Tag Archives: Career Planning

Go Confidently Into This Good Year

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Go Confidently into This Good Year. My grandchildren gave me a very important gift one Christmas. That gift was a mug with these words printed on it. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” I’d pointed that mug out one day at a Barnes & Noble where the kids and I were indulging in a much beloved pastime – book buying.

The Dread Begins. I coveted that mug from the moment I saw it, but now I actually had one. Sitting in my writing corner, that day and every day, holding my coffee and my trepidation. Sometimes, after a sip of the former, I would put the mug back down with the words facing deliberately away from me, in order to avoid confrontation with the latter.

A Helluva Assignment. Truth was, I didn’t feel equipped to Go Confidently anywhere. My first great critic, next to myself, was my mother, and I could hear her speaking from beyond this material plane, plain as day. “You always take on more than you can chew.” She’d said a mouthful of unchewables, and I had no smartass response. Would you? Well, we’d best get one.

We Need a Plan. That’s a pic of me standing at a podium, like I did for 30+ years, hardly ever appearing to lack confidence. Want to know why? Look at what I’m doing. Checking my notes. When I need to look, and maybe even be, confident, I make a plan. I write that plan down. Then, with a few smartass digressions thrown in, I follow it. We need to do the same now. In writing. With lots of specifics. Make a plan for how to Go Confidently into This Good Year.

What is “the direction of your dreams”? What do you want to accomplish right now? By which I mean, over the next 3 months. Grab a paper product or device you can write on. Don’t ponder much. We’re brainstorming, not brain-straining. Remember what I said about specifics. List anything that comes to mind, as long as it’s a concrete action. And write really fast,

Map Those Directions for the next few miles. New page(s). Still in rapid-response mode. To each item on the above list, add 3 specific actions you might take to make that accomplishment happen. Don’t edit or judge or compare the validity or practicality or whatever of your original list items just yet. Simply whale away into that brainstorm. No self-harpooning allowed.

Refine Your Route. During that last exercise, my guess is you found yourself responding more enthusiastically to some of your original dream accomplishments and less so to others. Go back over your combined list now – dream achievements plus specifics to get there. Asterisk the dream categories that excite you most. Once again, don’t ponder. Follow your gut.

Prioritize Your Trail Markers. Draw a big circle around each of your asterisked achievement categories and the how-to’s that go with each. Still fast-tracking. Rate those circles in order of importance to your career as you see it right now. Or in order of which ones turn you on most. Number them. And there you have it. A Plan for Your Next 3 months.  After that time has passed, simply grab a tablet and your stormy brain and repeat the above exercise for the next 3 months, then the next, and so on.

Now – Here’s the Kick-Start Kicker. If you did what I asked. If you moved ahead fast as gangbusters. If you short-circuited any and all temptations to edit/judge/second-guess the storm gusts your brain was gifting to you. Then my guess is you experienced little or no self-doubt during this entire slam-bam process. You were Confident about what you were doing.

What Comes Next. Whether you realize it or not, you have made a bold move toward “Living the life you’ve imagined.” But don’t dwell on that too much just yet. Celebrate instead. Because you did it. You made it. You are now ready to Go Confidently into This Good Year.

P.S. These two pics are years-back shots of our grandkids. Maya after winning a Tai Kwan Do Championship she didn’t think she should even enter. Julian, well, ready to take on the Hulk. They must have Go Confidently mugs of their own. In fact, Grandma is confident that they do.   Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com

A Wrong Way Home – Alice’s Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Book 1 – is a FREE Kindle eBook HERE. Enjoy!

Alice’s latest novel is A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Book 5. Available HERE.

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving. “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.”

Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

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Make a Plan – Hear God Laugh – Orr What? Wednesday

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God Laughs image“If you want to hear God laugh – make a plan.” I’ve heard that so often because I say it so often. Too bad I apparently didn’t listen to myself saying it. I went made a plan for launching my next book. A well thought out and specific plan – maybe even foolproof – or so I believed.

I alerted everybody. The wonderful women at The Killion Group Inc. who design my covers and format my books and get them into print. My website developer who is also at Killion. My brand new newsletter designer. And of course my controlling self.

“Let’s all be on the same page.” That was the message. We’d be coordinated and ready on the same day – Monday June 22nd  – absolutely not a minute before. I sincerely believed I could make that happen just because I said it would happen. Has anybody ever heard of Hubris?

I happened to be on line last week at the amazon.com site and there it was. The print paperback version of A Year of Summer Shadows. It’s been there since April. You can see for yourself at http://amazon.com/author/aliceorr. Not supposed to be there but it is.

What the hey! I say. The closest I was allowed to cussing back in the North Country when I was a kid growing up where my story’s also set. Let’s put out the eBook early too. Except – at last sighting – amazon had missed my memo. Print book and eBook aren’t on the same page.

I hear laughter. I can’t tell if it’s on high or only inside my head. I made a plan. I convinced myself it would work. Most foolish of all – I believed it made a difference. I forgot that when it comes to writing stories and putting them out into the world only one thing matters.

“You find your readers one person at a time.”

Remembering that jolted me to my senses. For one thing the words strike me as absolutely true. For another thing they prompt me to ask myself how we do that. How do we attract readers one at a time?

The only conclusion I can come up with is this. We must each turn the question toward ourselves individually. “How do I do that? How do I find my readers one at a time?” Which prompts other questions also.

#1. What is the special gift I have to offer others – one potential reader at a time?

Maybe it’s humor. Maybe it’s expertise and insights. Maybe it’s simply telling a damned good story. We must open our kitbags and examine the contents closely. What is in there that others might need? What is in there that others might want? Then we must resolve to give it away.

#2. What access can I create for giving my gift away – one potential reader at a time?

When searching for resources – we must first step outside our own front door and look up and down the street. Start local. Cultivate that ground. Plow on from there. Our own front door being any repository of information about people we actually know – or almost know – firsthand.

#3. What if someone says this is too slow to go – one potential reader at a time?

Personally I do my best every day to fight back that fear. Because I know full well in this internet place I am a single voice among a thundering avalanche of voices. But as a giver of my gifts to each single soul I am singular as well – as are you. And that single number counts.

So we keep on Facebooking and Tweeting and Uploading and all the rest. We keep on making plans. Maybe God is laughing but I believe that laugh has an affectionate ring. Meanwhile – down here in this crowded world – we would do well to keep in mind and heart the best plan of all. To have some fun as we reach out toward one reader – one person – at a time.

RR

A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – Mark & Hailey’s Story. Launches with summer on June 22nd – or whenever – at amazon.com/author/aliceorr. This is my 13th novel and while God may be laughing I can’t help but smile. Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Do Everything Right – A Writer’s Business Plan Step 2 – Orr What? Wednesday

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Excellence imageLast week I talked about A Writer’s Business Plan – Step 1. That step was basically this. You have to work your you-know-what off. I told a story of a top achievement moment for me and how I got there. You guessed it. I worked my you-know-what off. That’s a tough standard to maintain but the writing career route isn’t an easy trip.

Step 2 is equally tough and demanding. In order for you to succeed your Writer’s Business Plan must be built around excellence. To be more specific – you have to do every right. I understand nobody can actually do everything right. But you must make Doing Everything Right your goal and come as close as you can to achieving it.

This is most difficult with the challenges that scare us. When I started out as a literary agent the thing that scared me most was lunches with editors. A lot of my work for my clients was done in Manhattan restaurants at a narrow table with an editor from a New York City publishing house. I’d been one of those editors myself for a while but this was completely different.

I remember walking to my first editor lunch date as an agent. I was so frightened I didn’t know how I’d be able to eat because my stomach was in my throat crowded flat up against my heart. I kept telling myself one thing over and over again. “Don’t order anything that will fall off your fork.” No peas. No pasta that requires twirling. Nothing with lots of parts and sloppy sauce.

As it turned out I needed more preparation than that. I made it through the lunch hour mostly because the editor was a gracious soul. She recognized I was floundering and helped me along. “Tell me about some of the writers you represent,” she said. She’d kindly introduced the subject I should have introduced myself. I’m still grateful to her for that.

I never went unprepared to a professional lunch again. I made an advance plan for each one. I researched the editor and what she published. I made a list of specific clients and projects that would interest her. I memorized that list and how I’d pitch each project. I arrived at the restaurant early then kept my list out of sight and put on my brightest smile.

I didn’t bring up business until the after-the-meal coffee was being served. I didn’t take notes but I listened carefully. After our goodbyes I dashed to the nearest coffee shop and wrote down everything she’d said. Back at my office I accessed the client project most perfect for that editor and emailed it to her. Next day I messengered a backup hard copy as well.

I’d discovered the three stages of doing everything right. Stage 1 – Do your research. Come up with an action plan and a specific strategy for executing that plan. Stage 2 – When your boots are on the ground and the job has to be done follow your plan. But be flexible enough to detour when surprise opportunities arise. Stage 3 – Follow up. Follow up. Follow up.

A Writer’s Business Plan stages read like this. Stage 1 – Research your story. Plan your story. Pantsters will do less of this. Stage 2 – Put your you-know-what in a chair and work it off writing every day. Stage 3 – Get your story out there. Submit to traditional agents and editors. Or to your own hired editor who will make your story the best it can be before you indie publish it.

Fill out your own individual details for each of these stages. By the way – no negative thinking is allowed. You absolutely can do this. You’re already on your way to doing everything as right as you possibly can. And when you go to lunch with an editor let me offer a word of advice. If you’re doing everything right you won’t have time to eat.

RR

My current novel is A WRONG WAY HOME – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #1 – available at amazon.com/author/aliceorr. Next is A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book #2 – launching with summer on June 22nd. These are my 12th and 13th novels and I’m trying to do everything right with both of them.  Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com