The Writing Life

Wow, can you believe that it's been almost two weeks since I've written a blog post?! Up until this point I've blogged daily all year long - although I think I missed a few days in late June and mid July. I've come to the conclusion that summer is just hard. Besides the fact that we moved at the beginning of the summer, the kids are home from school, and I've been working on 4 websites - yes, 4. Two of them are in full swing:

TrainingAuthors.com -s a website Shelley Hitz and I have put together for authors. We've been working together at Self-Publishing-Coach.com for years, and we've decided to re-brand it to include both of us and make it easier to help authors at the same time. I'd love it if you'd hop on over and check that out.

BooklyBooks.com spurred off of a newsletter that I started in December to help connect our author following with readers. Shelley wanted to make it even better and thus, the website was born. If you like to read, you'll definitely want to check that out. We promote books of virtually every genre and help readers find books for less.

I'm also working on revamping my author website. You can check it out at: AuthorsHart.com - just note that it is still under construction.

The last website I'm working on is actually a ministry project. My husband is working with a group of other guys to create a ministry for teen guys and I'm putting together the website for them. We're hoping to launch it in Mid-September.

All of this to say, I've been busy. Part of me feels like a failure because I've missed more than one self-imposed deadline. Yet when I look at all I've done and am doing, I know that I just need to keep plodding ahead and getting done what I can when I can. After all, it's far more important to do what you can than to stress over what you can't and accomplish nothing.

I'll be back to my A Year of Book Marketing posts tomorrow.  For today, I'd love to hear what you've been up to lately.

It's Time For Camp

Each year book marketing expert, D’vorah Lansky hosts an online conference for authors. 

This year’s conference is called: “eBook Publishing Boot Camp” and each of the workshop leaders will focus their presentation on an aspect of the eBook Publishing process.

eBook Boot Camp Workshops Include:

·         Creating your eBook  with Jim Edwards

·         Publishing to Kindle with Val Waldeck

·         Publishing to Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords with David Wogahn

·         Print-on-Demand Revolution with John S. Rhodes

·         Grow Your Business with Teleseminar with Bob Jenkins

·         How to Create a Course, and Earn, with Udemy with Alex Mozes

·         Surprise Workshop with Dr. Jeanette Cates

·         Share Your Book with Google Hangouts with Jason Matthews

·         Become a Kindle Bestseller in 30 Minutes a Day with Connie Ragen Green

·         Successful Book Launch Strategies with Shelley Hitz and Heather Hart

·         Leveraging Influencers to Sell More Books with Susan Baroncini-Moe

·         How to Build a Buzz for your eBook with Sandra Beckwith

The Best Part?

Besides the fact that it will be chalked full of useful information, Shelley Hitz and I are teaching the workshop, “Successful Book Launch Strategies" - This is my very first teleseminar and I'd love for you to join me!

Admission is currently priced at $67 for an early bird special – but will be rising to the normal fee of $197 before the event starts in April.

The sooner you get your ticket the better!

Just go to http://bit.ly/epublishbootcamp to sign up.

Want more information?

The conference runs from April 16^th-25^th and workshops will be available for re-play at your convenience.

You can get even more details at: http://bit.ly/epublishbootcamp

And now for our daily marketing segment:

Day 84

“Seize the day”

~Origin Unknown

There’s no time like the present to market your book. Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can complete today. Any other clichés that you want to include will work just fine, so long as you get the point. Marketing your book every day can seem to get old and not feel as important after awhile, but making the most out of today, will make for a brighter tomorrow. ;)

Marketing prompt:

Record a short portion of your book as a podcast or YouTube video.

And sign up to take part in the eBook Publishing Boot Camp at: http://bit.ly/epublishbootcamp

Days to go: 281

Computer Problems

It's been a long start of the year for me. I started having computer problems just before the release of "A Year of Book Marketing" and they persisted to the point that I either had to get a new computer or find someone to fix it. We found someone last week who said he could fix it on Friday, but was unable to get to it. With the promise of having my beloved computer up and running like new by Monday afternoon, I charged into the weekend doing what I could. Monday evening I got the bad news that my computer was in worse shape then originally thought. In fact, by all means it should have quit working a long time ago - and not just quit working, according to the tech, it's a miracle that it didn't short out and completely fry. Besides the loads of spyware, there was also a wire that wasn't grounded and a short to something else.

It would be easy to look at this year with dread. Pondering on how far behind I am on projects, and focusing on files that got lost during one of the multiple crashes that happened in the last two weeks, but today I'm focusing, not on the fact that I'm missing a deadline because my computer is still at the shop, but on the fact that I'm blessed beyond measure that I still have important files and will be back up and running sometime this evening. So, if you're waiting on something from me, you'll have to keep waiting just as I am. That doesn't mean that this year will be a wreck, it just means that I got some much needed time off - even if I didn't think it was the right time for it, apparently God did. And it's been nice.

But, enough about me! Onto our Year of Book Marketing Challenge...

Day 8

“You can’t expect to just write and have visitors come to you – that’s too passive.”

~Anita Campell

Wouldn’t it be nice to just sit back and let the readers find us on their own? It reminds me of the movie with Kevin Costner – “If you build it, they will come.” You know the one. The sad truth is that that is fictional. If we write it, readers won’t just start emerging from the cornfields or driving down to the local bookstore to pick up a copy. They first have to know that it is there – which means that we have to tell them. That’s what marketing is all about – and people will come once they know your book exists and is worth reading.

Marketing prompt:

Start a list of tweets that you can use for promoting your book on a regular basis. We call these evergreen tweets, because they are always usable. Having a few of these to fall back on can be a great time saver.

Days to go: 357

A Year of Book Marketing

I'm excited to announce that I'm launching a new book tomorrow - and a blog series! "A Year of Book Marketing" is a challenge to authors to spend 365 days marketing their books. Those who want to start the journey with me tomorrow (January 1st) are more than welcome to join me here on my blog as I'll blog my way through the challenge for all of 2013. If you'd rather start later, or want to have a copy of the challenge on hand, part 1 will be available on both Kindle and Smashwords. Part 2 won't be coming out until May, and then later on I will release the entire book in print from. But, enough about that, let's get started!

The first stop on the way to spending a year marketing our books, is to make sure that we have a background in book marketing. If you already have a firm understanding of marketing, you can feel free to skip ahead to the next chapter, but who knows, if you go ahead and read through the rest of this one, you might learn a thing or two. It’s up to you.

So what is book marketing? The following is the definition I came up with:

 “Book Marketing is the art of promoting one’s book

to gain exposure and increase sales”

Have you ever just stepped back and studied the art of marketing? Because that’s what it is: an art. It’s kind of like the art of writing – only not. The point is that very few authors are naturally poetic. We have to learn the craft of writing before we can be deemed a good author, and then we have to execute what we know by writing, and writing, and writing some more before we can be considered a great author. And the art of marketing is no different. No one is going to instantly be an amazing marketer; we first have to study the craft and then put what we’ve learned into practice – and practice it some more.

In writing, one of the best ways to study the craft is by reading. We hear it over and over again, if you want to be a good author – read. So if you want to be a good marketer, why not pay attention to other advertisements? This could be as simple as picking up a magazine the next time you are in a waiting room and thumbing through the various ads to see which ones draw your attention. Or you could just pay attention to what other authors are doing to market their books – are they adding an excerpt from another book of theirs to the back of the one you just read? Did they create a book trailer on YouTube or go on a blog tour? Which tactics do you think are more effective than others, and why? I do that on occasion, and here are some of the things that stick out to me the most:

1. The image matters. A good picture can make or break an ad. Even in the classifieds, the ones that simply had colored backgrounds stood out more and are the first ones I start reading – well, right after the ones that include a picture or logo that is.

2. Next to the picture, the most important thing is the headline. If you don’t have a powerful, attention grabbing headline, why would I want to spend my time reading whatever else you have to say – whether it’s a blog post or one paragraph about a product?

3. Where do you go from here? So many ads don’t give a good call to action. Don’t get me wrong, simply saying “Learn more at:” is great, it’s the ones that tack on a web address by itself that I’m not impressed with - or worse, the ones that leave you with nothing thinking that their book was so fabulous that I should search it out on my own. People like things simple. Tell the potential buyer HOW to buy your book, or where they can go to learn more about it. Don’t force them to do work to find out more.

While those three things came from physical ads that most new authors can’t afford, I still think that they are extremely valuable to us. You see, we can incorporate them all into our marketing strategies. We can include graphics in our posts, on websites, and even within e-mails that will attract the reader’s attention. We can make sure that our headlines draw our readers in, and we can definitely give good calls to action. For example:

Learn the ins and outs of book marketing in: “Book Marketing 101” by Heather Hart

Another thing we can do to study the art of book marketing, is to read up on it. A while back I read an awesome book on book marketing where one of the points that the author made was that people buy things that appeal to them emotionally. I hadn’t thought of it that way before, but while we spend money on things we need or want, we are more likely to place an impulse purchase if it appeals to our emotions. It has to go beyond the: "this book will be good" notch to the: "you really want to read this" level. And to be honest, I have totally seen this to be true with my own spending habits. I encourage you to pay attention to what causes you to spend money as well; not just with books, but everywhere. Is it the packaging? A promise? What seals the deal for you?

I hope you'll join me tomorrow as I officially kick off, "A Year of Book Marketing."

Writing Real Good - Guest Post by Deborah Heal

Writing Real Good

by Deborah Heal

Christian fiction writers sometimes think their stories are less important than the sermons, essays, and treatises of the "serious" non-fiction writer. But imaginative writing has tremendous power to teach deep truths. For example, many, many people have come to know God through C. S. Lewis' Narnia stories.

Storytelling is even an effective tool for fund raising. One Christmas, when it was time to send out the monthly newsletter for our crisis pregnancy center, I decided to use a story to help readers understand the problems families faced. Here is the letter I sent out:

   "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger." Luke 2:7

Now that was a crisis pregnancy! There is something so heart wrenching about the newborn King lying in a stable when he should have had every luxury in the universe.

Every parent wants the best for their precious little ones. But for some couples like, Carl and Brenda…

June, 1955. Carl was just out of the service and couldn’t find a job. And he had a wife and two kids—Brenda, three-year-old Stevie, and two-month-old Patty. So Carl packed up the family and moved, but with the recession there were no jobs. For a while Brenda worked at the dime store, and Carl stayed home to watch the kids. With no gas for the car, he walked across town when he heard the Shell station was hiring. Sure enough, the sign in the window said, HELP WANTED, but the man inside told him the job had just been filled. It was a long walk back home. “The air Force will take me back,” he told Brenda. But the Air Force was not taking men with two children.

The approaching Christmas season just highlighted their misery. “Well,” Brenda said, “at least Patty is too little to know about Christmas presents.” Or maybe she did and that’s why she cried so much. She seemed hungry all the time, no matter how often she nursed, and Brenda began to wonder if she had enough milk.

Brenda cried in the doctor’s office when he explained that, “yes, you can get pregnant even while you’re nursing.” And when baby Mikey came, he slept in a dresser drawer because Patty still needed the crib.

This Christmas season I am asking you to consider a very special gift so that we can continue to help families like Carl and Brenda’s resist the pressure to abort their baby “Mikey’s.” Your gift will allow us to help with baby supplies—like a crib for the baby to sleep in.

Apparently, my little story helped to put a face on the problems associated with unplanned pregnancies, because donations poured into the center. 

Does the story seem to overly sentimental? The "Patty" in the story is me. I’m grateful to be able to use my family’s ordeal to write real good.

------

Deborah Heal is the author of the young adult novels Time and Again and Unclaimed Legacy She lives in Waterloo, Illinois, where she enjoys reading, gardening, and learning about southern Illinois history. She is married and has three grown children, three grandchildren, and a canine buddy named Scout (a.k.a. Dr. Bob). Currently, she is working on book three in the Time and Again trilogy.

You may learn more about the author by visiting her website: http://www.deborahheal.com/, her  Facebook Fan Page, and Goodreads. Her books may be purchased on Amazon.com. 

Capture the Memories - Guest Post by Mary Anne Bendetto

Capture the Memories

by Mary Anne Benedetto

~~~~~

It seems as though we were just in the midst of the heat of summer with its tornado and hurricane warnings, floods, and humidity so thick it sometimes felt like you could chop it with a machete. Now here we are rapidly approaching the holiday season!

Whether you are celebrating by devouring luscious Thanksgiving turkey, accompanied by all of the requisite trimmings, or perhaps seated around a Christmas ham and trying to keep the little ones quiet long enough to say grace, this is a time of year when we hope to enjoy some quality family time with loved ones. From the presence of senior citizens to the smiles of sleeping newborns, memories are being made at these events. And stories are being told. The seniors sometimes like to reminisce about holiday events back when they were growing up, but do we really listen? And do we actually capture and preserve the stories they are telling?

Lauren and Clara Greene

Some grandparents and great-grandparents may sit back and remain fairly silent, shell-shocked by the chaotic activity surrounding them. Perhaps they need coaxing to join in and share some of their recollections. What we must remember is to take the time to make them feel special. Let them know that you value hearing what life was like for them when they were growing up. Some of them are under the distinct impression that no one is interested. Are they correct?

The sad truth is that once they are no longer here to sit at that holiday dining table, unless their stories have been preserved, they are forever lost.  During this holiday season, why not attempt to engage the elder family members in conversation about their lives? A few tips are:

• Ask questions about the paths that brought them from there to here.
• Have a small, inexpensive hand-held recorder handy to capture the priceless memories.
• Recruit a family member or friend to transcribe the recordings, producing a document that can be shared with future generations.

When I was working with a senior group a few years ago, their limitations prohibited them from  producing full blown memoirs. I devised a form, which I call the Mini-Memoir. It is a fill-in-the-blank one pager that will generate discussion about favorite aspects of life and can be utilized by the older folks, as well as the younger generation. Make it a family holiday tradition! This form is a free download at my Web site http://www.awriterspresence.com. Click on the page called “Write About Your Life,” scroll down and print a PDF copy of the Mini-Memoir. Print as many copies as you’d like because it is my gift to you to help preserve some of those family memories which may erupt.

Ask the kids to tuck away their iPods, iPads and cell phones for a little while and participate. Everyone has a story, and involving the children in listening to the tales told by the older folks equates to creating lasting memories. Encourage them to ask questions and engage in meaningful conversation with Grandma, Grandpa or Uncle Joe.

Enjoy your 2012 holiday season, and please honor those beloved senior citizen family members by capturing some of their stories. You’ll be glad that you took the time because we can’t rewind! We can’t go back once they are no longer with us. God bless you, your family and your dear friends as you celebrate His love and grace during the holidays and begin a new tradition that will benefit future generations!

Mary Anne Benedetto is a speaker, ghostwriter,  blogger, Certified Lifewriting Instructor and author of 7 Easy Steps to Memoir Writing: Build a Priceless Legacy One Story at a Time! and two novels.  Her passions include helping people preserve their life stories, creating Christian fiction, world travel and walking the spectacular South Carolina beaches.  Visit her at www.awriterspresence.com, www.maryannebenedetto.blogspot.com and www.4womenwholove2travel.blogspot.com

http://bit.ly/OiDxsk

What are you seeking?

Photo Credit

I was reading in the book of Matthew today. I started this Bible reading plan with a friend back in September and we were planning on reading through the entire New Testament before Christmas... Obviously since I’m still in Matthew it’s not going so hot. This is a busy time of year around here. It always is, but even more so this year as we are moving next week so I’ve been working on that as well. I've made excuses, putting off my time with God trying to make sure that we were ready. We’re still not ready, but I took the time to read my Bible this morning anyway, and God confronted me with one of the last verses on my daily reading schedule:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

~Matthew 6:33

I've read that verse hundreds of times, but I actually stopped to listen to it today. That’s the exact opposite of what I have been doing - running around trying to make things work, stressing over the move and work, and neglecting my God and Savior. Have you ever done that?

I just felt God saying to me this morning to slow down and trust Him to make this move happen. I thought I had been. He has generously been supplying the finances that we need to make this happen, and even providing a house that is not only beautiful, but also more cost effective then I could have ever hoped for. So cost effective in fact, that it doesn't matter that my husband has yet to find a job, because my income from writing and helping other authors will cover the cost of rent – with room to spare for bills. If He can provide something like that, beyond my wildest dreams, why can’t I trust Him to help us be out of our current house on time without stressing and neglecting Him? 

I'm linking up with Word-Filled Wednesday this week over at Internet Cafe Devotions. If you head over there you can find more Word-Filled Wednesday posts.

Networking the Net

Social media is one of those things that most people have a love/hate relationship with.

We love it... so much that it eats our time and then we end up hating it.

As author's it eat's up our time.

We need it for marketing, research and, well, human interaction, but we don't need it to rule our days.

The other day I had an epiphany:

What if we actually used social media socially?

Stay with me now.

What if instead of spending hours repining pins, reading blogs, and skimming status updates, we responded to those same things?

What if we never re-pinned a pin without first commenting on in?

What if we never read a blog post without committing to comment?

What if instead of simply re-tweeting someone, we responded to their tweets?

What if we used the internet for networking, instead of just information gathering/sharing?

What if...

Would it take even more time?

Maybe.

Would it yield more results?

Definitely.

Is it worth it?

You tell me.

Book Marketing Success

Last weekend we launched a new book marketing community. In preparation for it, I read a ton of information on book marketing, and just marketing in general. The #1 thing that I kept running across was that you have to think outside of the box. If 100 people are already doing it, you should do something different. I'm not saying that you have to do something as outlandish as chaining yourself to a shopping cart, but there are other things that you can probably think of to market your book uniquely.

It all comes down to passion. The author referenced above was passionate about getting her book into physical stores. I don't believe that the company succumbed to her marketing tactic and began marketing her book, but it certainly got her and her book exposure...

But what about you?

What are you passionate about? 

What's your favorite thing to do? 

Can you incorporate marketing into it? 

Can you do what you love and market at the same time? 

Absolutely! 

In the past couple of weeks I have seen a tent shaped as the authors book (front and back cover printed on the outside, with the ends looking like pages). A booth where an author had became a food vendor to market his book about adding flavor to life. And I heard about an author who gave a free, autographed copy of her book to everyone on the airplane with her to the destination of the setting for her historical fiction novel. 

Are these tactics memorable? 

Oh yes. But more importantly, they are genuine. These authors took things that they loved and extended their marketing efforts into them. I say good for them! Why can't we be genuine in our marketing efforts? Can't they simply become an extension of who we are?

Do you write fiction? Why not dress up as a character from your book for Halloween? Even if you just stay home and pass out treats, you could hand moms (or dads) a coupon to download a free copy of your book from Smashwords, or include personalized book marks in your goody bags. (This would be especially good if you wrote horror!)

If you write about beauty, why not ask a salon if they would be willing to host a giveaway for you? You could drop of a box and allow their patrons to enter to win a free copy of your latest book. At the same time, you could collect addresses (physical and/or e-mail) to send information to everyone letting them know that they didn't win, but they could download a free excerpt on your website, or that you are having a free day on Kindle (if your in KDP select) on a certain day and they could download a free copy then.

Do you write historical fiction? Why not take a photo of your book at landmarks contained within your book? 

Think outside the box. Extend your marketing into who you are. 

Try it.

I dare you.

f you are looking for more help with book marketing. I encourage you to check out our new book marketing community: Book Marketing Success. Each month we will be discussing a different aspect of book marketing. I invite you to join us: http://bit.ly/BookMarketingSuccess

Take a Break

When working from home, it can be tempting to park myself in front of my computer for 8 hours straight. I figure that I NEED to dedicate myself to getting all of my work completed - however, that's not good for me, and if you do it, it's not good for you either. I read an article earlier this week where the author recommended taking productive breaks from work to give her mind a rest. Personally, I would much rather work straight through and get it done, then waste time by getting out of the zone. However, I do recommend taking breaks for another reason. The human body was not built to sit for 8 hours straight. I'm reminded of our annual 12 hour drive to see the grandparents. At the end of the day, I'm stiff and sore. Yet I try to do a mini version of that on a regular basis.

My husband works for PetSmart, and they have started encouraging their employees to wear step counters to work. They say that they are suppose to take 10,000 steps per day (that's about 5 miles and would take roughly 1-2 hours of straight walking). However, many experts would say that simply walking 10,000 steps a day isn't even enough. You have to work all of your muscles to stay healthy. You need to stretch and work on cardio-fitness as well.

Besides being good for your body, exercise is also good for your brain. It helps you stay more alert. According to a study done at Harvard, fitness training has a positive effect on cognitive ability including attention, organization, and planning. Basically, if you want to be more productive and more alert, take the time to exercise - you might actually get more done and be more efficient. If you still cringe at the thought of the time loss - multitask. Listen to an audio recording while you walk, exercise, or stretch. 

So, after taking all of the above into consideration, I've decided to schedule some exercise breaks into my day. This is hard with four small children, so I don't have slots nailed down yet. I'm planning on taking 3 breaks each day, one for walking, one for cardio work, and another for stretching. The girls loved our walk this morning, and I took some book work with me so that I wouldn't feel unproductive when we stopped at the park. This afternoon I'll take another break for stretching, but I probably won't be able to do cardio work while the kids are awake, so that's going to take some doing. 

Here's an article I found with stretches for people who sit all day.

The other key to staying healthy (no matter where you work) is drinking lots of water. This is probably my biggest downfall, so I'm working on it too.

Getting Organized

I've been struggling for, well the whole summer to stay organized and get caught up. It just seemed like I would clean my office only to have it trashed 24 hours later (part of this was because I work from home and my dear family likes to pile things on my desk). I would work extra hard trying to get caught up, only to fall farther and farther behind. I mean, I had PLANS for this summer. I was going to get so much done. Yet, looking back, I can't tell you exactly what I did...

But no more

I spent Saturday getting organized. I cleaned my office space (a place for everything and everything in its place ensures that clutter won't build up), then I re-did my work schedule. Instead of designating work time from 9-3 every day, I broke it down. I got out my trusty (was) dusty day planner, and broke down my schedule (in pencil so I can mark daily changes). Here's what it looks like:

9:00 - Editing
9:30 - Designated Client Task (planned in advance)
10:00 - Social Media / E-mails
10:30 - Urgent Tasks
11:00 - Ongoing Tasks
11:30 - 12:30 - Lunch Break
12:30 - Editing
1:00 - Social Media / E-mails
1:30 - Marketing
2:00 - Daily Duties
2:30 - Clean Up

Once I had a plan, I got out a timer. Setting it for 30 minute increments to help me stay on schedule, I found that some tasks that I hated flew by while I waited for the timer to beep and others that I enjoy didn't take as long as I thought! Essentially, it's the same principle behind the Productivity Software that I have and never use... Anyway! It worked GREAT on Saturday and I'm already starting to catch up. I can even tell you what I did and when. I can't wait to see how things go this week!

How do you stay organized and productive?

Read What You Write

I'm sure you've heard the age old saying, "You are what you eat." My dad use to love saying it to me when I was eating "nerds". Most of us have heard it, yet we all know that it isn't true. Now if we change it to "You write what you read." It couldn't become more true. That's the reason that so many people - authors, agents, etc. - recommend reading the classics. They say that by reading the classics, you can improve your writing skills. And then 2 pages later they tell you not to write above a 6th grade reading level because that's the society that we live in. We have to write so that we are understood. So which is it? Do we want to mimick the classics, or write for 6th grade? It can't be both. Thus, I don't recommend reading Dickens. My recommendation is to read the books that your target audience reads - or at least books on that level. If you're writing for people who read the classics, then sure read the classics, but if you're writing for people who read modern-day writing, then read modern-day texts by authors who write in modern words (as apposed to modern-day writer's who are mimicking the classics).

Last year I started to go through a book study with some friends of mine. We were reading through Susan Hunt's "The True Woman", and everyone quit before we even got half way through it because they couldn't understand it. They had to read the same paragraph 20 times to figure out what the author was trying to say. We would have all gotten a lot more out of it if she would have just wrote what she meant in the first place... Another book that I reviewed for Tyndale house said that it was the Bible in plain English - yet I had to look up roughly one word on every page to find out what the definition of it was. That's not plain English. Plain English is using common, every-day words that the average reader will understand. My guess is that both of these authors read the classics - frequently. But their audience didn't. That's a problem. If you want your audience to understand you, read the books that they read. I'm not saying that you have to pick up the latest secular book that's full of word porn, but find books that are on the level of your target audience and read those. If you write for teens, go through the teen section at the Library. If you write for children, read children's books. If you write for average adult readers, read average adult books. If you are writing for the Puritans  then by all means, read books written by the Puritans - just keep in mind that there aren't many (if any) left to read what you're writing, but you might be able to sell it to other people who like their books.

Focus Group

Last week I decided to create a focus group for my current book project. I want it to be the best that it can be, so I want feedback from other Christians. My main concern in doing this is that, because this is a book about my faith, I don't want it to become a theological debate. While I value input from other Christians and want it to be as accurate as possible, I don't want to be debating doctrine. Thus, I'm keeping it a small group of people. That being said, I would still like to add a few more people to it - preferably people that I don't personally know. So I am extending an invitation to my followers. I can't allow anyone who asks to become involved, but if you are interested, I would love to see if our beliefs are the same so that I can add you to my focus group. The easiest way for me to do this, is simply to share my belief statement here and if you agree with it, you can send me an e-mail at authorassistant (at) hotmail (dot) com. 

I believe:

• The Holy Scriptures are the True Word of God, and are important in all of life. I believe that the Bible is correct, and that if it says something is wrong then it is wrong. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 19:7, Galatians 1:8, and Romans 15:4)
• Because I believe the Holy Scriptures, I believe in the Trinity. That there is only one God eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1: 26-27, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:7, and Galatians 4:4-6)
• I believe that all have sinned and are in need of a Savior. (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:11-13, Hebrews 9:22, and 1 John 1:8-10)
• I believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. (Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8, Romans 3:24, Romans 6:23, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
• I believe that as a Christian God continues to work in me. (Philippians 1:6 and Hebrews 12)
• I believe that we are to encourage one another, and treat each other respectfully. Not gossiping or arguing, but controlling our tongues. (Ephesians 4:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Proverbs 20:19, 1 Timothy 6:20, 2 Corinthians 12:20, James 1:26, and James 3:1-12)
• I do believe that there are some issues that Christians are allowed to disagree on. On these issues we are to refer to Romans 12. However, there are many issues that I believe that we are not allowed to disagree on. The Bible makes certain things clear, and I can not compromise on those things.
• I believe that we are to uphold the moral law of God. (Exodus 20:3-17 and Acts 15:28-29)
• I do not believe that it is okay to distort Scripture to please human motives. (2 Peter 3:16)
• I do not believe that it is okay to use Salvation as a sin license. (Jude 4)
• I do not believe that immoral and/or impure people are saved. (Ephesians 5:3-5)
• I believe that there is important balance of truth and grace. (John 1:17) Truth hates sin, grace loves sinners…
• Truth without grace crushes people – judgmental legalism
• Grace without truth deceives people – deceitful tolerance

Half Way There

It was brought to my attention yesterday that 2012 is officially half over, and all I can say is: "WOW!" This year has gone by so fast, I can hardly believe it. Even though I didn't set my goals until March, I still wanted to look at my progress to see if I will complete them by the end of the year. So here's the run down:

1 Year Goal: 
To establish my writing and formatting career and use it to glorify God.

• Publish 1 book independently - I'm working towards this goal and believe that I will make it.
• Reach 100 followers on my blog and Facebook page - My Facebook page and personal blog are almost there, however this blog is a long way off... 
• Finish my free devotional eBook for authors to give away to my followers here on my blog - Sadly this has been on the back shelf, although I am still hopeful that when I get everything else caught up I can still reach this goal.
• Sign up for Aweber - I went with Your Mailing List Provider instead, but I'm signed up and rearing to go! 

5 Year Goal:
To be working from home along side my husband, doing what we love and serving our awesome God together.

• Add my husbands cover design information to my blog/website - He's doing cover designing and even illustrating my children's book, but I don't have any information up yet...
• Buy my own domain name and set up an actual website - Still a ways off, but I really want to!
• Publish a total of 4 books independently (not counting the ones for FindYourTrueBeauty.com) - I don't remember why I set this goal, and I'm not sure it even still is one... I combined two of my book ideas into the one that I'm currently working on, so we'll just have to see what God does with it all.

What about you? How are your yearly goals coming along? Are you making progress or do you need to re-evaluate or kick it in gear?

A Short Note on Reading and Writing

I've been noticing a lot lately about the differences between fiction and non-fiction. We all know that fiction is is made up, while non-fiction is fact. However, even the styles are completely different, yet when you have a fiction author, their non-fiction writing often reflects fiction. This isn't a bad thing, I'm simply intrigued by it.

It's the difference between captivating the readers attention with a story and keeping their interest with facts. Non-fiction readers want to learn, and without the facts, they simply move on. Fiction readers on the other hand, they want the back story - they want to be entertained and intertwined.

So when I was reading through different blogs on a blog hop earlier this week, the different styles of blogs usually fell into either storytelling, or fact informing. While both were non-fiction, they read like fiction and non-fiction.

Obviously I'm a non-fiction kind of girl. What about you?

To Do Lists

I love to do lists.

They totally work for keeping me productive and on task, however when I have over a dozen things on my list it can get overwhelming. Thus, I have started prioritizing my list by breaking it down into sections. "This Week" "This Month" and "General" are my three categories. I can work on all of the simultaneously, however I can at least make sure I finish my weekly tasks before the week is over, and don't sweat not getting the other ones completely finished.

To break it down even further, I have a daily schedule with set times for each task. Even though my work time is all lumped into one time block, I often (though not daily like I should) use Productivity Coach Software that allows me to keep track of how much time I have to spend on each task to get everything done each day that I need to. It helps me be productive by managing my time well and making sure that I work on everything I need to, but it also helps me realize where my time has gone and exactly how productive I have been.

Here's a picture of my to do list from last week so you can get a better idea of what I mean:

To do lists are probably one of my favorite author tools, and I can't imagine ever being successful without them - because honestly, I've tried and it didn't workout so well for me...

What about you? What is your favorite author tool? Leave a comment and let us know!

10 Steps to Bookdom

Every book starts as an idea. A lot of factors come into play when determining how long it will take (if ever) that idea will take to manifest itself into a published book - but they all start the same. While the path each book takes is unique, they usually follow the 10 steps below on their process to bookdom:

1. The Idea - Before you can even start writing a book, you have to have an idea to write about.
2. The Goal - Once you have an idea, you really need a point. What is your point in writing this book? What do you hope to achieve through it?
3. The Proposal - Once you have your idea and your goal, you will want to put together a proposal. Depending on your chosen publishing method this will come in various shapes and sizes, but at the very least, you will want to have something to run by others to see if there is an audience for your book, and just to let others know what you are doing.
4. The Outline - Every book has some sort of outline. Whether you have a detailed list of chapters and points you want to cover in those chapters, or just a starting and ending point, this is where your idea takes on more shape.
5. The Writing - After all of the above is done, you should have a solid starting point for writing your masterpiece. 
6. The Proofreading/Editing - Once your book is written, you are still only half way there. Proofreading and editing is a huge part of taking your writing and turning it into a real book. 
7. The Formatting - In order to distribute your work, it has to be formatted for distribution. Whether you want an eBook or a print book, they both have to be formatted.
8. The Re-Proofreading - Did I mention that editing and proofreading are a huge part of turning your writing into a book? It's best to do so more than once, and preferably by more than one person.
9. The Publishing - Finally! It's time to actually publish your book.What a great feeling!
10. Commence Book Marketing - The work you have put into your book will never be finished. At least not as long as you have dreams of selling it. Book Marketing is yet another important part of being an author. After your book is published, you have to let people know about it.

I have been through this entire process three times now, and am part of the way through the steps with some other books (yes I am a multitasking author), and I'm fairly confident that even if we claim to have skipped a step, it's still there somewhere. 

On a side note, I'm just starting this process with a new book, and I wanted to take you all along with me on the journey. Stay tuned for more information. :)

Who do you think you are??

 But Moses said to God, 

“Who am I, 

that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

~Exodus 3:11

Who am I?

Do you ever ask yourself that, or feel like you are unqualified to write what God is calling you to write? I know I do - too often as a matter of fact. "But God, who am I to write for you?" I ask repeatedly, suggesting others who I think are more qualified than I am, or giving all of the reasons that I am unqualified to do what I am being asked. 

But I also know that I am not the first or the last person to ask that question. Remember Moses? God called him to liberate His people, and Moses responded by saying "Who am I" - just like I do. "Who am I, Lord?!" or even worse, when I start to step up the enemy hisses in my ear, "Who do you think you are to accomplish this for God? You're no one! Look at the qualification of everyone else. Why would you even think that you could do this?" And I so foolishly listen. Why it seems easier to listen to the lies of the devil then it does to believe the truth's of God, I will never understand, but that seems to be the way it is. 

As I was reading through Exodus 3 the other day, I noted that God's answer to Moses' "Who am I" question, wasn't an assurance of Moses' qualifications, but rather a promise that required Moses' faith. God didn't take pity on Moses and tell him just who he was, instead He promised Moses that He would be with him, and that after everything was said and done Moses would see the results that glorified God. 

How often do we try to figure out who we are, instead of trusting in who God is? And how often do we measure our success by something other than how much glory our work brings to God? 

I don't know where you are today, but I need to stop focusing so much on who I am, and put more trust in who God is, and the fact that He will be with me. 






P.S. Are you being refreshed by life's lemonade? I'm the guest blogger over at "Get REAL inC." today, and I'd love for you to hop over and check it out.

I'm linking up with Word-Filled Wednesday over at Internet Cafe Devotions. 

Check it out for more Word-Filled posts by visiting: http://internetcafedevotions.com/

CCWC Recap:

I was blessed enough last week to attend two days of the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference - and I loved it! It's like Church camp for authors - it's great. Held in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the beautiful scenery and local wildlife provided a heavenly atmosphere for connecting with other Christian authors and learning to "Write His Answer."

While I definitely want to go again, it wasn't all roses. First, you have the fact that I am not social by nature. In fact, speaking to people I don't know makes my mouth dry out, and it gets a little hard to breathe - thus it's hard for people to understand me and I look like a complete idiot (not an intellectual author). This is why I prefer writing to speaking - it's easier for me. None the less, I made it through the conference only feeling like I might faint once, though I had to repeat myself several times to clarify what I was saying...

Due to a lack of available babysitter's, I missed quite a bit of the conference. But I enjoyed almost every single aspect of the parts that I was there for. Here's the recap:

• God really worked miracles. I walked in the front door of the conference hall to see the one and only person that I knew there - such a blessing! I don't know what I would have done without her kind and helpful spirit. 
• My first workshop was the "Secret to Marketing Your Message" by Rob Eagar (great speaker by the way). I already knew quite a bit about book marketing - I'm actually writing a book about it right now - so mostly I just had what I already knew reaffirmed. But I still really enjoyed this workshop.
• Next I had signed up for "Writing Fiction Children Want to Read" with Tony Bonds - but it was changed to "Writing for Teens" with Amber Weigand-Buckley... I missed that announcement, but I do write for teens, so I went with it - though I wish I hadn't. Because it was a last minute switch, I don't think that Amber prepared at all. She spent the entire time talking about her, and what she does, what she has written. It wasn't helpful at all. Maybe if you want to be just like her - but I don't. In fact, I disagreed with a lot of the things she encouraged us to do to be just like her. Teens don't need another peer - they need role models who understand them.
• My continuing session was also by Rob Eagar, and was titled "Marketing for the Promotionally Challenged Author." Once again, I already know quite a bit about book marketing - but I was able to see what a truly promotionally challenged author was, which  will help me update my book to be understandable by those authors.
• I missed Friday altogether. I was bummed.
• On Saturday my first workshop was "Drive 'Em to Your Site" with Megan Breedlove. It was my favorite workshop from the entire conference. Megan's website "Manna For Moms" has been the #1 Google search result for multiple categories for years. I can vouch for that because I found it several years ago when I was searching for devotions for Christian moms. I even had the opportunity to review her first book when it came out. Megan knows her stuff. I have been attempting to learn about SEO for months, but Megan explained it in a way that was relevant and easy to understand. I am now confident that I will be able to apply what I learned. My only complaint was that the workshop was so short. I'm hoping they give her a continuing session at next years conference!
• Megan took me to lunch after her fabulous workshop and introduced me to a few people. I didn't say much, but what I learned just listening to everyone else was amazing. Megan and one of the other women at the table spent a good 15-20 minutes talking about SEO, and it was fabulous! Did I mention that I would love to see a continuing session by Megan next year? This woman knows her stuff and has a heart for sharing that knowledge with others. She is such a blessing!
• My last workshop was "Silver or Dross" with Patricia Durgin. The goal was to learn to discover if ideas are from God. I really enjoyed this workshop - she walked us through several questions that we could ask to see where ideas are coming from. It was a very informal workshop, and she made each person part of it. 
• The conference (for me) came to an end with the closing session in the auditorium. I talked briefly with another author who is interested in writing for teen girls. I passed on information about our devotional product and invited her to write devotions for us if she was interested. 
• The closing session was centered in a wonderful blend of worship and prayer. The keynote speaker was Tim Shoemaker who shared his writing life testimony with more passion than I have ever seen from any public speaker. He was AMAZING. God is doing so much in and through him. I hope that I have the opportunity to hear him speak again.

The last day of the conference was quite a bit chilly and a heavy drizzle kept us all moist, but even the gloomy weather was unable to put a damper on what God was doing. My only regret was that I couldn't attend the entire conference, but I got so much out of what I was able to attend that I am eternally thankful. I'm praying that God will provide a way for me to attend the whole conference next year. 

Losing Sight

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."  

~ Matthew 6:24

In God We Trust

Sometimes as an author it’s tempting to take our eyes off of the real reason that we do what we do. It’s tempting to shift the focus from glorifying Christ, to supporting our families financially. I suffered from that yesterday. My husband had a bad day at work and it looked like he might lose his job. I thought that maybe, just maybe if I could finish the book projects that I was working on, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it. After all, I knew several writers that were making a living from their book royalties – and I really believe that someday God has that in store for my family as well. But I also know deep down that today isn’t that day. It doesn’t simply happen overnight, and if I take my eyes off of serving God, then it wouldn’t be worth it anyway.

Jesus made it very clear that we cannot serve two masters. If I’m writing for Christ, then I can’t be concerned about the income that comes from it. If I’m writing to make more money, then I can’t be writing for Christ. Do you ever lose sight of the goal? Do you ever take your eyes from the prize? It can be tempting to do so, but I firmly believe deep down, that God will take care of my family, and yours, and He will use our writing to bring Him glory. And if it happens to be His will that we can earn a living from it, that would be awesome, but if not, we should still take heart in the fact that we are working for Him, and Him alone. 

Now that I am re-focused and trusting God with our problems, it's actually much easier to write, and not nearly as stressful. It's funny how that works.