Link Feast For Writers, vol. 21 – Time Management
Welcome, welcome.
In last week’s comments I asked you to tell me what you are currently struggling with. Rhonda Hopkins was looking for the right balance to keep up with writing, blogging and social media.
Thanks for the comment, Rhonda. This week there is a whole category dedicated to time management and productivity, and some other relevant links.
Also, this Friday I’m blogging about social media and what you can do with it in just 15 minutes a day.
Another commenter, Coleen Patrick, was stuck with her story which lead her to feel disinterested. I really feel for you so I scavenged a few links to help you out, Coleen. And then there is the usual fare. Enjoy everyone!
If You Have Time For Only One Thing
Book Marketing Freebies by Duolit
– Get Your Mind Right: The 4 Rules of Successful Book Marketers (PDF)
– Market Your Book (Without Losing All Your Writing Time) (PDF)
– Who is My Target Market? (PDF)
– Find Your Best Reader Hangouts (PDF) [This is a must see]
On Writing
Pauline Fisk On Cyber Bullying: A Personal Tale
Ask a Writer: How Do I Write What the Audience Wants to Read? by Chuck Wendig
How Debut Novels Need To Be Different by Nicola Morgan
“You Just Need To Get Started” Is a Bad Idea by Cal Newport
5 Ways To Write the Right Kind of a Book For You by Karen Woodward
A Girl’s Love For Batman: The Possible Cost of Segregating Stories By Gender by Julie Wu
Character Values by Liz Fredericks
People In Your Memoir Are Characters Too by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett (these tips work for fiction writers too)
Writing Realistic Love Relationships by Carolyn Kaufman
Showing Emotions: Boys vs. Girls by Susan Kaye Quinn
What Star Wars “New Hope” Can Teach Us About In Medias Res by Kristen Lamb
Scenes and Sequels by Lisa Hall-Wilson
Find Your Voice, Find Your Power by Robin LaFevers
Killing the Scared Cows of Publishing: Rewriting by Dean Wesley Smith
Reignite Your Passion For Writing: Interview With Julie Isaacs by Nancy Christie
4 Ways To Hack Into Your Mind and Become Infinately More Creative by Ollin Morales
Got Writer’s Block? You Just Need To Care Less by Lori Devoti
10 Steps To Deconstructing a Novel: How To Learn From Great Authors by Kathy Steffen
Heinlein’s Rules On Writing by Robert J. Sawyer
Becca Puglisi’s Favorite Teacher: Stephen King
Writing Prompts: Start With a Setting by Kathy Steffen
6 Laws For Becoming a Career Author by Shannon from Duolit
Build a Budget For Success by Lisa Jacobs
Comparable Titles by Janet Reid
Productivity & Time Management
The Writer’s Golden Hour: Making the Most of Our Time by August McLaughlin
Making the Time to Write, Blog, Do Social Media, Finish School and Be a Parent by Yesenia Vargas
Triage Your Priorities by Steve Pavlina
How To Prioritize by Steve Pavlina
The 50-30-20 Rule by Steve Pavlina
Microtasks by Steve Pavlina
33 Rules To Boost Your Productivity by Steve Pavlina
How To Create a Personal Productivity Scaffold by Steve Pavlina
Why “I Don’t Have Time” Is a Big Fat Lie by Steve Kamb
Always Dominate Mondays by Steve Kamb
How To Become a Productivity Ninja by Steve Kamb
My 2012 Plan To Stay Out of Busy-ness & In Creation by Abby Kerr (really helpful day by day schedule)
Efficient Email by Steven Pavlina
Your Author Platform
Do You Know Who Your Audience Is? No, Really: Do You? by Dan Blank
Finding Your Audience Is About Becoming More Yourself, Less Like a Marketer by Dan Blank
Discover Your Core Values and Use Them To Anchor Your Brand Story (every book has a theme, a deeper meaning and message, and so should your brand and blog)
The Value of People by Erika Napoletano
How Little Surprises Help You Blow Awayyy Your Audience and Clients by Dorian Mars
7 Reasons Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working by Cory Huff
Is Your Marketing a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? by Jay Baer
DIY Book Marketing: 4 Things Authors Must Do Themselves by Stephanie Barko
How To Get Your Book Reviewed: A Practical Lesson by Catherine Ryan Howard
How To Build an Email List, Starting From Nothing by Jon Morrow (6:32 min video)
5 Things To Ponder Before You Self-Publish by Karen Woodward
Ruth Harris Reports: Editors and Editing (Part 2)
What Is a Book Publicist by Stephanie Barko
Blogging
What Offer Does Your Author Blog Make? by Joel Friedlander
Are You Writing Your Writing? by Abby Kerr
Why No One’s Paying Attention to You (And What to Do About it) by Mars Dorian
5 Steps To Make Your Blog Difficult To Ignore by Yeremi Akpan
How To Manipulate People For Fun (and Profit) by Derek Halpern
10 Ways To Optimize Your Blog Subscriptions by Christine Brady
17 Crazy Places To Get Jaw Dropping Headline Ideas (Pushing Social)
How To Add Impact To Your Story-Based Articles by Sean D’Souza
How To Interview Anyone: 5 Lessons From Amazing Interviewers by Rohit Bhargava
Guest Posting Genius by Annabel Candy
How To Live Blog (or Twitter) an Event Effectively by Rohit Bhargava
Why I Don’t Have a Blog Roll And Why You Shouldn’t Either by Yeremi Akpan
5 Ways To Re-Enter Your Blog When You’ve Been MIA by Abby Kerr
Social Media
Long Term Goals for Social Networking by Adam Justice
Social Networking: What Are You Getting From It As a Writer? by Cindy R. Wilson
How To Not Get Overwhelmed by Social Media Marketing by Matt Southern
Should You Preschedule Tweets? by Meghan Ward
Social Media Is a Process by Vered de Leuuw
Twitter Is a Pub by E.J. Newman
Why 150 Followers Is All You Really Need by Srinivas Rao
Promoting Your Blog With Twitter (Pushing Social)
Diary of a Social Media Hiatus: How I Did It & What I Learned by Abby Kerr
30-Day Facebook Fast (and the lessons learned) by Steve Pavlina
Collected Wisdom
Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp
Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig
Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas
Fill-Me-In Friday by Roni Loren
Deep Stuff
10 Incredibly Simple Things You Should Be Doing To Protect Your Privacy by Kashmir Hill at Forbes.com
10 Powerful Things To Say To Your Children by Jim Barnes (this is a book review of a book with the name of the post)
http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1513&
Living Your Values by Steve Pavlina
Using Your Values To Make Decisions by Steve Pavlina
Re-Evaluate Your Values by Steve Pavlina
30 Days To Success by Steve Pavlina
Practice Makes Permanent: A Lesson From World-Class Korean Archers
How To Go From Introvert to Extrovert by Steve Pavlina
Fun Stuff
Lea Kingsbury’s gorgeous Pinterest boards
August Horoscopes by Austin Kleon (clever)
10 Ways To Know Your GPS Is Trying To Kill You by Sarah Hoyt
Top 20 Most Anticipated Fantasy & Science Fiction Books of August 2012 (The Ranting Dragon)
Top 30 Most Anticipated Speculative Novels Coming Out in September 2012 (The Ranting Dragon)
Fantasy Influences: Ancient Greek Mythology – Part 1 by Victoria Hooper
Pirates: Fantasy’s Forgotten Scoundrels by Laura Graham
The Music of Miriam Black: Songs for the Songbird by Chuck Wendig
13 Comments
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About Reetta
I'm a Finnish fantasy / urban fantasy writer who loves reading, roleplaying and all things medieval. 
Wow, wonderful links!
Yes, time management is THE biggest issue for me at the moment too. Another thing is writing sparky blurbs for our books. Not sure I’ve got it sussed!
CC MacKenzie recently posted..WE NEED TO WITTER ON TWITTER
Thanks, CC. Hopefully the links give you some help. Blurbs can be a bitch but I think you’ve done really well with yours. If you ever want feedback with yours, just give me a hollar. I’ll look for some blurb tips for you.
Reetta, thanks so much for the personalized links 🙂 Appreciate your time!!
Coleen Patrick recently posted..There is No One Right Answer, but Decision Determines Everything
Thank you, Coleen. I couldn’t be as thorough as I wanted to, though. Little buggers, err, kids aren’t cooperative with their bed time right now 😛
Reetta – Thank you so much for the mention and all the wonderful links. I’m going straight for those time managment ones first and then working my way through the rest.
I can relate to Christine, too. Those pesky blurbs just take all the fun out of it. LOL
Nifty, Rhonda. I hope they help some and don’t create new pressure. Pretty much they all say to eat the frog first. But I like to start with something nice and easy so I can get into the success flow.
And you’ve aced blurbing your new book. The concept is so solid that it’s easy to make it sound really interesting.
Thank you, Reetta! That was very sweet of you to say. 🙂
I’m always in awe of these link fests. Thank you so much for taking the time to put them together for us.
Since you’re taking requests, right now my mind is on ebook formatting and cover design.
Marcy Kennedy recently posted..5 Basics About Dialogue You Need to Know
Got it 🙂 Self-publishing tips coming up.
Reetta, what can I say…WOW! I am always amazed girl! How do you find all these posts? And the time you spend to bring them to us. Thank you so much Reetta. Seriously, I would not personally take the time for this kind of research. And maybe that makes me sound lazy, but this is your forte girl. I can’t believe this is #21. Already? You Rock Reetta! Thank you again. 🙂
Thank you, Karen. Wow is the reaction I’m aiming for 🙂 The links are only as good as the sources and by now I have a big list of solid sites.
I get your reaction. Sometimes I wonder if the hours it takes to compile Link Feasts is well spent. I could write at least 3 normal posts in that time. But since I would probably read almost the same amount of blogs, I can as well share the best bits.
Thanks Reetta for the mention! The posts that made it here are all top notch! I and my coffee pot will be doing some reading this evening… 🙂
Yeremi Akpan recently posted..Lower Your Alexa Traffic Rank – The ‘How To’ and Why It Matters
Thank you, Yeremi. I only post links that taught me something new. And since I’ve been reading about writing and blogging for a long time, those posts need to be pretty great.