I'm Back and Revved Up!

Whew! It's been quite a summer here. Brian and I found out that we're expecting a new baby! It was a shock since we weren't planning to have another baby quite so soon. Still, the new one will be here in January 2007. It's supposed to be a girl, but the sonographer wasn't 100 percent sure, so we're going to see what happens at the next sonogram.

My WAHM life has been on temporary hiatus while we adjust a lot of things in our personal lives. We bought a house - a first for us - and we've been in it about 6 weeks now. We've found out the previous owners were pretty dishonest on their disclosure, but unless we want to try to back out of the house, there's nothing we can do (although I do have the urge to smack both of them.). They were pretty lazy, too, so a lot of the "problems" required a screwdriver and 30 seconds to fix. Overall, we love the house, even with the problems. It's a 1930s-style bungalow with plenty of room for expansion. It's about 1,600 square feet, and we're turning the attic floor into living space (bedrooms for the kids and their own bathroom).

Plus, I'd grown tired of writing and needed a little break. I think that like many writers, I had no real direction when it came to my writing. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and I was taking anything that came along instead of focusing. I've changed that now, and I'm back to work with a few changes to the overall plan, which I'll share with you in my next post.

Stuck

For some reason, I've hit a block on my book. I was making quick progress and moving along at a rapid pace, but now, I'm not making any progress. I think it's this "fear of success" thing that I, like many writers, have. The book's about 1/3 of the way done at this point, but somehow, that's too much for me. I'm freaking out.

Last night, I asked Brian if he thought I should start on a different project. He just looked at me like I'm nuts. He said, "no, I think you should finish the one you're working on." I know, I know. It's just tough. Success could be near.

The Unexpected

I woke up this morning and checked my email as usual. I was very excited to find an acceptance for an online magazine I queried. I'll be doing an article to go in their summer issue. I'm so excited about it!

It's funny because I'm not focusing on my freelancing now, but I've had a couple of straggling acceptances come in.

A Weekend Off

I tried something new this weekend. I didn't work. Okay, I cheated a little. I did check my email a couple of times, but I didn't do any actual work. It was very odd.

I know that I'm a workaholic, but still, it's tough to force yourself not to do anything, especially when your work is sitting in your house.

Brian says that the weekends will get easier, that I'll learn how to relax. I'm not sure about that. I don't know what to do with myself when I'm not working. Anyway, today it's back to the grindstone. I completed the concluding chapter of my book last Friday, and I'm hoping to get a good deal of work done on it today.

I also have one booklet to begin editing and one to begin laying out. I need to get to work on the marketing campaigns for both of those books as well.

My Book

Well, I'm finally getting to live the writer's life. My book now is my primary focus. We have a few booklets coming in for Dawson, but they won't be here until the beginning of June. I'm also still putting together the e-course, plus working on my anthology. My focus, though, is writing my book.

I have the preliminary research done, and I got together a full outline yesterday. I also have an accountability partner, which is great. He's at the same point on his book that I am, so we're going to try to keep each other motivated. His goal is May 25 because that's when he's graduating from college. I've set my goal as the same day because it seemed like a good idea to make our goals roughly the same.

Updates - Moving Along Quickly

Well, I've completed goals 6-8 today so far. That leaves me with #s 1, 4, 5, 9, and 10. I should get 4, 5, and 10 done tonight. I will have only to layout the front-page of the online magazine and the e-course to put together tomorrow (Wednesday). Woo-hoo! If I get everything done, I can start a new weekly list. :)

Finished 2

I'm done with goals 2 and 3 - the marketing plans for the booklets.

Today I'm going to try to get 4-7 done. I should be able to work on the contracts throughout the day. They're something I can put together while I'm hanging out with Jayden. I want to reserve my time later in the week to work on the e-course, which is going to take the most time.

This Week's Goals

Here are my goals this week. Let's all cheer me on! :)

1. Finish front-page layout for writing parents e-zine.
2. Complete write-up of marketing plans for booklets.
3. Determine what I need to do for booklet promotional ideas.
4. Return all contracts.
5. Put together contracts for WAHM anthology.
6. Put together selling option for WAHM anthology.
7. Write addendum to contract for booklet authors to sell products.
8. Research auto-responders.
9. Write 7-day free e-course on web writing proposals.
10. Complete total outline of home-based businesses book.

Marketing

Marketing is not my strong suit when it comes to business. That's an area where Brian and I have to learn to work harder. I've been reading through a couple of books on self-publishing. Though we're not self-publishing, we're starting a publishing company, I'm finding that I can take the information from the books on self-pubbing and use it to apply to our efforts.

Last night I started coming up with marketing plans for the first few of our booklets. I'm working up a marketing plan for each one based on selling online and offline for each product. I came up with some awesome ideas based on the concept that if you offer people something for free, no matter how small it is, that's good enticement for getting them to buy. I think these marketing proposals are going to work well.