Avoiding New Project Overload

Today I'm hosting guest blogger, Stephanie Faris. She will be discussing how to avoid becoming overburdened by a new project undertaking.

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You have a great idea for a book. You’ll just sit down, start writing, and 80,000 words later, you’ll be done
Wait…80,000 words?

The idea of writing a book can seem beyond daunting at the beginning. With so many words to get to “the end,” it’s hard to imagine you’ll ever get there. If it takes six months, a year, or longer to reach the final page, is it worth it? What if you never get it published? What if you self-publish and nobody buys it?

If you’re a planner, the best way to get past those early feelings is to sit down and map out your entire book. When you see the full trajectory of your book, you’ll at least see it as accomplishable. Then set small daily goals for yourself and try to stick to them. You don’t have to write 2,000 words a day, but at least try to write 100 words. Most days you’ll write more words than 100 and soon you’ll find you’re halfway to the end.

I’m not a planner, but I downloaded Scrivener last year and I’ve found it has helped in a lot of ways. One major way is that I can’t easily see the word count on my manuscript while I’m writing. So instead of watching that number at the bottom of my screen, I just write. Occasionally I “compile” to see how far along I am and I’m always surprised by how much progress I’ve made. You may find that’s easier.

National Novel Writing Month is also a great way to make serious progress on your manuscript. You commit to writing a book during the month of November and if you succeed, you get a nice little badge for your blog. If you don’t succeed, you almost always have made significant progress on your book. Finishing is just a matter of sticking with it into the new year.

Writing a book is hard work. It’s a long-term commitment but when you finally type “the end,” it is such a huge accomplishment. Like anything in life worth doing, you’ll put in long hours and sometimes feel like you can’t continue but if you just push through, you’ll have a finished book that you can then edit, revise, and (eventually) share with the world.

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Piper Morgan Joins the Circus

By Stephanie Faris

Blurb:
Piper helps some four-legged friends find the perfect home in the third book of the brand-new Piper Morgan series.

Piper is super excited to help out at Bark Street, a local animal shelter in town. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by adorable puppies and dogs all day? And when Piper sees Taffy, the cutest dog she has ever seen, Piper is determined to find a way to bring Taffy home. But it won’t be easy—especially when she finds out someone else wants to make Taffy a part of their family, too!

Bio:

Stephanie Faris knew she wanted to be an author from a very young age. In fact, her mother often told her to stop reading so much and go outside and play with the other kids. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism, she somehow found herself working in information technology. But she never stopped writing.

Stephanie is the Simon & Schuster author of 30 Days of No Gossip and 25 Roses, as well as the upcoming Piper Morgan series. When she isn’t crafting fiction, she writes for a variety of online websites on the topics of business, technology, and her favorite subject of all—fashion. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a sales executive.


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