goals | The Creative Penn

Thoughts And Goals For A Creative 2018

January 1, 2018 by Joanna Penn 66 Comments

Podcast: Download (Duration: 53:43 — 43.8MB)

It's the time of year for looking back at how far we have come and looking forward to what we will achieve in the coming year.

I LOVE New Year and I'm a goal-setting junkie, so as I do every year, here are my thoughts and goals for 2018. Please do join in and leave yours in the comments if you'd like some accountability!

Round-Up of 2017

In the podcast episode, I talk through my round-up of 2017, which you can find in the article from yesterday here.

It includes the rise and rise of collaboration, stabilization of the indie author business model, the changing entertainment environment, and how I did at achieving my creative goals for 2017, as well as what I failed to achieve and why.

Thoughts and Goals for 2018

2018 marks the 10th year of TheCreativePenn. I started the site in December 2008 to share my journey as a writer and try to help others with my lessons learned. That underlying reason hasn’t changed, even though the publishing environment is radically different these days.

I also aim to empower creatives to get their words out into the world and to make a living writing – because that’s what changed my life, and I know it can change yours too. My aim is to help more writers and authors in 2018 and begin the next 10 years of our journey together.

Every 1 January, I post my goals for the year and this year, I will start with some over-arching principles, followed by more specific goals for each author name and aspect of my business. I hope it will help you consider what your goals might be, and I’d love for you to share them in the comments below.

(1) Choose your filters

I’m currently reading WTF? What’s the Future and Why It’s Up To Us by Tim O’Reilly. It’s a great book as it looks back at the history of the internet and technology and then extrapolates it forward into the future, integrating new technologies along the way. Tim uses WTF as a lens – because you can use it in a shocked and apprehensive manner, or you can use it in a curious and wondering manner. This can apply to a lot of our world right now, and as he says,

“We must commit to building something new, strange to our past selves, but better, if we commit to making it so.”

We can choose what to focus on.

He also talks about the “new kinds of magic that are slowly fading into the ordinary.” This is true for authors because when I started my site in 2008, there was no international Kindle, no mainstream market for ebooks, no international print on demand, no digital audiobook market, no ability to easily reach readers. The iPhone was brand new, podcasting was in its earliest days and back then, I couldn’t see how I could make a living online.

What are you taking for granted that is actually incredible?

If you change your filter, you realise how incredibly fortunate we are to be living at this time in history.

Despite the negative news of 2017, we live in an incredibly abundant world with possibilities around every corner, if only you look out for them. Our brains scan the environment for what to pay attention to, so it’s your job to make sure you train it to look for opportunities and the positive side of life.

It’s time to take the things that have made you angry or frustrated or negative, and turn them into positive creative action.

If you have news feeds or social media or people who make you feel consistently negative, then it might be time for a spring clean of those influences. Start reading different books and blogs, listen to different podcasts (although I hope you consider mine to be positive and useful!)

Time for a spring clean?

Here’s one of my own examples. As much as I appreciate Facebook for the social connection and ability to reach readers with advertising, I removed it from my phone over 6 weeks ago and have felt all the better for it. Apparently, this is known as social cooling. Yes, it has a name, so it must be a thing!

I read Wired magazine, Singularity Hub, The Verge, Digital Trends, Self Publishing Advice from the Alliance of Independent Authors, which is always skewed towards positive action, rather than moaning about what’s wrong with this picture. I listen to Exponential Wisdom podcast, which gives me my tech focus, and read/listen to non-fiction books on self-development and positive thinking.

I exorcised my anger over Brexit through the political edge of borders in Map of Shadows, so now I am ready to look at it positively and move forward, rather than keep focusing on the past.

Yes, you might consider that a filter means you will live in a bubble, but I’m happy in mine and you create your life day by day, so I’m choosing a positive, happy and creative bubble. How about you?

Do you have any influences that you need to change in 2018? How will you choose your filters so the year is a positive, creative one for your writing life?

(2) Use the power of batching

When people ask me how I get everything done, my answer always involves scheduling. I schedule my time way in advance – that includes my writing time – as well as business meetings, social events, holidays and more.

I use Google Calendar, but the tool is less important than the actual planning and blocking out of time for creative tasks as well as the rest of life.

Don’t feel guilty about not having time for writing. Just get a calendar, block out the time, and then actually show up for that appointment with yourself and the blank page.

But in 2018, I will be going even further.

I spoke at Youpreneur Summit in November and listened to uber-podcasters John Lee Dumas (JLD) of Entrepreneur on Fire and Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income talk about how they use batching. JLD does a daily podcast and batches all his interviews for the month into a few days, and Pat does the same for his interview shows.

I’ve been managing my time in two main chunks – mornings for creative work and production e.g. writing first drafts, editing, researching etc. The afternoons have been for the podcast, blog, business admin, marketing, interviews, speaking prep etc.

But I’ve found that to write fiction in the most effective way, I need to sink into that world for an extended period. So it would be better for me to batch 3 months of interviews into a week or two, and then have the next 8-10 weeks with no distractions, except the daily business maintenance, which I could squeeze into a shorter time frame.

So that’s my plan. I’ll be batching similar tasks together and scheduling my time differently.

How could this idea of batching help you in your writing life?

For example, the split between writing and marketing is one every author has to manage, wherever you are on the journey. If you have 1 day per week to write (or 4 hours, or whatever), could you dedicate 3 of those per month to writing and then spend the whole extra day on marketing, rather than trying to split your time each week?

If your goal is to write more in 2018, schedule your time right now for the rest of the year. It might sound extreme, but how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, so how are you spending yours?

OK, that’s the big themes. Let’s get into my more specific goals:

The Creative Penn website and podcast

The Creative Penn podcast will continue weekly – plus the occasional in-between-isode that focus on business or me talking on my own, so expect more Monday fun in 2018 🙂 The podcast is the cornerstone of how I share my author journey, so I hope it continues to help you along your own path.

I'll be revamping TheCreativePenn around Pathways for people through the site – for example, a first-time fiction author has a different journey to a non-fiction author with three books looking to make a living writing. This will involve more landing pages but also more ‘cheatsheet’ style resources like the new Author Website and Email cheatsheet and tutorials.

I'll be segmenting my email list so I can serve you better within those Pathways, directing people to the material that will help them the most. Now I’m using ConvertKit, this will be a LOT easier to do 🙂 Check out my tutorial here if you want to set up your own email list.

Focus on YouTube. I’ve had a YouTube channel since 2009. It currently has over 17,000 subscribers and over 1.2 million views. Not bad for a mostly passive channel, but I can definitely do better given the amount of long-form content the site has now based on the interviews.

So we’re going to add two shorter videos on YouTube every week, usually less than 5 mins long and focused on Writing Craft or Business. I will record some to camera but many will be from existing videos to make better use of the existing content. I’ll also be adding these directly to Facebook as well.

I'll be developing Mini-courses on Teachable – How to Write a Novel is an evergreen course and continues to sell slowly but surely as people reach the point they need it. I’ll be adding some smaller ‘lecture-style’ mini-courses around productivity, money, author business plans, how to write non-fiction, and possibly some other topics that people need over time.

Non-Fiction as Joanna Penn

I’m mostly going to focus my energy on the website, podcast, and YouTube channel in my non-fiction time. But I still think I can manage the following 🙂

How to Write a Novel. This is currently in draft format, so needs editing and publishing, but I definitely want to get this out.
How to Write Non-Fiction, since people keep asking for it!
The Shadow book (working title). I made a start on this in December, but it has no shape as yet, so it looks to be a longer-term project that needs to marinate for longer. Unlikely to be out in 2018 but I will continue to work on it.

More non-fiction audiobooks. I’ve been able to make the production costs back within two months for non-fiction, as non-fiction listeners are not price or length sensitive. I’ve also got the podcast as a way of marketing them, so I just need to edit the older books and then get them professionally recorded. I do all my audio as non-exclusive now so I can also sell direct and on other platforms.

Thriller / Dark Fantasy fiction as J.F.Penn

My bigger goal on the writing craft side is that I want to win an award. It might not be this year as that is outside of my control, but to win an award, I know I need to become a better writer. So I’ll be going deeper into craft and story, and also submitting to more awards, because you have to be in it to win it 🙂

I’ll be thinking about my J.F.Penn brand and whether I need to pivot more towards the fantasy market given the type of books and stories I’ve been writing in recent years.

As I mentioned in my 2017 round-up, I noticed that my entertainment consumption has shifted to a lot more TV and film. Plus, storytelling is paramount in those environments, so it fits with the goal above. Plus, it’s all about collaboration which is also something I am doing more of. So, I am revisiting screenwriting in 2018.

I’ve been flirting with it for years now and have even started a couple of adaptations. But this year, I’m committing to adapting at least two of my own novels into screenplays and submitting them to film/TV agents. The adaptation of the London Psychic trilogy is still being developed by a wonderful screenwriter, so hopefully, that will also be finished and submitted this year.

In terms of novels, I'll write ARKANE Thriller #10 – set in New Orleans and San Francisco, and Mapwalkers 2 – since Map of Shadows has been doing well 🙂

Possibly London Psychic #4 – since so many readers have asked for it. This is the bottom of the list though as frankly, this series falls through so many genre gaps, it is hard to know what the hell it is 🙂 Although the readers of this series say they love the books the most! I also want to write some short stories, for submission to traditional markets, and maybe another stand-alone novella.

I’m not planning on doing any more fiction audiobooks for now. Fiction audiobook listeners are sensitive to length/value for their subscription, and also are used to truly professional actors as narrators, with many big names narrating now. So I’ll be waiting to see how 2018 shapes up before deciding on any more fiction audio.

Sweet romance fiction as Penny Appleton

There will be three more Summerfield Village sweet romances, co-written with my Mum as Penny Appleton, plus another box set. She is loving writing, and since she is retired, she can be prolific and focused, especially since I do the story structure, polishing, editing, publishing, and marketing 🙂

My intention is also to at least break even in 2018, so that will be year two for this author name.

Health

The practices outlined in The Healthy Writer have helped me so much in 2017, so I am going to double down on those in 2018.

I’m scheduling more time for creative rest and play, which for me, means regular walking and yoga, as well as some weekends, which I have been struggling to keep sacred over the last year. I’m booked for the Isle of Wight Challenge in May, 104km around the island in a weekend. I’m part of a team of 10 Creatives so far, and if you want to join our team, you’re welcome to email me!

I’ve also blocked out a week of no meetings per month, as well as the whole of December, plus I’ve scheduled more quiet time around any speaking engagements or social events, so I can recover more. This introvert needs her alone time 🙂 Hopefully, the batching method will also help with this.

I’ll be travelling more for self-development, book research, and fun, rather than for speaking. I only have NINC in Florida booked and am not intending to be doing any more than that in 2018, although I will be attending more events as a participant to focus on learning, rather than speaking.

Money

I have investment goals and lifestyle goals that mean I want a step change in 2018 in terms of income. I’m waiting to see how that might happen so I’m open to possibilities right now 🙂

We had a step change in 2015, doubling the income for the company, so I’m ready for another shift of that magnitude.

As per the ‘filter’ idea and technology shifts above, I am leaning into the ideas that excite me, because I am not in this business to create another job, but I AM ambitious, both for my financial goals and creative goals.

Right, that’s me done! What are your specific goals for writing for 2018? Please join the conversation and leave a comment below.

Round-Up Of 2017 Writing Goals And Lessons Learned

December 31, 2017 by Joanna Penn 17 Comments

I was having lunch with an old friend recently and reminisced about the days when I used to clock-watch at the day job I hated. Every minute crawled past.

Now the year turns again and time disappears so fast and my main concern is how to make more of it all, how to write all the stories in my head, how to help and empower more authors, how to travel and see more amazing places, how to read, watch, listen, and experience more.

It’s been another amazing year, and I continue to be grateful every day that I can make a living with my writing.

Thank you so much for being part of my journey through buying my books and courses, using my affiliate links on the site, supporting the podcast on Patreon, coming to my events, and through spreading the word about the site. I hope to continue being a part of YOUR author journey as we move into 2018!

Here are my goals from 1 Jan 2017 so you can compare my plans with the reality! I'm going to consider some of the over-arching themes first and then I’ll get into my specific goals and whether I met them, or why I fell short.

The rise and rise of collaboration

I’ve co-written before – Risen Gods with J. Thorn in 2015, and our (meta) non-fiction book on Co-Writing a Book. It felt experimental a few years back, but in 2017, collaboration and co-writing has really come of age. Indies are doing short-term projects, but also longer-term collaborations within new worlds or non-fiction series.

Johnny, Sean and Dave at Sterling & Stone blazed an early trail with collaboration, and now Michael Anderle is leading a merry band of writers in his Kurtherian universe. Michael also set up the 20BooksTo50K Facebook group, which did its first live event in Las Vegas in Nov, and I’ll be at their London event in February 2018.

Two of the major problems of co-writing have also been solved, so it’s easier to co-write these days. BundleRabbit now has a collaboration engine for payment splitting, instead of one of the authors having to do the accounting. BookFunnel allows the management of ARCs and side-loading of ebooks so authors can basically focus on the writing and the marketing.

I’ve taking collaboration to a new level too and this year I co-wrote five books, and four of those were not even in my 2017 goals!

The Healthy Writer with Dr Euan Lawson, American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice with J. Thorn, Zach Bohannon, and Lindsay Buroker; and three Summerfield Village sweet romance novels with my Mum under Penny Appleton (more on these below).

I’ve learned a LOT from editing other people’s work and also about writing more with other people’s opinions and ideas in mind. I’ve learned to let stuff go and relax a bit, to not be such a control freak.

Perhaps even to be a bit gentler with others, and myself.

I’ve never been good at celebrating my successes and publishing a book now is a bit of a non-event – I’m always excited about the next one I want to start writing 🙂 But through co-writing, I’ve been able to celebrate with my co-authors, and seeing the delight on my Mum’s face when we put a new book out rekindles my own excitement at another addition to my body of work.

Collaborative projects are common in other industries – music, gaming, film & TV in particular – and we all collaborate when we work with professional editors and cover designers, but I think we’re going to see more and more collaboration and co-writing in the indie community in 2018.

The indie author business model stabilizes – at least in the mature digital markets of US, UK, AU, CA

I did a big show on this back in November but I want to call back to it here for the sake of a round-up since I revisit these posts over time. You can read/listen to the whole article here in podcast episode #347.

I talk about how we have everything we need to run a global, digital, scalable online business as author entrepreneurs with a business model that is working for more and more authors.

But this stabilization means that everyone is a publisher now and there are more creators out there and more coming. We should celebrate this because every person who writes a book will read far more books than they will ever produce, so we can become a self-sustaining industry 🙂

So the mature markets feel a little crowded in some genres, and we’re in this phase before mobile and digital take off in developing digital markets.

It feels like a calm period before the next big shift, a time to bed down your processes, grow your backlist by writing more, build relationships, make sure you have sustainable health and creative practices, make the most of your IP by expanding into other products like print, and look to position yourself for the next phase of growth.

This levelling out is reflected in the stabilisation of my own business model, but as I am a change junkie, I’ll need to mix it up in 2018 or I will get bored. I'm feeling the itch already!

It’s also good to remember that companies that don’t change with the times find themselves dying off, so we can’t become complacent. There will continue to be shake-ups within publishing as we are now essentially a tech industry, and the reinvention never stops. Fun times, indeed!

The changing entertainment environment

The Crown, Bright, The Handmaid's Tale. Just some of the shows I have enjoyed this year.

I wrote an article last month about how I read and how I buy books, and how that has changed over the years. I’ve also been reflecting on my entertainment preferences over the holiday period, looking back over the year for what has stood out for me, and what I have raved about to others.

I’ve been raving about The Crown, especially season 2, because of the masterful way the creative team told the family drama, weaving memoir and history with storytelling, character development, and foreshadowing what I see ahead based on my knowledge of the Royal family.

I also loved The Handmaid’s Tale, Game of Thrones, American Gods, Stranger Things 2, Jessica Jones, and Bright (which only came out last week but was awesome!). These are mostly dark fantasy stories that I can sink into and also share an experience with my husband.

Where once I knew when pre-orders were coming onto my Kindle or when one of my favourite authors was releasing a novel, I now know when my favorite series boxset is dropping on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

I can either be ashamed to admit this or embrace it as part of the change in the entertainment environment.

This is going to shape my 2018 because I am returning to the idea of adapting my stories into screenplays so that perhaps they can reach more audiences. More on this in my 2018 goals tomorrow.

Of course, I have read a lot too – my novel of the year is The Power by Naomi Alderman, another dark, dystopian genre novel that also won a literary prize and tapped into the #metoo zeitgeist. I loved the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, Change Agent by Daniel Suarez – a techno-thriller about altering DNA in living humans (which is now almost a reality), Dogs of War by Jonathan Maberry, and Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. If you want to get my fiction book recommendations every month, I share them in my JF Penn newsletter which you will receive if you sign up here for Day of the Vikings.

I have also bought a lot of print non-fiction books, and listened to non-fiction audiobooks.

How have you consumed content in 2017? How is that different to previous years?

So how did I do with my specific 2017 goals?