Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Quint Emm Ellis and her new book, “For Better & For Worse,” here on FAB!! For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Quint Emm Ellis and to increase your chances of winning!!
Thanks for stopping by!! Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!
For Better & For Worse
by Quint Emm Ellis~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
How to Hold Yourself Accountable
(one author's perspective)
The hardest thing for me to overcome with anything is uncertainty. But, the thing is, uncertainty is a part of life. And that certainly holds true when it comes to one’s efforts in writing. Whether writing a book, or an important email, I have found that the blank page staring back at me–and the myriad of options it offers–is a constant first hurdle that I need to overcome. Not to mention every choice, opportunity and distraction that is waiting in the wings to greet me beyond that point. Here’s how I ensure I get started and maintain focus until I reach my writing goals.
The key to my ability to focus is understanding the value of compartmentalizing my tasks. I’ve been blessed to have had the opportunity to have gained a pretty good idea of how much I can write in a full working day. With that in mind, I can set goal dates for finishing a novella a bit easier than if I were to just guess. I will often, then, set aside days where I focus all of my free hours on writing my book. I do not focus on perfection, I focus on creating a story that makes sense; creating characters that I enjoy. The rest, I leave to the editor of my first draft (myself) who will be responsible for taking my draft and refining it. If I were to try to be an editor during this initial phase, versus being a creator, I would never complete anything. When it’s time to create and build and get engrossed in the wondrous story of my beautiful characters, that is what I’m doing. When it’s time to edit the first draft, that is what I’m doing. I’m not bemoaning what the writer did or did not do; I switch around scenes, as needed. I add parts or take them away. I reword sentences to create a more sensory experience for the reader. I focus on making the story better.
Everyone composes their final writing pieces differently. As mentioned previously, a blank page for me can be a real hindrance. However, I have found that scenes or even just clips of dialogue will appear in my mind for whatever book I’m writing (and even for books I have planned in the future). Whenever I have these impromptu moments of inspiration, I do my best to stop what I’m doing to write it down–even if it means jotting down the note on my phone’s note app or sending myself an email with that scene or dialogue. Either way, eventually, those words make it to the page. And even if the scene is not the first scene in the book, I no longer have a blank page. I have direction; I have something to reach toward. Recognizing what your biggest and/or initial hurdles are can also help you identify opportunities to overcome them.
Finally, a game-changer for me is being realistic with what I can expect to accomplish with the time I have available during that day. I like to set long-term goal dates that fall well before what is actually needed. And then I set realistic daily goals based on the time available to me each day, and what I’ve learned about my peak performance demonstrated in the past. By setting daily goals that lead to a final product (and goal date) I can more easily measure my progress and determine if I’m on track. If not, I will generally re-assess my daily expectations and my end goal date. If I need to make adjustments to ensure I don’t overburden myself with tasks or discouragement, then I make adjustments. I’ll add days to my goal date, if I can. If I can’t then I suck it up, try to take it as a learning lesson, and do my best to make room in each remaining day to make up the difference.
As I’ve heard once or twice before, there will always be something more to do. God willing, there will always be another book for me to write. So I want to make my work both enjoyable and effective. The best way for me to do so is to separate my tasks so that I can focus on one thing at a time; I identify my weak areas and seek approaches that will help me overcome those; and I try to set proactive and realistic goals. Ultimately, as long as you keep moving forward, you’re making progress. So whatever you do…just don’t stop!.jpg)
"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
~ Toni MorrisonGoodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22024057.Quint_Emm_Ellis
Goodreads Book Page:
AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
Amazon CA Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.ca/Better-Worse-Christian-Sisterhood-Revolution-ebook/dp/B09ZQ318L6
Amazon UK Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Worse-Christian-Sisterhood-Revolution-ebook/dp/B09ZQ318L6
Amazon AU Kindle eBook:
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This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thank you so much for sharing my work. I enjoyed contributing the guest post.
ReplyDeleteSounds great, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDelete