Blog Six: Multitasking
I remember this feeling when I was the mother of two little boys. You constantly handle the immediate, usually the boys and the mess they made, while cooking, doing the wash, and trying to squeeze out a minute to make yourself a cup of coffee.
Being a writer is a lot like this, but like childbirth pain, I’d forgotten how much it hurts. I have a book, The Image Maker, that’s been out almost a year. I am currently working with the publisher, Austin Macauley, to change the cover to a more colorful one that plays better online.
I just sent my most recent novel, now finally titled Lila: War, Alaska, and the Open Sea, to a new publisher, NFB Publishing/Amelia Press (See Blog 5). We are in the back-and-forth phase where the novel's interior is being formatted. I am also starting my marketing for this book, helped out by what I’ve learned from the woman I’ve worked with for The Image Maker, Schume Harris, from Books Butterfly.
I have some now-controlled health issues that will cause me to, for a short time, drive to Buffalo, 60 miles one way, several times a week. It’s spring, and the yard is crying out for a clean-up from the winter snow and winds. As writers and busy readers, you understand my multitasking mode. You desperately want to do each of these things well, very well, but they are all happening at once.
TAKE A DEEP BREATH
I finally did, and I feel in much better control. You need to get rid of the frantic part of your energy and direct it to what needs to be done. A friend of mine is doing a watercolor rendering of the Image Maker's cover. My artistic talents are close to stick-figure level. There’s one down.
The publisher for Lila is perfect. He asks for one thing at a time, I respond, and we are on to the next. I am being spoon-fed small portions.
Marketing is the all-encompassing task. I am smarter than I was a year ago, for sure. I have learned a lot at the knee of a professional. What I learned was to do more than you think you need to. There is no such thing as too much advertising. The other point is not to put everything in one bucket. That’s the too much part. Place your promotions where the right people are. The Image Maker is about the start of the oil boom in western PA in the 1860s. It is more than that; it is a story about people in crisis, amid chaos, and with the chance to become millionaires or lose everything. It is not just the three men; it is their families and the workers who do the menial jobs. Put it in book clubs where meaningful discussions can take place. Put it out to people working in the oil business, and the museums and libraries in the Oil Creek area.
Lila is a book about a strong, dedicated, forward-thinking lady with a big heart. She goes through the Depression as a child, then, during World War II, serves as an administrative assistant to the generals in Sicily and Italy, and then, back in the US, works in Alaska for the Army Corps of Engineers. She, at great cost to herself, excels all along the way. Love is lost, and won along the way. She decompresses by riding freighters in the deep winter months, wherever the boat takes her. This is a story, a literary piece, and a historical novel. There is a broader audience, so more advertising is needed on Goodreads, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and in independent bookstores. Work on getting onto local NPR and public TV stations in your area. Also, try to do interviews wherever you can, such as local newspapers, libraries, etc.
The yard. That is the best place for me to unwind. An hour can do a lot to clear my head and take the kinks out of my legs from sitting. Multitasking isn’t a dirty word or a recipe for disaster. It is something that needs to be managed, the best you can, by redirecting the energy away from blowing your head off and toward the tasks in front of you.
One more thing: this is a blog where I talk about my strategies for keeping all my tasks spinning safely in the air. It isn’t magic, and my experience might not be yours as a writer. Sometimes it helps to read something about what you are going through from someone else’s perspective. I am your someone else today. Stay in touch via the contacts section of this webpage. Emotional support is not just a nice thing to do; it is an important part of becoming a group of men and women who know you have their back. Sail on, my friends. All sails set!
