Set Yourself a Timed Goal

As I wait for my copies of my new Hashbrown book to arrive, I feel the need to give away something else. Do you want to know about one of my favorite series? Farworld by J. Scott Savage simply rocks! It is fantastic middle grade fantasy with two awesome main characters. I’ve read his first 2 books and listened to them on audio and I’m just about to start the recently released third book in the series. So… I’ll be going to attend an event where Mr. Savage will be signing his books within in the next week and I will have paperback copies of his first and second Farworld books autographed. Once we’ve hit 375 Likes on my author page -

https://www.facebook.com/FrankL.Cole

I’ll do a drawing and give them away.  Just hunker down and “like” me for crying out loud and spread the word to the world!

Now for a tip. I've posted this one before, but I think it can be helpful to repeat. I learned this one at a conference from a pretty well-known author named James Dashner. When writing we often set "word" goals to accomplish. For example: Today I will write 2,000 words before powering off my computer, or tomorrow I won't eat until I've written 3,500 words. Though it is great to set goals to motivate yourself, I sometimes suffer from writer's block when I force myself to write a certain number of words.  Also, I have found at times, my writing won't be as sharp and focused as it needs to be if I'm always trying to crank out massive quantities of words. So, to mix things up, try setting yourself "timed" goals where you write for a specific amount of time. For example: Today I will write and work on my project (and not play on Facebook) for an hour, or two hours, or six hours depending on your ability to do so. That way you can tell yourself, Hey, if I write one solid chapter, or create a strong protagonist, or fix a plot hole I've been dealing with for weeks during that period, you can consider your writing time as a success. You can still keep track of what you accomplished in word count for the day, but you don't have to beat yourself up for not hitting a word goal. I once spent three hours in my office trying to come up with a name for my main character. I succeeded in naming him Stephen Thomas and the book has never been published. Er... that was a counterproductive statement, but I still felt like I had accomplished something even though I never hit a particular word goal.

As always, my tips may not work for you, but ha ha, you just read them. :)

Now go to Facebook and Like my page. Trust me. It's the right thing to do.