Behind the Scenes: Writer Approved Ways to Boost Success Every Year

Many of you lovely readers have asked what I do to stay on target and keep writing. If I want to boost success every year, it’s important to take a good hard look at both the good and the bad. It can feel painful, but it really forces you to think more about the bigger picture.

I’m not going to lie to you friends. Being your own boss is fun. I love waking up in the morning, making a cup of coffee and settling into my well-worn chair behind my desk. There’s nothing more satisfying than turning on my laptop, and pulling up the latest chapter I’ve been working on for my book. The sound the keys make as my fingers race over them keeps me going long after my mug is empty.

Just like anything else in life though, nothing is ever perfect. This means that sometimes being your own boss can suck. It’s extremely easy to lose focus, get distracted, and try to spin too many plates at once. It’s also frustrating at times because you’re often alone and the only one making any decisions. Making the right decisions can often feel overwhelming and impossible. I know I find this particularly true on days when I just can’t find the right words.

Setting deadlines and goals for books and short stories is something that I must do at the start of every year. There’s no avoiding it if I want to keep the ball rolling and actually finish anything. To give you an idea of how I do this, I’ve put together a list of the different things I plan to focus on in 2018.

Examine the Facts

What do I do well? What should I keep doing? What should I stop doing?

Part of knowing what you did do well over the course of the year, is also knowing what you need to do more of, and even what you need to quit doing altogether. The key here is to try and stay as objective as possible. It’s not a pity party where you make a list of all your flaws and wonder what the hell you were thinking. Examining the cold hard facts helps you to make changes to bring improvement to your work moving forward.

For example: I did a lot of work on Book 3 in the Book of Eve Series this year. However, I often found myself buried in freelance work, which meant that I was almost working 40 hours a week on stuff that wasn’t my own. Now, I didn’t quit my job only to take on more work that wasn’t mine. I quit my job to have more time to dedicate to writing books. I realized that I needed to make a firmer commitment to that goal.

Taking the time to look back and evaluate what was happening helped me to understand that my freelance work was having a direct impact on my number one priority. Starting the new year with this in mind has already made all the difference in the world.

Seek Input

What do you think? How can I improve? Do you have any advice to help boost success? 

When I first started writing, I never sought out anyone’s opinion on my ideas. For some reason, I had it in my head that writing was something that I had to do on my own. If I couldn’t figure out how to get from A to B, well it was because I wasn’t clever enough. Now that I have a bit more experience, I know that this is a really terrible way to approach writing and, let’s be honest, life.

After taking a few writing classes, I started to get feedback on my work. I made writer friends, who offered suggestions and constructive criticism free of charge. I realized that in talking through problem areas and asking questions, my writing improved. Seeking input helped me to make better decisions,

Today, I have people who I turn to when I can’t quite figure out what happens next–in both my career and writing. They help me to move forward when I’m feeling stuck and cheer me on when I succeed. When it comes to being your own boss, you don’t actually have to do it alone. In fact, you shouldn’t. You’ll feel better for it. Trust me.

Read More

What can I learn? How can I improve? What do I do differently to help boost success? 

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I think its fairly common knowledge that if you want to write, you need to read. You need to discover what you like and what you don’t like about a particular story. Examining those elements carefully will help you to better understand the craft. When you better understand the craft, you can figure out how to introduce all the good bits into your own writing.

If there’s anything I miss about having a morning commute, it’s that it gave me the time to get some serious reading done. I would finish a book every week or so, and it would fill me with inspiration. When I started to work from home, I would try to read before bed, but most nights I would get caught up in whatever it was that I was doing (Hey Netflix!). The next thing I knew it was time for bed. No reading for me.

It’s why I decided to participate in the Goodreads book challenge. Basically all you need to do is tell the site how many books you want to read before the end of the year. As you read and update your number of finished books, the site will let you know if you’re on the right track. So far I’ve read two novels that have been on my to-read list for what feels like years (The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn and The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern). Both books have helped tremendously.

Say ‘No’

Do I actually have time for this? What do I need to spend my time on to boost success?  

There’s nothing I love more than helping people solve problems. While this makes me good at things like freelancing, it also a great way to avoid finishing my novel. The underlying problem is that saying ‘yes’ to everything only feeds into my desire to please others. As a result, what I want to accomplish suffers. I end up not feeling very happy with myself. I often end up feeling like I have nothing to show for the day, week, month and even year.

Saying ‘no’ is scary sometimes, especially when the answer is tied to a paycheque. Believe me, I know. This is why it’s so important to know the facts. They help you to see whether or not you’re focusing too much on one thing and not enough of the other.

Stop Overthinking

Let it go? That’s right. Let it go.  

Yeeesh. This is a huge one for me and I’m writing it down not as something that I know will get fixed immediately, but because it’s something I’ll be working on for a while.

The reason why overthinking is such an issue for me is that it literally slows down my productivity to the point where I don’t write anything. For example, in my freelance work, I can create and write a blog post in 2 hours. However, when it comes to my own blog posts, it takes weeks for me to finish and hit that publish button. All I can think about are potential mistakes, being misunderstood, whether or not people will like or hate what I’ve written and so on. Overthinking literally prevents me from moving forward in my career. It’s frustrating but I’m pleased that I’ve actually taken the time to evaluate and acknowledge the problem. It’s the only way to understand what’s going on when I start to overthink.

Recognize the Good

You are awesome. Keep going! 

After all is said and done, it doesn’t do me any good to ignore what I’ve accomplished. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like a lot, especially when I’m waist deep in manuscript edits. The truth is it’s easy to bury yourself under the massive list of things that you didn’t do or didn’t happen. This is why examining the facts is so helpful. When you force yourself to focus on what went well over the course of 12 months, you’ll see that you’ve achieved more than you thought.

Writing is all about the long game. Hold onto these achievements. Tell people. Cut yourself some slack and take a moment to live in your accomplishments, big or small. It will make the whole process a hell of a lot more enjoyable. Even on the days when you can’t find the words.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Did I miss anything? Sound off in the comments below!