7 Weekly Tasks For Authors

There are so many things we are meant to keep up with nowadays! There's real life, family and the day job, plus exercise and chores… oh yes, and then there's writing, marketing, social networking, selling, promotion and all things book related.

To keep you sane, here are 7 weekly tasks for authors. That's just one per day… surely we can all manage that!

1. Write. The most important thing for authors/writers is to write. It should be every day, but at least once a week. You might be working on a new book, or some articles, or your diary. But certainly, you must write!
2. Take an Artist's Date. As we write, we use up creative reserves that need filling now and then. The Artist's Date is from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, an excellent book. It is just time out to refill your creative well. Maybe a trip to the local art gallery, or bookshop, or just a walk by the river on your own. Anything that sparks ideas and allows your mind to absorb, not create.
3. Learn something new. Continuous learning will keep you on the edge of success and stop the stagnation that occurs when you don't learn. There is no excuse for not learning now, as knowledge is so freely available on the internet. I read other blogs, listen to podcasts, download audiobooks, read physical and ebooks, there are even online University courses for free now.
4. Network with authors, bloggers or readers online. Social networking is supportive and can also help with learning, promotion and reading, so you may be able to achieve multiple tasks in one hit! You can network in person at a writer's group or seminar, or network online through Twitter, Facebook and other communities. You can always find a niche online with other people interested in what you are doing.
5. Read. Stephen King says “Writers are readers” and if you don't have time to read, you aren't a writer. I'm not sure you need to be told to read, as most of us can be seen with books in hand at every spare moment! I'm the bookish nerd in the corner!
6. Do something towards marketing and promoting yourself or your book. This may be a blog post, a guest post/article, perhaps a press release, a YouTube video, calling someone who could get you a speaking gig, emailing a bookshop, creating a marketing plan. There are so many ideas, but even 1 per week will get you so much closer to your goals. That's 52 marketing/promotion actions in 1 year!
7. Celebrate. So often we get through weeks of producing and writing slog and forget to celebrate what we are doing. Write down your word count, number of books sold, income, website stats and subscribers, twitter followers and any other stats that are meaningful to you. Return to this every few weeks and see how far you have come. Also note your goals and what you achieve. Many writers suffer from lack of confidence. Part of growing that confidence is celebrating and acknowledging what you have done. Well done for this week!

Image: Flickr Creative Commons Ebby