–close to 20 C!  Spent an hour and a half out in the garden this morning before my work day began. What a perfect start to a day.  Love it!

Then finished up the ebook I’ve been working on; well, finished up except for a few “finishing touches” to do. What I didn’t realize was that the Canva “Presentation” program I used only allows 30 pages–which is probably a good thing in the end, as it forced me to go through my plans and delete the “extras” so that I ended up with what is really important.  Now, next step: Do those finishing touches, set up my email list and e-newsletter, and post the e-book on my website as a gift to anyone who’ll give my e-list a try.  Coming soon!

Did some editing and tutoring, too.

And had a good time with a friend, hearing her exciting publishing news, and helping her set up Facebook and Twitter accounts for marketing her writing.

Oh! And had a nice time with the grandkids, too!

Yes, definitely a satisfying day!

My new schedule seems to be smooth sailing–so far, anyway!  I tossed together a delicious crock pot soup at breakfast time, so didn’t have to worry about making dinner at the end of the day–lovely!  I continued work on my e-book today, and am almost 1/2 finished the design. I’d already written the text, so just copy-and-paste now as I design each page. Lots of fun and very satisfying. I also finished reading and note taking from the “Articles that Sell” book. I had 4 tutoring students today, and all their reports and preps for next lessons are done. Two of my writing/ publishing clients emailed me with questions about the process, and I was able to answer them. I also did some “business” stuff (invoicing). And I finished off the day by attending our strata AGM.  I am very impressed with how much I get accomplished when I severely limit my Facebook time 🙂

As I’m creating this new direction in my career, I realize more and more that I have to make it a “real job”–that is, even though I’m a “home-based business” I need to behave like a professional “at work.”  Therefore, I’ve created a new 8-hours-a-day, 40-hours-a-week schedule.

I start “work” at 9 am daily, in my home office.  Up at 5:30 a.m., I have had my personal meditation/journaling time, exercised or gone for a walk, showered and dressed, eaten breakfast and put supper in the crockpot or prepared a casserole for the oven, and tidied the house as needed. And now it’s “off to work.”

My work day starts with 3/4 hours of writing time. Then it’s on to my daily schedule–which can include tutoring, followed up by reports and prep for the next lesson; business items (bookkeeping, recording keeping); blogging, e-newsletter prep, freelance writing, and other projects.  I take 45 minutes off for lunch mid-day, followed by 1/2 hour of relaxation: a nap, a walk with some photography, reading good literature, or a similar activity. Then the “work day” continues to 6:45 p.m.

In the past, I have often met clients at their home, or a coffee shop, or for a walk while we chat. But I’ve realized that these kinds of meetings easily take far longer than expected, and can easily descend into chit-chat and way too much coffee and snacks; therefore, I will now have client meetings in my office, or, in they prefer lunch meetings, I must be back to the office at the set time. It may not be as much “fun,” but it’s business, right?

After supper (which is already made, as I put on the crock-pot in the morning, or placed the pre-made casserole in the oven an hour before suppertime), I have the evening free for time with my husband, reading, gardening or other hobbies, or whatever doesn’t take too much “brainpower.” It’s a time to relax and slow down before bed, so I will sleep well. Bedtime 9:15 pm!

Oh! And one other very important change: I will do no more than 1/2 hour of personal e-mail and Facebook, once per day, and no more than 30-45 minutes of business e-mail and Facebook once per day.  E-mail comes first, and then Facebook if time is left over–I really need to cut back on my time-wasting with Facebook … and with the temptation to flop in front of the TV in the evening.  Oh yes, and I’m eating my meals at the table again, instead of in front of the TV or with my nose in a book or magazine (which always results in losing track of time).

And hopefully, this all means that I actually have real weekends!

Do you think I can stick to my schedule? Let’s see!

Well, I was planning to do a substantial personal “writer’s retreat” over Spring Break–and with grandkids visiting :-), some editing work, and various other unexpected hiccups, it didn’t quite turn out exactly that way.  But I did have a good holiday, with all my tutoring students taking holidays for the full two weeks.  And I managed to squeeze it lots of writing-related activity along the way:

• I did a fair amount of journal writing
• I finished up following through Charlene Kingston’s excellent “Create Ebooks Your Customers Will Love” course at her socialbusinesswebinars.com site. The workbook for the 20 lessons has been incredibly detailed with wonderful worksheets, and the lesson videos were also interesting and easy to follow. If you want a clear, detailed guide to creating e-books for your business, you should definitely check out this course–and her many other excellent mini-courses and webinars. Very helpful!
• Then my “big job” : After researching, and making a big organizational wall chart with post-it notes, I did the first draft and the first edit of the e-book I have created during the course. Now I’m working on designing it using Canva.com’s templates.  Sweet! My goal is to start an e-mail newsletter on my penandpapermama.com blog and use the e-book as a gift for signing up for the newsletter.  The topic of the e-book is a clear and simple explanation of the 3 main types of publishing (traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing) and the several sub-types of each, with their pros and cons. Many writers find themselves confused by all the choices in publishing these days, so this e-book is my effort to help people make the best publishing decisions for their personal needs.
• I enjoyed reading and getting inspired for my own writing, with magazines I’ve had stacked up for some time, like The New Quarterly: Canadian Writers and Writing, WordWorks: British Columbia’s Magazine for Writers (Federation of BC Writers), and Geist: Ideas and Culture.
• I did the “childhood memories” challenge for the Penticton Writers and Publishers (PWAP) group’s March meeting–a description of my childhood home from ages 5 to 7, based on a “memory map” I drew for that period in my life.
• I am going to be attending the Okanagan Valley Writer’s Festival April 8 – 10 in Penticton BC.
• I finally got busy and really explored using my wonderful Christmas gift–an Intuous Art Tablet and Pen! I tried it out on a variety of software programs, both graphics programs and Word Processing software–and for playing Solitaire too 🙂
• I attended a Word Guild writers meeting in Kelowna BC–and read a sample of a story I’ve been writing based on the biblical story of “Ruth.” Got some great critiquing input 🙂
• Read and took notes on lots of useful online articles relating to publishing and writing.
• Went for walks along Skaha Lake and by the local oxbows and had fun playing with the grandkids in local parks–and went for a wonderful lunch with one writer friend, and coffee with another.
• While working on my “big project” I also researched producing e-books using Word, Publisher, and PowerPoint.  Lots of great options, and fun to explore.
• I’ve been reading from an old-timey (pre-internet!) book called Writing Articles That Sell by G.J. Matson. It might be “technologically” out of date, but oh my goodness–crammed with great ideas and inspiration for writing magazine articles.

So what do you think? Does that sound like a pretty good “writing retreat” to you?  Now if only I’d been in a little cabin by the wild Pacific coast, it would have been perfect!  Oh well, something to look forward to another time, right?

Two months have passed since I last posted (actually almost 3 months if you don’t count my one post in January!). This was supposed to be my daily accountability method to keep going with the path I was on. The only thing is, I’ve changed directions, at least somewhat.

Some things are the same. I’m still tutoring, and I even have a couple new students. I’m still editing, too, though I’ve become more focused in what I’ll do. I love memoir, historical fiction, a variety of non-fiction, literary fiction, magazine articles, some kinds of spiritual writing, as well as some poetry and children’s stories.  I don’t so much love certain genres like romance, thrillers, occult, horror, and such, and I’m happy to pass those editing opportunities onto others who enjoy them.

So what, you may be wondering, is this “new direction?” I’ve developed a very strong interest in all the different aspects of publishing that are now available, and I’ve been exploring related topics with great interest: agents, queries, proposals, traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, multiple forms of indie/self-publishing, platform/brand building, book design, social media, email lists and newsletters, marketing, freelance writing (articles, guest blog posts, etc.).

The more I research, the more interested I’ve become, and I’ve been experimenting with a number of these areas myself.  I love to teach and share what I’ve been learning. I’ve decided to offer workshops and seminars, do research for writers, and consult in areas like understanding publishing options, writing queries and proposals, and finding agents and/or publishers.

Some of the “study” I’ve done in the past 2 months includes:

• order and study the “Agent Kit” from Writers Digest
• learn to use canva.com and do other design studies
• listen to numerous webinars and videos such as “Successful Self-Publishing ” with Joanna Penn and Joel Friedlander
• order and read books like William Zinsser’s On Writing Well and Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Query Letters
• read numerous articles on the internet
• take Tim Grahl’s 30-day podcast course “Hacking Amazon” and some other similar online courses
• follow a number of really good writing/publishing blogs
• take Charlene Kingston’s “Create E-Books Your Customers Will Love” course
• and much more!

Meanwhile, I’m still writing memoir stories, and working through Bill Roorbach’s Writing Life Stories. I’m also trying out the updated Grammarly software to improve my editing.

I’ve organized my life by creating a huge wall chart with mind maps covering my tutoring, editing, writing, publishing, online activities–and friends, family, spiritual, and creative life.

I’m busy updating my brochures, and preparing to start an e-newsletter using MailChimp.  I’m also starting an actual “writer’s blog” in addition to my penandpapermama.com site. And yes–my new site will use my name: normajhill.com. Coming soon!

It’s Spring Break this week and next, and my tutoring students are all taking a break. So this is my opportunity to take my own “writer’s retreat” and do lots of writing–including blogging again–and get my “new direction” in gear. Enough with the studying (though I’ll continue to keep up-to-date); but it’s time now for ACTION–starting with reorganizing my office and writing 3 blog posts today.

So … am I forgiven for my temporary disappearance?