Here for the Win! Writing!

You have resolved to write your book in 2017. Congratulations. Soon you will have completed a 70,000 word document- what do you do next? As an author- I am “Here for the Win!” I knew I needed to pick and stick with a good team. Who, how? Back in the fall of 2015, I assembled my team and it took me ten seconds.

10 seconds…I see you are skeptical. I will explain more about the team process

It’s taken me a whole year and counting since I first learned about  to learn how to set goals, attain goals and maximize the benefit of my team.

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My goal for 2017 is to establish and then unleash the power of my Social Ambassadors team. I plan to develop a core group that will broadcast prepared social media tweets and posts and other marketing material that I will prepare. I am excited to see what a coordinated and enthusiastic effort can do! I also plan to interact even more with my friends on social media sites and I am committed to read and comment on more blogs. I have learned and thrived with my buddies on social media and the joy and enthusiasm is priceless. So I want to continue to forge strong connections. And I am going to get brave and schedule more workshops, book signings and other zesty live events.

Time to do it!

Back to the beginning of my journey. After I promised my husband I would get a round tuit and stop talking and  actually write my book, I decided it was time to leave my coffee table office and set up a formal work area. I picked the loft area in my house, commandeered some stray furniture and then I started my opus. No I didn’t. Instead I played with cute paper clips, tested broken staplers and tried out pens and various colors of sticky notes. Then I stopped fiddling with my office, made a cup of coffee, let the dog out, emptied the dishwasher and I started my book.

With my snoring dog at my side, I wrote every morning, 1,000 words a day. Sometimes I was so touched by my own work that I read aloud to my big mutt. One day, one fateful, rainbow, fluffy kitten and pony-filled day, I was looking on the online thesaurus and saw a message, “Are you writing a book?”

“Yes, yes I am!” In less than ten seconds, I had clicked the ad and within the hour I had received a call from a consultant at a self-publisher, iUniverse. And the rest is history. The consultant explained to me that iUniverse offered supported self-publishing and that meant I could choose to have professional help every step of the way.

I signed up for a publishing package and that’s when I learned how to write a book. I needed developmental editing, line and copy editing, book cover design, printing, marketing and promotion services. I learned so much, that not to take away anything from folks who have earned an MFA, I feel I should receive an honorary MFA, thanks to my team. (Point of pride, my second book needed much less editing because I had learned from my mistakes!) Hello, The Golden Age of Charli!

You don’t have to use my team, but you do need a team. You need to create the best product you can. You want a book that is well written, free of grammatical errors and typos; you want a professional-looking cover and copy. You want a real book. And you want a team to help your market and promote your masterpiece.

Many writers have echoed this thought, “to be a writer, you must write.” (Ann B. Ross) and “just get it written” (James Thurber)  In 2017, plan, plunge, write and then pick and stick with your team.