Back in the Saddle Again: Part Two

In my last blog post, I wrote about why I fell off the saddle and why I decided to get back in the saddle again – the writing, marketing, and exercising “saddles.”  ( Saddle Part One )  In my next two blog posts, I’ll explain how I plan to get back in the saddle again, by letting you know what I’ve already done, what I’m currently doing, and what I plan to do in the future.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got.”

(–Anonymous?  Henry Ford?  Tony Robbins?  The verdict is still out on who said this first!)

I’m pretty much a do-as-I’ve-always-done person … for things that have turned out well for me.  I whole-heartedly agree with the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”  This is in all areas of my life, from writing to work to relationships to cleaning.  (Baking soda always works best for gently cleaning grease out of pans, yes siree!)  I’m a totally different type of person though when I’m not pleased with the results of something that I’ve tried doing at least a couple of times the same way. THEN, I become like ol’ Dwight in the meme below.

So, it’s time to change things up a bit, people!  I want to achieve results that bring me more joy, peace, and success than what I’ve experienced in the last two years or so in the areas of writing, blogging, marketing, and healthy living.  So, I’m going to quit doing the same ol’, same ol’, and I’m going make some “ch-ch-ch-ch-changes” (sing it to yourself like David Bowie does in his song “Changes”).

Today’s post will cover what I’ve already done toward getting back in those saddles, then the third “Saddle” post will talk about what I’m currently doing and what I plan to do in the future.  My original plan was to cover these three topics in one blog post, by just listing the bullet points for each.  However, once I finished that part, I decided readers would probably want at least a little bit of an explanation for what all went into that bullet point, so I started writing those thoughts down.  Well, “brevity is not my specialty” (that’s going to be my new tagline), so as I kept writing explanations, the post kept getting longer, and longer, and longer.  That’s when I decided I had to chop these babies down at least a little, so to do that, I decided to split the Saddle posts into three different parts.  For now, enjoy Part Two!

What I’ve Already Done

• Initiated Process to Launch Author Newsletter

In order to write my own newsletter, I needed to know what kind of items other authors were putting in their newsletters, what topics were missing that I’d want to know about as a reader, and what subjects I personally just wanted to share with my readers.  So, for quite a while I’ve been subscribing to newsletters of authors who write in various genres to check all this out.

Did you know that authors have to put a physical mailing address or P.O. Box where they can receive mail on every newsletter they send?  We U.S. authors must add this specific contact info in each newsletter due to an anti-spam law that regulates marketing and commercial emails.  I didn’t know this until I signed up for a MailChimp account, and then, “Whoomp There It Is.”  I promptly went to my local post office and signed-up for a postal box – because I also learned you don’t want to put your actual home address on the newsletter.  Who knows when an angry or an obsessed-fan might come knocking on your front door?

Lately, I’ve played around with MailChimp formatting for my own newsletter, created spots on my website and social media for people to sign-up for my newsletter, and I’ve picked a newly-released novel and penned a long book review about it to include in my first newsletter.  http://bit.ly/NewsletterSignUpMelindaFreeland

• Rearranged My Office

A long time ago I read this inspirational Tweet by author Caro Carson that talked about investing in your writing, and one way of doing so was rearranging your office furniture or getting the pen that fits your hand just right.  A couple of weeks ago, I gave away the worn out, 15-year-old, La-Z-Boy recliner I had been using in my office for the last six years, and bought a brand new, pretty, wine-colored recliner that fits my behind just right!  Ha!  I also rearranged my office to show a distinct separation from my bedroom (it’s all in one large room), and soon my husband will make a permanent dividing line by building a wall and door in the middle, splitting the space into two rooms.  That way I can type away on my laptop all night, with the overhead light on, and it won’t interrupt the hubby’s beauty sleep (not that he needs much ’cause he’s a pretty handsome guy).

• Switched Website from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

There are several reasons for doing this, but let’s start with the one my husband likes best: the self-hosted WordPress.org is way cheaper than WordPress.com.  I paid $18 a year for a custom domain name and $25 a month on the business plan when I started my website using WordPress.com.  After making the switch this January to WordPress.org, I still pay the $18 yearly domain fee, but now I pay only $5 a month for the hosting service, as there is no plan/site fee.  The savings made from the switch can now be used toward other marketing or writing expenses (ads, craft books, contest, conference, or blog tour fees, etc.), which is a better way to spend my money!

The switch also gave me these benefits: I can add any WordPress plugins or apps (free, paid or custom) to my site; I own all the data and the website – meaning no one can suddenly “turn off” the site for going against their terms of service; I can add / change to any theme I want (free, paid or custom); I can make money off my website by running ads that I wouldn’t have to split the revenue with anyone; and I can design an online store for my site to sell products right from my website and accept credit card payments.

• Created New Schedule for Blog Posts

I made my first blog post on Monday, April 17, 2017.  I posted next on that Wednesday, then that Friday, then that Sunday, and continued this blogging schedule for a while.  This whole four-day-a-week routine of posts for Musing Monday, Word Wednesday, Fun Friday, and Scripture Sunday, was pretty exhausting.  It’s not like I was/am a full-time blogger, and that was my only “job.”  Posting to my blog was just a part of my full-time novelist dreams, something I did in addition to all the other novelist-writing related tasks, and in addition to my “day job” as a medical coder – and my all-hours job of mom and wife.  So, the ambition was great in this area, but the lack of time was greater.  I want to point out that it was just a time issue.  I’ve never had “writer’s block” or wondering what I could blog about; I’ve never (well hardly ever) been at a loss for words.  In fact, most of my family and friends would probably tell you they wish I would just zip the lips or quit the keyboard clicks every once in a while.  Ha!

When I started getting in the depressed / anxious mood that I talked about in my last post, I went from four posts a week, to posting like only once every four MONTHS type deal!  So, that was a change, but not a good one.  Now, I’ve come up with a shiny new plan compromise:  I will post at least two times a month, with my eventual goal to post at least once a week.

• Researched Agents, Publishing Houses, and Authors

I self-published my first novel, Love, Texas — Population 2.  For all of my next books, I have decided to get an agent and go with a traditional publishing house.  I debated for a long time about this before self-publishing Love, but in the end was swayed by the success of other self-published authors, by the pros of being an Indie author, such as having total control over content, title, and cover.  In my marketing plan, I also thought I would be able to get a wider range and larger number of a reader audience, and “do enough” promotion for my book, than it winds up I did get on my own.

An agent’s connections, experience, knowledge, wisdom, guidance, and backing are something that I think will prove to be invaluable going forward in my writing career.  A traditional publisher, especially if I’m fortunate enough to land a deal with one of the larger, Christian houses, will also provide the same positives as an agent, as well as offer superior marketing capabilities, save me tons of money in that field and in other areas, such as covers and editing.  Both an agent and a traditional publishing house have a strong desire for a writer to succeed, as that of course increases their own success and profit.  Knowing other people are depending on me and offering me their support would encourage me even more to go the extra mile in the writing and marketing realm—because I would want to please them, thank them, and be able to give back what others had given me.

In order to choose who to query, I have researched several literary agents.  Every novel I’ve enjoyed I have taken note of the agent if mentioned in the acknowledgements, and each author I’ve interviewed I’ve asked who is the agent for that book.  I then looked up each agent on all their available social media channels and on a general Google search.  I’ve also read “from top to bottom” the agency websites for each agent I was interested in querying, and subscribed to the agency’s (or agent’s) blog.  Part of the agency research included perusing the authors they listed they represent.  I then either read novels by some of those authors, or put the books on my TBR list, in order to get a more comprehensive picture of what kind of authors (writing style, voice, and tropes) that agency / agent has represented.

A lot of this same type of research above for agents and authors was also put into use for publishing houses.  Most of the larger, traditional publishing houses require you have an agent in order to submit to them, meaning it would be up to your agent to choose which house to submit to—and she would know which one because of her business connections and her vast knowledge of which publishing houses are looking for what particular type of stories at that moment.  So, even though my goal is to land an agent, who can help get my foot in the door of certain houses, I still wanted to research different publishers for one, to know they were the type of house I would want my agent to contact for me (that I would be proud to be published under their name), and two, so I could get that comprehensive picture like above, of the type of novels they are currently publishing—and what they might be looking for, and how my novel might be made into the perfect find in their search. SMILE!

• Registered for ACFW Conference

The annual conference for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) is a big deal … and costs big bucks … but reaps big rewards, according to former attendees.  If you register for this three-day conference, it shows you’re really serious about pursuing a professional writing career.  Only serious writers will be willing to spend that kind of money, take the time off work and / or off from their busy family/personal schedules, and be hyped about absorbing and using all the educational and inspirational information that will be given out during the conference.

Let me tell you – I am way beyond “hyped” already, even though the conference doesn’t happen until the end of September.  Of course I’m excited about all I will learn during the workshops, but I’m also pumped about all the people I will get to meet in person: the ladies who are part of the ACFW Interviewer Team; the authors whom I interviewed for the ACFW; the novelists who have penned books I’ve loved; other Christian writers in all stages of their careers, particularly those who live relatively close to me; and several agents, editors, and other professionals in the Christian book world.

• Pulled Back From Scheduled / Group Activities

For about the last seven years, I have been pretty active in my church.  I’ve participated in multiple Bible study groups; I’ve been involved in several other types of fellowship groups; and I’ve helped out at least once a month in the elementary-level Sunday school classes.  Looking through my Google calendar over the years at all these scheduled / group activities has surprised … me!  I knew at the time that I was very busy taking part in several of these church-related activities, but it wasn’t until about last summer when I started to try to calm down my crazy schedule (in all areas of my life) that I noticed just how much time and energy was spent on these activities—which then in turn left so little time and energy to spend on my family and on my writing career.

Just to give you a very clear picture of Ms. Busy at the time, here is an example of my schedule at one point.  I’d drive an hour round trip to and from my church (CBCB) on Tuesday nights for a large, multi-denominational, all-women, group Bible study (BSF) that lasted an hour and a half each session or two hours when fellowship nights were included; I’d attend a fellowship and Bible study meeting at a church member’s house in my neighborhood on Thursday nights that averaged around two hours per session; I’d do reading and homework questions for both these Bible studies for the whole week after each meeting, which usually took about 30 minutes study time per day; I’d make the hour drive again on Saturday nights to attend about an hour-long church service, which sometimes also included an hour or more afterwards for dinner / fellowship activities; I’d then wrap up the week Sunday morning by taking that hour drive to church and back if it was my turn that week to help out the teacher in the elementary-level Sunday school class, which helping took up about an hour and a half from check-in time to the parents picking up their kiddos after the adult church service ended.

Make you tired just reading all my group/scheduled church activities?  It made me tired typing it—and even more tired remembering how tired I was during that time!  Looking back, it seems I was soooo intent on trying to get in such a large quantity of “church-e” tasks, thinking that was the best way to honor God, and to make my contribution to helping with certain church needs, and to engage with my fellow parishioners, and to prove to myself that I was a “good Christian.”

It wasn’t until within this last year or so that I finally realized I should be focused on the quality of these deeds, not the quantity.  So, I pared down my group involvement to Tuesday night BSF meetings (which take place eight months out of the year following the school yearly schedule) and to Sunday morning church services, or Saturday nights when they have after-service dinners and fellowship.  This reduction still provides plenty of in-depth, daily (homework and group discussions) learning about and worship of God, and plenty of quality time to make and maintain close fellowship with other Christians, both those who are members of my church and those who attend other churches.

Take note, this minimizing is only for scheduled / group church-related events.  I still desire to try to have constant, daily interaction with God and His Word, so I did not cut-back on my individual, not-scheduled actions, such as thanking and praying to God daily; reading and studying three different daily devotionals: my 365-day plan of YouVersion Life Application Study Bible Devotion; my year-long plan of NIV Women’s Daily Devotional Bible study; and my Girlfriends in God (GIG) daily devotional emails.

• Purchased My Brilliant Writing Planner

I have always been a planner and a list-maker.  At my current age of 47, my dad teases me and asks if I still lay out all my clothes in the order I’m going to wear them for the upcoming week.  (Yes, yes I still do!)  I think I bought my first Day Runner organizer in elementary school—not kidding!  I also once could have carried the title, “Queen of Sticky Notes.”  Almost nothing feels quite as satisfying as being able to put a line through all my bullet point items on a To Do List, signifying, “It is finished!”

For most of my life, I’ve used pen and paper for my plans and lists.  About seven years ago, I decided to “Get with the 21^st century, lady!” and go mostly digital.  I stopped using my beloved Day Runner, and started using Google Calendar.  This electronic planning and schedule-keeping tool comes in particularly handy because my husband and I share access to a Family Google Calendar, so each of us can easily check at a glance on our smart phones to see if the other has a work luncheon meeting, or what are the weekend plans, or if one of our kids is at dance or a doctor’s appointment, and so on.  I don’t use Google Calendars though just for family items, but I also have separate calendars / colored fonts for other calendars that just I use, such as “Novel 2” calendar/font color that I use to write my “BIC” hours or words written per day; I have a “Blog” calendar that I use to show when I have posted, or plan to post, blog items; I also have a “Marketing” calendar, a “Health” calendar, and a “Jacob’s School” calendar that pertains to things I have to keep track of for my son’s home-schooling.

Another digital change was making use of the “Our Groceries” app, which I don’t just use for my weekly grocery list and Meal Ideas list.  I have several different lists on this app, such as “Mel’s Personal To Do List,” “Mel’s Marketing Tasks List,” “My Blog Ideas List,” and “My WIP List.”  So, these lists in electronic format all in one place cut way down on my use of paper lists and cut waaaaayyyy down on my use of my beloved sticky notes.  I now mostly use the sticky notes only for tasks that I would label, “Must Get Done Today or Die!”  Oh, and I also use them for reminders not for myself, but for other members of my family.  Like there’s a bright orange sticky note right now on our microwave serving as an “Important To Do Soon” reminder for my hubby.   

So, this transfer from pen and paper to digital seven years ago also included switching from using my paper-filled, three-ring, “Novel Notebook” binder, to putting all that info onto my Google Calendar and onto Word and Excel digital documents. 

While switching to electronic formats in all these areas has worked out okay, I have decided to go back to using pen and paper and a spiral notebook for the area of my “Novel 2 Notebook”.  I have discovered that my digital tools have been very useful and convenient in lots of ways (and save lots of trees/paper), but it seems I do tend to be more creative, think things through more thoroughly, remember things better, and keep on task better … if I have to physically write items down on paper instead of typing them on my laptop keyboard or inputting them into one of my cell phone apps.

I will still use Google Calendar, Our Groceries app, and Word and Excel documents as back-ups and extra reminders for matters related to my Novel 2 Notebook, but the majority of the documentation will be in the spiffy My Brilliant Writing Planner.  This hardback, massive spiral (456 pages) is all that and a bag of chips.  It’s a yearly planner that incorporates your writing life calendars/tasks with all other areas of your life, such as your Spiritual life with “Daily Inspiration” pages that have spaces for a daily verse, reflection and that day’s needs.  It also has spaces each week for menu plans, a social media tracker, errands and appointments, calls to make, daily habits, and even the amount of water drank!

The writing part of the planner has spaces each week for goals of writing, marketing, craft, and other, which then is broken down into daily sections of top three goals, other plans, and daily word count.  It has a beginning section that asks journaling type questions as far as what in the writing realm worked out well for you last year and what didn’t; what kind of writing activities brought you the most joy and profit; and several questions regarding actual hours / time you have to write.  There are also pages with storycrafting spaces to use for two novels.  And … a super cool deal about this planner is you’re given a link when you buy it that leads to free Brilliant Writing Planner Classes, which are online videos that tell you how to fill out certain sections of the planner, and over four hours of audio / video that help advance your skills with tips and techniques, such as that which is covered in, “A New Year Chat with NYT Bestselling Author Rachel Hauck.”

• Bought Craft Book The Story Equation

I don’t remember exactly when or where I first heard about Susan May Warren, but I’m pretty sure it went something like this: I think maybe one of her earlier novels was featured in one of the daily emails I got from BookBub about free and on-sale books; then I bought her novel and noticed inside she was represented by one of the literary agencies I’m interested in (Steve Laube); then I went to her website and noticed she was the founder of My Book Therapy and the creator of My Brilliant Writing Planner; then I watched a promo video for the planner and loved Susie May’s style, and loved all the goodies packed inside the planner; then I debated about buying the planner at full price and if I would really make full use of it or not; then later it went on sale for half off! and I decided to buy it; then in one of the bundle packages there was also a sale on Susie May’s craft book The Story Equationwhich I thought looked really good and which there are pages in the planner that make use of the formula talked about in the craft book; so then I bought it!  Whew!

Okay, so the subtitle of this craft book is, How to Plot and Write a Brilliant Story with One Powerful Question.  The premise is you ask that question, then you take that answer and put it into a writing “equation” (“SEQ”), which then gives you elements to write that brilliant novel.  I didn’t use this formula for my debut novel, so although I think my first book was pretty darn good (SMILE), I hope my second book will be even better – and part of the way I hope to make that a true statement is by using the SEQ to plot and write what is currently titled, “Novel 2.”

• Changed Eating Habits and Added Exercise

Get ready to fall off your chair.  My husband and I have been married for 20 years.  Wanna know how much weight I have gained since we got married?  One hundred pounds!  Ridiculous!  Before we married, I was a busy newspaper reporter who didn’t have the time or money to eat much more than one sandwich a day that counted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or one roast beef dinner special at the local diner once a month.  I also jogged around the park each night when I wasn’t jogging off to some accident scene.  Point being, that is how I stayed thin and trim.

Once Gary and I married, I wanted to be the “ideal wife,” so at first, I pretty much made three-course meals every night.  I also didn’t exercise much, and I no longer was a reporter, so I wasn’t running around town everywhere, but instead had a desk job.  So, I probably gained about 50 of my extra pounds during the very first year of our marriage (and so did Gary by the way).  Through the years, I have been back and forth trying to exercise more and be on different diets, but never had much luck, and more stress kept entering my life which turned into me eating more and exercising less.

Anyway, I guess it was about the end of this school year that I realized I now weighed 100 pounds more than I did when I got married—and I just said to myself, “Enough!”  My parents also had been doing the Keto Diet I think like over six months at this period, and they lost a lot of weight and felt better, so that was just another reminder that I needed to change up my “health” life.

I began with intermittent fasting, which the method I use for that is I don’t eat breakfast, and I try to eat only during an eight-hour period, usually like 1 p.m. – 9 p.m., or don’t eat my first meal of the day until it’s been 15 hours since my dinner the night before.  So, if we were out to dinner late with friends or something and I didn’t finish eating until 11 p.m. Friday night, that means I wouldn’t eat my first meal of the day until 15 hours later, so that would be around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.  I learned about intermittent fasting from a YouTube video from Dr. Josh Axe, which I came across after doing a Google search about reasons for being bloated all the time, and ways to “Stop the Bloat.”  I then watched several other videos and read info on Dr. Josh’s website, and decided to try out intermittent fasting as a first-step in a weight-loss plan.

Intermittent fasting worked great for reducing the pressure and the size of my triplet-pregnancy-looking bloated stomach.  Have I lost any weight yet by doing this?  Only about five pounds.  But that’s okay, because I feel and look so much better using this method, that it’s “worth the wait.” And, even if I don’t lose any more weight doing this, it was a beginning step in weight loss, so now I can go forward with also changing what I eat, and how big of portions I eat, to lose more weight.  My goal is to lose 20 pounds by the end of this year.

Part of the weight loss plan, and just being healthier overall, is to incorporate exercise back into my life.  I have a day job as a medical coder, where I sit at a desk the whole time.  I then spend most of the rest of my free time during the day sitting down in my recliner when I’m working on writing and marketing tasks, or when I’m checking and responding to the billion emails in my Inbox.  Oh, and there is also an average of about two hours sitting in my car, on multiple days of the week, when I’m driving my daughter to and from dance or driving to and from church or other personal activities.  (Because we live at the lake, we usually have to drive at least 20-30 minutes just to get to H-E-B or Target.)

I decided to start exercising again when school let out, to jump-start into a routine, because with school out, I would get up early at the same time I usually drive my daughter to school before my day job.  Also, in April, my mother-in-law, Jane, moved into the house across the street from us that my hubby built for her, so I figured we could exercise together.  So, we started walking Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, just the mile around our neighborhood, and at a slow pace (using MapMyWalk).  We already have had to have off-days because of doctor appointments or work meetings or other instances, but we’re keeping at, and I hope soon to increase the speed and distance at which we walk.  We also have a subdivision swimming pool just up the street from us, so lots of lap swimming is in the plan too.

That’s it for today’s epic novel – err, today’s blog post.  Stayed tuned later this month for the third “Saddle” post, in which I’ll talk about what I’m currently doing and what I plan to do in the future to get back in the writing, blogging, marketing, and exercising saddles.