Last week I touched on the fact that attaining an objective is a road, a journey. So, as I’m still in planning mode for this year (having gotten a late start due to some traveling and my arms being in casts), I’m thinking about planning my journey through 2023. There are definite objectives I need to reach – a certain number of books I want to write, marketing plans to be made, etc. But then there are smaller objectives – what I’m going to write on my blog each week, what I’m going to post to my Facebook page to keep my readers engaged, what I’m going to put into my monthly newsletter that I send out to my readers. These are all things that can be planned out in advance and now is the best time to do such things.
I’ve been writing this blog for over ten years now, and rarely have I planned out more than a week or two in advance what I was going to write, which usually leaves me scrambling for ideas at the end of every week when I know that I’ve got to write something and get it posted.
My monthly newsletter is a little easier—I schedule about a month in advance if I’m going to share another author’s books (in exchange for them sharing mine in their newsletter), and the rest is just my news. I do, need to have a story written to share with my readers, but I’ll usually write three or four over a couple of weeks and then have them set to go when I need them.
Facebook can be planned—I’ve heard of authors who will have a different sort of post for different days of the week: an inspirational quote, a tidbit of historical fact, a quote from one of their books done up in a nice graphic, etc. These posts can (and should) be put together once a month and scheduled to be posted on a particular day at a set time. When I’m really good, I’ll do that, but, as you can imagine, it takes a good chunk of time (a day at least) to create all the graphics and upload and schedule it all for the month. I’m saving time over the month by consolidating all the work into one or two days, but I still need to actually get myself to do that.
For my blog posts, I’ve always hit the end of the week and then realized I needed a topic. This year, however, I’ve decided to do this, too, in a more organized, planned fashion. I want to create a schedule of posts to write. I like to write a mix of self-publishing tips, writing tips, and coaching posts. After so many years of blogging, I know I’m beginning to repeat topics, but I’m not too worried about that—theories change, and the way I explain things changes.
The point here, is that I am now looking forward to this year. I am planning. And if you would like me to cover a particular topic, now is a great time to tell me so I can plan for it.
Is there anything you’d like me to cover?
And have you planned out what you’ll be writing in your newsletters and FB (or other social media) posts? Now is a great time to do this.