I have a really bad memory so having a planner with the months and days in a small tablet helps keeping my schedule figured out. In the picture above, you can see the tablet "You got this" planner. It's one of those planners where you fill in the days and months so if you have to, you can start in the middle of the year. Mine has 18 months I believe so I started it last month and it will go through the whole year of 2022, so I'm covered. I use it to keep track of the posts I plan ahead plus my daily activities. And I kept last year's planner so I can compare how I did today last year with today. It's cool when you're keeping track of sales. Everything is in one place.
The other tablet in the picture is a plain tablet filled with empty lines for note-taking. I use that particular one just for Peterson Estate series. It has all of the books in the series. I filled it with characters, setting information, and a little information about each of the books. That way, I can go back and look at something I need for another book in the series.
Behind the laptop, I have my books and more tablets for notes. I have one tablet where I keep notes for the other books. Same thing--characters, setting, etc so as I'm writing, I can look back at my notes to refresh my memory. I'm always forgetting things so keeping notes close by helps the process go more smoothly.
Beyond that, I have 2 dry-erase boards where I'm writing things down. One dry erase board is a calander. I don't stay up all night once a week like I used to and I still enjoy scheduling my posts for Instagram and Facebook ahead of time, so I broke down everything I did in one night so I'm not interfering with my writing time. It does help. Otherwise, I'm on my computer all day and missing out on life. Scheduling the posts ahead of time makes it easier to enjoy life a little better. All I have to do is reply to the replies and make my visits on the social sites throughout the day. If I don't schedule them, I tend to forget and lose out on reaching out to people daily. I haven't had to take time off from IG yet because I'm not stressed out from it.
A smaller dry erase board is next to my desk as well. It has notes for my daily activities. When that changes, I just wipe it off and write down my new plans. This one changes all the time so having something I can see helps me remember what I'm doing for the day.
I do keep a third dry erase board on the fridge, but it's not for writing. I like it because if I do stay up late and want to sleep in, I can leave a note for my husband not to wake me up until a certain time. Or I can leave a love note for him, which does make him feel good since we're not together 24-7. I am busy at my computer a little while during the day and he goes to bed early. Having something around to help us stay connected keeps our daily life together and keeps it going.
Other ways that help me stay organized is having everything connected. I keep everything on my laptop but if I can't write on my laptop, I have my cell phone with Word installed on it as well. So if I'm out and about, I can write as I'm waiting in line or out in the car waiting for someone to come back. When everyone was getting those stimulus checks, I used mine to buy a tablet, so now I have that as well. Again, Word is installed on it so I can write with that if I can't get on my laptop. Plus there's games on it to help me unwind and Netflix for the same reason. Believe it or not, taking breaks and doing something else does help you write better because your mind is fresh. So make sure you take breaks from editing and writing. Even reading a book makes a big difference. I can do that with all three units--laptop, cell phone, and tablet.
I think most writers do keep notes so that may not be something new to you. There are so many types of ways to keep notes though so having them done long-hand may not work for you, even though it does work for me. We're all different. If you have a computer or laptop, there's probably a note program already installed onto yours. Or you can use Google's Keep App which works on the cell phone too. I have to Keep on all of my units so they are where I need them. I have special notes on there like what it would cost me to order my books, hashtags to use on social sites, etc.
That leads me to using Hashtags, which are super important. When I first heard about them, I was confused because I always called the symbol the pound sign. Then someone came along and changed it on me lol. I hadn't been on Instagram very long and my posts were not getting seen. I began using Hashtags, and my posts were getting seen. Now it's the number 1 social site for me because I'm getting traffic and traffic means more sales. Most of my sales have been coming from IG. I know this because almost every time I mention one of my books, I see a new sale for that same book on the same day or even the next day. So that's pretty cool. I just don't flood my posts with my books because it's not all about my books, it's about writing in general. I don't want to be that annoying writer who does nothing but shares her books. I love selling my books but I don't want to shove it down someone's throat. That's not a good thing. So having the Hashtags does help because they organize the posts and puts them in front of the people who need to see them. That's very important and good marketing. I'm still learning about that!
So, that's about it for me. I hope my tricks and tips help you. If you have one that works, please share it in the comments. Thank you!!
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