Tips for Bouncing Back From Disappointment

Thought this was worth sharing...Bouncing Back From Disappointment: Christina Katz Weighs In (and GIVEAWAY!) over at Ask Allison's blog.

After a much needed break, it’s back to work!

A very good friend recently reminded me how great it is to share books. To read them, talk about them, and share them. My discussions with Debbie showed me how a talk, a link or an e-mail can introduce new books, new authors, and even new worlds.

Sharing is a good reason to use your voice. If you like something, tell others, and if you don’t it’s ok to explain why, constructively. Use your voice. It’s that time of year when we reflect on freedom, and I recently read a quote from Author Mama Christina Katz that hit home, “At this moment, I can’t think of anything I value more than the fact that all Americans are free and that we have the right to express ourselves as we see fit.”

What better way to share stories than to tell others? I’ll post more Summer Reads this week. If there is a book you want to share, feel free to speak up.

The Prosperous Writer - Clarity & Authenticity

The past couple weeks in The Prosperous Writer, Christina Katz has discussed Clarity and Authenticity. Her post on clarity rings true to more than just my writer nature. Katz tells us that, “clarity asks you to get clear on where you stand, how you feel, and what your instincts are prompting you to say and do.

A lot of times life gets cluttered and our sense of clarity becomes muddled. This is a crummy feeling often characterized by feeling pulled in too many directions, feeling burdened and guilty, and even feeling like you can't please anyone, especially yourself.”

Have you ever felt like you couldn’t please anyone including yourself? Did you stop to consider why? Sometimes I try to do so much that I end up overworked, overtired or just plain sick. It’s nice to have projects and events to juggle, but at what cost? Sometimes I get ahead of myself trying to cross items off of my To-Do list and miss out on the fun of the experience.

Christina’s post helped me see that I could use some life clarity. Can’t we all? So I am trying to fix that. I am clearing out old junk and have learned to say no – I did it once this year already!

That leads me to Christina’s points about authenticity, “What will people remember about you?

You need to think about it without over-thinking it.

And then hopefully, your answer will tell us something honest about you and what you do.”

She’s right. So I decided to admit something to whoever reads this. (The first step is admitting the problem, right?) I write, blog, friend, e-mail, talk and tweet, but realize I have been authentically all over the place, lacking clarity. However, this is the real me. If you are related to or know me, you know this. My life and my writing process thrives on the twists and turns that make great stories, but taking the long way around isn’t always the most productive. And sometimes you can’t help but get lost.

Take for example my blog bio – it lists that I write fiction and nonfiction and that is true/authentic. I like doing both, but it can get me turned around enough that I lose clarity. It also happens when I write about food, TV, books, relationships and potty training. But, that's just me being myself and sharing a head full of ideas. I think many writers understand this. Because we know how challenging it can be to wear different hats all at once. Writer Mama, anyone?

What’s a woman like me to do? My next step is to establish some goals. Sure, my long-term plan includes a NYT bestseller, a cookbook, mother-and-wife-of-the-year and a hit TV show, but at least I’m taking steps toward some much needed clarity and authenticity.

Guest Post - Prospering in the Gig Economy: Simple Habits for Writers That Pay Off Quickly

By Christina Katz

Money is what writers earn for their time and energy. Furthermore, writing careers are built over time not overnight. So don't put your career in jeopardy by paying attention to everything else at the expense of your bottom line.

Here are nine prosperity-increasing tips that can quickly become habit and put more money in the bank for the same number of hours you already work or maybe even less:

1. Make a list of paid work vs. unpaid work, if you don't have one already and update it monthly. Add to-dos like upcoming deadlines and prep for future efforts, to make sure you don't have to scramble later.
2. Prioritize the work you do that is paid over the work you do that is unpaid. This doesn't mean the unpaid work is not important or doesn't need to get done. It simply means that you will get the paid work done first and then tackle the unpaid work.
3. Spend time with other writers who make money writing. If they are too busy (making money) to spend time with you, sign up for their newsletters, read their blogs or connect with them via social networking whenever possible. When contacting successful writers, keep your expectations realistic. There's a reason they make the big bucks and it's not because they are just hanging out all day. When you are working, whether online or off, be aware of folks who drain your energy or co-opt your time. You simply don't have time for those people when you are supposed to be working.
4. Don't confuse "nice" people with profitable people. Let's say one writer invests all of his time trying to make sure everyone knows what a great guy he is, while another writer invests his time landing assignments, delivering on deadlines, and landing the next gig. Who is the more successful writer? I'd say it's the more productive writer (the second example). And he's the one I'd be more likely to trust, as well. So go ahead, broadcast your success!
5. Tackle the types of assignments that pay directly. Forget about any kind of writing job you "might" get paid for. Also don't count writing you do for exposure as "paid." And when someone offers you vague future money for today's actual work, take twice as much time to carefully consider the offer. Why not just take on the sure-thing assignments, which are the projects that pay you directly for your work? If you keep things simple, you are more likely to prosper in both the short run and the long run.
6. Spend the most time doing whatever you do best even if that means doing a few different things. For example, I don't only write because if I only wrote all day, I'd soon be bored out of my mind, no matter how interesting the topics were that I was writing on. A restless person like me needs to do a variety of things. So I also teach and speak and the three efforts feed each other and increase my overall value as a writer.
7. However, don't spread yourself too thin. I do a lot of different things but I've noticed that I can only do so many things before I hit overload, especially since I am a busy mom and wife, as well as a working professional. This overload point is going to be different for everyone and can change with your life circumstances, so adjust your expectations accordingly. You want to do everything you do well, not just scrape by.
8. Capture all of your business expense receipts as the year ticks along so that you can benefit from every deduction available to you when you pay your taxes. I am not the queen of filing things, so I just get a big basket and toss all my receipts in there until I'm ready to sort and report. If you need a primer on the specifics of what you can and can't expense, pick up the March/April issue of Writer's Digest magazine and check out the article, "Taxpertise For Writers" by Bonnie Lee. In fact, the theme of the issue is, "Your Economic Survival Guide," so why not read the whole thing?
9. Be timely. Seek and adopt the simplest systems to help you meet your deadlines, pay your bills, get your taxes submitted, etc. It doesn't matter which system you use. What matters more is that you make good use of the systems that work best for you and switch when one method stops working for you.

I bet you want to spend as little of your time as possible being inefficient, so that you can get back to writing. So keep things simple: write, earn and prosper. An efficient writer is a profitable writer.

And now if you'll excuse me, I have some writing deadlines to meet.

Christina Katz is the author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform and Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids for Writer’s Digest Books. She has written hundreds of articles for national, regional, and online publications, presents at literary and publishing events around the country, and is a monthly columnist for the Willamette Writer. Katz publishes a weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer, and hosts The Northwest Author Series. She holds an MFA in writing from Columbia College Chicago and a BA from Dartmouth College. A “gentle taskmaster” to her hundred or so students each year, Katz channels over a decade of professional writing experience into success strategies that help writers get on track and get published.

Learn more at http://christinakatz.com