Five is alive! (Source) |
One of those things should be writing, of course. We all know we should write every day. Another of those things should probably also be reading: how lucky are we that we're in a profession that forces us to read prolifically! Twist my arm, why don'tcha?
But the others are more flexible. Make a new connection on twitter. Read an article about writing on your favorite blog. Spend half an hour researching agents. Look for relevant pins to add to your character board on Pinterest. Have lunch with a fellow writer, to get those creative juices flowing. And so on, and so on.
Wow. Those are some awesome snacks. |
The things you do will differ depending on where you are currently--if you already have an agent, researching agents doesn't make sense. If you've just had a book published, several of these things will probably involve book promotion. Just make sure to do five, every day.
Why is this so important?
Speaking for myself, I'm the sort of person who would happily crawl into a little cozy writing cave for six months and have no contact with the human race. My significant other would throw me scraps of food and come in for a cuddle now and then, but that would be it and I'd be happy as dust on a tchotchke.
I heard you were dead...(Source) |
I've heard of tiny living, but this is ridiculous... |
I would have also lost valuable time building my platform, something that's becoming increasingly important for aspiring writers. Blog readers and Twitter followers don't develop over night, and they don't take kindly to being neglected for long. At least the ones that involve actual people that you actually want to connect with. Just like a plant, you can't water them only once every six months and expect them to grow.
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So try it out. Sometimes I'm not as good as other times at remembering to do all five--sometimes I only do a few, and sometimes I crap out altogether. So I've created a simple spreadsheet to jot down which things I did each day--this lets me know if I'm slacking off too much for too long, and reminds me to revisit things that I haven't touched for a while. You know how it is--'Gee, it seems like only a week since I compiled that list of prospective agents, but it's been a month! I better follow up on that.'
Thank you, Lawrence Block, for the amazing advice. So far, it has served me well, and I have every confidence it will continue to do so. Now where's my next installment of Matthew Scudder??
Happy writing,
M.
I really like this idea. I don't know exactly what my 5 things right now but I do know that I need to be better about about interacting with people on social media.
ReplyDeleteDon't we all! Such a hard line to walk, because I get carried away and could spend hours on it, so I either have to rein myself in or remind myself...>.<
DeleteGood ideas. I know it's important to be proactive about meeting goals. Thanks for the reminder to work towards a goal and not just hope it happens.
ReplyDeleteAnd even the littlest things will add up before you know it. :)
DeleteI know I need to be so much better about interacting with others in a social media aspect.
ReplyDeleteSo do I. I'm just now learning how to use twitter, and I look up and I've been on it for two hours!!!
DeleteThanks for sharing this informative post!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, thanks for reading. :)
DeleteThis is a brilliant post for keeping goals!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!! Any way you manage it is good, this one just feels very doable and flexible for me, so I keep at it. :)
DeleteI think this is great advice! Especially for beginners as it all can be incredibly overwhelming and cause one to freeze like a deer in headlights! (Or at least I feel like that at times). Taking specific steps each day is a great way to overcome that.
ReplyDeleteYES. Exactly. When you look at all the things you 'should' be doing, you just want to crawl into a ball and sleep, lol. This is just baby steps that add up to a giant leap.
DeleteI recently started doing something really similar to this for keeping track of my top priorities and important tasks pertaining to my blog and it has done wonders for my ability to organize and execute. I used to just have a million things tumbling around in my head: ideas for posts, places to submit to, sites I wanted to make sure I left comments on, etc etc etc...way too overwhelming! I use 5 as a rule of thumb for a lot of my daily tasks: 5 comments on other blogs per day, 5 posts on social media, etc. and I find it to be SO much more manageable in that quantity. Thanks so much for sharing this...it's helpful to know what other people do and how it works for them.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really great idea, too, that rule of 5. That way I wouldn't end up spending too much time on any one thing! Thanks. :)
DeleteKeeping lists or writing out things to do is a great way to keep yourself on tract. I am a visual person and need a storyboard or list to keep me focused all the time! Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way to do it! I keep meaning to do a vision board for myself for that reason and keep forgetting...maybe I'll start one tomorrow as one of my five things, lol. :)
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