Look. I know. But fiction is still very hard for me and these self help, how to organize your life books are significantly easier for me to get through. And I’m also very bad at sticking to my choices anyway, so I’m reading another one of them!
And this one isn’t too bad! Unlike a lot of the other books of this ouvre that I’ve read before, this book is mostly about outlining a structure over crafting very concrete rules about how to live your life and insisting that this way is the only way. And I like a book that is open to the idea that different specifics are going to work for different people.
At a high level, the book focuses on a very simple idea: Put effort into the things that matter the most to you, and figure out a way to make the rest as automated and lazy as possible. Some of it is letting go of what isn’t important, like not having your house set up in a way that looks like it belongs in a magazine. While her examples don’t match my own life, the ideas behind the rules that she’s created feel like they could be adapted to fit most people, which is more than I can say for some of the other books I’ve read in this genre.
Overall, I generally like it! While it might feel like a bit much if you’re currently overwhelmed and in need of something to get your life together right now, I think this book is a good guideline to help you refine a system into something that works better for you.
NaNoWriMo is a writing event that happens every November where the participants attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel in one month. It’s a great challenge for anyone who wants to finally get started on that book they’ve had in their heads.
I did NaNoWriMo for a decade and wrote over a million words in my time. This is my second year not doing it, partially because of the brain issues and partially because I just don’t need it as much to get things done. So these were some of the lessons I learned.
Getting it done fast meant getting it done
I had an issue before this where I would start a lot of projects, only write when I was inspired, and never finish anything off because something else would catch my attention. Putting the time limit of a month on writing meant that I didn’t have time to get distracted by an idea or anything else and I started getting things done! And realizing that was a great step forward for me as a writer.
I need to write out the whole story, beginning to ending
Some people can edit as they go, but I am not one of them. Getting the whole story out and making changes as I go meant that I never lost the momentum and had more of a chance to experiment with things. I could make the change, try it out for a few thousand words, and then decide that I did or did not like it and make a note to adjust things as I went. It certainly made the rewrites a lot more cumbersome, but I enjoyed the process a lot more this way.
A loose plot outline is a girl’s best friend
I have tried going in with absolutely no clue about what was going to happen, and I have gone in with a strictly structured, chapter by chapter plot outline. Both extremes did not work for me at all. I have found my sweet spot is a list of really loose plot points that I want to hit to get from beginning to end, as well as a few really cool scenes. That way I have a lot of flexibility to change things as I go and don’t feel either lost or trapped by my choices at the start.
How to structure my notes
Because I tend to make mental updates as I went, I struggled for a while with how to keep track of the changes so that I could fix it all up and make the story cohesive when I returned to it. That meant that I had an opportunity to figure out what information I needed so that I could actually do that, from character details that I needed to remember for later to whole scenes that I wanted to include earlier in the story.
[Workbook plug]
I made the workbook as a way for me to keep notes as I was writing for changes or things I wanted to get into the story when I wasn’t working on it at the moment, or so that I could remember details later.
You can make friends as an adult!
As a person who was growing into adulthood, I knew that making friends was going to be difficult the older I got. With NaNoWriMo, I was able to find people who shared my love of writing who all came from different areas and lives. It’s been the place I’ve gotten many of my friends as an adult, and I’ll always be grateful to it for that.
Today in books that I’ve had on hold since before I got sick and was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to actually read because I wasn’t sure how good my brain was! I really had no idea what I was getting into and, yet again, I did not read the blurb and just dove right in and hoped that I would be okay in the brain to read it.
This book doesn’t quite have a main character to follow, or a solid plot line to talk about. It is about a world where there are monsters hiding among humans, who fear for their lives and their discovery, and who know they will be persecuted for their mere existence. With a single video of a police officer shooting a black man that also happened to be a werewolf, their existence is exposed to the world and the different groups and individuals of this world struggle to find a way forward, to live in a world that wants them gone.
I have looked at other reviews, but I am not quite at a point where I was able to pick up the probably very clear allegory between minority groups and monsters, mostly because many of the monsters we see were also minorities or people who were under privileged to start with which made it hard for me to put a lot together the way I think I was supposed to. We’re going to blame that on the lingering brain damage.
As a narrative, it had a delightfully ethereal feeling to it in the way it was told. It was a little harder for me for the moment, but I really do like the idea of the story being told as what was happening to a whole lot of different individuals that happen to cross paths rather than as a core narrative with a solid protagonist. It felt like the correct choice for the story being told, and made it feel like a bigger and more complex thing than it might have told any other way.
Overall, I really did enjoy it! If you get a chance, definitely check it out!
I have known a lot of people who swear by the Getting Things Done methodology. I have heard that there is even a course on how this works taught at my company! I work in tech, and the reason why so many people in this industry specifically have gravitated towards this method with such zealous dedication ((The number of times I have heard that the only reason the method doesn’t work is because you’re doing it wrong…)) is a lot more clear after having read the book.
The method essentially requires that you gather all of your tasks in a single place and assess everything on your list with a flow chart. The first thing you wrote down is the first thing you do, then the next, then the next, without prioritization until it is all done. If it is a big task, it is a project that is broken into smaller tasks, and there’s an emphasis on figuring out what the next action is and just, well, getting things done. ((Also a bunch of stuff about keeping tasks to zones, which is one of those relics of the time when you didn’t have devices that allowed you to do things in different places.))
It’s a process that’s fairly standardized and explained with just enough vagueness that it could, in theory, be applied to anything. But also enough complication that I think it draws a certain type of person who is also very drawn to software development. And I think the fanbase of this methodology might be part of the reason I have a weird feeling about it.
I think it’s fine as a starting point, but it is a method that should be adapted and adjusted once you have the initial panic of needing some place to start settled. Getting all of your tasks in one place is a good thing, as is taking time to look them over and assess whether you have to do this now or if you can delegate or get rid of it all together. As a whole, it’s fine for if you have a fairly straightforward life, or if you don’t have a need to get into a flow or have interest-based attention, or even have a lot of interest in doing anything you’re working on. But life my life is a bit more complicated and nuanced, so I don’t think I’ll be taking this method on.
Another YA fiction book for me! Because that’s what I could handle at the time, and it was still taking a bit longer than I’d like to read. It had an interesting concept, and it was for a younger audience so I figured it was about at the range where I could check it out.
The book follows Michael, a kid who has just moved into a new house that needs a lot of work, and where the whole family is very stressed about his baby sister who is suffering from several health problems. Michael discovers a strange being in the shed that likes Chinese food and doesn’t seem quite human, but does appear to also be dying.
There’s a very passive and dream-like quality to the book, where things just happen more than Michael taking any actions to drive it onward. There’s a girl named Mina who takes a more active role in the story and actually takes more action in the book while Michael seems to just sit back and stress and wonder and observe the events around him as they happen. He does some mild things, like figuring out and ordering the right food or adding a few vitamins to Skellig’s recovery, but it doesn’t ever really feel like anything would have changed if he didn’t do anything.
Although some of this might be more about the fact that I didn’t really know how old I was supposed to interpret the characters as. I have since found out that he was intended to be 10, which does make a lot more sense, but I just wasn’t sure while I was reading. Which made the book feel more okay than really good. Also, it might be because it was really intended for much younger readers than me who probably wouldn’t have been as bothered by that.
But overall, it was an interesting read. Not something I’d pick up a second time, but definitely something that was enjoyable at the time and worth at least checking out.
As I’m sure you’re already very aware if you have plans to be an author, you need to treat it like a business. But what exactly does that mean? Is that just filing the paperwork? Creating the books and figuring out how to sell them?
It’s a lot of different things, but the whole idea of being a business can be incredibly overwhelming. What you need at the start is not to just jump in and do it all. You need a business plan. Which… is also very daunting. But not to worry, I have an outline that you can use to help guide you through the process!
Author business plan
Publishing name
The name you will publish under.
The pitch
In the days of office jobs and elevators, there was a concept known as the “elevator pitch” or the sales pitch you could give to someone important as you took the elevator to your floor. What you are looking for here is about a tweet-length (240 characters) description of what you as an author bring to your audience that is different from anyone else and why they should read your books.
Description
This is a longer explanation of that pitch. Pretend you have 5 minutes to explain who you are and why someone should check out your books. You might also be able to look at this as your biography.
This is ultimately a description of what you as an author and your books are, what they stand for, and what that pitch you wrote really means.
Product description
Here is where you talk specifically about the books you’re writing. What makes them different and unique. Why would someone want to read them? What do they have in common and why will someone who picks up one want to read all of them?
This is also a good place to talk about the audience that you are looking to attract. Be specific, and do feel free to talk about the books in the context of the people who will read them and how your words will satisfy their needs.
You may also want to consider some specifics, such as format (ePub, paperback, audiobook) and what the price point might be for each of those formats.
Release schedule
Have at least a general idea of when you want to release books and how often. Knowing this can help you not only with planning your marketing efforts, but give you a more realistic timeline of when you need edits in, how quickly you need to write, and a general understanding of what it is you’re going to need to do monthly, weekly, and even daily!
Competitive analysis
Though you are unique, it is good to have a few people who are like you. Find other authors who your ideal audience also like and take a good look at what they’re doing. How they are marketing their books, how often, and even what their fans love about their books. You can use this to figure out how to market your own books and use it in your marketing as well! After all, if you can say someone will like your book if they already like another popular author’s book, then it’s a lot easier to find your audience.
Finances
Money! It is an important part to include as part of a plan. You want to split this into two sections:
What you make
What you expect to be getting from the sales of the books. You can start with a general estimate at first, but be sure to be realistic about what you think you can actually sell. Do feel free to do projections and what you think you will make in your first few months, your first year, next three years, and next five!
What you spend
This number should not be more than what you make for too long! You can expect to spend more than you make at first, but you should be able to make that up sooner than later. **You are a business, after all, and businesses should be profitable! But do include any expenses you think you’ll have, from marketing to editing to the little things like office supplies. That notebook and fancy pen habit? That’s a business expense now!
General author marketing strategy
With all the information that you already have, this should now be a lot more straightforward. You know what your books value proposition is (Pitch and description), how other authors like you do their marketing (Competitive analysis) and what you can afford to do (Finances) so put that all together into a high level plan to figure out how you want to present yourself to the world.
This is also a good time to look at potentially creating some kind of branding guide. Some kind of general guideline around fonts, colours, and the voice that you use (Not your physical voice, just the way you talk and phrase things) that you can lean back on when you are doing all of your marketing.
And those are the basics for you as an author! The books are another plan that we can tackle another day. Did I miss anything here? Or have you done this already, and did it help you?
For whatever reason, as my brain was recovering I had a much easier time with nonfiction, so back to the old standby that I already know I don’t like that much: self improvement books! This is entirely my own fault, but who knows, maybe this is one of the good ones?
Nope. I fully acknowledge that this book is definitely written for the exact opposite kind of person from me. I do not have trouble starting things and, though it might take a bit of time, I’m also pretty good at finishing them as well. This book is very much about getting people to start doing things and getting through the mental blocks that might be preventing them from doing so.
And no mention that I caught of rolodexes!
I did like a few elements of it. The idea of unscheduling was interesting and follows some things I find really useful, such as setting maximums on the amount of time you spend on work and scheduling in your breaks and things you do for fun. Having done something similar, I can confirm that it is definitely a thing that works pretty well.
Ultimately, though, not my thing. I do not have the issues outlined and found some of the pep talks to be a bit abrasive and not accounting for things outside of someone’s control that could be getting in the way. Overall, though, still a few interesting ideas. Check it out if you have trouble starting things!
Picture it: I had done all the work to get myself ready. I had identified the areas of my life that were important to me, hypothesis around what would make those areas better, and clear metrics that would make it obvious when I was improving or not.
And then I ended up breaking my brain.
The easy-to-explain version is that I ended up with a disease-induced concussion. I was having trouble holding thoughts together, stringing words together, and having constant migraines, dizziness, all sorts of things that essentially took me right out. I was bedridden for a couple days, even! It was a rough time.
But once I started to pull myself together a little, I tried to take this as an opportunity. Getting myself better could be the first thing. And so a new hypothesis and new metrics were born! ((Which took weeks to put together, but ignoring that…))
If I can think clearly, I can accomplish my goals
I had been told from friends who had been through the same thing what to expect and that was that I would essentially need to treat this like a concussion recovery program. I had no idea what that actually entailed, but I could figure out where I was now and where I wanted to be. So my key metrics were being able to maintain the following over three days without crashing:
Metric
Starting
Return to work goal
Recovery goal
Minutes per day I could maintain concentration on something over the entire day
40
240
600
Minutes I could sustain attention on a single task
5
30
120
Average complexity of tasks (Scored out of 5)
1.5
2.5
4
With this in mind, I started tracking everything and trying everything I could to try and make those numbers good. I ran a lot of experiments on myself, from trying to make sure I was timing myself to make sure I was taking adequate breaks to actually writing down what I did on breaks so I knew which activities were restful and which ones were making me worse.
As I figured out what worked and what didn’t, there were a lot of small, incremental changes. I started the day with planning what I was going to do. I used Pomodoro to make sure I stopped and didn’t work for longer than I knew I was able to, then increased as I went slowly. I started taking notes when I did anything so that I could reduce the amount my brain was actively working. And slowly, I was getting better.
Some things didn’t ultimately matter that much. I wasn’t getting light headed, for instance, now that I was off work. Some tasks I’d initially thought were fairly light on the cognitive functions were actually a lot heavier than suspected. There were a bunch of things I just couldn’t do, such as writing. And I miss that, but I have to refrain until I’m better.
And, of course, I had to adjust my systems a lot as I went along as I found things that worked or didn’t. For example, I needed to track conversations differently because I couldn’t take a break from them and often couldn’t take notes while I was talking to someone to try and refer to them later. Conversations were, really, the hardest things I did.
Where were the medical professionals that could have helped guide me through this? That is a rant for another time.
As I write this, I’m still very much in the process, but I have at least hit the return to work milestones. And hopefully that return to work won’t impede my progress on my way to a full recovery!
This is the first book fiction I was able to get through with all the brain issues I’ve been having! It took me a lot longer than it usually does (A couple weeks instead of a couple nights) but I was happy to be able to read like I used to in some capacity again. That being said, let’s talk a little about it.
When he wakes up in the small town of his childhood, Seth doesn’t know why he’s there. He was drowning, surely dead, but somehow he’s alone in the town that his family left ages ago after an incident that left his brother scarred and never quite the same. Throughout the book you learn about what happened as the memories of Seth’s life come back to him and he starts to unravel the mystery of where he is and why he’s there—as well as the others who remain.
I really liked the first half of this book. The slow reveal of what’s going on and context about Seth is engaging, and the introduction of Regine and Tomaz are a welcome addition so that Seth has another personality to bounce off of. They are very welcome additions to the cast and come with a more positive outlook when Seth’s depression threatens to overwhelm the whole story.
On the other hand, there’s a twist about half way through where we uncover what’s going on and I found I didn’t like it nearly as much as the prediction that I had in my head. It takes a turn for the sci-fi and tries to have something come in to act as an antagonist when an antagonist feels like a distraction. It also creates a lot more questions that are not answered by the end, and it makes the ending feel more like a stopping point, with very little feeling wrapped up. I don’t mind a stopping point as an ending, but I wish that the story had been a bit less complex in terms of plot and kept more inline with the character study.
At least, that’s what I wanted at the moment. It might just be a wrong book at the wrong time thing. It’s still pretty entertaining and if you’re up for a book with a sci-fi speculative twist, then you might really enjoy it!
