I always love seeing how mom writers with different specialties or focuses manage their time and navigate their careers. So I was thrilled to meet Julie Roads via the information superhighway. As a copywriter, Julie’s writing audience is slightly different from mine, but we both deal with a lot of the same issues: how to market our work, how to please our clients, and how to balance it all with our family lives. I’m especially impressed by Julie because of her notable client list and obvious passion for her work. And Julie has a fantastic blog where she provides helpful insider advice on marketing a business, blogging, and how to get your message across, advice you can use whether you’re an entreprenuer or a writer trying to figure out where you fit in the blogosphere. Here, Julie answers some questions about her work, her approach, her life, and how she balances it all. (You can find my answers to the same questions over on her blog.)

1. Who are you?
I am Julie Roads. A writer, mother of 2 kids (Sophie and Jack) and 2 dogs (Baloula and Silas), wife (to Patti), yogini, lover of butter, Vineyarder, beach walker. (Hey, this is starting to feel like my Facebook page.)

2. What do you do?
I am officially a freelance commercial copywriter. I own my own writing and marketing business called Writing Roads. I’m obsessed with blogging and writing blogs for clients as a way to propel their businesses/work/companies/selves into the webosphere.

3. What kind of writing do you do?
Marketing writing. Which means I write the content for websites, blogs, brochures, ads, sell sheets, speeches, sales letters and on and on. But I spend 80% of my time writing websites and blogs.

4. What kind of writing do you wish you could spend all of your time doing?
I suppose that I’m supposed to say ‘a novel’…but the thing is that I really love what I do. I love talking to clients and really listening to them, who they are and what their business is, doing my research and then creating something for them. I know that I have at least 3 novels in me and they will come out - and I’ve also written 4 children’s books - but, the thing is…marketing writing suits me, and it brings instant joy. Novels are so…long. Blogs in particular are the ultimate platform/landscape for my brain. I love the length and the style and the timeliness.

5. How do you manage your business and your family and yourself?
Who told you that I did? Just kidding. But this is the hardest part of my life. I could work 16 hours a day and never feel ‘done’…or burnt out for that matter. Still, my heart breaks when I’m not with my family. I started my company as an answer to the question, “How can I stay home with my kids and not go broke?” And, I literally mothered them and worked whenever I could. It turned out that I was ‘working’ 24 hours a day - and that wasn’t working for my family. As the kids got a bit older, I was able to carve out time that was dedicated to work…and now I’m up to 8 hours a day (and post-bedtime if I have to).

Bottomline is that you just have to find time for everyone or your family will be so mad at you that you won’t have them anymore! Sometimes I think that I’m the one that gets the shaft because when I have a free moment, I work - but I love what I do so much that it feeds me like going to spa would feed someone else. Okay, I just read that back and I”m a little worried about myself.

How do we really do it? Nuts and bolts? We have a calendar and play with it on a regular basis and we stick to it as much as humanly possible. This is when you work, this is when I workout, this is when we eat, this is when we play….

6. Do you ever get writer’s block?
No.

7. What do you do when this happens?
I’ll tell you why it doesn’t happen. Writer’s block happens when you push against something and get a ton of resistance - like when you say, ‘I’m going to write this right now, no matter what.’ And, I don’t do that. When I sit down to work on a project and nothing flows (15 minutes tops), I just shrug and move on to something else, then I come back to the project later. I know that the words and creativity will flow when they’re ready - and they do. Granted I never start a project an hour before it’s due to safeguard this practice - though I love writing on a tight deadline.

The other thing I do is use the internet. If I have to write a page about the benefits of sharp steak knives (which has actually never happened), I start reading other sites on or around the same topic. I usually find something terribly written and misinformed which makes me all uppity and full of thoughts like, “well, I can do better than thaaaat”…and then, I do.

8. What did having a website do for your business inititally?
Initially, my site was crap. I made it myself from a cheapo template. And it did very little for me. Okay, it did nothing for me.
Then I paid some money (I know, but it’s necessary!) and built a fantastic site that I was proud of that actually had a portfolio of my work…and my business just skyrocketed. There is no other way to describe the credibility that my site gave me. People had some idea of who and what they were getting…and they wanted it!

11. What is the purpose of your blog?
The purpose of my blog is to converse with the wide world of internet users. I use it to inform people about writing, marketing, etc. I use it to show people who I am as a writer and a person. And, I use it to learn. Every post that I write teaches me something about my topic and/or about blogging. My blog is a traffic driver and a tool for searchability. In the last 6 months, my blog has brought my Alexa rank up (or down? Let’s just say closer to #1) over 7 million points. I’ve also met some incredible people via my blog and guest blogging.

12. What have you gotten from your blog that you didn’t intend to get - good and bad?
Good - an education. You don’t know until you do. My work on my own blog directly influences my capacity and ability to blog for others. I learn everyday.
Bad - an addiction. I’m certifiable. I have to post everday. Have to.

13. Is your blog the primary vehicle for selling your work?
Ummmmm….no. The primary vehicle for selling my work is word of mouth and referrals. But the blog is critical to lending me credibility and building me a serious web and search presence.

14. What advice would you give to someone thinking about maybe, possibly, sort of starting a blog and/or a website for their business?
What in the world are you waiting for! Do it now! And, call or email me…Helping people start blogs, build writing strategies and create custom blogs (with my design partners) are all things I love to do - currently one of my favorite parts of my job.

15. Do you run your blog all by yourself (widgets, design, plugins) or does someone help you with that sort of thing?
I do it all by myself, and it’s pretty basic…but I’m looking ahead and I would love to have someone do this for me and make my blog super-fancy and functional. It’ll happen…things always do.

Thanks for “virtually” stopping by, Julie! If you have any questions for either Julie or I on anything from balancing a writing career with kids to the nuts and bolts of professional consumer writing or copywriting, feel free to e-mail them to one of us (you can reach me at meaganfrancis at yahoo dot com) or leave them in the comments box. We’ll be joining up to answer them in a future post.

And another post from the Diapers to Deadlines archives! Oh, by the way, if you’re going to be in–or can get to–the NYC area on April 12, why not consider registering for the ASJA Conference? I’ll be speaking on a panel called “Full-Time Income, Part-Time Hours”.

Okay, back to the post, in which I answered the following question:

I keep reading about these e-mailed pitches that get accepted "immediately." Well, after 4 weeks I haven’t heard a peep about mine. Do I assume the editors didn’t like them? Follow-up on them? It’s frustrating to read about how great e-mail is for pitches and then not get a response, leaving me to wonder if I know what the heck I’m doing.

Thanks,
Lonely Inbox

Dear Lonely:

I am a fan of the e-mailed query. Though it does frequently take a while to hear anything back–and sometimes, you never hear anything back at all–it is far preferable to the responses I got during my short-lived period of only sending snail mailed queries (read: a handful of form rejections and no response at all to the vast majority of my queries, despite my care to always include a self-addressed stamped envelope.)

Do e-mailed queries guarantee immediate responses? Absolutely not. But in most cases, an e-mailed query is superior in several ways: first, the message is far more likely to get to the editor you’re targeting, rather than a slush pile on an intern’s desk. Second, if the editor likes your idea, he or she CAN respond immediately. This doesn’t always, or even usually happen. More often, he or she has to think about it, figure out if he has space for it, or pass it around to colleagues. But IF the editor is in an assigning mood and your query comes across at JUST the right moment, the opportunity is there for near-instant gratification. Third, if the editor DOESN’T like your idea, you are far more likely to get a prompt response with a rejection, and you can use that opportunity to pitch again quickly. Because of the ease of e-mail, you may even find that editors are more willing to give personalized feedback in their rejections.

But along with all this possibility comes an increased sense of frustration when you don’t hear anything back right away–or at all. You send off a query before lunch, and during lunch you wonder if they’re reading it. Maybe due to the magical speed of the Internet, you’ll have an acceptance in your inbox by the time you finish your sandwich!

Then the response doesn’t come, and it doesn’t come, and it doesn’t come. You think, "All they would have to do is hit reply, type "no", and click "send"–how hard is that?" For some editors, the answer seems to be "impossibly difficult". There are some editors I have categorized as "non-responders"; they never get back to you unless they want to assign something no matter how many times you follow up. Other editors need a few nudges. For the most part, editors are just like the rest of us–busy people who get lots of e-mail and sometimes lose track of it. Sometimes e-mail doesn’t get where it’s supposed to go–the editor may truly not have gotten it. For this reason, I do recommend following up on a regular schedule (I follow up at between 2 and 3 weeks after a query goes out–no sense leaving it languishing in Cyberspace forever).

I don’t know what has become of Lonely’s waiting queries. She may have been unlucky enough to stumble across a few non-responding editors at once. Following up is a good idea; it certainly can’t hurt. But people whose e-mailed queries are consistently ignored, even after follow ups, may want to ask themselves a few questions:

Don’t give up! The other nice thing about e-mail? It’s free. There’s no need to ponder whether those SASEs are personally funding the mail room departments of all those national mags you so diligently pitched. If you don’t hear from an editor after a few weeks, follow up. If you still don’t hear, you can follow up again or move on. Re-tool your idea to make it perfect for a new publication, and get it out there again. And remember–the best way to keep from obsessing about the fate of the queries you’ve got out is to be querying all the time. There will come a time when you can’t even remember how many you’ve got out at once–and that’s when you get those surprise responses in your inbox. Lonely, I hope I answered your question. Please, ask more–that goes for all of you.

Readers: how "instant" are the responses you get to your e-mailed queries? Have you found any tricks or tips for getting more, or faster acceptances? Please weigh in in the comments!

More freelancing tips from the Diapers to Deadlines archives…

So you’ve read The Renegade Writer–or are just sick of waiting for your SASEs to show back up in the mail–and have decided to give e-mail submissions a shot? Good for you! Make no mistake, e-mail can be a convenient and quick way to pitch ideas and essays, hammer out assignment details or introduce yourself to an editor. But sometimes, the ease and informal feel of e-mail can lead to some less-than-professional behavior. Though you can’t make an editor love your ideas, the least you can do is make sure he won’t be able to find fault with your presentation. So, in keeping with April’s Best Foot Forward theme, we’ve decided to give a few tips for making a good impression on any editor’s inbox:

Be Adequately Formal:

Miss Manners I’m not. You should see some of the e-mail exchanges between Toni and I–sometimes consisting of nothing more than a one-word reply, uncapitalized, with no punctuation. But Toni and I are friends, and our relationship has moved past proper and is now decidedly colloquial.

Contrast that to the pitches I get every so often from PR representatives and expert sources that contain no greeting, no capitalization, and no closing. If those pitches raise the eyebrows of even a Casual Cathy like myself, I can only imagine what a similarly-laid-back query might do to the eyebrows of an editor who values propriety–not to mention punctuation.

You don’t have to copy a business letter’s style–in fact, a return-address block on an e-mail might look a little strange–but at a minimum, any e-mail contacts with someone you’re not on a familiar basis with yet should contain a greeting; proper capitalization, punctuation, and grammar; and a closing. Whenever I can reasonably ascertain an editor’s gender, I use the rather formal "Dear Ms (or Mr.) Smith". I know that some, to be on the completely safe side, prefer to write "Dear John Smith", but to me, that looks stilted and awkward: if I absolutely can’t find out whether Terry, Chris or Pat are male or female, I just go with Dear Firstname (PS: One way to figure out an editor’s gender is by asking writer acquaintances for a tip. For closings, "Best" seems to be a standard in magazine journalism; but "best wishes," "sincerely", or "regards" will do as well. Save XOXO (hugs and kisses), TTFN (ta-ta for now), and CYA (See ya) for your grandmother or best friend.

And while we’re on the topic of cutesy acronyms, please keep in mind that not everyone in the world knows what KWIM, BRB, or ROFLMAOPIMP stand for. Leave them out of work-related correspondence unless you know they’ll go over well. Same goes for smileys–yes, even if your e-mail program lets you do fun variations like the Throwing Up Smiley or Drinking Beer Smiley. Moving on…

Address Success:

Okay, so you really love Scooby Doo. I get it. But an e-mail address like velmalovesshaggy29304@hotmail.com isn’t going to "wow" your editors. It looks unprofessional, and let’s face it–it probably says more about you than they need to know. If you have your own URL, some variation on yourname@yourname.com is great. As for whether free mail hosts are acceptable, I think they’re OK as long as the address looks professional: I’ve had a Yahoo account for years, and have found it more reliable than the various @meaganfrancis.com accounts I’ve had through hosting companies, so I’ve stuck with it. But I’m meaganfrancis@yahoo.com, not ilovemycutiepatootie@yahoo.com. See the difference?

Signing Off:

It’s a great idea to create a signature line containing your contact info (phone number, e-mail address, mailing address, and website URL if you have one–more on that later this month) so that if an editor wants to give you a quick call to discuss an idea or wants to pop a contract in the mail, he or she won’t have to go digging around to find your contact info. The easier you can make an editor’s job, the better your relationship will be.

Don’t Abuse It.

Keep in mind that in many offices, opening unsolicited attachments is strictly verboten. Don’t send ‘em unless you have a working relationship with the editor, and even then, you may want to ask him or her first if attachments are OK. And if you get a request from an editor to send future pitches via snail mail, don’t take it personally–a lot of editors still prefer to work with hard copies. You can decide for yourself whether you want to continue to pursue the editor, but whatever you do, don’t continue to flood his or her inbox with unwelcome e-mailed pitches after being specifically asked not to. There’s a line between being assertive and ambitious–and just plain annoying.

One last thing–don’t expect anyone to drop everything they’re doing to reply to your message. Yes, the lightning-fast speed at which you can carry out conversations via e-mail might make you impatient with those editors who take their time responding. But remember–just because somebody theoretically could answer an e-mail within thirty seconds doesn’t mean they’re obligated to. Wait a while–I usually give it anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on my relationship with the editor–before following up on an unanswered e-mail, and don’t act put out if your e-mail gets missed. Spam folders, itchy delete fingers and slammed inboxes can make the job of keeping up with e-mail difficult, and you’ll make a much better impression with a light, casual check-in than an obnoxious "Didja get my e-mail? Huh? Huh? Didja?"

Using e-mail has made my writing career 100 times easier–and it can do the same for you. Just use common sense and follow the guidelines above and you’ll make a great electronic impression.

Do you have any funny–or embarrassing–stories of e-mail gaffes? Share ‘em here!

Annie said “I’d love to hear more about marketing your work”, so I dragged up another oldie but goodie from the “Diapers to Deadlines” archives.

When non-writers find out that I write for consumer magazines, I often get a response that sounds something like this: "How do you decide which magazines to send which ideas to? They all look the same to me."

Ah, but they really aren’t.

Yes, even I often joke with my sister that all a successful writer has to do is come up with new ways to "walk off the weight". But going beyond a casual look, a reader who’s paying attention can see that style and tone ranges from magazine to magazine or website to website, even if the subject matter is similar and the designs and layouts look almost exactly the same. Are the articles written to "you" or do they take a more formal third-person approach? Or a combination? Are they friendly and casual in tone or authoritative and heavy on "expert" advice? How long are the articles? How many sidebars does each one have? How photo-driven are the stories? Are there regular departments that appear consistently? Are they written by freelancers, staffers, or regular contributors? Does the magazine or website run first-person essays? Two magazines can sit side-by-side on a newsstand, have similar cover lines, similar-looking cover art, and the answers to the above questions could be very different.

That’s why market research is important. Researching a market–whether it’s a magazine, newspaper, web publication, literary journal, or publishing house–to find out what sort of writing they publish and when, is smart business. Not only will you hit the mark more often when you really understand the publication you’re submitting your work or pitching ideas to, but on those times that you don’t make a sale, you’ll at least make a positive impression upon an editor–that even if this idea doesn’t work out, (because: it’s in the works, it’s already been done, they aren’t running articles by writers whose first name begins with "A" that month…) you’ve done your homework, and you understand the publication. Impressing the editor makes it more likely that you’ll get one of those "this doesn’t work for me, but I’d love to hear more from you" responses.

If you’ve read a beginner’s book on freelancing, no doubt you’ve been advised to send away for writer’s guidelines. I have noticed that many guidelines say something along the lines of "reading the magazine is the best way to find out what sorts of things we publish". It’s true. Writer’s guidelines are helpful, but they usually won’t tell you everything you need to know–which editor is in charge of this section and that one? How many words does the back-page essay run? Is there a back-page essay–or any essays at all? How cutting-edge, timely, or "evergreen" (meaning, one of those topics that never really stops being relevant) are the articles?

Similarly, book publishers all have a different feel when it comes to the titles they publish. Some publishers have lots of celebrity titles. Some publish really art-driven books that are packaged in a certain way. Some publish narrative nonfiction, or only serious fiction, or only genre fiction. You’ll get the best feel for which houses are appropriate for your project if you see what else they’re publishing first.

For those working on book projects, getting an up-close-and-personal feel for what different publishers are putting out might mean many trips to the library or bookstore, seeing which other books are out there and who’s publishing them. Magazine and newspaper writers can also utilize the library: many will allow you to check out back issues of magazines and newspapers. Sites like www.mags4cheap.com offer dirt-cheap subscriptions. Or, ask freelancer friends to participate in a magazine or newspaper swap–just tear out the departments you’re interested in and the masthead to avoid paying shipping on page after page of advertising!

So how much reading should you plan to do? All writers have different approaches when it comes to market research. For example, traditionalists may say that magazine freelancers should study a minimum of six months to a year’s worth of back issues before they pitch–the idea being that they’re less likely to repeat an idea that’s been covered recently that way. But in my experience, since magazines assign so far in advance (up to a year; sometimes more), and you can have no way of knowing what’s in the works now, reading a year–or even three year’s–worth of issues is really no insurance against coming up with the same idea somebody else is already working on. Besides, my memory isn’t good enough to retain an entire year’s worth of articles!

I find that my energy is better spent really focusing in on two or three recent issues, looking carefully at these things:

*Tone. Is the language fun, funky, or formal? Are the articles unfailingly upbeat, do they always contain solutions, do they ever end on a negative note? Do the writers use "you" or "I" in the articles? How expert-heavy is the advice given?

*Who’s writing the articles. Check the masthead to find out if editors and other staffers, contributing editors, or freelancers are writing the articles in each section. If a section seems to always be written by an in-house person, it might mean it’s not open to freelancers.

*Article Length. A magazine that doesn’t ever run articles over 1500 words long isn’t going to be interested in my proposal to cover the latest health craze in 4000 words, even if it’s a REALLY good idea. But if I can figure out a way to approach the topic in 1500 words, I might be able to re-slant the idea for another publication later.

*Departments. Are there regular departments, and are they written by freelancers? Do they follow a specific pattern or formula each issue?

*Sidebars and other visual elements. If a publication tends to have very visually-driven articles or routinely uses charts, graphs, sidebars and other breakouts, suggesting them in the pitch might help the editor visualize the way my idea would look on the page.

Once you’ve done the research, what you choose to do with the information is up to you. Some writers pick and choose which markets will fit their ideas, exactly the way they want to write them. Some writers will package an idea differently in order to appeal to different markets. It’s up to you–whichever approach best fits in with your goals can work, as long as you go in armed with enough information to choose.

this post is adapted from an entry I wrote for the on-hiatus website From Diapers to Deadlines, which Toni and I collaborated on a while back. The site is down for now, but we had a ton of great content in the archives, and I thought some of my readers who are interested in freelancing might enjoy reading it…so I’ll be re-posting selected entries. If you have a burning question about writing or balancing freelance or at-home work and motherhood, drop me a line–I’ll respond here, or maybe dig up an old post that covered the issue in-depth.

Now, on to the post…

How many times have you done one of the following?

Put off getting childcare you desperately need to work because you can’t justify the cost. No, you’ll just find a way to write that 2,000-word article (or whatever your freelance job requires you to produce) after everyone’s gone to bed, when your eyelids are hovering at half-mast

Found yourself interrupting your work to tend to requests for snacks or break up a squabble–when your spouse is also in the house, watching TV or reading the newspaper

Apologized to your spouse for asking him or her to watch the kids while you make a deadline

I’d like to tell you something I learned the hard way: nobody is going to take your work seriously until you take it seriously yourself. Not your husband or wife or partner, not your kids, not your mother, and certainly not the editor or client you’re trying to impress.

It can be really difficult to do this, whether we’re just starting out or have been established for years. When we aren’t widely published or making a lot of money freelancing, it’s hard to justify the time we spend working on it. Sometimes, even when we are well-established, it can feel like we’re letting somebody down if we’re taking time away from family needs to work–even when we’re squeezing writing into the hours nobody else wants from us (usually sometime after midnight). Hiring child care or household help can seem like a luxury we neither need nor deserve. Asking the spouse to help out in the off-hours just seems unfair. After all, doesn’t he (or she) deserve a break, too?

But here’s the thing–if you’re serious about having a freelance career, it’s illogical to try to cram work in after every other commitment in your life. It simply won’t fit. There has to be an investment made in your role as a freelancer, whether it’s financial, or time, or even emotional–the mindset that you deserve to have it and that it’s valuable not just to you but the whole family. Think of it this way: if you were working outside of the home, it’s not as though you’d look at childcare, or a work wardrobe, or a business-related trip as an expense you couldn’t justify. And I’ve never heard of a single mother expecting her husband to tote a toddler to the office with him.

I’m not arguing that every writer or web designer or (fill in the blank) needs or has to have child care when they’re just getting started. I didn’t for a while, for a variety of reasons. Often, money is so tight that the budget simply won’t allow for child care expenses, no matter how badly you want a sitter. In those cases, you have to improvise for a while. Some people make a commitment to keeping their children at home while they work, and I respect and admire that (and have been that person until quite recently). But if they’re going to gain momentum–without completely losing their minds and burning out after a few months–there’s still going to have to be compromises made in some other area. It’s not about child care, specifically–what you really need is a mindset that your work gets priority–not necessarily before family or kids, but just…somewhere in the top ten. If it’s shoved to the bottom of the list somewhere after vacuuming the drapes, it’s not going to get very far. If that means you have to get somebody else to vacuum the drapes, so be it. If you don’t want to use a sitter, then your partner or spouse might have to take over for you in the evenings and on weekends so you can work. Don’t apologize for it. Your career is not unimportant, and it’s not selfish. Even if you aren’t making money yet, the time you’re putting in now is building a solid foundation for income later. That’s what owning your own small business–and really, being a freelancer is running a small business–is all about. You put in a lot of hours at the beginning for a payoff down the road.

It’s not always easy to convince the people in our lives that what we’re doing is important and valuable and that there will be a return on investment later. That’s why you have to convince yourself first. If you aren’t certain that you deserve or need the family to invest in your career, fake it until you make it. Don’t apologize for your work. Don’t grovel or beg for scraps of time. Figure out what you absolutely need and arrange to make it happen. Expect some resistance, but don’t give in. Just re-state what you need over and over until it sinks in.

Take yourself seriously. Start right now. What is one thing you can do to invest in yourself and your work? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

This year, as my writing business grew by leaps and bounds, I found myself feeling grateful for the generosity and guidance of my editors. I decided that rather than sending holiday cards in December, I’d send Thanksgiving cards to say thanks for the business. An editor friend told me that it feels like a leap of faith for an editor to take a chance on a new writer. Who’s to say they’ll make deadline, or that they’ll turn in work that meets the needs of their publication and the specific instructions for the assignment? I’m thankful to those editors who not only gave me a chance, but came to me for repeat business. And I have to say it just feels good telling them so.

It’s both important and smart business to acknowledge that trust and to solidify the existing working relationship. It doesn’t take a lot of time to do, and it likely won’t get too lost in the shuffle with the end-of-year landslide of mail. I think this also works well if timed as a New Year’s note - a lovely way to brighten an editor or colleague’s day during that inevitable post-holiday slump.

Next year, I plan to also send notes to fellow writers, colleagues who went the extra mile to send a lead or insights into a market they write for. I love that there is a vast sea of writers who are generous with their virtual Rolodexes, contrary to the classic image of the writer who must live in fear of idea theft.

Networking is essential to entrepreneurs, and while this is a valuable form of networking, it’s also a terrific way to do the right thing and spread a little gratitude and joy. Plus, it’s simple enough to write, address, and stamp thank you cards while the kids sit nearby, duking it out with the cold virus du jour.

Is there anything about your writing life you’d like to give thanks for? What are you waiting for? Share your stories in the comment section.

In my last entry, I asked about what seeds–or flowering bulbs, if you will–we might plant that could blossom into the next year?

For me, the thing that needs planting most is better organization.

The other day, I proudly photographed my 4-year-old boy, monogrammed tote bag in hand and brand spankin’ new Stride Rites over his sandal-tanned feet, to commemorate his first day of pre-kindergarten. Boy, were we ever surprised to hear the teachers asking where Nolan was the day before–the actual first day of school.

It seems I’d written the wrong day on my calendar, a weekly book with insufficient space to hold the myriad doctor’s appointments, school events, interviews with sources for articles, and myriad other reminders. Said calendar is surrounded by a quasi-filing system of sorts, featuring current work-related projects, unpaid bills, and school-related papers. And magazines–always magazines. Still, it’s a daily fight to keep the clutter at bay, and beyond that, I’m finding that I need to have a good system in place to keep key events from falling off the grid as they increasingly do lately.

So while I’m working on digging out of my paper tunnel here, allow me to share a couple of great resources for getting–and keeping–things together both at work and at home.

The Smart Woman’s Guide to a Simple Life, crafted with care by freelance writer Gretchen Roberts, is a calming starting point for those of us seeking to avoid the chaos. And there’s no magazine clutter involved–just sign up for her e-mailing list and receive weekly doses of wisdom and great ideas for living closer to your core being right in your inbox. Gretchen is no stranger to juggling diapers and deadlines, and her style is approachable and readable, like stopping by a friend’s tastefully decorated, cozy home for a welcome visit.

And then there’s attorney/journalist Heather Greenwood Davis’ story in the Toronto Star. When I read of her original means of organizing home office clutter: "Step 1: Dump your papers in a pile in a corner until they are about to topple. Step 2: Start new pile," the familiarity with my own methodology sent my jaw hurtling toward my desk. Fortunately, the huge stack of papers (and, of course, magazines) sitting there cushioned its fall. Read about how one paper hoarder found her way to the light here. Put your coffee or tea down when reading, though; Greenwood Davis’ writing is really funny.

In our next entry, we’ll talk more about workflow, efficiency, and maybe I’ll have made some headway on the miles of piles here. I might even share some "before" photos for you to <strike>laugh at</strike> learn from.

Until then, please use that comment box and share what works for you, and what doesn’t, in your workspace and work life.

–Toni

When we’re trying to get our brains focused on our writing goals, some writers miss a very important step–getting their physical space organized as well.

It’s next to impossible to be productive as a writer if our writing space is cluttered and messy or if we aren’t sure what we’ve got planned for the day. And it’s difficult to treat your writing as a business if you’re drowning in papers and post-its scribbled with deadlines.

When you’ve just got a few submissions or queries out, are in the early planning stages of a book project, or don’t have a lot of assignments, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you’ll be able to keep track of it all in your head. But all too soon we find our brains–already working overtime to keep track of doctor’s appointments, after-school activities, playgroups, the sitter’s phone number–overflowing with information, and vital pieces start to leak out. That source’s name or editor’s email address that used to come right to mind is lost in a sea of data, and we’ve got to track it down all over again, wasting precious time. Or even worse, a deadline gets blown or our work isn’t as quality as it could have been if we’d been more prepared.

Maybe you’ll want to take advantage of a virtual calendar on your computer. Outlook, which comes built-in to many software packages, offers pop-up reminders of appointments and deadlines. You can keep it even more simple–a spreadsheet using a program like Microsoft Excel can keep track of queries, assignments, submissions, deadlines, and payment information. If you’re technophobic, creating a system on the computer might seem overwhelming or just impractical. That’s OK–keeping track of all this information on paper can work well too. The point is that you find something that works for you. It’s useless to set up an elaborate system on the computer or PDA if you won’t remember to go back and update it when something changes.

I have found that I don’t keep computer calendars as updated as I should–though I use the computer every day, something about the act of putting pen to paper helps me cement deadlines in my head and retain information more effectively. At the same time, trying to keep track of all my queries and deadlines on paper was too confusing. So I use a mix of simple and slightly more sophisticated: a special notebook for jotting down story ideas and keeping track of my to-do list, and Excel files for tracking queries and assignments. I keep the format the same from spreadsheet to spreadsheet, so when a query becomes an assignment I simply cut and paste the record into the "assignment" spreadsheet and add a deadline at the end. And when I’ve been paid for the assignment, I move it into another spreadsheet that tracks my income for the year. This helps me to see at a glance whether I’m on track financially and also reminds me not to shirk the important task of paying quarterly taxes!

If your e-mail account mixes business and pleasure, you may find yourself wading through a pile of forwarded jokes and recipes from your Aunt Sue while you’re looking for an important e-mail from an editor. Separate folders for assignments, submissions, source contacts and personal e-mail can help you from missing something important. You can set up a filter to automatically direct your mail into the appropriate folder, depending on who it’s from, a word in the subject line or other criteria.

What are some ways you keep yourself organized? What tools do you use for tracking research, keeping your e-mail in check or remembering all your deadlines and family commitments? Come on over to the boards and let us know!

Have a happy, productive and organized week!
–Meagan

The titular pun was for the fiction writers in our midst.

Today I’ll examine goal-setting and business planning from a new angle. Next week, look for a new interview with Gwen Moran, co-author of "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans" about building a better business plan from the ground up. We’ll also be running a second giveaway, featuring Gwen’s book, on the message boards so watch for details there!

In a recent online discussion in another forum, freelance writer Dalia Fahmy shared how someone helped her arrive at a new way of goal-setting. Instead of setting outcome-driven goals for the year (i.e., 5 clips in national magazines and 5 in major newspapers), she shifted her focus to process-oriented ones (i.e., writing and submitting 2 new pitches per week).

The shift was powerful. The outcome-based method often left her feeling discouraged if her efforts  weren’t netting immediate results. But when Fahmy began looking at her pitches as sales calling cards and the beginnings of new relationships that could bear fruit later on, she felt like a success even when she received a rejection from an editor, since she was meeting her pitching goals and building key relationships. She’s now also able to follow up more aggressively and ask those editors if there are any areas she might help fill.

The result? Many more nibbles three weeks into the year than she saw for the bulk of last year, two great assignments, and e-mails from editors welcoming more pitches. Powerful stuff, this shifting of paradigms. I’ll check in with Dalia later in the year to see how her new way of goal-setting is affecting her business.

In "The Well-Fed Writer," author Peter Bowerman offers a simple formula for calculating your daily earnings by picking your annual goal and counting backwards. So $100,000 a year equals $8000 a month equals $2000 a week equals $400 a day. When he first did this equation, Bowerman asked himself, "Where’s the 400 coming from today?" He then wrote these figures and the question on a piece of paper, made copies of it, and posted it throughout his apartment where he’d see it often.

When I first read this, it was akin to that moment when the mayor hits a switch in the darkness and you find your town square awash in the glow of brilliant holiday lights. Planning the way I ran my business based on the minimum I needed to earn to make my financial goals had never occurred to me before. I determined my own daily number and wrote it on my chalkboard in my office, where I see it daily, and I ask myself the question, "Where’s my bottom dollar amount coming from today?" It’s a handy trick for helping you see if you’re on track or need to step things up more to make your weekly or monthly goals.

Try these new ways of viewing the future for your own writing business, whether you work with consumer magazines, chapters in novels or nonfiction books, trades, or corporate work. And visit our message boards to tell us how it’s improved your workflow, attitude, and/or results!

Next week, we’ll examine what elements comprise a sound business plan for writers, with the aid of Gwen Moran’s expertise on the subject. Also, we’ll be having a giveaway of her book on the subject on the message boards.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your progress, add your insights, or ask questions on our message boards. Click here to comment!

How many times have you told yourself "This is my year! I’m going to be widely published, make tons of money, and have plenty of time for activities I love. I may even finish that novel I’ve been thinking about since 1999…"

The problem is that so many of us never get any further than that. Dreaming is easy, but how do you take the visions of success dancing in your head and convert them into a plan that you can actually implement?

It seems simple enough: you have a dream, now go for it. But we’d like to introduce some concrete steps to get you from dream to goal:

1. Write it down.

Don’t skip this fundamental step. It’s not important where or how you write down your goals, just that you do so in a way that works for you. And "works for you" means "in a way that ensures you’ll remember your goals and keep them in mind as your work toward them." Write them in your calendar, type them up in a Word document, or scrawl them on a dry erase board or onto index cards. As Henriette Anne Klauser says in her book "Write It Down, Make It Happen," "By writing it down, you declare yourself in the game."

2. Tell someone about it.

Stating your goals not only helps you define and refine those goals in a way that makes sense to you, but it invites accountability from your peers. And let’s face it, in the solitary world of the writer, having someone to offer a gentle kick in the pants can be surprisingly effective and inspiring. Plus, it feels good to say your great ideas out loud.

3. Break it down into manageable steps.

This step is where many people stumble, so tread carefully. The key is in defining what’s "manageable." An essential part of David Allen’s book on productivity, "Getting Things Done," is in defining "action steps" as opposed to "projects." Basically, if a task requires more than one step, it’s most likely a project and needs to be broken down further.

While you might not need to distill things to this level, the idea is important: break down larger tasks into do-able chunks. Obviously, what’s "doable" for one writer (working from home while kids are in school) is impossible for another (working from home with newborn twins and a spouse who works late nights), so you really have to tweak this planning process to adjust for your current living situation.

Here’s an example for that mom of newborn twins:

Manageable: Write a query a week by: 1.studying the intended market, 2. determining the appropriate editor to query, 3. getting his or her contact information, 4. finding a study or expert to cite, if needed, 5. choosing 2-3 potential sources, 6. blocking out time to write the query, 7. lining up child care assistance if needed, and 8. telling my friends at D2D about this goal and asking them for help with keeping on task.

Not manageable: Write 5 queries a week, set up a functional area in the living room for an office, research one new market a week, read up on web design, read through stack of magazines in den.

The sad thing is, most of our lists look like the second one and not the first. We’re all great at making lists but not at budgeting the time and acknowledging the steps it’ll take to wade through those lists. So let this year be the year that this changes: 1. Write it down, 2. Tell somebody about it and 3. Break it down so you can get it done!

Further reading:

We have a Goal-Setting & Accountability message board on our forums; stop by, state your goals, and request accountability.

On the Message Boards: Setting Reasonable Goals

Write It Down, Make it Happen by Henriette Anne Klauser

Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything, both by David Allen

If you’d like to suggest a resource that has helped you in both setting and achieving goals, please share the title in the comment box. Your continued participation is what makes From Diapers to Deadlines a thriving community for all writing parents!

Coming Wednesday: Our interview with Kelly James Enger, author of "Six Figure Freelancing" and "Ready, Aim, Specialize!" And don’t forget, if you register as a new member and post on the message boards by January 31st, you’ll be eligible for a drawing to win a copy of Kelly’s book, "Six Figure Freelancing" on February 1st!

Have a great and productive week!

Meagan

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your progress, add your insights, or ask questions on our message boards. Click here to comment!