Part 2-What to do with your Priority Pyramid

Did you create your priority pyramid from Wednesday’s post? If you missed it, here’s Part 1: Time Management with a Priority Pyramid-Part 1.

Now on to Part 2—what to do with it!

Once you have your pyramid filled in, I recommend bringing it to your devotions for several days and talking with God about what is listed there. Here are a few things you could ask Him for direction about:

1. What really belongs in my MUST category? Are the things listed there God's priorities for me, or priorities I have chosen for myself?

2. Are there things in my SHOULD category that I am doing for the wrong reasons? (Example: trying to prove I'm spiritual by being involved in too many church activities, spending too much time keeping my house spotless because I'm worried people will judge me if I don't.)

3. What are the things in my WANT category that are blessed by God and I have permission to prioritize them?

4. Should anything be removed from my list? Added? Changed to a different category?

After you've prayed over your list and, with God's direction, placed things where they should be, now comes the application. How do you apply all this to your actual daily life?

Just like a money budget, you allocate according to the priorities. You schedule non-negotiable time for the highest priorities, and move down the pyramid.

For example, if I MUST be a godly wife, I need to prioritize time with my husband. That can easily get swiped away by things in my SHOULD or WANT or even extra category if I do not intentionally set aside and protect that time.

We're in the same room. Does that count?

Another example: if God wants me to write, but when I get on the computer I end up getting caught up in social media or pinterest or whatever, I need to give myself some boundaries. Maybe even use a timer. Say I have 3 hours. I can decide to give 1 hour to checking e-mail, Facebook, etc., but then when that hour is up, I choose to shut off the internet and spend the other 2 hours writing. That kind of self-control is hard, but I'd like to get there! =)


If I'm finding there are more things to be done than time to do them, I can check to see if I can combine some of my SHOULD or WANT items. Such as: I can combine cooking healthy meals for my family, training my children to be responsible with chores, and family Scripture memorization all by having a set time when my children help me with dinner. I train them as they help me, and we can work on our memory verses while we cook and set the table. Again, this takes purposeful ahead-of-time planning.

I need to let some of my SHOULD things go. Having health problems means limitations, so I need to stop stressing if my house isn't perfectly clean or I'm not involved in as much as I feel I should be. And remember, just because something is on your SHOULD list doesn't mean it should be on everyone's!

This is not and never will be what my kitchen looks like. =)

Also, some seasons in life require us to shift our list entirely to focus on a loved one during a crisis or set aside certain use of our gifts while our children are young. What God wants us to spend our time on now may not be forever, so don't get discouraged if God asks you to set aside some things for now that feel important to you.

My babies, who should be more important than my SHOULDs and WANTs.

Time is easily spent, just like money, on things we do not intend to prioritize. Sometimes it is something as simple as turning off the TV for a week. The average American watches something like 4 hours of TV a day. There are those extra hours people love to say they wish they had!

I need to be better with my time, more intentional. I don't want to squander it away. So now I have my pyramid filled out and will be praying on how to apply this. How about you? What do you find sucks away time from your day without you realizing it? Are there things you realized you were spending time on that were taking away from other, more important, priorities?

...redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:16-17

Time Management with a Priority Pyramid

"If I could just add a couple of hours on to my day..."

A millionaire was once asked how much money was enough. His answer: "Just a little bit more."

Many of us struggle with feeling like finances are tight, and if we had just a little more, we'd be happier. Ironically, we often think the same thing about time.

The reason it is ironic is because, while people have all different levels of income, when it comes to time, every person on the planet has exactly the same amount. We all have 24 hours in every single day. There is no option of a little bit more. Ever.

Do you think the following statements are true?

1. You have exactly the same amount of time to spend each day as everyone else.

2. God has given you enough time today to do what He wants you to do today.

3. If you have more to do than you have time for, then there is more on your list than God intends for you.

Strange, isn't it, how if someone is greedy for more money, we recognize that as being ungodly, but if someone is greedy for more time, we often see that as spiritual rather than the same exact ungodly greed? Our intentions may be good--we want more time so we can do more for God or others--but what we're really saying is that God is not giving us what we need.

So, if we have enough time to do all God wants us to do, but are feeling stressed and stretched and burdened by too much to do, then something needs to change. And it's not just trying to fix what we do. That's putting a band-aid on an infection but not treating its source. Time management principles are great, but do little good if the priorities behind them are not addressed.

Therefore, instead of giving time management tips, let's first look at the things that fill up our time. What do we do with the time we are given? Why do we do it?

If you want to be a good steward with money, you need a budget. Without one, you end up spending money on less-important things and neglecting your higher priorities. Time is no different. So here's how to start thinking through how to budget your time.

Get a blank sheet of paper (or a poster-board if you're really feeling motivated) and draw a large pyramid. Separate it into 4 categories using horizontal lines. Ready? Now fill it in, top to bottom, with the following categories:


1. What I MUST do.
2. What I SHOULD do.
3. What I WANT to do.
4. Extra stuff that takes up time.

Like a food pyramid, without the food. =)

Here's how the categories work for me:
1. What I MUST do. This only gets up to 3 things, the roles God has given me, the things I believe He has called me to be that deserve my highest priority. (Example: Being a godly wife and mother, helping women see their worth in Christ.)

2. What I SHOULD do. This category is the largest for me, those things that nag at me, that feel urgent. (Example: Be involved in church, keeping the house clean, building relationships with neighbors, keeping up with correspondence, etc.)

3. What I WANT to do. These are the things I would fill up my time with if I had a limitless supply. (Example: Writing for fun, reading, taking a painting class.)

4. Extra stuff that takes up time. Our days are filled with requirements that aren't necessarily priorities but just have to get done, like brushing our teeth (though I suppose that should go in the SHOULD category!), shuttling the kids (yes, that goes under being a godly mother, but in the day-to-day it feels like the extra stuff--you decide how yours works for you) or paying bills.

Now what? Part 2 (what to do with your pyramid) coming Friday!

Writing Wednesdays: How To Make Great Website Content

Joyce Jones with Segovia Studies did my brand new website and it's excellent. There are scores of things on there I never could have done myself.  You can check it out at kimberlyrae.com
and see the great job she did. She's so creative!

Testimonial Page Joyce made for my Website

So how did I get a great website? With an expert instead of myself!

However, no matter how good Joyce's work is, I had to provide the content. What did I want to say? How did I want to present myself to the world? An amazing website is great but if you don't have any reason for people to stay other than to be impressed at the site itself, that's like those movies that have great special effects but no plot. You might watch it once, but you probably won't come back.

So whether you're building your own website or having it designed. here are some things to think about:

1. Why are you creating a website? Is the main purpose for people to get to know you, find out about what you care about, buy your books? That answer should drive your content.

2. Keep it clean. I have a hard time with this. I love pictures and colors, but when I posted on Linked asking advice about my blog background, pretty much everyone said it was distracting and did not attract them but rather the opposite. I loved the photo I had in the background, but if it was going to make me lose readers it had to go. Joyce designed my website without a background color or photo. It looks very clean. Since there is so much information on a website, you don't want to distract from that with a lot of 'decorating.'

3. Be focused and targeted. After reading from experts like Rog Eager and Michael Hyatt, I realized I was being pretty random about growing my platform--lots of effort but not necessarily well-targeted effort. My current goal is to get people to sign up for my e-mail newsletter so I can tell them when the Sick & Tired series launches, so I've started focusing a lot of attention toward that (speaking of, if you sign up on the website, www.kimberlyrae.com, for my newsletter, you get a free download of my award-winning book, From Africa With Love!)

4.  Less is sometimes better. Have you ever been to a store where they had so many choices it was unpleasantly overwhelming? I was doing that with social media. I put all kinds of links out there--pinterest, Facebook, goodreads, twitter, etc. Then I realized I was doing things backwards. Instead of using my website and blog to get people to all those other social media sites, I should be using those sites to get people back to my website. I've removed everything from my e-mail signature except for my 'brand' phrase and my website. I also removed most of those things from this blog and left only the website for people to go to.

5. Have a recognizable brand. Seems everybody is talking about this these days. Having some phrase of 3-6 words that defines what you do or what you have to offer is apparently quite important. And it makes sense. You don't see movie titles or book titles that are really long. The shorter and more succinct they are, the easier they are to talk about. Like the movie, Taken. First people would say, "Have you seen Taken?" Then when I said no, they could elaborate on how it's about human trafficking, etc., but the short title made it easier to pass the word and word of mouth sells.

I had a hard time deciding my brand in the sense of everything being a consistent color and phrase. Since I write suspense on human trafficking, but also humor and encouragement for people with chronic health problems, I ended up deciding on two 'themes.' My trafficking one is red and black, but my author website and Sick & Tired materials are all a more cheerful green. My phrase for both is, "Know Your Worth, Change The World."

The experts say get a professional photograph done. I never bothered, but when Joyce (who not only creates amazing websites but is a professional photographer) posted the photos she took, I could see why they say it's worth it. She made me look better than I actually do! =)

It pays to do your homework. I've started following blogs of people more knowledgeable in this whole area than myself, and I've learned so many new things that are really helping me grow with marketing. You can be a great writer but you also need a great presence these days. I hope some of this will help you develop that great presence that makes people keep wanting to come back for more!

What do you find hardest about developing your brand or targeting your readers?


Videos on my Website: Why I Wrote the Stolen Series

Are You Sick & Tired of Feeling Sick & Tired?

Welcome to kimberlyrae.com!

Writing Wednesdays: 13 Tips for Writers

People contact me asking about options. They're working on a book but know nothing about getting published, or they know a fair bit but can't decide with so many options out there, etc.

Some new writers give the distinct impression they think that once they finish their book--wallah!-- some publishing company will want to publish it and suddenly they will be rich and famous. Sounds nice to me, but it rarely happens

Unfortunately, the realities are that there are companies that will want your book right away, but only if you pay them several thousand dollars first. You can have a published book in your hands, but you'll never be rich or famous if nobody knows about it. And with millions (literally millions) of books out there right now, no matter how you publish, you're going to have a lot of competition.

This isn't to depress you; it's to give you the reality so you can make a clear and knowledgeable decision about how to move forward.

In an effort to be as concise as possible, here are a 13 things I've learned along the way:

 13 Tips for Writers

1. If you want to be a writer, you have to be willing to learn, be rejected, and work hard.

2. Wherever you are at in your writing expertise, you have a lot more to learn. Be teachable!

3.There is an overwhelming amount of information and options on the internet. Find a few resources/blogs/people you trust and stick with them for most of what you need to know. It gets very overwhelming doing random searches for information, so do it sparingly.

Lady, put the computer down...it's not that bad...put the computer down...

4. Major publishers are harder to get in than ever. If you don't have a following of thousands of people already, expect it to be nearly impossible. I know that's disappointing, but I'd rather tell you now than tell you that after you waiting 6 months for a rejection letter.

5. Subsidy publishers are eager for your book, but that's because you will be paying them and so they will make money whether you do or not. I have not heard of one yet that has worked out to an author's benefit. Be very careful about any publisher that makes you pay them first--and that's not for printing books, it's for the actually publishing of your book (and possibly some "marketing" on their part, usually this runs in the thousands of dollars before you ever see your first book).

6. Self-publishing is easier, cheaper, and you get a book a lot sooner than other options, but know that you are the 100% sole marketer responsible. If you are self-motivated, have a great message, and believe in your book, this can work great for you. Self-publishing is also good for someone who only wants to run a few copies rather than ordering hundreds up front (if you do POD--Print On Demand-- rather than one that starts the print run in the hundreds of copies).

7. If you choose to self-publish, PLEASE create a good product. I can't tell you many books I've seen and read from amazon that have typos, grammatical errors, very homemade covers, or just aren't good writing. Kindle and POD have helped make self-publishing not the stigma of lack-of-quality it used to be, but books like that put the whole group down again.

8. Whatever you decide about publishing, get an editor, or have lots of people read the book before you ever put it out there. You can have 50 people read it, and the 51st will find that elusive typo everybody else missed. Believe me, it happened to me, except the person was about the 450th and the book was already on the market! Find people who will give honest feedback. This is one of my favorite parts in the process because I get to experience my book from a new reader's eyes. What was confusing? Did I get a fact wrong? Can I make this clearer? Is it age-appropriate?

Typos can really change your storyline...

...and they lived sappily ever after....oops, I mean happily ever after!

Let's eat grandma...or rather Let's eat, grandma.

He was doping...I mean hoping.

 

9. Print-On-Demand is the cheapest way to self-publish. I'd recommend Amazon's Createspace. They are user-friendly, have great customer service, and are connected with Kindle, so you can put it up easily on e-book as well. I sell about 3 e-books for every paperback, so getting in with Kindle is important.

10. Spend time on the extras. You may have a fabulous book, but if the two paragraphs on the back are boring, people aren't going to read it. Why spend so much effort on the inside and then fall short on your author bio or your back cover or the one sentence you put on the cover?

11. Invest in a great cover. People say you can't judge a book by its cover, but we all do. With Amazon especially you're not picking books off shelves and looking through them. People are scanning pages and pages of covers and if yours is boring, or worse, looks cheap, there are millions of better ones to choose from. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go to amazon.com and check out the covers.

If you're a famous classic, you can get away with this. If you're a new author with a book nobody knows about...I wouldn't buy it. Would you?

12. Don't let rejection stop you. When I used to write a lot of articles for magazines and such, I began to expect 9 rejections for every 1 acceptance. Once I got the hang of who to write for and how, that number got better, but it was a realistic way to start. There are lots of reasons for being rejected that don't mean your work is bad. Keep going till you find the right readership. (Unless your work really is bad, in which case, learn and improve!)

13. Don't use God as an excuse for poor quality. That may sound mean, but agents and publishers get real wary when someone says, "God gave me this book," or "The words are Gods so..." and then proceed to say that's why the publisher really should want to publish it, or they won't take suggestions for improvements. If God had called you to build houses, He would still expect you not only to learn how to build houses, but to build them well. If you just started nailing boards together, telling people God told you build houses, you would get a bad reputation and actually dishonor your testimony rather than honoring God. So if God has told you to write, do so, but work at becoming the best writer you can be so your work honors Him.


There you have it. If you've learned some good lessons along the way, add to my list! It's always great to learn from someone else, especially someone a few steps farther up the path than we are. Helps us see potholes we might miss from our viewpoint.

Oh, also, if you have a question about any of this, please add it below and maybe it will show up as a future blog post! (With the answer, of course.)

Happy Writing! And may you live sappily ever after. =)



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Some Stats that May Surprise You About Publishing

The Taste of Cow Brains, and Writing What You Know

The following is published in Southern Writer's Magazine this month. In case you don't read that magazine, this is for you!

            Most writers out there will likely never have a scene where a character tries eating cow brains. So why am I bringing it up?

            Because I have. I lived in Bangladesh for two years, and during those years I got to ride rickshaws, take pictures of goat heads lined up for sale at the market, wear six yards of silk in equatorial heat, and yes, eat cow brains (and bone marrow in case you’re impressed). I also got to experience a new culture and learn that the way I think isn’t the only way to think, and the way I view the world isn’t the only way to view it. Branching outside myself into that new world has broadened my horizons significantly as far as writing possibilities—not just topics, but in creating multidimensional characters utilizing the vastly different perspectives people can have.

Cow brains on a plate, from the chicken tikka stand. Why cow brains instead of chicken brains? I don't know. Maybe the chicken brains were too small.

            They say you should write what you know. I’m not sure who “they” are, but it is wise advice. You can write about tasting cow brains using only your imagination, but if you’ve never done it, you probably wouldn’t think to say that it was the texture that was the hardest to get down—something akin to eating a grainy kind of play-dough.  Not fun.

            I have never had the inclination to write a book in a European setting, or a Latin American setting. I don’t know those places. I could research, but it wouldn’t be same. Because I lived in Bangladesh, however, I came to know some of the Asian way of thinking. How it felt to try to remember not to point my foot in anyone’s direction or ever use my left hand or in some places never look a man in the eye. I know what it felt like to travel in a rickshaw through the haze of smoke and congestion of the city, what it felt like to see a robbery at knifepoint, or the swarm and clutter of over 130 million people cramped into a country not much bigger than North Carolina.

            It’s what I know, so of course, when I was ready to write my first series, Christian suspense/romance novels on international human trafficking, I set them in South Asia. My character experienced the new culture firsthand, just as I did. And because it is what I know, I was able to express her feelings and reactions in a very real way.

            Real is powerful. Powerful makes for a good story.

            That’s not to say you can’t ever branch out. There are multitudes of writers out there who do excellent research and can weave a story that takes readers to places the author has never been, or into situations and feelings the author has never experienced.

            However, I think the most powerful books I have read, even if they are fiction, seem to delve deeply into the author’s own personal experience—either through their own memories, or the subjects they are most passionate about, or the things they themselves are struggling with.

            So what are you meant to write? If you’re feeling stumped, here are a few questions to ask yourself: What experiences have you had that would resonate with people? (Have you lost a spouse? Survived cancer? Traveled the world? Been mugged? Felt writer’s block?—ha, had to throw that one in there!)  What are you most passionate about? (What makes you most angry? Most excited? What topic gets your heart rate up every time it comes up?)

            You have your own unique voice. Your experiences and goals and struggles and heartaches all combine together into something you can share with the world. Maybe your non-fiction story will help people deal with things. Or maybe your fiction story will entertain them while also resonating with their deepest struggles.

            Whatever it is, it is you. Your most powerful writing will come when you write what you know, and what you care about, because that is who you are.



Related Posts: Why Do You Write? 

Writing What I Know 

Writing for Ministry--Should You Write When Your Faith Feels Weak?

Yesterday I was struggling. My health has taken an unpleasant turn for the worse, and though I'd like to say I had an amazing attitude and spiritual strength, the truth is I was fighting fear, anxiety and plain old annoyance at a sickness that is never going to go away.

So what did I have the urge to do? Blog about it! I was trying to figure out why. Why am drawn to writing whenever I face a big struggle and am fighting my fleshly feelings? Thinking through it, I realized I'm in good company. Shepherd David, renegade warrior David and King David did the same thing. The Psalms are full of songs where David is struggling.

The Psalms don't present a pillar of emotional and spiritual strength. They present a real man with raw emotions and questions that many Christians would find sacrilegious. He cries out things like:

Where are You, God?
Why haven't You fixed this?
It doesn't feel like You're here at all.
Don't You care?
I'm crying and dying here, Lord. Aren't You going to do something?

Most of us don't want to write about weak moments like those above. But you know what? We should. If we want to have a real ministry, we need to have a real spirituality. Not the kind that makes us look good. The kind that makes us look weak and sometimes helpless and afraid and doubting God's goodness.

God called David a man after His own heart. It wasn't because David was so strong. Considering his writings, he was often weak. However, he took his doubting and fear and even anger to God. He was real about his weak moments. He admitted transparently that he was struggling, not just to God but to us. He did not wait to write until he was feeling strong so he could present himself in his best light.

But then...

Don't forget the rest! David wasn't just about airing his struggles. We've all read things by people who just complain and cry and talk about how life isn't fair. That's not ministry. That's whining.

However, though David admitted his struggles and questions, he would end his songs stating what he knew to be true. He started with feelings and ended with faith. Because of that, his psalms give such comfort, because we find ourselves in the beginning, and then we find God at the end. Our weakness, His strength.

Some of the greatest writing we will ever do is when we admit ourselves--our weakness, our struggles, our questions--and then lead our readers toward the truth of God's love and grace and presence.

When you write for ministry, remember David. Present yourself as the sinner you are, so then you can shine light on the God who loves sinners. Write when you're struggling. For one, it helps you think through why you are feeling this way and the truth that counteracts it. For another, it may help someone else struggling the same way. Just think how many people the psalms have helped!

May your writing comfort others as the psalms have, and may you, too, be a person after God's heart.


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Writing Wednesdays: How to Write Your Memoir (in a NOT Boring Way!)

Last week we talked about why to write a memoir and the different kinds of approaches. Now that you know what style of memoir you want, the next step is to start writing!

However, if you don't want to just start at the beginning and end at the end (the so-in-so was born on this date at this place style, which is usually boring), you need a strategy to get started.

Get out a piece of paper and a pen and mark numbers 1-3. Then think through your life or the life of the person you are writing about. What are the three most significant seasons of your life?

For example, for me, I put:
1. Having health problems, specifically getting diagnosed with Addison's disease and when Hope was born--preeclampsia, eeclampsia, seizures, fluid on brain, wondering if I was going to die.

2. Living overseas in several countries, learning about cultures.

3. Writing then speaking about human trafficking, my books becoming bestsellers and making a difference.



Once you have your 3 main seasons, under each write the word "Moment" and list the most striking moment you can remember within each of the seasons.  Again, for example, here are mine:

1. Lying in the MRI machine, wondering if this day would be my last.

2. The day a riot started while I was on the street in a rickshaw, or the time I ate cow brains. =)

3. The first time I met a person who'd been trafficked.

Now, in my opinion, these 3 seasons are going to propel the force of your book, but you don't just want a random collection of stories. People want to know why they are reading something, and most of the time, unless they're related to you, they don't just want a bunch of memories. They want memories with a purpose, a lesson. Either what you did right and learned from, or what you did wrong and learned from.

So under your 3 seasons, write the phrase "The main idea I want my reader to take away:" and then think through what the biggest lesson of your life story is.  Mine:

God's dreams for us are better than our dreams for ourselves, even when it feels like He is taking everything away.

Now you have a theme that will carry through your 3 seasons, and all the other things that will fill in the holes.

Write about your 3 seasons, starting with your moment and working your way through that moment. Next chapter you can give the more practical details like time and place and era.  For example:

I start the first chapter with me lying in the MRI machine, wondering if I'm going to die that day. The reader does not know any details of why I am there, what is going on, how old I am, etc. But if the scene is written well, the reader will be so taken into the scene that they want to continue reading to find out the answers to the mystery I have presented. The next chapter I would tell the full story of how I ended up in the MRI, then work my way through to the end lesson learned. Back and forth throughout that first third of the book, I will tell older and newer stories that go with this main idea.

Then I can move on to the next significant season, doing the same. You can even have a new theme idea for each of the 2-3 parts of your book. Perhaps even split the book into a before Christ and after Christ 2 parts. Or before you learned your lesson and after you learned your lesson. For me, my book would go something like this:

1. Start with the intense scene in the MRI, leaving the reader with the question, how did this happen and how did you get to this point?

2. From there I would go back to moving overseas, all my big dreams and ideals, all the while with the reader knowing it ends with me having a lifelong condition that will destroy these dreams and wondering how I am going to handle it.

3. After the international stories, some funny, some sad, with lots of lessons I learn from the Lord along the way, then the big wham comes, the health problems get worse, things get bad. This is the "climax" point of the book, the big crisis that will make the whole story go one way or the other.

4. From there is my person struggle with losing my identity, my having to rearrange my idea of who God is and how He can still be good when my dreams are dying.  You want to tell your story in a transparent way that readers can relate to.

5. After this is the climbing out of the hole and finding the sunshine again. My books on human trafficking, how they are reaching more people than I could have had I stayed overseas and done what felt significant to me.

6. Conclusion that makes my final point, bringing the whole story together under my theme, leaving the reader satisfied and hopefully changed for good.

Time to get writing!!! You can do this. In fact, I just got an e-mail last weekend by a woman who attended my seminar several months ago, and now her book is finished and on the market. I'm thrilled for her, and can't wait to read her story.  Let me know when yours is ready, too!

Any questions?

Related posts: Writing a Memoir People Will Actually Want to Read!

Writing Wednesdays: Writing A Memoir People Will Actually Want to Read!

           I started a memoir for two reasons. The first was my family history—or rather the lack of it. My grandfather was in World War II. My grandmother had to have a double wedding with her sister, even wearing identical dresses, because of difficult financial times. My grandparents went through the Great Depression. They lost their first baby. The served God, raised children, and gave us grandchildren a beautiful legacy.

            Only they never put it in any form we have to keep. I want to tell my own children their stories, only the stories died with them. I have hints of stories, but not enough facts to create a history from them.

            The second reason for my memoir was equally important. I had been having unusual, difficult health problems for over ten years. As I faced my second pregnancy under the category of high-risk, still with a confusing and undefined condition, I wanted our stories on paper for my own children and grandchildren to know and learn from—if I were not around to tell them myself.

            Life is fragile. And beautiful. And each of us has experiences worth recording.

            So if you are considering writing a memoir, here’s the question you need to start with:

Why do you want to write it?

1.      To share about family? (You don’t want to lose your own history?)

2.      To tell about an era or historical event? (You were in Vietnam and want the world to know what it was really like?)

3.      To become famous? (You know juicy secrets about a famous celebrity and this is your ticket to stardom?)

            Next, keeping in mind how you answered the above, there are different ways to approach writing a memoir:

1.      Chronological—in my personal opinion, this method is phenomenally boring. If I see “Chapter One: So-in-so was born on such-and-such a day in such-and-such a place,” I immediately want to close the book, or at least skip about three quarters in to the interesting part.

2.      Topical—this is when you tell your story from subject to subject. For example, all the love stories in one section, then the difficult stories, then the happy stories, etc. This can be interesting if, say, you are writing about the past four generations of your family, and reading about their similar experiences throughout different eras of history would be interesting.

3.      Random—like a blog, a random memoir goes along like a conversation, with you giving incidents as they come to mind. This works if you want your memoir to be casual, or if you have a lot of great stories within specific topics that might get too much if you keep them together.

4.      Event-based—these are best when memoirs are created from an important event people are interested in. When the author of “Let’s Roll” wrote a memoir about her husband, people were interested because he gave his life on September 11^th saving the lives of others.  In that book, the chapters bounced back and forth, starting with the event people were most interested in, then going to the person’s life story, back to the event, then back to the person’s life, until they combined in the culmination of the person’s story as well as the event.

5.      Historical or Era-based—this chronicles your journey through historical events or eras that resonate with the reader’s memories. Say you were actually there when sliced bread was invented, you planted a victory garden during WWII, or were at Woodstock, or JFK’s funeral. Your story, told through the eyes of history, pulls readers into the history with you.

            Regardless of how large or small your audience will be, you will want your memoir to be, well, memorable—and for good reasons, not bad ones! Therefore, you want it to be well-written, and presented in such a way that, like any other written piece, makes the reader want to read to the second sentence, to the second chapter, through to the end.

            You likely have a story worth telling. If so, it is worth the effort to turn it into a story worth reading!

            So once you decide what type of memoir you want, what next? Find out next week!
  

 This was published in Southern Writer's magazine earlier this year!

Writing Wednesdays: 21 Ways to Market Your Book on Amazon

I'm a pretty lousy salesperson. I don't like pushing something on someone who may not want whatever I have to sell.

However, I do love passing the word about something good or helpful I've found to people I think would really benefit from it. And I'm learning, from all this research on marketing, that passing the word sells things better than me trying to be a salesperson. Go figure.

Today I'm passing the word on a Kindle book titled:

Marketing Your Book on Amazon:

21 Things You Can Easily Do For Free
to Gain More Exposure and Sales

Link to Author's Blog

If you don't have a Kindle, never fear--you can download it straight to your computer. You need to have it on a computer for a reason which I'll get to later.

If you find general information about social media marketing overwhelming, or you're just getting started and you need to know where to start first, I believe this book will really help you. It focuses only on Amazon and how to increase your visibility and sales through that avenue. 

This isn't just about getting on the Amazon Bestseller list. Even though my books are Amazon Bestsellers already, I still learned a lot of great new tips of how to use Amazon to get more people finding and buying my book. In fact, I went to a writer's conference that taught me some of these tips, but I learned more from this book than I did from the conference!

I especially like how, by reading the Kindle version on my computer, I was able to follow her instructions immediately by opening new windows and going step-by-step through the process she presented.


Well, there you have it. I was able to click links actually in the book that took me directly to what she was talking about, so I could follow her instructions right then (while they still made sense!), then move on to the next instruction.

This is a definitely helpful resource if you have a book for sale on Amazon but don't know how to utilize things like the Amazon Author Page, Author Central, etc.

So what are you waiting for? Here's the link below so you can check out this resource right away!

Marketing Your Book on Amazon

Writing Wednesdays: Why Do You Write?

If someone were to ask you, "Why do you write?" what would you say? Would your answer be among these options?

1. I have to, I just can't not write.
2. I hope to make a living from it.
3. It's my ministry.
4. It's just a fun hobby.
5. It helps me think through things.

Maybe you've never actually thought about it, but why you write matters. It will likely define how much time you invest in writing, how attached you are to what you write, and the expectations you have from what you have written.

As a kid, I used to write for fun. I had a kiddy typewriter and used to pound out my version of Nancy Drew stories (didn't know about copyright laws back then). Then my dreams got bigger--too big actually. If you read about my embarrassingly ridiculous first two novels, you know my writing goals soared a little too high, and I had a big fall coming.

After that, I guess I balanced more into a realistic ideal about writing. I had much to learn, but I could use writing as a ministry. I never had any intention of making a living from it--that's nigh unto impossible if you're freelancing Christian articles anyway. The money I made helped our family in small, extra ways, but it could never be depended on.

That has changed some since Stolen Woman got released. Now, with e-books and regular speaking engagements, writing is actually becoming a part-time job with money coming in. Not the huge amount most people would probably assume, but enough to make it worth all the work certainly, and really, it was worth the work beforehand anyway because of the possible spiritual impact.

So why do I write now? Hard to say. Some days I write because I must--the story is itching to get out and I just have to write it. Other times, like if I'm writing on assignment, it's just plain work. Still other times it is more for ministry than anything else. But I will say that I love writing. I think it is so wonderful that I get to do what I love to do.  A lot of people don't have that luxury, and I'm grateful for it.

Only 5% of authors can actually make a living off of writing. I don't know if I'll ever rise to fit within that 5%, but since I am a stay-at-home mom, I thankfully have the option of writing part-time and getting part-time amounts of money coming in.

Why do you write? Thinking through the answer to that question may help you define where your level of commitment to writing should be. Based on your answer, you might realize you are writing too often, or not often enough, or expecting more than you should, or needing to shoot for higher goals.

I'd love for you to post a comment below and share why you write!

Related Posts:
Are Great Writers Born That Way (My First Novel--Cheesy!!!)

My Epic Failure of a Second Novel

Rejection--It's Not as Person as it Feels

Writing Wednesdays: Book Signings-Are They Worth the Bother?

Since Stolen Woman came out in 2011, I've done LOTS of book signings. A couple of them were big successes. A lot of them tanked. Overall, are they worth the bother?

Here's my two cents worth on that:
1. Most book signings have turned out less successful than I'd hoped (see posts on My First Book Signing Fiasco or Eat More Chicken-Book Signing Fiasco #2).

2. The ones that were successful happened when I went to my hometown and people I personally knew came.

3. The ones that were least successful was when I set something up in a booth or table by myself in a non-bookselling context (like at a Chick-Fil-A or outside a library).

Looks really impressive, but I ended up selling only 1 or 2 books. I did get free supper though! =)

4. If you can be part of something that is already a selling context, that is better (like a town festival where lots of people have booths set up).

5. If you can sell books alongside some other activity, that is better (for me, like a human trafficking expo, or a speaking event on trafficking)

Basically, if your ultimate goal is to sell books, regular sit-at-a-table book signings are not worth it, in my opinion (unless you have a  New York Times bestseller that everybody already wants, or you're really good at selling things to people). If, however, you want to get your name out there and gain exposure for your book, book signings are worth it because people get to know your face and your book, and the more familiar they feel about it and you, the more they may talk about it with their friends or buy it next time, or offer to have you come speak, etc.

In conclusion, I haven't found book signings to be great for actually selling a lot of books, but I have found them to be worthwhile for the connections and exposure they bring.

You can decide yourself if that's worth it to you.

P.S. If you come up with some amazing, foolproof method for making books signings a success, do let me know!

Writing Wednesdays: Avoid the Melodramatic First Paragraph

Just the other day I learned something from a more experienced and wiser writer than myself. And what he taught me, I shall pass along to you. I hate keeping good information to myself. =)

My writer's group was having everyone post in the first paragraph of whatever they were working on. I got to read first paragraphs of all kinds of books, fiction and non-fiction. It was fun, and I was really impressed with the writing. Some paragraphs flowed easily and you found yourself at the end of them without really realizing. I noticed on others the writing itself stood out. I started thinking that must be the ideal to strive for--that stand-out kind of writing that makes you think about the author and how they put their words together like that.

Then an author got on who has written lots and lots of books, and his words surprised me. He mentioned he was noticing a lot of dramatics in the first paragraphs, like authors were trying too hard. He said sometimes authors worry so much about that first paragraph and spend so much time making it amazing (or the first page), it doesn't end up matching up with the rest of the book. I think he actually used the word melodramatic in there.

Um...where to start? It has to be perfect! Aaaah, think I'll give up and go get some coffee.

I was so surprised! Here I was, impressed at these authors amazing talent, but he was saying you are not supposed to be drawing attention to your amazing writing talent. You're supposed to be writing an amazing piece. Hmmm. Thinking about it that way, it makes sense. Apparently the professionals out there can spot people who are trying too hard. I'm not really there yet.

But you may be thinking, yeah, but that's my one shot at getting and keeping a reader's attention. I have to make it great! True, but here's this man's advice. Don't stall on the beginning of the book. Skip it if you need to. Write the rest of the book or article, and by the end of the rest of it, you'll know what the focus of the beginning needs to be and you can write it better then. He mentioned some people spend forever on the beginning, but then by the end they realize the beginning won't work for the whole and have to end up redoing it completely. That would be painful.

So in conclusion, don't pour yourself into making a dramatic beginning so much that you sacrifice the rest of the work. If it's stressing you, skip it, write the rest, and come back to that part later.