5 Steps To Psych Yourself Up For Writing In the New Year.

There’s a wise saying: “Planning will not guarantee success, but it certainly increases the probability of succeeding”.

We’re all not linear writers, but the writing process is so much easier if you put a plan of action in place. Let’s first start with 5 steps to psych you up in preparation for writing your book in the New Year.

Prepare your mind for the actual task of writing – think about all the things that you know will lead you to distraction and start weaning yourself off. For example, if you know you’re tempted to check your emails every 5 minutes. Remind yourself that you are giving others, who are probably already successful, your attention, thereby, leaving you behind from becoming successful. That does the trick for me every time.

Review your daily schedule and revise it to allow you time to write. Some of you might only be able to allot fifteen minutes, or half hour increments because time is an issue. In spite of this, you can accomplish your writing goal if you’re serious about getting your book done. Make it a priority and commit to it.

Plan your writing area. If it’s the kitchen table, or home office, get it prepared for when you are ready to write. Let those around you know that, that area will be off limits for the time you’ve set. If a bustling atmosphere, like a café is your thing and helps with your creativity, that’s okay, too. Whatever works for you. The important thing is that you’re comfortable. If you’re not, you will obviously be distracted.

Plan how you will approach writing your book. Will you write an outline? This may sound basic, but as noted above, we’re all not linear writers and many of us are either not used to working with an outline, or feel that it will dampen our creative spontaneity. I advocate having an outline. It doesn’t have to be set in stone, it’s common to tweak as you go along. However, it will serve as a starting point when you sit down to write. If you don’t have a plan of sorts, when you write, the content will most likely be disorganized, leading to extensive rewrites that is unnecessarily labour intensive. So, plant the seed in your head that you will begin with an outline, no matter how brief. Your writing experience will be better for it.

Plan to market your book. Yes, I know, marketing equals selling and you don’t like to sell. But here’s the thing, if you don’t market your book, how will people know it’s out there? You may be thinking that if you publish your book via the traditional route, the publisher will do all the marketing. That is not so. The fact is publishers expect authors to already have an established platform. You don’t have to do it alone, there are tools and services to help you, but you also have to take a level of responsibility, so prep your mind for the role of marketing your book.

Write It, Work It, Publish it™

© 2012 Cherry-Ann Carew

Cherry-Ann Carew, aka The Power Writing Coach, Developmental Editor, Amazon best-selling author and Founder of Writetastic Solutions is passionate about helping aspiring fiction and non-fiction writers bring out their creative expression to write their books. Learn how her coaching and editing services can help you Write It, Work It and Publish It™ at: http://www.writetasticsolutions.com.

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