Focus is important. Focus is crucial. Focus is frigging hard.
I can’t focus. I never could. That’s why I wanted to do this author thing.
I fall asleep in meetings. Honestly, I thought I had narcolepsy. I even went to the doctor for it. He told me I was just bored. Or boring. I’m not sure, I wasn’t paying attention, but it wasn’t narcolepsy.
But now I need focus. I have too many ideas and too many things I’d like to do.
I plan to finish two more novels this year. I want to write a couple of more short stories. I need to keep up this blog. And, my other blog. And I’ve still got that serial novel to deliver every month. Add this to kids and work and I can’t remember what I’m doing from one day to the next.
Doing this indie thing, it’s easy to take on way too much. You love to write, so you want to do that. Plus you realize that the more titles you have out there, the easier it is for people to find you. So you want to produce, but you’ve discovered something that’s helping you sell, so you want to do that too. And there’s cake and cake is so good.
There’s always something and sometimes things are going to need to wait.
I was trying to do too much at once. In a week I was working on one story, outlining a novel, answer dumb white husband questions and do something over here. In the middle of all that I’d have to switch gears and get the next part of my serial novel out.
This jumping around was working. But it was slowing everything down. And then life happens as well, so late nights at the office put you behind schedule. Family functions slow you down. There is just too much that can come up.
So now, I’m trying to focus. I’ll only work on one project each week. One week it may be the novel, the next Stockwell. I’m also going to dedicate a week to just writing blog posts and answer questions as the Dumb White Husband.
So far it’s helping.
I imagine most authors are like me. We’re always excited to get on to the next thing. Creating is the part that drives us, not marketing. It’s all about the idea. But, it takes a little focus and guess that’s where the “if it was easy” part plays its hand.
