Time? Who has Time?

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Time… it flies by without stopping… never ceasing. So how do we fit it all in? I’m often asked how I fit writing into my busy schedule with running my accounting office, being a wife and mom, being a children’s minister, life, reading, researching, among other things that fill my days. Well, some days it’s not easy.

How do I keep up with my word count and publish on time? I have a schedule of word counts, but that doesn’t mean that I make that count every day. Some days I don’t even type a word, but guess what, that just builds it up to the next day and so on… My daily word counts during tax season are low, but they add up quickly when I don’t meet my daily count.

So, how do you stretch your time? How do you fit it all in? I have some advice on that very subject. This is advice that I ignored years ago, but now I take it very seriously. Make a schedule and a list of what needs to be done daily. That seems easy, huh, but it’s not on most days. So what do I mean?

Here’s how I schedule my week. Sit down on Sunday afternoon and look at the week ahead. Look at meetings on the calendar, work that needs to be completed, deadlines, and anything else that comes into the week. Then prioritize the items that don’t have a specific set time, like meetings.

With tax returns and accounting, I look at deadlines for the week first, don’t forget to look ahead to the deadlines for the next week too. Then I sit down at my desk and make a list for each day. I number each task, start with the most important daily task, then work my way down. I know how many tax returns I can do a day, then I separate them and bind together each day’s work. That way I accomplish what I need to accomplish and meet my deadlines. But remember, if it’s not important to finish this week, don’t waste valuable time trying to fit it in. Put it on the next week’s schedule. That way you’re only accomplishing this week’s needs.

What about writing? This is where it gets tricky. If my day is filled with appointments and I have to work later than usual, well, my writing time suffers. I use the time after my hubby and son leave for work and school. I sit down with my coffee and write. If I’m behind on my count, well no blog that day and I don’t check social media until I’ve caught up on the count. That’s hard to do. A couple of days this week, I wrote when I came in for lunch. That helped too. (But now I need to clean the crumbs from my keyboard!) Also, I make my Saturday word count higher than my weekday, but only when I’m behind.

I know, you’re sitting back going, wow, she’s so organized, but don’t get the wrong idea. My life is always disorganized in one way or another. Like last night, I wanted to write at least 1000 words, but my brain just wouldn’t cooperate, so I read for an hour, which helped my brain to calm a little, but then it was time to go to bed, so I have an extra 1000 words to add to today. By the way, I need to get back to the writing.

How do you stretch your time? Don’t forget to schedule in some ‘me time’. It’s important to your sanity…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

A little note, Ridge is finally free on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/Ridge-Five-Oaks-Ranch-Book-ebook/dp/B00TFOPOFI

Romancing the New Year…

Good Tuesday morning peeps! How’s your new year so far? Mine has been busy. Of course tax season starts this month, not to mention the end of the year reports, income statements, W-2’s and 1099’s are all due out. Oh, and did I mention my newest book is set to release February 17th.

Whew, yeah, it’s a little busy, but those that have been reading my blog for a while, you know this is when I’m in my element. My new book is coming along great and in line with the deadline. Let’s hope it stays that way. I just need a couple of more hours in the day, but don’t we all?

Have you added any romance into the new year yet? If you haven’t, then go to any of the book sites and you’ll find something in the romance genre you like. Just cuddle up with a blanket and get lost. Hopefully I’ll have a little time in the next couple of days to do that, but for now, I’m cuddled up in a blanket, by the fire, sipping coffee and writing. Then it’s off to the office for a day filled with cleaning, organizing and setting up appointments.

Hope you’re day is going well.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Just a little reminder, “Seaside Beginnings” is on preorder at Amazon and Smashwords. Go by and get your copy preordered so it will be delivered on the release date…

By the way, tomorrow I’ll be talking taxes and the author! So come back for a little tax advice…

Tax season is over and I’m back!

Well now that the main part of tax season is over I’m back to my blogging and writing schedule. I’ve missed speaking with all of you everyday. It’s funny how you miss it. My writing has seriously suffered this year, but I plan to make up for the lost time and quickly.

I have several projects coming up and in the works. Today and tomorrow I’m working with my assistant/editor on those projects and I’ll be letting you in on them really soon… Also be looking for several giveaways of Ridge before Oakley comes out in the next week or so. I’ve received some great response from this new series and I’m excited about what’s to come in this next chapter of my writing.

Also I’ll be working on my publishing company more closely and am excited about the things coming up with it. Since I have a great designer on my team, I know things will only get better. We’re working closely with a fellow author to create her author platform. Can’t wait to get involved again now that things aren’t so busy.

Well off to write and dream. Hope all is well with all of you and enjoy this day you were blessed with.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What happens when…

Good Tuesday morning! Well the main tax season is almost over and I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule. But this week will be majorly busy for me. I’ve been fitting in a little writing here and there, but not enough for my sanity. So here’s today’s thought for the day, What happens when…

What happens when you want to write but you don’t have your computer handy, well you pick up a pen and paper. I started a new manuscript the other night and was too tired to get up and grab my laptop, so I picked up my handy spiral bound notebook and started writing. It felt amazing to put pen to paper again. Of course I know those pages upon pages of handwritten words will have to be put in the laptop, but for now I’m content do it the old fashioned way.

What happens when you have a deadline for one book but have to start another one so the characters will let you sleep. Yep I started a new historical romance two days ago and yes I know Oakley is due out really soon! Sometimes you have to just give in to the loudest voices in your head.

What happens when figure out toward the end of the book that you accidentally renamed a character midway of the book. Yep, guilty as charged. Well, you can either stay with the new name and go back to make changes or you can search all the wrong name entries and correct. But I’m sure glad I’m now using Scrivener so that I have a character list, especially for those that don’t appear many times.

So what do you do when this happens to you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday morning writer’s block!

Good morning everyone! It’s Monday, but it seems like it was Monday just yesterday. Time flies by sometimes faster than you want it to. I’m working on many deadlines; tax returns are due out April 15th and ‘Oakley’ is supposed to release April 15th.

Of course deadline number one is affecting deadline number two… Since it’s tax season and I’m an Accountant I’ve been working really long hours. That of course affects my writing in strange ways. Some days I get back home from the office and can’t write fast enough, but other days like the last couple of days I can’t seem to muster up the energy to put words to paper. This makes me crazy especially when I sit down with laptop ready and nothing… not even a word. There’s on thing I’ve learned as a writer, don’t write when you’re not into it. You usually end up deleting it totally…

Hopefully now that I’m making headway with the huge pile of tax returns on my desk I’ll get back to writing. I made a huge dent in them yesterday. I work best on the weekend when my phone isn’t ringing off the hook. I can turn on the tunes and work without much interruption.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

As the fog clears

This is the view from my front porch this morning. The temperatures have finally warmed up and the threat of rain looms, but you can’t tell by the gorgeous sunrise. The fog is starting to clear and is barely visible in this photo. I feel inspired as the vibrant colors stream through the front windows.

As most of you know from reading my posts I try to get in my word count every morning. This morning as I woke at 6:00 my body and brain felt heavy and filled with inspiration zapping fog. I dragged myself out of bed and fixed breakfast for my son. As I poured the coffee and the delicious aroma steamed up to my nose I smiled. Yes, I need several cups of coffee. Since the time changed the sun comes up later and that always makes it hard for me to wake up. But one look at this beautiful sunrise I feel inspired to get to work. I can do this is the feeling it inspires.

Does a beautiful sunrise inspire you? As for me, I’m off to get in a couple thousand words before a warm shower and then on to the accounting office. I may need that third cup of coffee while I type…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

It’s that time of year…Are you ready?

This is a step away from my normal writing post, or is it? Well, this is a twofold post. As you may have figured this out, we only have three days left in 2014. Of course if you’ve been off work for the holidays you might not realize what day it is. Anyhow, this is a reminder post of sorts. I want to remind you of some tax deductions that might need to made in the next three days.

If you’re a published author then you’ll need to claim those wonderful royalties you hopefully received during the year. That means that you have income to claim and need deductions to help ward off a nasty tax bill. Since I’m an accountant as well as published author I’m here to help. So here’s a couple of last minute tax helps to get you on the right track…

1: Go through and add up your royalties to make certain of your income. Why is this important? Well, even a couple hundred extra dollars can put you in another tax bracket and that means extra taxes. SO make sure you know what you’re looking at.

2: After you’ve figured out your income level, then go through all those receipts to make sure you grab every expense. Even those notebooks you make notes in are writing expenses. Make sure you start 2015 off right by putting these in a folder marked ‘Writing Expenses’ and then next December you’re writing not searching.

3: Maybe you did really well on royalties this year, I’m hoping you did, but that means taxes. So, if you need a big item to help with taxes this is the time to splurge. It’s actually a good time to do this with all the end of year sales. You could purchase a new writing program, laptop, printer, dragon speak type of program, or any type of electronic/program that you use for writing.

4: Don’t forget last minute advertising. This could be a good time to get your name out to all of those new e-reader owners and get a tax deduction in the process.

5: Stock up on notebooks, pencils, pens, paper and any writing supplies that may be needed in 2015. It’s a mini shopping spree in the making.

I’ve mentioned only five things to help, but you get the picture. It’s important to your wallet to be tax savvy and get the best bang for your tax buck. So many authors don’t think about the little things, but you now have three days to think about it.

If you have questions, just message me and I’ll help.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Live Life; Follow Your Dreams…

Today I turn 46! Wow, it’s hard to believe I’m almost half a century old. But I don’t feel 46 and I sure don’t act it. Actually most people say I act 10 but that’s another story for another day. I live life and enjoy it immensely. We’re only give one so live it. Many people tell me I don’t get out and do things enough, but the truth is I live my life the way I love to live it, by following my dreams. No I don’t go alot of places and do a lot of things outside of my job, my writing, the Church and my family, but that’s the way I like it. Am I a hermit? No, because the definition of a hermit is someone who lives their lives in complete seclusion from the outside world. I do leave my house occasionally.

How do I follow my dreams? Well for one thing I have a phenomenal life with a great family and wonderful friends. I follow my call to serve my Lord, Jesus Christ by ministering to children, I love Accounting and get to work everyday doing just that and then there’s my writing. I followed my dream and get to write romance novels which has been my dream for more years than I want to count. Do you live your dream? If not, get to it, because we’re not promised tomorrow and today is only 24 hours.

As far as acting my age, not a chance. I don’t feel my age so why act it. If you act your age you’ll get old before you need to. I love to giggle, cry, laugh out loud, share my joy, sit in the floor with the children and sing, cartoons, children’s movies, and so many more things, not to mention extra marshmallows in my hot chocolate. Oh and sprinkles on my cookies, doughnuts, and cake, did I mention I love sweets!

Do you live life to the fullest? It doesn’t take a lot of money to live life. All you need is a dream, a desire to follow it and a supportive family. I stop and smell the roses, do you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Catching up with the times…

Some of you may not know this, but I’m a ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ type person. Even when upgrades are needed or maybe new equipment, I keep purring along with what I’m currently comfortable with. I guess it goes along with my introvert ways or maybe it’s just that I’m in my own little world and happy there. Not sure, but I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and well, I kind of like it.

If you’re wondering what I’m blabbering about, well I finally upgraded to an iPhone this past week. You’re probably still tapping your head and saying ‘really’, but it’s just me. I was happy with my old phone and it was happy with me. But when I’d pull it out of my pocket or purse it would fall apart, so my hubby snatched my phone and upgraded me. It was like being separated from the womb, but I’m coping. As a very busy accountant, writer and children’s minister I was afraid of learning something new that would take time away from all of that, but it’s gone well.

After five days with the new fancy device, I’ve all but mastered ordering apps. I decided last night to grab the Instagram App. My son almost had a stroke. He was a little concerned about mama checking on him in his private world, but he got over it.

As I sat yesterday waiting on hubby to pump gas into the truck an idea for a new book came across my brain. If you’re a writer you know how critical it is to get that idea down on paper. Well, as I reached into my purse, I noticed my handy dandy notepad was not present and in a panic I looked around the truck for anything, even a napkin to write it down. Then I remembered the note app on my new phone. Smiling I quickly opened it and voila my idea was stored for future use. Now that’s a plus for the new phone. Not to mention I now have my Kindle on there too.

So, do you have areas of your life that are behind in the times?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Over worked? Over stressed? Write it out!

Some days are just hard to get through. You sit behind your desk and wonder if you’ll live through the stress of the day. You’ve gone far past your normal time to get off, but you keep going. Well, what are you doing about it?

For me I’ve worked really hard over the last twenty years building my accounting business. It’s been really hard and I’ve put in a lot of long hours. When I was younger it was nothing to put in 12 hours a day, then go home and put in a couple of hours cooking and doing laundry. No problem back then, but the older I get the less I want to spend long hours behind a desk. I guess that comes with age, not sure…

About 5 years ago my stress level was at the breaking point. I was spending a lot of time in my office making sure everyone was happy. I spent a lot of time making sure everyone in my life was happy, but I wasn’t happy. I was overworked and overstressed. One day I sat down and did a inventory of my life. Why was I miserable? Duh! I was the reason I was so unhappy. I was trying to please everyone but myself. Get real with yourself and realize you probably do the same thing yourself.

I took a couple of days and went through my office, clearing the backlogs that hindered my organization. As I was clearing it all out I ran up on some floppy disks, yes I said floppy disks, and they were filled with manuscripts that were unfinished. Also, my assistant found the printed copies and asked to take them home. She came back the next morning with so much excitement that it was contagious.

I picked up the manuscripts and read them that night. The excitement surged in me and I knew my new path to a happier me. I began going through the manuscripts and working out the details. Suddenly I had a purpose again. I could put all my stress into my writing. I wrote it out. It cleared my head. Every night after work I’d sit with my laptop and write. It was calming.

So, if you’re overstressed, then let it go to writing. If you don’t write novels or have a desire to do so, just start a journal. Write your daily stress out and leave it in the journal. Believe me, my stress level is so much better and I know I’m easier to live with 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…