#WWoW!: Burning the Candle at Both Ends and the Middle with @dochappycamper #MyWANA #amwriting

Welcome to Tammy's Tidbits here at Writer's Words of Wisdom. Each week the four of us share the things we've learned on our journey to become published authors. At times we may discuss the same topic, but never the exact same opinion as our experiences vary. That's what makes our little group unique. We share with you what has and hasn't worked for us so you can find what works best for you.

Today's topic is all about burnout. I've written about this before. As authors we tend to get so involved with all aspects of writing, publishing and promoting, we forget to take time out for ourselves. I know better and still here I am again at the point where I'm simply overwhelmed. I'm over-committed, overworked, and in dire need of sleep.

Sound familiar? Multiply that by four and you have my life. Well, I should say multiply that by six: four pen names, a publishing house, and my "evil day job" as a veterinarian. Just with all that alone, I have very little time to take care of my home, my husband and myself. My health has suffered because of it and now I'm at a point where I'm no longer enjoying the very reason I got started on this journey in the first place—my writing.

What used to be a joyful escape has turned into another drudgery. I want that joy back! I'm not saying I don't want to treat writing and publishing as my job. I just want to be able to wake up each day with a smile on my face, looking forward to what my characters have in store for me.

How did it get so out of control? In all my excitement with getting published, I agreed to do weekly posts such as this one, joined Triberr, tweet teams, blog hops, chat groups, author support groups, started my own publishing house and branched out into multiple genres with my various pen names. As they were published, the demand for the next books from each of them grew. The pressure was on to produce faster in order to keep these new readers coming back for more.

Instead of allowing myself to take the time needed to produce the best books possible, I pressed the deadlines, added more and quadrupled my stress levels. These stresses built up higher and higher and lead to all of my health issues—least of all the high blood pressure and diabetes.

It's time to STOP and re-evaluate my goals as

a writer

a publisher

and a veterinarian

I need see how these can balance with the rest of my life and create the all new, and improved...ME. If I'm not healthy and happy, none of the rest will fall into place.

My advice to myself and all other authors out there is to continually re-evaluate your business plan/career goals to be sure you keep balance with your personal life. If any part of these goals get out of whack, you may find your creativity drying up, your health and well-being plummet, and you'll feel like a failure.

In other words: BURNOUT

So recognize the signs you're burning the candle at both ends and the middle before it's too late. Give yourself permission to walk away and enjoy the life around you. Spend time with your partner/spouse and family. 

Devote only one hour a day or on specific days of the week for promotions. Make sure you designate at least an hour a day where you only WRITE. Nothing else. No Internet, no chat, no Twitter, no promotions, nothing. Only write those tales your characters are dying to tell.

Don't commit to projects that will take you away from your ultimate goal of producing your next book. Not to say you can't do one, but realistically look at your schedule and see if you can devote time to it. If you can't give it your best shot, don't volunteer the time and energy you don't have.

Don't feel guilty about saying NO. You are not a machine. Even if you were, machines require routine maintenance to keep running in top order. You must take care of YOU above all else. Nothing else matters if you're not around to enjoy it.

I'm off to take my own advice. I may not be back here weekly now, but you will see me at least once a month with more advice from the trenches. When we meet again, I'll fill you in on how my new plan of balance is working out!

Until next time my friends,

~Tammy

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a best selling, multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels and Stephanie Ryan and Tawny Savage make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing and together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website

Tammy's Blog

Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunes 

Sassy Vixen Publishing

Friend Tammy on Facebook

Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page

Friend Tammy on Goodreads

Friend Tammy on Pinterest

Follow Tammy on Twitter

Find Tammy's Videos on Youtube

If you'd like to share your experiences in the publishing world, please contact us about setting up a guest appearance. We'd love to hear from you!

#Wwow - Top 10 Online Sites for Free Photos

Say Cheese! Ever since I became an author, I've had to use pictures for everything! My blog, my website, promotional badges, promotional videos, book trailers ... the list goes on. So, finding a good place online can be time consuming. That's why I stepped in today to tell you of FREE places to find pictures online. If you don't think it's important to use royalty free images and to just copy/paste, you better think differently. Read this from author Roni Loren: Bloggers Beware: You Can Get Sued for Using Pics on Your Blog

I do not work for or represent these places in any way. I've just stumbled upon them and find them useful sites.

1. Open Clip Art
2. Wikepedia Commons - a database of freely used media files
3. Stock XChg - the leading source of free stock photos
4. 20 Free Online Stock Videos - an article that shares 20 different places
5. Stock Vault
6. Creative Commons - Search for free photos or videos from several public domains
7. Free Digital Photos - an extensive selection of free photos
8. Dreamtime - Offers free weekly photos for download.
9. Free Photos Bank
10. Free Stock Photos
11. Photo Pin

Happy picture hunting!

Melinda is a contemporary romance author represented by Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. You can find her on the web at www.melindadozier.com. Both her novels are available at all ebook retailers: Breaking the Rules from Crimson Romance and Love and Other Games from Swoon Romance.

#Wwow - Premade and Custom Made Book Designers

Since I've been thinking about self-publishing a novella, I've been asking around for good Cover Artists or Book Cover sites.

Bellow, find a list of resources for simple premade book covers -- some sites have other services for more extended service. This is by no means an endorsement of any of these artists or sites. I haven't used any personally at this time. However, it's a good idea to check them all out before making a final decision!

Cover Your Dreams - Premade Book Covers

Erin Lark Designs - Premade Book Covers

Go On Write - Premade Book Covers

Hot Damn Designs - 

The Killion Group - Custom Book Covers

LFD Designs - Custom & Premade Book Covers

Rae Monet, Inc. - Premade Book Covers

Safari Heat Author Services - Premade Book Covers

Seductive Designs - Premade and Custom Book Designs

Self Pub Book Covers - Test out how your book title would look!

Suzannah Safi - Custom Book Covers

Taria Ried - Premade Book Covers

The list could continue. In fact, have you had any great experiences with a designer? Have any resources to share? Leave a comment below!

Melinda Dozier is a contemporary romance author. Her first four novels were released in 2013: The Boy Next Door, Time Changes Everything from Entranced Publishing, Breaking the Rules from Crimson Romance and Love and Other Games: Trouble with Gold from Swoon Romance.

#WWow - Loot? Booty? SWAG? What to do.

SWAG Ideas & Places

SWAG: loot, booty, plunder, valuables

What’s a author to do?

A newbie writer friend who’s going through her first blog tour soon, asked me about SWAG and giveaways last week. So, I thought I’d share a few ideas here as well as places to create SWAG online.

Here’s a list of ideas:

·        Bookmarks

·        Postcards

·        Canvas Bags

·        T-shirts

·        Pens

·        Notebooks

·        Notepads

·        Sticky Notes

·        Magnets

·        Pins/Buttons

·        Cozy

·        Keychain

The list is endless. What I enjoy are SWAG items that are related to the book. 

For example, for my upcoming release, Love and Other Games (Oct. 1), I will be giving away a Ty beanie doll dressed in Olympic garb. My story in this anthology is about a snowboarder named TY participating in the Olympics. I thought it was a cute idea.

We’re also giving away Olympic pins, like this one:

Another item we’ll give away is a necklace that one of the heroines wears:

 

If you’d like a chance to win any of these SWAG items or learn more about our Love and Other Games release, please come sign up for our Facebook Release Day Party! https://www.facebook.com/events/353106031489358/

The point here is --- Relate your SWAG to your book theme!

Now, the places you can visit to make easy SWAG. Here are a few I’ve used or heard about:

VistaPrint

GotPrint

OvernightPrints

MooCards

Tammy also wrote a post a few weeks ago about SWAG here. 

I'm curious to know what type of SWAG you like to receive. Please leave a comment below!

Melinda Dozier is a contemporary romance writer. Her three debut novels were released in 2013: The Boy Next Door and Time Changes Everything from Entranced Publishing, and Breaking the Rules from Crimson Romance. Her next release, Love and Other Games: Trouble With Gold will be released in October from Swoon Romance. You can find more information at her website:www.melindadozier.com

WWoW! Use Tweepi!

Tweepi is my favorite tool to use with Twitter.

Tweepi helps you make sense of your Twitter social graph with stats. You will be able to learn about the number of people you haven't followed back, the number of people who aren't following you, search people who your friends follow and much more. It makes it simple to manage your account by doing the following things much easier than manually through twitter...

FLUSH UNFOLLOWERS

This tool allows you to unfollow users who aren't following you back.

RECIPROCATE

This tool helps you find all the users that follow you, but you don't follow back. Then you can follow them back with a click of a button.

CLEAN UP INACTIVE FOLLOWERS

This feature allows you to unfollow users who no longer keep active twitter accounts. It's likely that you're following more than a few hundred people on Twitter. You must've noticed that many of these users either don't engage in conversations, never retweet anybody, or simply just ramble about nonsense stuff all day long (no links to useful content whatsoever!). You can use Tweepi cleanup tool to filter these people out and unfollow them. The Clean-up tool enables you to filter out those inactive and unwanted tweeps by letting you check out their details and decide for yourself!

FIND NEW FOLLOWERS

This feature gives you a resource for finding users with similar interests. The most common way to find and add people with the same interests as you, is to find a popular user within your area of interest and add people who follow these known users.

Tweepi helps you analyze and filter tweeps out -the geeky way,

with numbers in a table- based on their activity and sociability. 

How do you start using Tweepi?

It's only 5 simple steps.

1. Go to http://tweepi.com/
2. Choose "login" (to start using Tweepi for free which is all you need)
3. Enter your username/email with your password and click "Authorize app"
4. Create a Tweepi account with your first and last name and your e-mail
5. Start using Tweepi!

The first time you go through your account, it may take awhile but as you then update it every few weeks, it

becomes less of a chore. You'll find it worthwhile to create a SAFE LIST so you never accidentally unfollow someone you want to follow regardless of any stats. For example, you might be following a celebrity who doesn't follow people but you won't want to unfollow them. You might be surprised though at how many people you follow that aren't  following you and vice versa. Tweepi gives you the tools to make your Twitter account be exactly what you want. Make it work for you using Tweepi.

Then, get back to it...

Keep Writing!

Paloma

#WWoW! Getting Organized with #Scrivener

Hello new visitors and returning readers! Welcome to Tammy's Tidbits on Writer's Words of Wisdom.  Each week four participating authors write about a variety of topics that center around our journey through the world of publishing. From writing, blogging, editing, critique partners, social media and more, we've got takes on everything. 

While sometimes we may discuss the same topics, we do so with different perspectives. All of it's done in order to share what's worked—and not worked for us along the way. If you'd like share your Words of Wisdom, we have Fridays open. Let us know and we'll get you scheduled.

The following post was originally done just before I released my vampire inspired poetry book, The Courtship of the Vampyre. This post is a step by step description of my experience using Scrivener to organize my work. I'm telling you, the program saved my backside on numerous occasions by helping me keep everything at my fingertips. Recently, I've used the split screen feature to help with edits of The Surrender of Julia(Now and Forever 3).  

More on that in the coming weeks. For now, here's my introduction to the wonderful world of...

My post today's about a writing program called Scrivener. I was reluctant to try this even after all the rave reviews by fellow author friends. I mean, I had a system that seemed to be working for me and I didn't want to mess with it. That is, until I ended up adding more projects to my "To Do" lists for all three of my pen names. The number of paper notebooks I was hauling around with me at any given time was beginning to weigh me down—literally!

The program for Windows (and Mac) was readily available through Amazon for $40. I figured , "What the hell?" I had a credit from Thank You Points left over from another purchase, so I wasn't out any extra money. So with the click of my mouse I bought the program.  The download was easy and painless as was registering the product with the Scrivener site.

So what now?

With most new "toys" I tend to just open it up and figure it all out as I go, but this looked too damn daunting. To get a bit more help, I went back to Amazon and found a few books that would help me with creating an ebook using the program and of course I had the help that came along with the program itself. Not only did it come with a manual within the program, it also had a tutorial. Hmmmm...this was going to be a first for me, actually watching the tutorial!

Trust me, no one was more shocked than I was that I started up the program to get my initial bearings.  I was so glad I did! It takes you through each section with ease and in language that's easy to understand. Not only do you learn each step, but you learn different routes in the program to achieve the same goals. It's all about tailoring the experience to fit your own needs.

The tutorial explains how each level works from draft, to folders, text files and research files. I can even store the photos that inspire my characters so I can pull them up while writing the scenes. How cool is that?  I found out that I can create multiple levels for each project (chapters and scenes for example) or just keep it straight forward like having each folder/chapter one separate poem. By setting it up that way, I can be sure each poem starts on it's own page like a chapter would.

example of cork board view

My favorite part so far is the cork board view. With my vampire poetry project, I have all the poems/folders laid out on "index" cards. I can then write a short synopsis on each card so I'll be reminded what is covered in that poem without having to open the folder to read it.

The best part? I can shuffle every card in whatever order I want! No more cut, past and then delete like when I worked with just Microsoft Word. If I don't like the order, I can just move the cards around and then flip back to the document view and see all the poems laid out with page breaks. This helps me to visualize what the ebook will look like once it's all finalized. I haven't got to the compiling part yet where I convert all of my "chapters" into an ebook, so I'll leave that discussion for next week.

I'm at the point where I have my cover, nearly all the poems in the order I want them in, my copyright page, dedication and acknowledgement page, table of contents with links to find each poem within the document and my "about the author" section. I've even made separate folders for Kindle, Smashwords and Createspace copyright pages. You see, when it comes to the compiling phase, I only have to choose the appropriate folders/chapters to combine into the final product.

So far, so good! Next is to compile everything and make the different formats needed for Smashwords and Kindle. This is the key reason I purchased this program so that it will be easier to format all the different files for each publishing route. Unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble with compiling into different formats. I'm not sure if I wasn't following directions properly but the files just wouldn't convert. Of course I got fabulous .doc files. Both Smashwords and Amazon require this file type so I'm not flipping out yet. LOL!

Instead of fretting over my issues with this phase, I found another program to help me out. In Word, I saved my .doc file as a PDF.  Using this format in Calibre, I converted it to all ebook formats I'd need for uploading to All Romance ebooks, Omnilit and for sale on my own website eventually.  Calibre is a free program that helps with ebook file conversion and organization of your library. It's fun! More about that next week!


Have you used Scrivener or another program like it? Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.

Until next week!
~Tammy

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a best selling, multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels and Stephanie Ryan make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing and together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website
Tammy's Blog
Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunesSassy Vixen Publishing
Friend Tammy on Facebook
Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page
Friend Tammy on Goodreads
Friend Tammy on Pinterest
Follow Tammy on Twitter
Find Tammy's Videos on Youtube

Getting Organized! #wwow

Today's post - getting organized! And that's what I'm currently doing--I forgot to get this post done until now, when I'm writing it.

1. To-do lists: A must. I have a neat one I bought from Target with the days of the week on it. I jot down what needs to be done on what days or even what's due on those days. Yes, computers are handy and phone apps, but sometimes it's good to go old school and write it down so it stares at you.

2. Schedule posts: If you're a blogger, and your blog has the ability to let you schedule posts, then take advantage of it. I use weebly and blogger. Unfortunately, weebly does not offer this (even though when Imy to-do list to make it go live the night before.

complete there 'How Are We Doing' surveys, I always tell them that). But I make a point to sit down on Sundays and schedule everything I can. Or on my weebly, leave it in draft and make a note on

3. Give yourself deadlines: If you want to complete the book you're writing my August 25th, then write it down. Work your hardest to do it, and turn facebook off! However, I will say, if you don't meet your deadline, don't eat a whole pint of ice cream. Just move your deadline. That's the great part of being an author. You are your own boss! Well, except when you have edits. Then make sure you get those done in time so you don't hold up your release schedule.

Those are just a few tips!

See ya next week!

#Wwow! 10 Tips for Writing a Synopsis! #amwriting

Since I'm writing a synopsis again for an upcoming project, I thought I'd share an oldie but goodie with Writer's Wow today!

MY TOP 10 WORDS OF ADVICE FOR WRITING A SYNOPSIS:

1) Have a strong opening sentence. Just like in your novel, you want to catch an editor's attention with a hook.

2) Introduce your characters. Don't make it boring... Susy is a 30-something single mom. Blah! Give us some punch to it. Show the editor who the character is. 

3) Include the key components of your novel: hero/heroine, the set up, romantic conflict, character motivation, the black moment and the resolution.

4) In a one-page synopsis, it's impossible to include every detail of your chapters.In fact, I would think editors don't want a summary of each chapter, anyway.  Find a good way to include the essentials (see list above) in a way that will engage the editor. Describe the major plot points, not each scene. The goal is to give a sketch of your entire manuscript, in fewer words.

5) Don't ask questions. Will Amanda discover a renewed love for Jake? This doesn't work. The editor wants the answers, not the question.

6) Stay focused. Don't change POV's and stay in the same verb tense 

7) Don't forget to tell the ending. Editors want to know how the story ends. Don't leave them hanging.

8) Choose your words carefully. When you write your manuscript, you hopefully choose precise words. You want to do the same in the synopsis. 

9) Voice is important. If you write a romantic comedy, then your synopsis should show that. This is the time to give the editor a clue on what type of writer you are... if you're funny, you better show it.

10) Don't stress. Write your synopsis out as if someone asked you to tell them your story. Then go back and see how you can improve. Edit it just like you'd edit your manuscript.

Good Luck!

Melinda Dozier is a contemporary writer. Her three debut novels were released in 2013: The Boy Next Door and Time Changes Everything from Entranced Publishing, and Breaking the Rules from Crimson Romance.  She has another novel releasing in November. You can find more information at her website:www.melindadozier.com

#Wwow! Planning a Blog Tour #2 - Writing Guest Posts

Planning a Blog Tour - Two weeks ago, I talked about blog touring companies. Now, let's talk about your responsibility during those tours. 

GUEST POSTS!

During a blog tour, some bloggers will participate by only providing Promo Posts. This would include your media kit, your book cover and author picture. However,other bloggers will want to interview you or ask for a guest post. Once you turn in your final edits, get an early start on guest posts. You don't want to have to sit down and write ten guest posts at once.  Believe me, once you hit the eight to ten mark, you'll burn out.

Here are some suggestions:

1)     Find topics related to your book. For example, in Breaking the Rules, I’ve written guest posts on famous rulebreakers and another on rules I’ve broken. Since my hero is a doctor, I’ve written about my favorite sexy doctors.My heroine is a nerdy principal who loves to play by the rules. I’ve written posts about how she plays the rules, why rules are important and even why she risked her heart. 

2)     Write about yourself! Here’s a post I wrote titled Five Outrageous Facts about a Romance Writer. So much fun! What are your favorite romance books? Favorite authors? Favorite writing spots? 

3)     Interviews are popular, too. Heroes and heroines are interviewed alone or together. Even interviews between authors and their own characters are fun.

THE POINT – START NOW while the story is fresh in your mind. Your novel may not release for months down the road and by then you’re already writing a new story and enveloped in other characters minds. Write a few posts and have them ready to go!

Here’s a list of guest posts for future reference:

• ·         My Top 10 Contemporary Romance Novels
• ·         5 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming Published
• ·         5 Things You Didn’t Know about (Your Name)
• ·         10 Things You Didn’t Know about (Your Novel)
• ·         10 Things Readers Would Be Surprised to Know About Me
• ·         Top 10 Best Things about Being an Author
• ·         What I’m Writing Next
• ·         How to Meet Deadlines and Remain Sane
• ·         Why Book Covers are So Important
• ·         10 Favorite Authors and Why
• ·         What Does Your Office Look Like?
• ·         A Day in the Life of (main character)
• ·         Why I Write Romance

Melinda Dozier is a contemporary writer. Her three debut novels were released in 2013: The Boy Next Door and Time Changes Everything from Entranced Publishing, and Breaking the Rules from Crimson Romance. You can find more information at her website: www.melindadozier.com