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Organizing a Personal Workflow Based on Your Life’s Needs – Part 1

TIME TO PLAN AND ORGANIZE AN PERSONAL WORKFLOW:

organizing-files There comes a time when any author or creator starts to accumulate a lot of documents. Manuscript files, first drafts, editor drafts, book cover files, social media images, how-to information, checklists, not to mention a work calendar of some kind. You can see that it can get overwhelming very quickly.

The trick to getting and staying organized is to analyze what type of work flow you have and what solutions and systems you need to cover all your bases. That’s what this blog post is all about.

There are lots of videos where people show you their work-flow setups, or their personal filing system. But every single person — even those producing the same type of work — will have different needs, different goals and even different outcomes.

Why not learn how to create your own system and workflow by analyzing what goals you have now and what needs to be done to achieve them?

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE GET SCATTERED AND OVERWHELMED?

What happens? You lose momentum. Without enough organization and a defined mission, most of us fall into a state of chaos. Some worse than others. You can’t see the forest for the trees because you can’t envision how to get from point A to point B. Your energy scatters. You lose your stride. The next thing you know. an invisible white flag goes up and you find yourself watching mindless videos as a distraction. Don’t let this happen to you anymore.

Organization-of-system-diagram

Before we start into mapping out any specific business strategies or personal goals, it’s important to get a handle of your everyday obligations as they stand today. Make a list of all you need to accomplish on a regular basis, plus your everyday must-dos, plus setting up your location, having your supplies and tools handy — this creates the perfect setup. This will lead to your personal work-flow. Once you know your unique workflow, then organizing a calendar and a filing system to match it will be easy.

BENEFITS TO ORGANIZING A WORKFLOW

Once you implement this system, you will eliminate all of the time eaters and time wasters. You can reacclimate yourself at any moment of the day. You can find your place in an instance. No more lost days or lost weekends. Most of the stress and worry about getting everything done will disappear. You will rely on your proven plan and proven system. You’ll accomplish almost double of what you’re accomplishing now.

IT ALL BEGINS WITH A LIST OF THE THINGS YOU NEED TO DO ON A WEEKLY BASIS.

First Things First To Do List Most people are balancing a personal life and a work life. Thinking about what you need to accomplish at work without taking into account all that is required in your personal life is a recipe for disaster. Your goals will be unrealistic and it will be a setup to fail.. It’s important to plan around realistic personal and business goals.

I am a self-published author writing in retirement right now. I own a home and live alone. So taking care of and maintaining myself as well as my home is my responsibility. Going to church, keeping up with friends and family, and even leaving time for a hobby or two, these are all sketched into my work flow plan. Everything you do requires time and energy. So having a realistic over-arching monthly plan of accomplishment will be the basis of your own personal workflow and system.

IT ALL STARTS FROM YOUR ROUTINE AND A REALISTIC LIST OF THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH:

checkline and outline Make a list of what a week in your life looks like. For me, I write novels, do book marketing, write blog posts and make videos (for marketing reasons as well as sharing my experience and knowledge with others).

On the personal side, I do freezer cooking once every three to four weeks where I spend the greater part of a day cooking for the month. I go to the gym three days a week with my cousin. And I organize a lunch with my neighborhood friends once a month as well. My workflow is knitted around these events, activities and goals. This is where my workflow starts. Your workflow design will start with your week-in-the-life information about yourself.

ASSIGN REALISTIC TIME SLOTS TO THE VARIOUS TASKS:

I can’t stress it enough how important being realistic about how much time things normally take is. For example: When I set aside time to write on a novel, I use two to 3 hour spaces in a day. If I can schedule one or two of these spots a week, I can continue writing at least two novels a year. If I can afford more time in some weeks, all the better. I choose quiet days without doctor appointments or other family or friend obligations where I will have quiet time to write.

woman-multitasking-distractions

I save some general research to do when I do my freezer cooking. During this time, I play writing videos in the background, so I can learn from other authors. Sometimes I play marketing videos. But I use the cooking time efficiently. I’m still moving forward with my goals, even when I’m cooking! Multi-tasking works!

Go through the entire list of things to do and put down realistic time slots for everything.

LOCATION | LOCATION | LOCATION:

Alongside the time allotment, add the location you need to be in to do this work. Also list what supplies, trinkets or tools you need to accomplish each. Plus, add whatever you like to have on hand like coffee.

coffee-in-cup-on-table Here’s a personal example: To write, sit in corner of my bedroom in a chair, with my laptop, with a table set up next to it. I like to drink coffee when I write, so I make sure I have a pot ready and on hand. I also place a pad and pen on the table so I can down any new names I choose during the writing process. I write in Scrivener which is loaded onto my laptop, so that’s all I need for the entire writing session. By recreating your perfect environment you can design a setup or gathering list so you won’t keep interrupting yourself with forgotten items.

When I am videotaping, I need my laptop, Snagit tool, printed video script, ideas for the YouTube thumbnail, a pen, ideas for text overlays, ideas for video graphic elements, and a ring light. To shoot a video, I also use a two to three hour workspace. I’m new at making videos so younger people may be able to work faster than this.

BUT I DON’T HAVE THAT MUCH TIME:

If you are someone who has a limited amount of time to achieve the goal of writing a novel, it’s okay. You can convert an hour a day into a book as long as you are organized and can protect your writing time. I published my first five books while still working full time. So I know it can be done.

Go through your life — at least those parts you are attempting to organize for efficiency — and analyze them as I suggested below. That list will become the basis of your personalized work flow and your ultimate work calendar.

MAKE A WEEKLY CALENDAR:

Add on your church and family obligations, school obligations, and you can then see realistically how much time you will have to write or do whatever your passion is.

It’s a good idea to make your list and live with it for the first few days or a week. A couple of things may happen. First, the time slots you gave each item may be much shorter than you thought or much longer than you thought. So adjust them as you go along.

Another thing that will happen is other obligations will arise that you didn’t remember when making the list. So before you write the list in stone and start planning around it, give yourself time to make the necessary and realistic adjustments. By the end of a week or two, you will be clear on what you need to do to set up a winning and successful plan to take you to where you want to be.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

words-what-comes-next In the next installment of this series, I’ll talk about getting more efficient. How to rid yourself and your life of time eaters, energy zappers, and other dead-end roads to nothing but time loss with zero accomplishments.

We’ll also talk about how to reclaim time and energy from your life to better apply it to your personal goals.

Here is a video I recorded covering most of the above material:

Writing Fiction or Memoirs With a Purpose

IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHY YOU WANT TO WRITE.

Everyone writes for a reason. Knowing why you write is important, especially as a beginner writer. Writing a book is not hard, but it can be a long process. If your purpose for writing is clear, this will give you the energy and inspiration to spur you on if and/or when the going gets a little tough.

Are you writing for pleasure? Are you an avid reader and you want to write the books you never found? Do you want to write around some social commentary you have a desire to share? Writing is a form of sharing. What is it that you want to share? Your wit? Maybe Satire? Have you always been told that you're funny? Do you have a unique take on society that you think people would like?

I love stories and movies that have a backdrop of Catholicism in them, like The Godfather saga, or The Supranos, or even Ray Donovan. The Catholicism in these stories felt familiar to me and I believe it gave the story a layer of depth as it tapped into religion and culture which tends to anchor a group or family. So I write novels that have either a backdrop of Catholicism or a ribbon of Catholic sensibility passing through it. Of course, I leave out the blasphemy that Hollywood loves to toss in there on occasion!

I also write as part of my legacy. I began to write in 2018 when I moved to Central Florida, which I considered my pre-retirement. Now I have retired and I write full time. I feel that my books will be part of my legacy. I'm clear on my purpose for writing.

ARE STORIES JUST BURSTING TO COME OUT OF YOUR HEAD?

Some people are what I call natural-born writers. They do have stories bursting out of their hearts and heads. Often, these people fell in love with reading as children. Reading was an adventure. It took them up, up and away. Some people have always had a desire to author their own stories. If this sounds like you, you are a natural-born author.

This is usually a sign that you have been given the gift of authoring. These gifts are Heaven-sent, and predate schooling and other influences in your life. If this is the case, embracing your fate is probably the next best step to take.

DO YOU WANT TO WRITE AS PART OF YOUR LEGACY?

There are trades and arts that seem to fall by the wayside in each generation. But often, how to do certain things is lost to history. Do you know how to do something that you feel you need to leave behind? Do you want to write about how you did something that is now fading from the world?

There are young people who don't know how to write a check anymore. They don't know how to address an envelope for the mail. Some don't even read cursive writing anymore.

Listening to a lecture by the learned intellectual and researcher Thomas Sowell, he stated that when Rome fell, the western world lost the art of making bricks. Then when the western world got back on its feet, they had to import brings from England because the art of making bricks died with the civilization. Cement was invented in Rome. They made all of those brick arches -- but the art was lost. What is it that you know how to do that you feel compelled to record for prosperity's sake?

I'm old enough to remember 'phone guys' that worked for Bell South or whatever the phone company was called back then. These men -- they didn't have phone women back then -- would show up with big toolbelts and gaffs or lineworker boots on. These boots had cleats or little metal spikes in them that was a safety feature. These men know everything about the phone system. They would climb the wooden telephone poles and they could fix phones outside on the pole or inside in the houses. They were familiar with the entire system. That is one group of technical workers that have fallen away.

Is there something about an art form or a job that you knew that you want to pass on for prosperity sake? You can write a novel around it and it will serve two purposes: It will be a way for you to tell the story of your industry or job and you will be documenting how life was at a certain time in history.

DO YOU HAVE A BURNING DESIRE TO SHARE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE?

Very often life dishes out some hard times to some of us. Did you experience, survive and prosper through some difficult times that you feel compelled to write a memoir about? You don't have to have been a famous celebrity or someone with a Moses-like mission. You may have fell on hard times and you want to share your experience, strength or faith that kept you going. People love inspirational stories.

Writing a memoir can also be part of your legacy. Someone three generations down the road may be curious about how the family was back in your times. By having a published memoir, you can share your perspective on things during the times you lived.

Today people no longer write letters. Most photos live on phones that may be lost or stolen. Even photos in the cloud could easily be lost to history without the right username and password. By writing a memoir, you may be someone who is documenting the present in a way that historians in the future may be very grateful for.

SO WHY DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK?

What do you think? Do any of these reasons resonate with you? Make your first writing assignment to list the reason or reasons why you choose to write.

Here is a video where I had a few more words to say about finding your reason to write!

How to Write a Book Series

I ACCIDENTALLY WROTE MY FIRST BOOK SERIES:

I didn’t set off to write a book series. How did it happen? My first novel turned out to be way too long and there was way too much going on. So I broke it down and wrote two separate stories.

Once I finished the first two novels, I realized that because my main character was a private investigator, it was possible to continue to solve crimes in new books, so that's what I did. The series is now four books, but I could easily add more in the future.

During the process of writing my first, second and third series, I learned a lot of tips to make it easier. There were so many things I didn't know I didn't know in the beginning. My purpose in this blog post is to pass on my best tips in writing a book series.

I found out later that more experienced authors even suggested that newer authors consider writing in series because it's easier to market the books. But my venture into writing book series was a happy accident.

TIP NUMBER 1: KEEP A LONG RUNNING INFORMATION LIST

Keep a long running names list. I call mine an Information Sheet. I put down every character I ever name. I learned the hard way to only trust my memory. It doesn't work!

By having a long list of every character, street names, crime locations, neighbor names, job titles, etc., you will have all of this information at your fingertips.

Example Number 1: In my first novel in the Jack Nolan Detective Series, I needed an immediate boss' name. So I chose Lieutenant Duane White. But then when I needed to refer to him in Book 3 but I forgot what I named him! I had to hunt him down in the manuscript of the first book. This can take hours, especially if you don't have any clue what you may have called him.

Now I keep the all proper names and other information that I may need again on a long list that travels with me through each book. No matter how insignificant the character seems, I write it down on my information list.

Example Number 2: I referred to Jack Nolan's wife, one of the characters, as having left him eight month's previous to the start of the series. By having this information recorded, I was able to track how many months passed and how this time increased over the time of the series.

Example Number 3: Town names, Plaza names, Mall names, etc. All of these seem insignificant when you are pulling the names out of the air during the drafting of the book. But with cops working in the same town, you may need to reference that same mall again.

Special Note to Fantasy Writers: They use what they sometimes call a World Bible, and this is a more extended information list. It's important to keep track of everything I've just mentioned, as well as the world rules and the rules regarding whatever supernatural power you may write about.

TIP NUMBER 2: KEEP A SHARED MARKETING LIST FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES:

Keep all of information about the books on one shared marketing sheet. I keep the names, publication dates, book links, categories, and keywords for the books all on one page.

Once you begin to market the books, you will need to use this information over and over again.

You may also want to keep a few short blurbs because when uploading to advertise on Bookfunnel, Bookbub, FussyLibrarian, or Freebooksy, you will need all of this information handy.

At the time of the writing of this blog post, Amazon only allow an author to put their book in 3 genres. If you have 4 books in a series, you can put the last three books in different genres thereby extending your marketing reach.

It goes without saying that you should have a link in the back of each eBook so the reader can click on the link and go to purchase the next book inthe series.

Amazon only allows seven keywords for each book. Use the best keywords for the first book or two. Then use longer-tail keywords and different keywords to broaden your reach for new readers. By having them handy, especially if you do keyword research, it will make all of this much easier.

Let me give you an example: In my Jack Nolan Detective Series, I put the first book into Police Procedurals, Mystery Romance, and Mystery Suspense. But Books 2 to 5, I can add into general mystery categories and women's fiction, literature and fiction, etc. You can imagine how much broader your reach for new readers will be.

TIP NUMBER 3: USE A BROAD STROKE CHARACTER ARC OVER THE ENTIRE SERIES:

I use broad-stroke character arc for the main characters that extends over all the books in the series. Each individual book, however, the character grows and changes a little bit. So each book contains its own arc, but there is a longer series arc for the main characters. It helps to know this before you start writing the series.

Each book has a crime or mystery that plays out and is solved. The characters grow during the subplot of each book. Once the mystery is solved, a new normal is shown with the characters embracing their new-found growth. In the next book, the same template will be followed. The mystery or crime will play out or be solved, and characters will grow, and there will be a new normal that reflects that growth.

TIP NUMBER 4: I WRITE THE BOOKS AS STAND-ALONE BOOKS

This tip is about writing the books in the series as 'stand-alone books'. This allows me to market the books as a series, but also as stand-alone books. As stated above, each book has a full plot that completes but I put in enough background information in order to fill in stand-alone readers on what is going on with the characters in case they haven't read the initial books.

I write in Scrivener and I set up a meta tag so I can keep track of what background information I need to drop into the story for those stand-alone readers. This makes marketing the books much easier.

Where to Find Beta Readers

WHERE TO FIND BETA READERS
DEPENDS ON TWO THINGS:

Some writers have no-to-little money to work with and they will take one route. Other writers have no time but have some money to work with. Where you are on this road will determine what your choices are.

I HAVE TIME BUT NO MONEY:

This could be a person who works full time, lives alone, or has a few kids and there is just not enough extra money around to fund all the things necessary to do when self-publishing a book. Not to worry. There are a few choices for you.

Goodreads.com is an active website for readers and authors and is filled with other authors who are also looking for help to publish their books. The trick is to find them.

If you search "Beta Readers" in the search box on Goodreads, it will bring up all of the beta reader groups that are available to you at that time. You can access this under the community tab on the navigation menu. Be sure to read the rules and regulations for the specific group because the last time I looked, there were a few Gestapo-like warnings and instructionals about how people should post.

If you happen to be extraverted or bubbly, good with people, you will have no trouble finding someone in one of these groups or forums to help you. I'm introverted and don't do well in these large groups because I always feel like I'm bothering people. But not everyone is like this, so if you are good at making acquaintances and friends, give Goodreads a try.

Try to google "beta readers" as well and you will find other forums that claim to have people willing to read your book. I never gave this much patience because I chose to just pay someone.

TRY A FAMILY MEMBER AS A BETA READER:

If you have a family member who you can trust to give you honest feedback and gentle criticism, this is probably the best choice. Make sure it's someone who will want to do a good job for you and they will know you are counting on them. That's what I did. My Aunt Gen offered to read my books and I jumped at the chance. She read them and kept a notepad by her book and jotted down everything she thought about.

I also had a friend who needed computer help and I bartered with her for beta reading. That was also a great experience.

The trick to making working with amateurs, so to speak, work is knowing two things. (1) Your readers will feel that they have to give you some level of criticism so you have to be ready to make that work for you. I'll go into that below. (2) The second thing is that sometimes people will give you advice about writing books that come out of left field. They will not know what they are talking about, so it's important to be prepared for this. Just be ready to thank them for their ideas.

Once you have chosen a family member or friend to beat read for you, you need to direct their attention to what it is you are interested in having them do. Tell them that after they read the book, you will want to know the following 5 things:

Do you like the characters?
Is the plot easy enough to follow or was it confusing at any point?
Were there any plot holes or anything about the plot that felt unfinished?
How were the character and location descriptions?
Did my prose read easily or did you find yourself having to re-read sentences sometimes?

That's it. Let them have the book with those questions. Then after they're done, you can ask them other questions. By guiding them as to what you want to know, you will get feedback and criticism that is helpful.

I HAVE MONEY BUT NOT TIME:

If you are working, raising kids, or just working 60 hours a week, you probably have a few extra dollars and will need to get someone two help you for a reasonable price. There are full industries that have sprung up around the entire self-publishing industry, but it's important to know how not to be ripped off!

I used Fiverr.com for my beta readers. I found someone who was willing to read my book and give me feedback. The person I chose read the book in Microsoft Word and she used commenting in the Track Changes feature. I hadn't thought of this myself at that point. She commented all throughout the book. This was so valuable because it was like being in the reader's head when she read the book.

I gave her my list of 5 questions above and between her answering the questions and commenting throughout the book, she did a great job. She charged me $80. This was back in 2022 so it may have gone up to $100, but I believe it's still worth it.

I have become a repeat Fiverr user as I have had nothing but good experiences on their website.

Here is a video you may like where I go over pretty much the same material I just explained in the blog post.

Beta Readers vs ARC Readers – What’s the difference

What's the Difference Between a
Beta Reader and an ARC Reader?

A Beta Reader is someone who reads the book to give you feedback as to whether people will even like the story. A beta reader knows they are reading a book that is not ready to be released. They are aware or should be made aware that they will be asked for feedback as part of the final crafting of the book process.

An Advanced Copy Reader is a different animal. They are readers who are also expected to give feedback, but many are not quite aware that the book is not yet "finished". They also don't look at giving feedback an obligation.

WHICH ONE IS BETTER? A BETA OR AN ARC READER?

In my humble opinion, they are different readers for different reasons. But I will share how releasing my book as an ARC copy came back to bite me once or twice.

I chose to use Bookfunnel or SiteOrigin to release my ARC copies so that I could get the readers' emails to be able to contact them with a gentle reminder to review the book when it was released. Sounds innocent enough, right?

Well, what I found out later was that often readers will volunteer to be an ARC reader but they just want a free eBook. I don't necessarily have a problem with that. However, then some don't read the book for up to a year or more. And when they do, they forget they are reading "an early copy" or an "imperfect copy" of the book.

I can point to several snarky remarks about spelling and/or punctuation in a few Goodreads and/or Amazon Reviews. I learned the hard way to never send out any ARC copies to any eReaders unless or until it has been beta-read, professionally edited and it's just waiting to be listed for a pre-order.

I STILL USE ARC READERS BUT FOR A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT PURPOSE:

I will continue to request ARC readers and I include a questionnaire in the back of the ARC copies. Several readers do take the time to fill them out for me. It's so valuable. Each one has a different take on things.

Going forward, I may also put a statement at the end of the ARC book copies reminding the reader that they are reading an ARC copy of the book and to forgive any last minute errors that are still uncorrected. Many of my past ARC readers did take the time to alert me to a typo or two on top of filling out the questionnaire and I can't tell you how valuable someone like this is. I now also put my ARC readers on my Acknowledgments page. They have no idea how grateful I am for them. I usually offer them a small gift or a free eBook for their trouble.

After release, I only send one gentle-reminder email asking for a review after the book is released. Not everyone posts a review, but that's okay. If I get a few, again, I'm thankful. If they are members of my newsletter list, I usually put an announcement that the book has been released and this serves as a second gentle reminder.

If you are interested in seeing more about my ARC reader procedure, click here.

WHAT'S THE TAKE AWAY?

The take away is -- at least in my humble opinion -- you don't need a whole team of 10 or 20 people to release a book. If you have one beta reader, a professional editor that you trust, and get feedback questionnaires from a few readers, that's enough. After all, at the end of the day, some people will love your work and some may hate it. You're writing for your own readership -- not for those people who don't like your work.

ONE FURTHER NOTE ON WRITING IN BOOK SERIES:

I write in series of four to five books. In the first book in any series, when the characters are new, this is when I may hire two beta readers. You want more than one or two opinions when main characters are new. When I released Murder in the Sanctuary, I had no idea if people would like the main characters -- Jack and Fiona. But it turned out most of the readers really liked them. What a relief! The additional beta readers gave me the confidence I needed as I went forward into releasing the book.

ADVANCED COPY READERS | ADVANCED FEEDBACK READERS - CHECKLIST AND CHEAT SHEET

Now, you know I love to have checklists, worksheets and cheat sheets. So of course I have one for this blog post and video.

The most important lesson I ever learned about Beta Readers and ARC readers -- in releasing a book in general -- is that it takes time. I need at least eight weeks to do a full ARC campaign, and two weeks for a beta extra for the beta readers and editor. When I was new, I had no idea of needing to do so many things before release.

This Checklist will lay out everything that has to be done, how much time you will comfortably need, and it will give any newbies the added confidence that you're not forgetting something!

BOOK MARKETING FOR THE SHY AND INTROVERTED:

Every self-published author -- and even some who have literary agents and publishers -- have to learn basic marketing skills today. I have developed many marketing skills that work for the introverted and camera-shy. If you can relate to that, subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on social media as I post about book marketing strategies all the time.

Here is a link to download the checklist in PDF format

I made a video where I speak about this topic that may be helpful:

MYSTERY NOVEL BRAINSTORMING WORKSHEET

This worksheet is geared for those who want to write a mystery or crime novel. Even those wanting to write literary fiction, you will need some level of mystery or suspense to keep readers hooked into your story. Literary fiction is about character studies and life studies than technical mysteries, but every book needs at least some level of suspense or surprise every so often to keep a reader’s interest. Even in a slice-of-life novel or a family saga, there needs to be something that is mysterious about the plotline.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORKSHEET:

When I first decided to write a novel, it took me one full year (I’m not kidding!) to even come up with a crime. Today, using these methods I’m about to reveal, it only takes me two to three days to think up three or four mystery scenarios.

My wish is that this worksheet will help those beginners who don’t know where to start and are still trying to think of a good crime.

THE LISTS | CHOOSE FROM COLUMN A AND COLUMN B:

Below I have lists of crimes and also mystery genres. This list is meant to jog your memory and get your creative juices flowing. All of the crimes can be swapped into any genre. The list at the bottom is of multiple genres, but this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Just look at the categories on Amazon to get a feel for how many book genres there are today.

START THE WORKSHEET BY CHOOSING A CRIME OR MYSTERY:

Let’s talk about how to use this work sheet. Choose a crime or mystery from the list below and make up a potential perpetrator. Don’t waste time on what he or she looks like. Then start asking the following questions:

Why would this person want to commit this crime?
What could be going on in his/her life that would make him/her feel they needed to commit this crime?
How would he want to cover his tracks?
What specific knowledge would a character need to pull off a crime or swindle like this? In other words, is he/she an accountant and that makes it easier to commit a financial crime?
Then ask: Who would need to help him or give him/her cover? Add necessary characters and think about a connection. Is it a family connection? Is it a romantic connection?

THE NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Once you have a perpetrator and the cast of necessary characters, then it’s time to answer the following questions:

What could go wrong in the commission of this crime that would create tension or mystery? (He drops a glove or a drop of blood.)
How will these clues ultimately lead to his/her exposure? (How will this clue be found?)
How can this end in a way that would let justice prevail? (How and who will find the clue?)
How will the culprit ultimately be caught? (Is he cornered by an accuser? Is he arrested? Does he confess?)
What is one clue that can be minimized in the beginning of the story but will turn out to be the one who catches the bad guy?

NEXT SET OF QUESTIONS:

List the things that could go right for the perpetrator -- like a second, more-likely suspect pops up and suddenly all eyes are not on the real culprit anymore?
Could there be other likely suspects that would also have motivation to commit the crime?
As the story grows, add whatever crucial characters are needed (witnesses, husbands, wives, bosses, helpers, etc.) who you will need to make the crime and solving of the story happen.
If you get this far, it means that you have a viable storyline.

THE SKELETON OF THE CRIME:

Before you exert too much energy fleshing out any character or story details, be sure to check to make sure you can design a three-prong storyline out of this budding storyline. One prong will be a red herring storyline, someone who may look guilty, but is exonerated in the middle or end of the story. The second prong is a second suspect or a wrong suspect who will look guilty for a large segment of the storyline. And the final prong will be for the real culprit. In order to have a story that works, you will need a believable crime that can meld these three prongs into one suspenseful story.

As you use this worksheet and these techniques, a crime skeleton will emerge. Some attempts at this will go flat in the early stages for any number of reasons. But some storylines will begin to almost shape themselves.I always make four believable storylines and then choose the best one. Then I know I have the best of my ability at that time in my life. Once you know you have a storyline and a lineup of stick figures and character roles that can technically pull off the mystery, so to speak, then you can begin to build real characters and an actual story.

THE CHARACTERS BUILD THEMSELVES:

Once you know what will be needed for the three-pronged storyline and what traits the lead characters will need to play out their parts, the characters will start building themselves into two-dimensional characters. You can take the characters up to deeper, three-dimensional characters as you flesh out your main story and subplots.

LIST OF MYSTERIES, CRIMES & GENRES

I hope this is helpful. Once you know you have a workable storyline, then it’s time to take a look at my Ultimate Character Development Worksheet. This will help you bring the stick figures to three-dimensional with a full character arc.

Character Development Worksheet

THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET

MAIN CHARACTER WORKSHEET:

When I started writing several years ago, I came across the standard character worksheet and it focused mostly on physical attributes, occupation but there was a disconnect regarding their role in the storyline, which is the most important part.

My purpose in this blog post is share a more in depth character development worksheet. I'll go over the different parts of the worksheet with a brief explanation of the parts that need a little explanation. Most of the worksheet is self-explanatory.

The first question is: Is this a Main Character you are developing? Or Minor Character? There is a separate Minor Character Development List on the third page of the checklist. We'll begin with the Main Character development.

The following aspects of the worksheet are self-explanatory. The only prompt I will give to beginning writers is that you want to keep your writing lean. So think in terms of what background, educational and job information is crucial for the plotline of the story? That's the most important part.

THE BASICS:

Name of Main Character
Job/Position
Educational Background
Physical description - (age, body type, build)
Relevant Background:
- What background information is needed for the story setup?
- What background information is crucial to the story itself?

THE INCITING INCIDENT:

Most plotlines need an inciting incident. This is the occurrence that happens to take the main character out of his/her normal life and into the storyline. What will this be?

Sometimes it is an incident that happens but sometimes, like in a police procedural, it's as simple as being assigned to a case. Either way, the inciting incident is what begins the actual story arc and the character arc.

TWO MAIN QUESTIONS:

Will the character try to avoid entering the storyline? If so, how will this play out?
What will happen in the story that will convince or make the Character agree to move forward into the storyline? What will be the inciting incident?

CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS:

As a newbie, it took me awhile to remember that a character needs to have an arc over the storyline. So it's important -- and time saving -- to know what that arc will be before you even begin the draft. This character sheet can help you find this so you know where you are starting from and where you want to end up. The following questions should help you focus on what this character arc will be:

What does the character want?
Who and/or What is standing in his/her way?
What fear is in the way to conquering this obstacle?
How will the character conquer him/herself
How will this play out over the four parts of the story?

CHARACTER ARC IN FOUR PARTS:

I write in a four-part story line as opposed to the 3 part storyline. So I break the character arc into these specific parts:

Part 1: Where does the Character Arc start out?

Part 2: How will the Character change in part 2, if at all? How will this play out in the second part of the plot?

Part 3: How will the Character change in part 3, if at all? How will this play out in the second part of the plot?

Part 4: How will the Character change in part 4? How will this play out in the last part of the story?

MINOR CHARACTER:

For minor characters, you only need to answer a few questions. It helps to know what role these minor characters will play and what, if any, background information is needed to support them in the storyline:

Name
Role in Story
Any background that is needed to move the story forward?
How will you add background or character traits of this minor character?
Will there be any character arc?
If so, what is it in one sentence?

Book Review – My Swordhand is Singing

Book Title: My Swordhand is Singing
Author: Marcus Sedgwick

AMAZON DESCRIPTION:
WHEN TOMAS AND HIS SON, Peter, settle in Chust as woodcutters, Tomas digs a channel of fast-flowing waters around their hut, so they have their own little island kingdom. Peter doesn't understand why his father has done this, nor why his father carries a long, battered box, whose mysterious contents he is forbidden to know.But Tomas is a man with a past: a past that is tracking him with deadly intent, and when the dead of Chust begin to rise from their graves, both father and son must face a soulless enemy and a terrifying destiny.

WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: I'm always interested in why book reviewers choose the books they do, so I'll reveal the reason behind my own choice. This book came up in a "Best Vampire Books" video I watched. I expected a "classic vampire book" as I started the book, but it wasn't that at all.

MY REVIEW AS A READER: The story unfolded as more of a old-lore fairytale, a moral tale, that had a twist of vampire-like happenings in it. Vampires were barely mentioned by name. I like books that are written in a fairytale style so I kept reading. I especially like books that have some kind of moral ribbon running through it or at least a reference to a spiritual dimension. This book had all of the above.

I enjoyed the book and it was a fairly easy read. There was an unexplained box that was referenced and this held my interest and kept me reading. I won't give anything away about the box, but it served as the ribbon of suspense that did run through the entire book.

It's hard for me to comment on the writing as I'm still studying "fairytale writing" itself. The prose held the storybook style the entire way through so I give the author an A+ for that.

REVIEW AS AN AUTHOR: As I read, I paid particular attention to see how this fairytale style is done but I can't yet put my finger on it. I did notice that the characters were only two-dimensional. They had their role to play in the plotline plus one thin layer of history that conjured up sympathy, compassion or empathy. I did notice that. There was distance between the reader and the soul of the character. I would love to discuss this with other authors, so if anyone else is interested in this style of writing, email me and let's discuss it!

The author did a great job in recreating the lifestyle of woodcutters in the ancient world. The scenes were vivid and had a bit of a Charles Dickens feel to them. As an author, I think this is hard to do and I do take my hat off to Marcus Sedgwick for his writing style.

There was a band of gypsies in the story and their caravan and scenes were written very well. This too kept with the fairytale genre without seeming stereotypical. I can tell as an author that there was research done regarding "gypsies during ancient times".

I plan to look through the book again and reanalyze some of the writing style to see what else I can learn about writing in the fairytale style.

THE BAD REVIEWS:

I always like to check author's bad reviews after any book I read. I like to see if there there is any legitimate criticism. I find most bad reviews are just snotty comments made by readers in bad moods. But occasionally, I will find one with at least some critical value. The only 3-star review with a comment was that the reader was expecting a classic vampire story. I did have the same unmet expectation in this book. However, I was able to shift into this fairytale for what it had to offer.

I've also learned the hard way as an author myself that it's important to let the readers know ahead of time what the book will be like because not everyone is okay to go into a book with one set of expectations and be able to shift into enjoying the book anyway. This 3-star review confirmed it. It seemed that the only reason for the lackluster review was this disappointment.

SOME TURN OF PHRASES I NOTED:

"She had eyebrows like a man's that seemed fixed perpetually in a scowl."
"Do not trespass on my patience."
"She was still dressed in mourning weeds."
"The trunk where he's been chopping gave a deafening crack, as if lightening had struck nearby."

Advanced Reader Copy Checklist

Below are two screen shots of my checklist for organizing an Advanced Reader Copy Campaign.
I would only add one final suggestion -- which I learned the hard way:

Be sure to put a disclaimer in the beginning of the book and right at the end if this is an advanced copy. I say this because if you offer the book early and then fix a few additional typos or anything else, the readers can forget that the book they just read was an advanced reader copy. Some readers can get a bit snotty in their reviews if they find these typos that get through! I think by having a little disclaimer that this is an early copy and not the final published copy, it may be a gentle reminder to the readers that whatever typos they saw were probably corrected in the final copy.

I know it's hard to see the details on these pictures. There is a download link at the end of the page, after the next video. Sign up, download a 8.5 x 11 pdf of this two page instructional and cheat sheet.

Book Marketing – The Toolbox and File System

THE TOOLBOX:

Now that you have a generic marketing calendar, it's time to assemble your toolbox. These are the things you will want to have close by when it's time to dedicate an hour or two to marketing.

GRAPHICS PROGRAM

First into the toolbox is a graphics program. I used to use Photoshop, but since I retired from work, I now use Gimp because it's free. I try to do everything as free as I can because I devote all monies spent on producing my books on an editor and paid book ads that work. I say 'ads that work' because many of them don't. More on that in the next few blog posts.

MARKETING CALENDAR:

I used to use Hootsuite, but it got too expensive and I couldn't see enough in their desktop area. I switched to using a Microsoft Excel sheet. This allows me to continue to just Right-click and add a row above, so it is easy to build out the calendar. Within 6 months, I had about 4 to 6 daily marketing ads to post everyday. I find this the easiest.

THE CRUCIAL BOOK INFORMATION:

Below is a snapshot of the excel sheet as calendar I use. Below that is a list of everything else you will need to make any and all ads that come up. By having all of this at your fingertips, you can decide to dedicate one or two hours to marketing, and then be able to dive in without having to stop to fetch one thing after another.

I like using the Excel sheet because I can see a bird's eye view of what's coming up over the next few days or weeks. I can also use the scroll bar to zip around and see what else is coming up. I can use the find feature -- Control F -- to find anything by using a keyword or two. And last but not least, I can copy emojis and they paste out in the color onto social media! I'll post one below. All I do is copy and paste this from the excel sheet:

🚨🚀💥🧨✈️ 👉 BOOK MARKETING 👈✈️🧨🚀🚨
Where and How does Book Marketing Start?
First you need a generic marketing calendar to user year after year
Learn More 👉https://readfirstchapter.com/book-marketing-for-new-authors/
#bookmarketing, #selfpublishing, #marketingads

A BOOK COVER IN THE RIGHT RESOLUTION:

You will need a digital book cover in 72 dpi size format. This is smaller than the size needed for a printer. If your book cover pictures are too big, then you can shrink them down using Gimp. I'm making a mental note to do a short video on how to do that.

MAKE A CHEAT SHEET OF INFORMATION

Next you want to make a cheat sheet by gathering all of the following information in one document so you can copy and paste it easily. I use a Notepad document because they are easy to open, can stay up when other programs are open, and they have the "find feature" as well.

Along with the 72 dpi book cover, you will need short blurbs about your book or books. Starting at about 150 words, keep whittling the blurb down until you have several blurbs with the last one being about one sentence (for Amazon ads).

The quickest way I have found to do this shrinking blurb routine is to start with the blurb from the back of the paperback. I copy and paste that into my cheat sheet. Then I whittle that one down by 20 to 30 words and save that one too. Somewhere after 75 words, you're down to just what I would call 'an ad blurb'. I do this whittling down using a Word document, so I can record how many words the blurb is. I keep that with each blurb.

Copy and paste any and all purchase links for your book. Be sure to keep track of which merchant each link belongs to. Besides the purchase links, you may want to keep the paperback and hardcover links handy -- you never know!

If you have a sample of the book posted online, be sure to record this link as well. Using free giveaways of the first few chapters is a good sales pitch. Record any Bookfunnel and Site Origin book links. Anytime you can use the giveaway links, it's another opportunity to build your reader list, also known as a mailing list or a newsletter list.

HASHTAGS:

Most younger people know what hashtags are. If you're a boomer like me (hee hee), you may need to brush up on what hashtags are. Go to YouTube and search out videos explaining hashtags. Someone will explain them to you.

For others who know what they are but don't know how to use them, I'll give you the first few to get you started.

readersoffacebook
#readersofinstagram
#readersoftiktok
bookstagram
#booktok

ROYALTY FREE IMAGES:

For any advertising, you will need royalty free images and graphics. I use DepositPhotos.com . There is another place called pixabay.com and they offer totally free pictures and graphics. You may want to start with them.

Did you know that if you are a Microsoft 365 customer, there are thousands of pictures, illustrations, icons and more available to you in the Powerpoint program? I've started using those as a new resource for free photos.

Anyway, you will need to have royalty free images to use in marketing.

PICTURE AND ADS FILING SYSTEM:

For the first year, I had pictures and ads all over the place. This year I sat down and devoted about two hours to organizing all of my various pictures on my computer. Everyone has their own filing systems and I'm not claiming mine is the best, but for anyone who wouldn't know where to begin, this can get you started.

I use one file called "Royalty Free Photos" where I keep all the photos I download from Deposit Photos, Pixabay or even Powerpoint. I use a naming style shown below so I know where I got the picture:

DP-Picture-Description.png ==> DepositPhotos.
GI-Picture-Description.png ==> Google images
PX-Picture-Description.jpg ==> Pixabay picture
PPT-Picture-Description.png == Powerpoint picture

I keep my marketing ads that I make in a large folder called "MarketingImages". I keep pictures of the ads and my 72dpi book covers in this file. I use a naming taxonomy as follows:

RMPI-Ad-Description.png ==> Ryan Mallardi Private Investigations
NVS-Ad Description.jpg==> Newport Vampire Stories Series
JNDS-Ad Description.png==>Jack Nolan Detective Series
Groomed-Ad-Description.png ==> Ad about Groomed for Marriage
Sanctuary-Ad-Description.png==> Ad about Murder in the Sanctuary

I keep all of these pictures and graphics in the Marketing Images folder. I allow them to all swim free in the one folder. It seems chaotic, but I can use the find feature to fetch anything I need. When I want to find a picture of the ads I've made for a series of books, then I click "Control F" and type in "RMPI" and all of the ads that I have with that naming nomenclature come up. Then I can pick one. There is nothing more frustrating than having to enter and exit subfolders!

I hope you enjoyed this segment of my Book Marketing for Authors series. Be sure to see my YouTube Channel for more marketing videos.

Next I am planning on demonstrating how to make the first ad that you will need, the book cover and summary like the one i have below:

Next Blog Posts: The first ads - All About the Book