New Year Coming

  I'm doing Ye Old File Drawer organizing at the end of this year. After writing for several publishers with representation from several agents, several amendments to contracts, etc. needed better organization/consideration.

With new horizons popping up every day, I'm considering e-publishing several very early books and that calls for lots of contract reading. You'd be surprised what a mop-up operation this can be, certainly not small enough when sorting, to fit across a desk. There is also communication with agents and rights. Rights are very big now, and should have been much earlier.

 Right or wrong career decisions are at a writer's every turn. A good filing system is only so good, if it does not have all the correspondence/contracts in it, and I had to request one contract from a former agent.

Agents are usually great to deal with, even after leaving them. I need to prepare some correspondence to former agents, but that will have to wait until the new year.

  Right now, I'm putting the old year to bed, doing some tax set-up stuff (spreadsheets are great), but I'm also thinking of my New Year's schedule and possible travel. Writer scheduling is probably one of the most important facets of a career.


Publishing usually happens this way: A book is coming out, high energy needed for its "pub" date. Then: A book is due, plus all the articles, etc. and other obligations. Those two dates frequently occur together: Pub Date and Contract Manuscript Due Date. Holidays are really difficult when both dates fall within that time.

I'll be gifting advice about spreadsheets in January or so.
  One of the must-do items on my list for 2010 is getting a new PR photo. Or take my own. iStockPhoto has great advice on this.

One of the best tips I can give is to collect a freebie calendar booklet for tax mileage and keep it in the car. Do you realize that those freebies we used to see in every drugstore are scarce now? So get that 2010 calendar going, check out the conferences that will be of the most use to you.

Yep. Time to clean up the old year and lay out plans for the new one.

Since stress-free is my theme today for all three blogs, My Jam Jar and The Second Cup and this one, my today's writer's advice?

Work on your filing and business and scheduling in advance.

Writing vs Day Job and Family

  First of all, I object strenuously said the lawyer--no, really just me when it comes to the term "Day Job".

Day Job says writers work at night, which in most cases is true. But working for 6-8 hours whenever during the day and 7 days a week, is really a full time job, even with regular paycheck employment.

Writing is not regular paycheck employment. But instead of Day Job, I like the term, Regular Pay job.

Recently I was conversing with a friend, who had a friend (and a lot of writerly stuff goes like that) who wanted to write. But said the first friend, the writer-friend had a family and a job and didn't have time to write.

This lament is way too familiar: I have a day job and a family and I don't have time.

To the second party, my response is the best quote, gotten from a busy Regular-Paycheck person who said, "I write around the corners of my life." This says, he made time to hold a necessary insurance and benefits Regular Paycheck job, plus tend his family life AND write.

I'm impatient with this no-time to write excuse, based on my own experience. At one time, I did have a Regular Paycheck job, a family and two publishers. Two Publishers, so that said I was under contract to deliver manuscripts etc. at specific due dates. I did, so I know from experience that if a writer wants to write, he will make time, not find it.

Here we are in the busy season and still writing and dealing with necessary writerly business. Very difficult during the holidays. Or the summer. Or the spring, or fall. I'm writing full-time now and time and scheduling is still a challenge as business needs deepen as the career rises or changes. Now Facebook and Twitter and other promotional aspects take writing time, plus blogging, etc.

As for writing with a Regular Paycheck job and a family, watch for the next installment of Writers Survival Guide and I'll lay out my schedule. You may have some tips to share, too.