Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the to-do list principle has been around forever because it works. So these are our top three tips for getting the most out of your Author To-Do List…
Brainstorming about your author career
A sk yourself, what matters most to you as an author? And what do you achieve this month?
While you’re thinking of the answers…
1/- Start Your Author To-Do List with: Your Workspace
We begin with the worst first…
Cleaning up your writing workspace.
I’m serious.
We all get so involved in what’s in our head and rarely stop to look at the table space where we create!
So do a quick declutter.
Wipe down:
- your desk
- Writing chair
- Computer
- Keyboard—a must.
While you’re at it, think of how you can streamline (simplify) your workspace.
Author self-care in the workspace
Also, look at how you are sitting as you write, is it correct for your posture? Could you reposition your workspace in a way to help your spine?
As writers, we spend over 6849879468698497 hours (I just tapped that out, in case you’re one of those research statisticians) sitting as we write.
I don’t know about you, I tried that standing desk thing – I felt like a bank teller, not a writer. I just couldn’t do it!
Is there a gadget you can use to not only help you maintain a healthy lifestyle while you write? It could be something as simple as adding a new water bottle for the desk to your list, ensuring you keep up your fluids.
The desktop workspace
For the desktop workspace, look at what gadget you could use to help simplify thing.
Is there a digital calendar you can use, that you can link to your phone to keep you on track?
What about a way to schedule your newsletters for the next 6 weeks?
Could you create a content loop to fill your entire social media feed for the next few months ahead?
Ask a writer friend for recommendations of their top 5 tools. Or check out the tools we trust and use in the Author’s Toolkit.
Then…
2/- Next on Your Author To-Do List: Writing
Writing is the backbone of being a writer, pretty obvious. Right?
So how about setting some writing goals this month?
We all know a book takes a long time to write and that each word counts.
So decide upon a Wordcount goal. You can break it down for the month, week, and then into the days you can write. Say you can only write three days of the week, you can find out your word count, turning this into an achievable word count goal that you can manage.
Find the wordcount formulas here >>
Then, keep a track of your daily wordcounts with this FREE tool to help motivate you >>
So, what will be your word count goal for this month?
3/- The thing most authors avoid on the Author To-Do List: The Author Platform
Your author platform is what helps you connect to your readers. It should be part of your author goals and something to work on as part of your monthly to-do list. It doesn’t have to be big, to not distract you from your precious writing time.
You could create a reader magnet (a short story) to help build your email list.
Or try posting once a day on Twitter, or twice a week on Instagram?
You could check for any broken links on your website, to ensure you’re readers can buy your books!
Every little bit counts to help your author platform grow.
4/-Then set it in stone!
Write down your author goals, but you can skip the chisel and wall of stone for this. Use a chalkboard, whiteboard, the back of an envelope etc, but just write it down.
And keep them simple — which is why I only made it to the three points on the Author’s To-Do list – especially if just starting out. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself to surrender to a binge on ice cream and Netflix for the rest of the year. Although that does sound tempting.
Writing down your author goals helps you know what you want, where you want to go, as well how to achieve them. It’s like something clicks in the background that makes you want to do it. Plus, there’s all this proven scientific research that says so & so does Stephen King!
Place your Author To-Do List somewhere so you’ll look at it daily.
Preferably somewhere in your face helps. You could stick your Author To-Do List on the sun-visor of your car to stare at while stuck in traffic.
Even better, stick it down with 479 layers of construction-grade sticky tape to completely cover your television’s remote control!
Or it can be as simple as creating a lock screen for your phone like this >>
5/-With Your Author To-Do List: Reward yourself
A lot of people set goals but forget the motivation, the reward. Sure, it’ll be the completed manuscript, but a book takes a long time. So what is the short-term payoff for yourself? These small ones help motivate you to keep going on the big-picture-goal=the book!
So think of something fun in between like a massage, mani-pedi, a weekend getaway, a new desk plant, hmm…
6/-Record & Measure your Successes.
At the end of the month, go through your goals to see where you can improve on, what worked, and what sucked worse than a bunch of deflated beach balls littering your favourite beach, during summer!
Make a note somewhere, or get the whole author goals kit to really give yourself a head start>>
As an author, it pays to make some time for yourself to think about what matters most to you. Simplify it in a To-Do list and know you’ve got this!
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