Blythe Gifford - Before the Word doc? An Excel spreadsheet!

In my past (pre-writer!) life, I was considered an organized person, but the process of writing a book taps deeply into the right (illogical) brain and that seems to have oozed throughout my whole life.  Still, I cling to some vestiges of organization that help me through the writing process.  My master spreadsheet is one of them.

For every book, I open an Excel workbook and give it some fanciful name.  This inevitably has nothing to do with the actual title of the book, which is generally one of the last things that’s decided.  For the Brunson Clan trilogy, I called it “Reiver Record.”  I’ll also select an interesting typeface and color for headers.  It’s all part of putting myself into the mindset of the story.  This document is opened every single day and offers me a central location to do the following:

Track hours and word count.  I track my hours, word count goal and progress, every day.  (Some people set it up by chapters, but this is what works for me.) I also make little notes on how I feel or what I did.  (Quick notes like “love scene – needs work” or “beginning to catch fire.”)  This is VERY helpful when I’m in the middle of the next book and everything is awful.  I can look back to where I was at the same point in the previous book and remember all looked dark then, too and it had a happy ending!  Here’s a sample of how it looked at the very beginning of a new project.  You can see the manic-depressive fluctuations I go through.

Create and remember the backstory.  On another tab, I list the years since my characters were born, with a column for their ages (hero/heroine), a column for real, historical events that occurred that year, and a column where I can record key life events for my characters.  It was particularly helpful when I had to juggle childhood recollections for three Brunson siblings!  That made it easy to check when Johnnie Brunson went to court or when Bessie Brunson was first kissed.  

This also is invaluable for creating character backstory when I need it.  I simply glance at the chart and I can see that the country was at war/peace/famine or whatever when my character was a certain age.  

Create the remember the timeline.  I do a similar chart for the chronology of the story itself so I have a record of when the various events happened, easy to forget halfway through the story.

Remember character names/appearance.  Another tab keeps track of my character names and titles, along with eye and hair color.  This can be sorted, to make it easy to catch if you have too many characters with names beginning with “J.”

Save tidbits of information.  Whenever I have something I want to capture, for example, the distance between two points and how long it would take the characters to travel there, I just add a tab and make a note.  

Some may prefer to do this in OneNote or another program.  For me, Excel is simple and flexible.  I back up every day by sending this spreadsheet, along with the work-in-progress, to my Yahoo email and stick it in a folder so I will never risk losing it.  I would mourn the loss of this master almost as much as if I lost my manuscript!

Blythe Gifford has been known for medieval romances featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket. Now, she’s written a trilogy set on the turbulent Scottish Borders of the early Tudor era, starting with RETURN OF THE BORDER WARRIOR, November 2012, Harlequin Historical.  CAPTIVE OF THE BORDER LORD will follow in January 2013, and TAKEN BY THE BORDER REBEL in March 2013.  The Chicago Tribune has called her work "the perfect balance between history and romance."  Visit her at www.blythegifford.com, www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford, or on Twitter @BlytheGifford. 

Author photo by Jennifer Girard.  Cover Art Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited.  Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Helping Your Writing With Self-Imposed Deadlines

Writer Wednesday

While some writers have deadlines set by their editor or publishing house, there are many writers who do not have specific deadlines to meet.  For those without deadlines, there isn't the stress of getting a project done.  For them, it's a freedom of sorts!  Freedom to do whatever one wants, including write.

But when was the last time you had a full eight-hour day to write?  How did you spend it?  Did you spend all eight hours writing?  Did you spend seven hours writing?  Or did you look at the clock, see that you had eight more hours, so why not call your mom and catch up, do some laundry, or clean off your desk?

Do you find yourself wasting more time when you have a full day available, or when you only have two or three hours to write?  If you're like most people, you'll waste away a good day, because you don't have any deadlines to meet.  So why not set some for yourself?

Look at your calendar, and look at your project list.  Perhaps you have a novel you are working on, which is about half-way written.  And your calendar says you have three months until family vacation.

Wouldn't it be nice to go on vacation with that novel under your belt?  How can you enjoy yourself when you know you have a huge project waiting for you at home? 

Work out the next three months, planning time to write every week.  For instance, if you have 150 pages to write to finish the book, and you want to get it done in ten weeks, giving yourself two weeks to pack, that means you have to write fifteen pages every week to meet your self-imposed deadline.  Then sit down and write, tracking your pages as you go.

This method may not work for everyone.  Some people can't take their own deadlines seriously, because they are not accountable to anyone.  So either make yourself accountable (to a writing buddy or spouse, perhaps), or use the reward system instead.  Tell yourself that for every 50 pages you complete, you can buy yourself a new book or indulge in a pint of your favorite gourmet ice cream.  Use a reward that means something special to you.

By making yourself disciplined, you will be more productive.  And being more productive makes you more money.

How to Write it When You Can't Be There

Guest post by Blythe Gifford

We’ve all heard the advice: You must visit the places you write about. Theoretically, I agree with that, but from a practical point of view, I’m not in the position to fly abroad every time I start a book. And since I write history, a trip to the place would still not be a trip to the time. I would still have to create a world I’ve never seen. How do you do that with an eye to authenticity? I have a few tips. First, choose your setting mindfully. A familiar location will make it easier to gather information. An obscure one may make it difficult to find enough detail to bring it to life. The flip side of using a well known location is that it’s tough to fudge facts. Any mistake will surely be found by an expert reader. Be aware of the connotation of the setting you select and decide whether to play to it or against it. Some locations, New Orleans, for example, are so strong that using them is almost like adding a character to your story. When I say “setting,” I mean time as well as place. For example, I have a manuscript set in Philadelphia. Originally, the date was 1872, but I changed it to 1876. Why? Because the Centennial Exposition was in Philadelphia in 1876. Even though my book did not revolve around the exposition, it meant I could find everything from train schedules to photographs to first person accounts of the city in that year. Next, ground yourself and your characters. Gather a detailed map, a calendar, and a guidebook or two. Even if you create an imaginary town, know which direction the sun rises and sets. Know the time and date and day of each scene. This will help keep you, and your characters, in a real world, one in which Sunday comes every week, the seasons follow their course, and you can trace how long it will take to walk from one end of town to the other. Again, as historical writers, this is harder than it sounds. A current map has roads and buildings that did not exist when your story is set. Even rivers have changed course over time. Search used book fairs for older guidebooks and travel books. Often, they include maps, detailed descriptions, photos, and first person narratives. Third, a picture is worth a thousand words. Along with my calendar, guidebook, and map, I always buy a good picture book or two. One will be of the physical landscape. That way, I am not dependent on another writer’s words. I can look at the picture as my hero or heroine would and let them describe the scene. Authentic images, photographs, engravings, or paintings, will give you detail no guidebook or official history will include. In THE KNAVE AND THE MAIDEN, I had a scene set in the Cathedral at Exeter. When the Cathedral’s official website gave me a virtual tour, I discovered that the Cathedral was under construction at the time of my story. With that fact, I created a vivid, unique setting that supported the emotional theme of the scene. The Internet is a gold mine for images. With a search engine, you can find everything from professional photography of historic buildings in all seasons to engravings of street scenes. In addition, many vacationers now post photos and travelogs. Not only are those a source of pictures, they can provide first person descriptions of how hot it can be on the Thames in August. Finally, the devil is in the details. Instead of descriptions of panoramic views, select one small sensory detail, preferably a sound or a scent. (There’s nothing wrong with a visual detail, but using the other senses brings it closer to the character.) Then, make sure it has emotional resonance for your character. No matter how good your research, it exists only to make your characters move easily in their world. It should be inserted only when the character recognizes and reacts to it for a reason directly related to the storyline. With these techniques, you can build a world that’s real to your characters and to your readers, even without getting on an airplane---or in a time machine. *** Blythe Gifford’s next release, RETURN OF THE BORDER WARRIOR, is a Harlequin Historicals November 2012 release.  This is the first book in her Brunson Clan Trilogy.

To learn more about Blythe and her upcoming releases, visit her web site at http://www.blythegifford.com

Interweaving the Writer and the Web

You've heard it before--every serious writer should have a web site. You've thought about it already--the set-up, the design process, the maintenance. And it all seems too overwhelming. This article will help dispel some of the fears and myths associated with creating your own site.

The first belief you must carry with you is that every writer should have a web site, no matter what stage of career you are in. Whether just starting out, or multi-published, the internet is a powerful marketing tool from which all writers can benefit.

As soon as you start writing, you should investigate and register your domain name. Use the name you will be writing under (pen name) as your domain name. If you have a common name which is already taken, consider adding a suffix like: JaneDoeBooks.com or JaneDoeAuthor.com. If you aren't sure which name you will be using, purchase several domain names. They can be bought for as little as $7.95/year if you lock in for several years.  Don't renew the names you won't use.  Your ownership will be automatically cancelled. 

Once you have a domain name, start investigating hosting sites. Prices range from free, to upwards of $35/month, depending on how much space you want, and what services you need, such as e-mail accounts and e-mail forwarding. The more you pay, the more space and services you receive. Free sites such as 000webhost.com will usually have banner ads that pop up for every visitor to your site. The price may be right, but do you want your visitors dealing with pop-up ads? You may also be limited to use of their templates, with little customization options.

After setting up your server, you can start the design process. You can design your page by using templates (usually available through free hosting services), learning to write HTML code yourself, or purchasing software which writes the code for you, such as Microsoft Expressions or Adobe's Dreamweaver. 

The first step in design is to define the purpose of your site. The purpose will define the content. Here are several purposes, and the basic content for those sites:

• Promote novels and other published works--For established authors, this will include pages for your books, a bio, writing tips, news, and links as a start.
• Promote non-fiction--For authors published in non-fiction only, this site would be more subject-oriented, with articles and links on your area of expertise, and contact info.
• Educate Readers--For the unpublished author, this site could include a bio, monthly column, offers for speaking engagements, etc.
• Educate Writers--For the author who wants to help other writers with their careers, this site would include writing tips, bibliography, links, etc.

A basic site should include a simple home page with links to other pages. The Table of Contents on your home page should have links to top-level pages only, for ease of navigation. Include a photo and brief welcome note on your home page, and move more detailed information to other pages to avoid clutter. Your home page is your first impression, so keep it as simple and clean as possible.

Keep subsequent layers to a minimum, and when designing these additional pages, stay within a theme which reflects your writing. Again, keep the design simple. Dark backgrounds are hard on the eyes, and small, fancy text is difficult to read, no matter how pretty it is. Use tables to align graphics and text within any borders you may choose. Keep graphics small so they upload quickly for the viewer. Finally, always include a copyright notice on your pages.

Once your pages are designed, they need to be uploaded to the internet using FTP software. But don't think for a minute that your job is done once your pages are uploaded. If you have a web page, you need to make a commitment to your visitors to keep your pages up to date and well maintained. Keep content current, fix broken links, and bring new information up front as it develops.

You also need to publicize your site. You can do this by submitting your site to search engines, joining listserves, using your domain name on your stationary and in your signature tag, requesting links on other relevant sites and even starting your own listserve.

Feeling overwhelmed after reading this?  Contact Michelle Prima at: literaryliaisons@aol.com for help on designing your web site.

Coming April 18 - A visit with Laura Moore

Laura Moore, Contemporary Romance Author

Come visit us Wednesday, April 18 when romance author Laura Moore will be our guest. She will share with us how she organized her characters, settings and timelines for her Rosewood Trilogy.

Comment and have a chance to win a copy of her latest release, Trouble Me, third book in the Rosewood Trilogy.

See you then!
Michelle

Don't Interrupt Me Unless You're Bleeding, Or How to Balance Family and Writing

Writer Wednesday

One of the greatest benefits of being a writer, is the flexibility it gives you with your family’s schedule. You can work around school events, play dates, family parties, etc. You can put in a six-hour day while the kids are at school, but still be there when they get home. Or you can take a Friday off for a long weekend away with the spouse.

But the benefit is also the down side. Working from home can give family members the impression that you are available at a moment’s notice to take care of their needs. That you can drop anything and drive them around on their schedule.

This is where the problems begin. The more you say yes at the beginning, the more they will ask. The more you give over time, the more they will take, until you are doing more for others than you are yourself. Consequently, the writing suffers because you don’t have enough time to devote to it.

Here are some techniques to help you to work from home, and create a good balance of work and family.

Value Your Time—Your time is a precious commodity. Therefore, you should place a value on it. What would you charge per word if freelancing, and how many words can you write in an hour? Keep this figure in mind when someone asks you for a favor, or when there is work to be done around the house. Is it worth your hourly rate to do this chore or errand yourself? Or would you be better off hiring someone?

Prioritize—Plan ahead and see what absolutely has to get done that day, week, month. Prioritize your tasks accordingly. For example, you have a workshop presentation coming up on the 15th of the month. Start preparing weeks ahead—create an outline, write the workshop, practice, prepare handouts, etc. If you wait until the 14th to start preparing for a large project, it won’t be done to the best of your ability. Also, create a Command Center for the family. Have a calendar out in the open for all to see and use. For yourself, use a planner with both family and business so you don’t double-book. Look at your planner and calendar on a regular basis, so you can prioritize your tasks for each day.

Delegate—Get the cooperation of everyone in your family. Assign age-appropriate chores—even the youngest can help out. Hire out what can’t be done by family members. For example, is it worth it to have a weekly lawn maintenance service, or would you rather spend several hours a week mowing the lawn? Can you hire someone to pick up after your dog in the yard, or should you continue to do it?

Eliminate Interruptions—When you are home and have set aside time to work, don’t answer the phone (except in an emergency). Don’t reply to e-mails as they pop up. Save and reply to them all at once. Place a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door, and make sure your spouse and children respect your wishes. Have them understand that they can’t interrupt you unless they are bleeding.

Make the Most of Your Time—Make lists so you don’t forget anything. In meetings, have an agenda and follow it. Go to only one store instead of shopping three different ones for sales. The time and money you save in gas will be worth the extra you spend in groceries. Also, if you are having a repairman over to fix the plumbing, schedule the furniture delivery or furnace check the same day. Don’t take two days away from your work.

Work Wisely—Don’t over-schedule yourself. Don’t be a perfectionist all the time. Learn to delegate. Don’t procrastinate. And concentrate on the task at hand. Multi-task only if it doesn’t compromise the outcome. For example, phone calls from the car can be distracting if you are trying to write down phone numbers or check your calendar. But phone calls while cooking or watching soccer practice can be beneficial.

Play Wisely—Schedule in fun time with the family and date time with the spouse. Make it clear to family members that if everyone helps, everyone wins.

Get Rid of the Crap

This article arrived in my Inbox today, and I thought to myself—how appropriate. It is from Mark Henson at Spark Space, and I just had to share. It is geared toward an outside workplace, but is also applicable to your writing space at home. If you have a dog, you can identify with this analogy.

Get Rid of the Crap

Every workplace has crap. Every life has crap. It's inescapable. The problem is that we try to plow ahead with our projects, our deliverables, our day-to-day work, and we keep stepping in it. Our messes slow us down, create unnecessary chaos, and end up contributing to work that stinks.

To make powerful progress, you have to clean up the crap first.

So what does crap look like in the workplace? It can no doubt show up a million different ways, but here are three of the most common, ranked in order from easiest to hardest to clean up:

1. A MESSY SPACE. Never, ever underestimate how much a messy space slows you down. If your office, desk, storage, etc. is always in disarray, you are losing countless hours in productivity every day. That could mean hundreds or thousands of hours of lost productivity every year.

Also, never, ever underestimate the mental and emotional stress that a messy space causes. You might not think it does, but it does and here's the proof: clean up your space and THEN see how you feel. You will feel like a weight has been lifted, I promise.

The Fix: Do I really have to say it? Clean up your space! Even if you have to stop all work for a whole day or two to really deep clean and organize. Your energy, positivity, and productivity will explode once you've given it a clean space to play! This is always, always, always time well spent.

2. BROKEN STUFF. It might be something physically broken, like the filing cabinet drawer that you have to jiggle seven times and say a short prayer to get it to open. It might also be a system or process that's broken. This can take a bit longer to figure out and to fix. Is your invoicing system too cumbersome? Do you get consistent complaints about a particular feature of your product or service? Are there too many layers of permission required before a team member can move a project forward?

The Fix: This fix takes two steps: 1) Recognize what's broken. This might take a formal review of systems, physical space, etc. to really identify things that could be fixed or improved. 2) Fix it. As soon as possible.

3. POOR COMMUNICATION In most workplaces, this is the biggest, stinkiest, most ignored pile of crap of all. Poor communication can be caused by broken systems, conflicting personal agendas, and people who hoard information. But more often than not, it's caused by a lack of clarity about what good communication looks like in your organization, combined with an unwillingness to hold every team member accountable for practicing it.

The Fix: There are entire libraries of books written on the subject, but a great place to start is by having a candid conversation with your team to define what great communication should look like. Identify some specific areas of improvement and work on them one at a time. If you need some help, one of the best books on the subject is Crucial Conversations.

The most successful people, teams, and companies take the time to clean up their crap on a regular basis. They don't overlook it or sweep it under the rug. They proactively and methodically clean their "back yard" before they play in it.

One last thought, and it may be the most important thought in this entire article:

Realize that sometimes -- many times -- the crap you have to clean up is not your own.

In my backyard, I'm cleaning up the mess left behind by my two adorable golden retrievers. In your workplace, you might have to clean up space, fix some stuff, and improve communication problems caused by some of your adorable co-workers. This does not mean you shouldn't hold people accountable for their own messes. You should absolutely do that. But sometimes -- many times -- to move forward effectively, to create your best work, to impact the world in the positive, powerful way you know you can, you'll have to clean up someone else's mess first.

Product Recommendations for Managing Projects

Starting a project is exciting. It can also create anxiety. How will you keep track of all the tasks that are part of the project? How will you store all the paper generated by the project? How will you schedule your time to see that the project is completed on time?

In this post, we're going to look at storing the paper generated by a project. We'll look at products for small and large projects, and also the portability factor.

The first aspect to determine is the estimated size of the project. Will you be writing an article for a magazine? Then you probably won't have too many papers to collect. Will you be coordinating a contest for your writer's group? You will have a fair amount of paper. Are you starting a novel? If so, you will have a lot of papers by the end of the project.

Knowing the size of the project will help you determine the size of your storage. For a novel, you will want something large, like a portable file box.
This will hold all your hanging file folders , one for each aspect of your novel—research, contests, submissions, hard copies of chapters, marketing efforts, etc. They are large, sturdy and portable. And once the book is published, the box can be stored away securely, and remain dust-free.

Another way to store a large project is a desktop file. These also hold hanging file folders, but are open on the top. They provide easy access to the files, which remain visible at all times. They are portable, but not as easy to tote around. And while they hold a lot, they are not good for permanent storage. Therefore, these would be good for projects in process, then could be emptied and reused once you begin a new project.

If you have a filing cabinet for storage, a hanging accordion file would work well. This would also work well if you don't like your desk cluttered with files. You can place it in a drawer and it's out of sight. It can also be moved to another file cabinet for deep storage at a later date. This product would not work well for portability.

For medium-sized projects, a traditional accordion file works well. These come in a variety of sizes, with anywhere from five to thirty-one individual pockets. Some come pre-labeled. Others have blank tabs for creating your own subjects. You can find them with or without a cover flap. A cover will prevent the contents from spilling out, but an open file will provide east accessibility.

Finally, there are a number of different products for small projects. My favorite of these is the Smead Project Folder. I have one of these for every client. I custom label the tabs—web site, contests, blog tours, etc. I can write account information in the Notes section on each pocket (User Names and Passwords). I record contact information on the inside cover, and other information such as mileage.
This can easily be used for a small project like a blog tour for a book. You can use a pocket for each blog, or a pocket for different aspects of the tour, such as a master list, guidelines, contact information, contest winners, mailing receipts, etc.
Other options for small projects are pockets. These can be plastic or paper (cardboard). They come all one color in a set, or different colors. A variety of colors is best for identifying contents at a glance. Some are pre-punched with three holes for use in a binder. Others are simple pockets. The pockets can be clipped together or placed in a larger expanding pocket.

This is just a sampling of all the possibilities. There are many colors and varieties. But this gives you an idea of how to manage the paperwork associated with a project. You will know what best suits your needs. And you needs will change between projects, so you may find one of these good for one project, but another better for a second project.

What systems have you used to contain your paperwork for a project?