Today I’m talking about something close to my heart – how to re-focus your priorities when you have too much to do!
Watch the video below or here on Facebook.
I wrote about this on my author earnings breakdown for the last year, so this is more a reflection on re-focusing and how you might do it too.
Do you feel like you have too much to do?
Writing, publishing, book marketing, as well as the day job, family, fitness – real life!!??
Do you have way too much on your writing To Do list and are you feeling overwhelmed and a little crazy?
My own situation of overwhelm: Writing under three author names, screenwriting, speaking, podcast, YouTube, courses, blogging, social media, publishing tasks etc.
What he means by that is we know what our focus should be and we do that and cut everything else out.
There will always be extra tasks. For example, marketing has to happen whatever route we choose for publication – but when it comes to the main bulk of time assigned to writing, we need to make some choices. And I do, too!
But you need to consider:
- What do you want to achieve?
-
What is your definition of success?
-
What do you want to be known as in the next 10 years?
-
What do you need to give up to make that happen? Sometimes you need to give up ‘good’ in exchange for ‘better.'
I want to be known as J.F.Penn, thriller writer. Yes, I will still write in other sub-genres – dark fantasy, crime, horror, but all my books have thriller elements.
In order to do that, I need more time.
So I am giving up speaking as Joanna Penn. I will serve the author community through my podcast, blog, YouTube channel and through online courses. I’ll focus on fiction for the next 18 months. I have 10 non-fiction books and that’s enough of those for now.
I’m going to stop screenwriting, as that is another whole career that is distracting me. I’m also giving up Penny Appleton, the sweet romances that I have been co-writing with my Mum, and we'll be doing a podcast interview soon about that.
So how about you? How will you re-focus your writing priorities? Please leave a comment and let me know.
If you need any more help, check out The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer's Journey, available in ebook, print, audiobook and workbook editions.
View Comments (9)
Hi Joanne; I have been following you for awhile and I love your work. I just bought a Kobo and the first book I downloaded is Stone of Fire-
You are so right about having too much on the go- being overwhelmed is to be paralyzed!
I am going to focus on a fiction series I have started about 3 women who get recruited to Canada's most top secret spy agency and a comic strip I started awhile back about 3 superheros (based on me and 2 friends)
I like you idea of making a list of everything and eliminating what doesn't move you forward.
Thanks for all your good advise,
Joanne
Thanks :) I hope you enjoy the book and all the best re-focusing!
"When we turn pro, everything becomes simple." Like that. Simple would be good. Not sure yet what to cut out, but will think about it!
Oh boy... I could write a whole book about trying to do too much (if I had time, 😂). Eventually I just had to come to terms with the fact that I can't write fiction and nonfiction and edit and do translations and take care of four young kids while maintaining my sanity... Something has to give. We all prioritize. Good for you for figuring out what you must do at this stage of your career for optimal health and productivity.
Joanna, you were one of the first authors I followed when I started my writing/publishing a few years ago. I have learned so much from your presence in the online world...your blogs, your podcast, and your books. But I was starting to wonder how in the world you managed all of that. So it brings me some peace of mind to hear you're stepping away from a few of the things. I am so happy to hear you will continue sharing your journey and your wisdom with us. But also that you will get to delve back into your passion for writing thrillers.
I am in my mid-sixties writing a middle-grade mystery series. I live in the US and have a goal of writing one for each state. So I certainly need to prioritize in order to meet that goal before I die! Working on the seventh one with the next couple lined up.
Still I'm holding a domain name and flagged a FB page for a pen name because the itch to write an adult novel keeps wanting to get scratched 😂 too.
Ah well...thank you Joanna for always keeping it interesting! Love your Instagram!
Thank you for letting us all in on your life and for inspiring us to live a more focussed life. I will miss new books from Joanna Penn and Penny Appleton. And at the same time I am thrilled for you that you have made that huge leap towards satisfying your own writing needs even more. Way to go! And I will look forward to the next book from JF Penn - just loved Map of Shadows :-)
I admire your clarity Joanna! Bravo for taking those bold steps to simplify.
Funny that - I've already prepared my IWSG post for Wednesday focusing on trying to do too much... It's already made me feel better, and achieve more!
Some three years ago I gave up on my jewellery creating because I couldn't possibly do that and write too.
Lately, I've been cutting on my time on social media... and honestly, I didn't see a great loss there. It is still working, I just don't spend so much time there anymore.
What I want to do is writing, and what I love to write is my stories and my blog. And yeah, I didnt' consciously think about it, but I suppose I've been increasingly concentrating on these, trying to focus on the stories, since I seem to suck at promoting.
I'm trying to promot myself through my stories, now. Still working at it, so I don't know how it will turn out, but let's hope it will work.
Thanks for sharing this. I do feel I don't have time enough to do everything I'd like to do, but what you say makes sense: we will never have the time to do everything we want to do, so we need to make choices, as painful as they may be. And hopefully, focusing jsut on what we love most, will yeld more success in that area :-)