Posts Tagged ‘planning’
Posted on January 25, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Calculating the Cost of an E-Book
I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from my previous post entitled Weighing in on E-Books, so I wanted to talk about ways to calculate the cost of an e-book.
First, let’s pull some arbitrary numbers. (And by arbitrary, I mean that these are not precise figures.) Let’s say that we paid our author $3,000 for [...]
Posted on November 23, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guidelines and Rules for the December Writing Marathon
In my previous post entitled Who’s Up for a December Writing Marathon? Some Proposed Rules, I offered some generic guidelines to see what you might think. Because December is a little over a week away, I’d like to share with you the specifics of this marathon.
Posted on September 22, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Tips on How to Be a Pro | Part Two of Three
Last time, I kicked off the series with a quote from Jennifer Brozek and offered some Tips on How to be a Professional for part one of this three part series. So far, this topic has been pretty popular so I’d like to continue it with more tips and quotes from other professionals working in [...]
Posted on September 13, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Creating an Offline Writer’s Group is Harder than it Looks
As many of you know, supporting my fellow writers and editors is very important to me provided my schedule allows for it. Whether someone is new to the craft or not, I can relate to the challenges of networking. When I started forming a writer’s group a few months ago, I really had no idea [...]
Posted on September 3, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Planners and Routines
Do you write more in the fall and winter than in the warmer months? I certainly do, which is part of the reason why this is such an important time for me. Self-discipline is definitely a requirement if you’re a writer, and that can be hard to manage. During the summer, we’re exceptionally busy with [...]
Posted on April 10, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Is Your Next Writing Project Worth the Trouble? Use the K.I.S.S. System and Find Out!
There are a lot of ways to communicate your point, but sometimes the simplest vocabulary and the shortest sentences offer the the biggest benefit. While every writer knows and understands that, what’s not so simple is our process for making decisions.
Enter the K.I.S.S. system, which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. (The acronym can also be used to describe Keep It Short and Simple, too.)
Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the challenge for a lot of writers is this little thing called “the brain.” This spongy mass tends to get in the way of great writing because it’s easy to “over-think” your projects and what you’re working on. Having a strategy to write is one thing, but thinking about your writing so much that you end up either a) not writing or b) writing something you’re not happy about. Our writing ends up suffering because we feel obligated to write something rather than focus on something we want to write.
If you feel you’re over-rationalizing your projects, then read on because I’ve got good news for you. You can use the K.I.S.S. system to simplify your woes and get back to writing what you want to write. All you have to do is ask yourself these simple questions and limit your responses to one, two or three word answers.
Posted on February 28, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Why am I Developing a Brand?
It’s been a whirlwind of a week. In this series on personal branding lessons, I covered twenty tips. (Links at the bottom of this post). On the last day of this series, I’d like to talk about my own thoughts on branding so you can help yourself decide what you want to do. (I’d like [...]
Posted on January 21, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guest Post about Goal Setting Success: Magic Checkmarks on Your Goal List
Today’s guest post about is brought to you by Elliott Kosmicki, the founder of Good Plum. Today, Elliott sits down and talks with us about how we can achieve the goals that we set down in writing.
Setting goals has been widely promoted for centuries as one of the most powerful methods to become successful. [...]
Posted on December 17, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli
My Predictions for the Economy and Freelancing in 2009
Every day we read more and more headlines. Layoffs. Record numbers of foreclosures. Bailout. Inflation. While many of these headlines come as no surprise to us, when the word “recession” turns into something that affects our shopping habits, we tend to feel the pinch on a more personal level. Economic recovery is not a “switch” [...]
Posted on December 4, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli
Who Do You Write For?
As a follow-up to a few conversations I’ve had with other folk this week, I wanted to broach the question of “Who do you write for?” In an ideal world, where money grows on trees and coins spew from an eternal fountain, we would write for ourselves. When money is involved, however, this question gets [...]
Posted on December 27, 2007 - by Monica Valentinelli
Setting More Achievable Writing Goals
If you’re anything like me, you enjoy setting goals for what you want to get out of your career. From writing short stories to novels or non-fiction articles, if you’re passionate about freelancing you’re pretty aware of what you enjoy writing and what market you may have the best chance of breaking into.
Like a lot [...]
Posted on December 21, 2007 - by Monica Valentinelli
How Writers Can Help Themselves this Holiday Season
During this time of year you’re probably busy with family and friends, celebrating the holidays. With merriment and socializing, however, also comes stress as you wistfully look at your laptop and wonder, “When am I going to get back to writing?”
My approach is to stop fighting the holidays, embrace them, and take an hour here [...]
Posted on December 19, 2007 - by Monica Valentinelli
The Writer’s Conundrum
As a writer, you often have to be a chameleon, in order to prove your ability to write for a particular topic or that you have “specialized” in a genre, discipline, or market. Writers know that if you write about widgets, you can probably also write about lipstick, simply because you’ve spent the time to [...]
My Recent Releases
The Queen of Crows
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Family Games: The 100 Best
Pre-Order at Amazon.comBuried Tales of Pinebox, TX
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