I used to think that I was pretty good with multitasking. I was regularly able to both chew gum AND walk at the same time. Often out of rhythm with each other.
That’s why I get so frustrated with my writing. There are lots of things I can be doing to improve my craft and increase my chances at getting published. I could be:
- sending queries/submissions to agents and publishers;
- researching markets;
- making new contacts;
- working on my podcast (Get Published);
- plotting my next story;
- writing a new blog entry;
- doing a critique (for Critters.org);
- editing one of my stories; and/or
- I could actually be writing.
Lots to chose from, right? If I get bored with one thing I can always move over to something else can’t I? Except, that never happens. I get caught up in one project (say the new podcast) and I simply cannot drag myself away from it. Even when there are period when I cannot work on the project at hand, for some reason I don’t move to something else.
It is very sad really and means that I’m not as productive as I can be.
The answer, believe it or not, is to become LESS focused. Yes, you heard it right. LESS focused. Why? Well, if I’m not so hung up on a single project, it’s much easier to move over to something else when I need to. There will still be times when I need to concentrate on one thing, but for the rest of the time, I should allow myself to do more than one thing at a time.
This week, I’ve been focused less on what I’m working on and more on actually working. As such, I’ve edited close to 10,000 words, written 2 critiques, written 2 blog entries, send out a book query and performed some market research. All that and I still had some time for Twitter too :P.
Maybe I’m on to something. Or perhaps I’m just having a good week. Whichever it happens to be, I enjoy the creativity while it lasts.
Lessons Learned
My word of the month has been podcast as I’m sure you all know. With episode 1 of ‘Get Published’ in the can, it was immediately obvious that the audio wasn’t as good as it could be. I’m excited to announce that I will be bringing a new microphone online for the next episode. Unfortunately, if you thought the actual content sucked, the mic won’t help with that.
Regardless of whether you liked the podcast, hated it or are totally indifferent to it, I’d love to hear your comments (yes the bad ones too). Please send them to podcast at michellplested dot com.
Personal Updates
As mentioned above, I’ve had a very good editing week for “The Goddess Renewed”. As you may know, I’ve also been running ‘Goddess’ through Critters. I haven’t been getting as many critiques as I might like, but I do have one person giving dedicated critiques as well as the few I’m getting directly from Critters. At this rate, I should have something to submit by spring.
Getting ready to send out “Summer Camp Secrets” again. If you know of any publisher who might be interested in a YA Adventure, let me know.
