December 6, 2023 • 32 mins
In this special episode, Sharon takes a break while Christy nerds out with fellow Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach Sara Gentry, focusing on project management for writers. They discuss setting practical deadlines, recognizing personal workflows, and the importance of documenting progress. They also emphasize approaching the creative process with intention while being open to discovery.
02:44 Understanding the Complexity of Writing a Novel
05:44 The Importance of Project Management in Writing
09:35 Setting Realistic Goals and Managing Energy
14:47 Understanding Your Writing Process
20:24 The Role of Planning and Scheduling in Writing
28:19 The Importance of Trying Different Writing Strategies
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @CoachingKidLit
You can find Sharon Skinner at bookcoachingbysharon.com or connect with her on Instagram @sharon_skinner_author_bookcoach and X @SharonSkinner56.
You can find Christy Yaros at christyyaros.com or connect with her on Instagram and X @ChristyYaros.
You can find Sara Gentry at solutionsforwriters.com or connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and X @writewithsara.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Coaching KidLit, a podcast about writing and
publishing good kidlit. We dig into
various aspects of writing craft through a kidlit lens and provide
inspiration and clear actionable items to help writers like you
move forward on their kidlit writing journeys.
I'm Sharon Skinner, Author Accelerator certified book
(00:23):
coach, and author of speculative fiction and kidlit,
including picture books, middle grade and young adult.
And I'm Christy Yaros, Author Accelerator certified book coach
and story editor, focusing on kidlit, including
middle grade and young adult.
Hello, listeners. This is Sharon. Once again this month, Christy
(00:46):
and I are doing things a little differently. Christy and Sara
Gentry had a great conversation back in September about
project management for writers, and it's so full of good stuff,
we want to make sure our coaching kid lit listeners don't miss out.
Sara is a math PhD turned author accelerator certified book
coach. She helps writers find the solutions they need to write the
(01:10):
books they love. Sara hosts kid lit summer camp
and novel kickoff. You can find her at solutions
for writers.com or on social media at wrightwithsarah.
So settle in and enjoy this special episode where Christy
and Sara nerd out On project management,
(01:30):
setting realistic deadlines, honoring your own workflow,
embracing the iterative process, tracking your progress,
and more. They emphasize being intentional while
also allowing room for creative discovery. I'll be
back next month with Christy for our usual show format.
But for now, take it away, Christy and Sara.
(01:53):
Welcome, writers. We have a fabulous session here with
book coach Christy Yaros. Welcome, Christy. Hi,
Sara. Thanks for having me. Before we dig into the
interview here, I do wanna introduce Christy to all of you. So Christy is a
certified book coach and story editor Working with serious middle grade and
young adult writers who want to create stories that engage, encourage,
(02:15):
and empower young people. She happily spends her days talking craft
and coaxing stories out of her clients. Previous iterations of
Christy have done pretty much all the things in the educational publishing
world From proofreader to managing editor to author.
Christy holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University,
and she is also the co assistant regional advisers For the
(02:37):
SCBWI New England. So thank you so much, Christy, for your time
today. Thank you, Sara. Here we go.
We are gonna dig into some project management because, writing a now
a novel is a huge undertaking that has A lot
of in between steps up to the finish line here, and
Christy is a huge project management nerd, if I
(02:59):
might call her that. But Nerd in general, but,
sure, project management nerd too. So she is gonna
help break all of this down. So perhaps, first,
We should start with all at least all the
major tasks that might go into writing a novel. It just sounds like
I'm gonna Put some words on a page until I reach the end, and ta
(03:21):
da. I have written my novel, but that's probably not, isn't
it? What's really gonna happen to write a novel, and then There it
is. Yeah. And and think that is definitely one of the reasons why we
wanted to have this conversation because there is so much more than I'm gonna write
a novel. And So at some point,
you're going to have to plan what you want that to be. You're gonna have
(03:44):
to figure out your characters and your plot. Some people do that before they
write. Some people do that after they write, but that process has to
take place at some point. You're gonna have to write the damn thing,
And then you're gonna have to revise it and edit it. And depending on what
your goals are, whether you're gonna self publish or try and
get an agent, then you have querying or copyediting and proofreading
(04:07):
and formatting and all of that stuff. Just thinking about that,
That's insane. Like, why do we do this? Why do we do this to ourselves?
But The the end is never truly the
end. It's it's not. But what does that even mean, the end? How
do you know? So part of why project management is so important is because how
do you know when you're there If you don't know where you're going and you
(04:30):
don't have things established in place. And
I say, you have your whole life to to write your 1st novel because
nobody is waiting for it. Nobody is gonna be on you. Like, it's up to
you. And so maybe it takes you 10 years, and that's fine. But you
You probably don't want the next one to take you 10 years. And, certainly,
if you're lucky enough to get a contract and you have an agent and all
(04:52):
that, you you need to be more efficient, and so trying to have a
process in place is absolutely beneficial
and necessary. And there's some Parts of
the projects that have to be done before others
can be done. Like, you're not gonna format the novel until it's in
its finished state, And you can't be in your finished state if you haven't
(05:16):
revised, and you can't revise if you haven't drafted, and all of those things.
So not only do you have a lot of things, but, like, the order in
which They are done often makes a difference
as well. Although I'm sure all of us have at one point tried to
Format our nonfinished manuscript to make it look like how it would look like if
it was a book and it was printed out. So, I mean, we won't pretend
(05:37):
we haven't done that. For for realistic
purposes, no. Don't do that in the beginning. Yeah.
How do you generally if you have A writer coming to work with you, and
they say, I'm ready to write this novel. How are we gonna break down this
project management from the beginning?
So I think you need to know kind of your end goal
(05:59):
of when you wanna have it done by. Right? Any project, you work
backwards. You have an end date, and From there, you have
to work backwards. And for some people, that's a specific,
I wanna get this done in a month. I'll be honest. Like,
unless you're doing nano and maybe you just wanna plop out a
draft, that's not realistic. It's really figuring
(06:22):
out what your goals are and then how much time and energy you
have. Because it's one thing to say, I'm gonna finish this
novel by the end of the year, but if you have a full time job,
if you're a parent, if you have volunteer stuff and other
things going on, realistically, And I think that's the
hard part is realistically be realistic with yourself. How much can you
(06:44):
actually do? Are you setting yourself up for an impossible task from
the beginning that you're never gonna be able to accomplish so that you can keep
feeling bad about yourself when you say, I'm gonna have my novel done
by the end of the summer, and now here we are in September and you
didn't. Are you just gonna keep doing that to yourself until to
feel Like, you're a failure, or are you gonna say, let me actually come
(07:05):
up with a plan with milestones that are
achievable that you can celebrate along the way because
it's not just about finishing. Like you said, there's
so many other things that go into that. Like, Celebrate that as you're going
along. We need to enjoy this process. Right? Otherwise, again,
why are we doing this to ourselves? Yeah. I love how you said that we
(07:26):
have to have an end date in mind, though, because if we don't at least
put the goal out there, it might fluctuate as life
happens and Stuff comes up. But if
you don't have an end date in mind, then it becomes an open
ended project that can be I can write
my novel anytime, and you and I both know that anytime turns
(07:48):
into no time. And it's true. I
Say, if it's not on my calendar, it doesn't exist. Yeah. So
you have to, I think, put aside that time, but
also schedule that time and have it and know what you're going to do
during that time. I mean, there's a difference between, Let's go to the
supermarket. With no plan, you're 1 I mean, I don't know about you.
(08:11):
I'm wandering up and down every single aisle. It's a
3 hour excursion versus here's the list. We know what we're gonna have for
dinner. Let's go in. Let's just get this. Bam, bam, bam, and and we're
out. So It's kind of the same
thing you need to know. Who doesn't wanna check
things off their list that they've gotten it done? What are you checking off? If
(08:33):
your only goal is to finish your novel,
I mean Yeah. You won't be checking anything off for 6 months.
Horrible. Like, it's just so cruel for yourself. So it's setting a date.
But first, It's thinking about again, is
that realistic? I don't know how you work with your coaching clients, but my typical
1 on 1 packages are 10 pages a week.
(08:57):
You can write faster than that. You're handing in 10 pages a
week. That's, like, 6 months for Yeah. A a
60,000 word novel. So we don't
and I think most of the coaches that we that are our
colleagues with author accelerator kind of Use
that same sort of timeline, so nobody expects you to do this in a month.
(09:20):
Like, don't expect that this is gonna be done in a month. Don't expect this
is gonna be done in 2 months. That's not realistic, and it's
just too much pressure for you. And you again,
let's not set ourselves up for failure right from the beginning.
So So when people are thinking about, setting this realistic
goal, they're gonna have to consider how much time they can
(09:42):
devote to the project, and then you also mentioned energy.
Could you talk a little bit about the energy level just a little bit
more? What do you mean by that? Personally, I have chronic
illness. I also have ADHD. So, I mean,
like, either I have no focus, too much focus. I
wanna focus. My body doesn't want me to do anything.
(10:05):
You have to know what you're capable
of. And I think Most of us at
this point in our lives or I mean, I don't know how old the people
listening. At some point in your life, you're gonna have to like you are
who you are, and there are some things about you that are just not going
to change. And it's easier to work
(10:27):
with yourself Yes. Than against yourself and try and do it
because so and so says they sit down every single day and they
write 500 words, and this person says they write at 5
AM. You know, I might be up at 5 AM. I'm not in a
creative mood at 5 AM. I am worthless at
5 AM. So as much as I love the, it feels
(10:49):
like a very romantic writerly kind of lifestyle.
Right. I've got, like, the 5 AM writer's club on Twitter. They're
doing workshops at 5 AM. Like, not me.
But But what can you do if you have time? If you look at your
schedule and you say, okay. First thing let's back up a little bit. Like, the
first thing I would do is look at your whole calendar.
(11:12):
We are adults who have responsibilities that we probably can't
get out of. So even when you're planning for what your next month
or quarter looks like, There's stuff you're crossing off right away.
Right? You've got your meetings, your family functions, your
holidays, your doctor's appointments, whatever. I just go right in and I
cross off those days. I try and block my days
(11:34):
into 3 blocks, a morning, an afternoon, and an evening. I do
work a lot of evenings. And then look at, like,
how much do I have? What do I have that week? If I've
got 3 big meetings in a row, like that 4th day,
I'm I'm gonna be kind of fried. So, like,
what can I do that day? Yeah. So I think knowing where you have the
(11:57):
time, understanding where your energy
is. If you have a day job, are you a
person who can be creative first thing in the morning? Are you someone who needs
to do that at night? Do you have a little bit of time in the
morning and a little bit of time in the evening, but your energy is
different? And then having a list of things. Like, this is where
(12:18):
having your steps of what you need to do comes in handy because
maybe like, I can answer emails at 5 o'clock in the morning.
I'm not being creative. I can go on
Instagram and click like, you know, having
the different things that you have to do. Maybe you're trying to get your to
know your character better. You can do a journal prompt in the morning.
(12:41):
Yep. But you can't sit down and actually write the scene that you
need to write. Maybe you can read what you wrote yesterday so that
you're ready for the afternoon when you sit down, but that's what I mean by
managing your energy and saying, what is it realistically
that I can get done? And I don't think you can even know
that without trying it. So much of this is iterative.
(13:02):
Right? It's Yep. Let me try it for a week, for 2 weeks,
and see how it feels. I am a big fan of
tracking what you're doing with my writers in my group
coaching. We have a daily check-in. Everybody has a goal for the month,
their own goal Yeah. Based on, you know, all of this stuff. Every day,
they check-in whether they did it, If they couldn't do it or if
(13:25):
they passed because we're grown ups again, we have we can't
yeah. Every day is not feasible for everybody. And then tracking how many
words they wrote or edited and how much time they spent and how they felt
about what they did. And then having those stats at the end of the month,
one, We remember the things that we think we
fail at. We don't necessarily remember the things that we did well.
(13:47):
Mhmm. And seeing that progress, it feels like you're
not doing that much maybe, but when you look at it altogether at the end
of the month, and you can be like, I actually wrote an
average of 45 minutes a day even though Yeah. I know I
had multiple bad days. You had multiple good days that you didn't realize.
But then you can also look. We've broken down the stats. Like I said okay.
(14:09):
So here's, like, where the nerd definitely comes out. So
Since all of that information goes into a spreadsheet, we pulled out
data. We saw Tuesdays were better for revising for most people,
but those Tuesdays were more writing days. Days and,
like, people had a better mood on Wednesdays versus
Thursdays. Like, as a group, so weird. But so funny.
(14:31):
What's so interesting to know about yourself? Right? Like,
this is how I work, and so I will be most successful if I
can make a plan that accounts for those things
and then just constantly adjusting it. No. I love that you're saying this. I I
think it was when I was talking with Our fellow book coach,
Rona Gosstein, she was mentioning that the 1st novel
(14:54):
that you write, not only are you learning how to write a novel, But you
are also learning how you write a novel because it's gonna
be different for every person. And while you might do some
things that I can be like, you know, that would be a good idea for
me to try. I think that would work for me. You might also be doing
some things. I'm like, that sounds terrible. And if I don't Honor that
(15:15):
preference. I might just abandon the project altogether. That
that's such a good point. It's like telling people, like, you should exercise, but if
you hate to run, Then you just won't exercise if you think that
that's the only form of exercise that exists. So
you definitely need to Honor who you
are and honor your reality of what's going on in your life. It
(15:37):
is important to kind of to pay attention to what's working and what's
not working and to So at least give it a try because there's a good
chance that if you try something one time, you could either
have a really great day or a really bad day, and I don't know that
you wanna establish entire practice on, like, this 1
one day. But you start to see kind of that pattern. And, again,
(15:58):
what works like, Works for 1 person doesn't work for everybody.
And we I know as writers, we love to hear other people's
processes, and that's the first thing you ask somebody who's published is, What did you
do? Tell me everything that you did so that I can do the exact same
thing, and I can be published. It's just not going forward
Let's you. Face it. What we're hoping that they say
(16:20):
is that they just sat down at a computer one day and had these
thoughts that they then typed. And 3 days later, they had a
novel, and they submitted it to an agent who picked it up
right away, like, within 24 hours. And then within a week, they had a
publishing deal, and here they are. That's what we're hoping they will say. Yeah. And
if they did, then we're probably in a Hallmark movie, and that
(16:43):
But that this is like I said, coming up with a plan and and being
able to execute it, it it shows you that you are moving
forward when you might not feel like you're moving forward
because I think sometimes if we're left to our
own devices. And maybe this isn't everybody. I'll just speak for myself. I
I'll redo the same thing over and over and over and over again. And are
(17:05):
you really making it better? So how do you keep yourself from
rewriting that 1st page over and over again when you haven't
gotten to the end yet? Yeah. How do you know when you're
ready to give it to a beta reader or ready to query
without having an established kind of process of these are the things that I
know I have to do. This is the order that works for me. Because like
(17:27):
you said, some things have an order, and other things are kind of fluid.
Like, the planning and drafting process is kind of
fluid. I mean, they kind of feed off each other because you
might hit something that forces you to go back and reconsider something you had
planned and Feeds into the next thing, and it is a
little bit of a like, what you called it, the iterative process. Right. And
(17:49):
then depending on whether you consider yourself a Plotter or pantser
or discovery writer or gardener or an architect or whatever
people wanna call it. Like, you're you. And so
establishing what do I need to know in order to start
writing. What do I know that I need to know? Because it that is
also something that is different for for everybody. Even outlines,
(18:12):
right, are different for everybody. Some people only need to know
their major turning points, or there are tentpole scenes, and
other people wanna plan out every single thing. So
people wanna have know everything about their character and write all of the
back stories, and other people just wanna start writing. So
(18:32):
having a plan and then but then saying, I know.
I'm done when. Yeah. I do that with my clients. I'm like, what is it
gonna take like, you say you're gonna be done. What does that mean?
Right. What is it gonna take for you to say, I'm done drafting,
and I'm moving to revising? I'm done planning, and I'm moving to
(18:53):
drafting, knowing that, Again, you might have to go better.
But That's true. Because 1st draft could mean a different thing for
lots of people. Some people's 1st draft is, like, literally a stream of
just blah of things that they think are going to happen in the book.
Some people's 1st draft is like a Robust outline. Some
(19:13):
people's 1st draft is very clean and and
closer to the finished product because everybody just works differently.
And Right. What do you consider a 1st draft? I can oh, that's
a good question. I consider a 1st draft when I have written
out the scenes that I think will be In the
novel, they might not be too
(19:35):
polished or anything like that. I I tend to write very light, So I tend
to be missing a lot of interiority and, descriptions and things like
that. So that might be a layer that has to go in, but I consider
the end of a first draft Something that if I were to give it to
somebody, they could at least understand the series of events and what the
character is going through from beginning to end. That that's for me.
(19:57):
How about you? Yeah. I think in some form, like, having told the
story from beginning to end and whatever form that
I'm like a talking head writer. So they're either in their
heads or they're just talking to other people, but, like, in a blank room,
and there's just nothing, yeah, nothing else going on around
them. But if I know all the
(20:19):
things I've told it from beginning to end, now I can go back and layer
those things in. And like you said, so because
If the the way that you plan, if you
do some of the tools like we use with our our clients, if
you do a blueprint, if you do an outline, lane, and you've essentially done
a 1st draft because you have figured out what your story is from beginning
(20:42):
to end. And now when you go in, you're you have a a
purpose and intent. Like, everything needs to be done intentionally,
so then you know. And then the I
mean, I know people don't like outlines, and we'll argue
how much we like outlines. But I think there's also something to be
said for Having a planned writing session and also
(21:04):
knowing what it is that you're gonna do when you sit down. Right. Right? The
difference between, I'm gonna sit down at 5 AM every morning and
write. Right. What? Like, whatever comes to you? What if you spend half
an hour trying to figure out what that is?
Versus I'm gonna do the scene tomorrow, or I'm gonna attempt the
scene tomorrow, and I know what kind of needs to happen. Right. And even
(21:26):
if someone who even if someone who considers themself More of a
pantser. For them, that might be not, like, literally doing
that entire process before they've started on page 1. It might be
maybe they've started writing On page 1, they finish a few pages,
and they're like, okay. Next time I come back, I'm gonna pick up, and this
next thing is going to Happen. They don't necessarily have
(21:49):
to I I am someone who will preplan the entire thing, but I'm just
saying not everybody would have to do that. But then your project plan
looks different. If you're not like I said, there are things that will have to
be done. At some point, you are going to have to make sure that your
character is fleshed out, that your character has a journey, that it
is consistent that the stuff makes sense, whether you try and figure that out
(22:11):
beforehand or you figure that out in revision. Right. You have to figure it out,
or People are gonna call you out on it. So then that
goes in your project plan. I'm a character first person. That's probably the
first thing that Most of the time when I'm writing, that's what I work
on, will be the character work. Do you do that in the beginning? Do
you do that after you have a rough outline? Do you write some
(22:33):
and then come back? But knowing how your process works and
then actually having a plan, like, okay. And then
maybe even limiting yourself to how much time you're allowed to spend on
that. Yep. Yep. Right? Because, again, I think we could just
kind of Chapter 1. And forever.
One more time from the top. But, like, what you were
(22:56):
saying before, how it it feels like and a
good book will make you feel like it was magic. Like,
it just came out like that, but it didn't.
It was a lot of work. It was a lot of revising. It was a
lot of layering, and there were many people involved, and it doesn't
just come out. But because it's done so well, it
(23:17):
feels like it's magic. So you have to recreate that by
being and you're allowed to be deliberate. You're allowed to plan it out and
say, this is what I'm going to do and execute it
well. And, yeah, people will probably ask you later. Yeah.
How you did it? Sure. If you wanna say it just came out of you
like that, everybody will hate you, and you can do that. But I
(23:40):
it's And I know some of my writers
have said they feel like when they have to plan or
putting this stuff on paper, it takes away from the magic. I think
it makes it easier for the magic because having constraints on your
creativity allow you to be more creative in a way, if
that makes sense. Yeah. It does. It totally does. And
(24:03):
by nature, we're even the most disciplined of us
are Still lazy at heart. Like, we we constantly
want to take the route that will conserve our energy,
And whatever seems the easiest way is what we're going to do. And so if
we don't have a plan to achieve something hard because writing a novel is
hard. And if you're not gonna have a plan to get there, if you're just
(24:25):
gonna leave it how you feel, you probably
won't I won't Say it can never happen, but but you
probably won't finish. Do you find that to be
true? Yeah. I can I have many unfinished manuscripts
that can attest to not having a plan and
or I have one where I made too much of a plan? I have done
(24:46):
that, and it felt Yes. Too I felt like I already wrote it, and I
didn't need to write it now because I planned it too much. That's a whole
other extreme. When you get stuck,
you wanna stop because it's hard, but maybe that's because you didn't
you don't actually have a plan. And having alternatives,
like, you know, we said before. Like, sometimes there's different things to give
(25:09):
you what are the things we get stuck on? Right? We oh, I need
to research this. Like, no. Put in brackets,
research this, put it on a separate piece of paper, a list of things that
you have to research. Okay. I have 10 minutes. I don't feel like writing
a scene. What can I do? Let me do one of my research questions.
Let me figure out this thing about my character. Let me figure out a timeline.
(25:31):
Let me practice that having a bunch of
tasks that are high energy versus low energy
versus time intensive, things that can be done out of
order, something you can just do, I think, that keeps you
moving instead of being stuck. When you get
stuck, it's not usually the spot where you're stuck
(25:54):
isn't usually the problem. Right? It's something else. Yep.
And I love this idea of research because so I am someone
who tends to want to
Collect a lot of like, I I feel very stuck if I have
not collected an adequate amount of information.
Sometimes that could be, Reading novels in
(26:16):
the style of something I'm trying to write. Sometimes if it's a
nonfiction, it's do I have enough, data and information
to properly process my thoughts about this matter.
And so I'm someone who, like, needs the input in order
to Get the output. But having said that,
(26:36):
putting a deadline on it is like I'm allowed to collect information
for this long, And then I probably have enough. But I have to make a
plan to collect that information because if I just say, oh, I'll just I'll just
read the history book when I feel like it, and I'll just Look up the
thing when I feel like it. It just drags on and on and on. God.
And then it it's just and nerd to nerd, like,
(26:56):
The rabbit holes, they're just everywhere. And they wear all rabbit
holes. It's like I mean, I I literally will
set timers using the Pomodoro timer to Yes. Like, let me write for
25 minutes. I will say, like, I'm only allowed to do this for
25 minutes. Yeah. This is not going to get better if you Spend 5 hours
on it versus the 20 minutes. Like, you only need 20 minutes, and then you
(27:18):
move on. And if doing drafting like,
We both agreed that a draft, the job is just to tell the story
from beginning to end and not neither of us said it had to be
perfect because it doesn't. Neither of us said we had to know
everything because we don't. So it's just,
like, what is gonna make me happy to move
(27:40):
on? Yeah. Don't say it has to be perfect or it can't move on because
you'll never get anywhere because it all works together, and
it's all over. Perfect. Even when it's published, it won't be perfect.
So there, we've killed that.
That's true too. But you said what Rona said, it's That's so true. Like, we're
learning you're learning about yourself. You're learning how to be a better writer.
(28:03):
Every day, you're getting better. So By
focusing on 1 part over and over again, you're taking that you're
almost hurting yourself by taking away that ability for yourself to grow by
doing the other things and doing them poorly
Yep. Because you're gonna get better. Well and the
key part of all of this, so, is that you'll notice neither of us have
(28:25):
I read about all the different things that you could try. Like,
you actually have to try. You actually have to try them.
You do. There's different things. Like I said, if it's not on my calendar, it
it doesn't exist. So I will literally block off time
to say I am going to and as business people, this becomes important.
(28:45):
As a writer, you're kinda also a 30%, right, if this is something you take
seriously. It's probably gonna be the thing that you put aside
first because someone else needs you, because your kids need something
from you, because your spouse needs something from you, because you decide It's a nice
day and you decide to go out. But putting that
putting it on your calendar Is a reminder to you that
(29:08):
you're showing up for yourself. You're taking it seriously. And for some
people can just get up and do it themselves. Other people
need accountability partners. You know? That's why there is the 5
AM writers club on Twitter. Right? Knowing someone else is sitting there with you,
it can help you. Maybe you're not even showing up for yourself
in the beginning. You're showing up because you know that they're waiting for you to
(29:30):
show up, and that's fine because eventually you're showing up for yourself. Even if you're
both showing up for each other and not for yourselves, you're showing up and you're
doing it. Yeah. Some people can body double,
Like, what we're doing here talking, don't ever do it with me. I have been
told I'm very distracting, and I will chitchat. But I will also be like, what
is This is what I'm doing. What are you?
(29:52):
I'm not. So I don't recommend that for myself. But being on
a phone call and muted, like, there's so many things that you can but putting
that on your calendar and scheduling it like it matters,
it goes a long way. Yeah. Well, both you and I
love talking about Project management and productivity
and schedules and spreadsheets. We didn't even cover spreadsheets.
(30:14):
Even cover spreadsheets. But I do wanna be conscientious of the time.
So, writers, if you are looking for some help here with some
project management, Christy has A wealth of
knowledge. Definitely connect with her in all the places.
But I guess we should also We we would probably be remiss if we
(30:35):
didn't mention the fact that we are book coaches, and that is one
of the primary Functions of a book coach is to
help their writer tease out this project management
for themselves as they're working on their book. So,
Do with that information what she will, but, yeah. So,
Christy, what do you have coming up? Do you have anything Anything
(30:58):
Yeah. So, I mean, this is great timing because I said I
am a planner, and so I always do a quarterly
planning call with my group coaching, and it is always open
to, the public. So figuring out and coming up with a
plan and how you're gonna get there and even just
learning how to do that for yourself. Yeah. So I would love
(31:21):
to see some people there, and then my giveaway is a
workbook that can help you do this too. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank
you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you for
letting me nerd out. I mean, we didn't even get into, like I
know. Crazy details of different types of project management,
but just There's always the next time, though. So I'll just do a whole
(31:43):
summit on nerd projects. Oh my gosh. That would be fantastic. And we
could whip out the the spreadsheets and diagrams and the infographics.
And I know some of you are appalled by this idea, but I know some
of the writers out there will be They're out there. Rejoicing as
well. So that's fantastic. Alright. Thank you again. And,
writers, thank you, and we will catch you in another session.
(32:05):
Bye. We
hope you enjoyed this episode of Coaching Kidlit, a writing and book coaching
podcast for writers who want to level up their kidlit writing game. For
more about us And to discover what a book coach could do for you,
check out coachingkidlit.com and follow us on social
media.
Welcome to Coaching KidLit, a podcast about writing and
publishing good kidlit. We dig into
various aspects of writing craft through a kidlit lens and provide
inspiration and clear actionable items to help writers like you
move forward on their kidlit writing journeys.
I'm Sharon Skinner, Author Accelerator certified book
(00:23):
coach, and author of speculative fiction and kidlit,
including picture books, middle grade and young adult.
And I'm Christy Yaros, Author Accelerator certified book coach
and story editor, focusing on kidlit, including
middle grade and young adult.
Hello, listeners. This is Sharon. Once again this month, Christy
(00:46):
and I are doing things a little differently. Christy and Sara
Gentry had a great conversation back in September about
project management for writers, and it's so full of good stuff,
we want to make sure our coaching kid lit listeners don't miss out.
Sara is a math PhD turned author accelerator certified book
coach. She helps writers find the solutions they need to write the
(01:10):
books they love. Sara hosts kid lit summer camp
and novel kickoff. You can find her at solutions
for writers.com or on social media at wrightwithsarah.
So settle in and enjoy this special episode where Christy
and Sara nerd out On project management,
(01:30):
setting realistic deadlines, honoring your own workflow,
embracing the iterative process, tracking your progress,
and more. They emphasize being intentional while
also allowing room for creative discovery. I'll be
back next month with Christy for our usual show format.
But for now, take it away, Christy and Sara.
(01:53):
Welcome, writers. We have a fabulous session here with
book coach Christy Yaros. Welcome, Christy. Hi,
Sara. Thanks for having me. Before we dig into the
interview here, I do wanna introduce Christy to all of you. So Christy is a
certified book coach and story editor Working with serious middle grade and
young adult writers who want to create stories that engage, encourage,
(02:15):
and empower young people. She happily spends her days talking craft
and coaxing stories out of her clients. Previous iterations of
Christy have done pretty much all the things in the educational publishing
world From proofreader to managing editor to author.
Christy holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University,
and she is also the co assistant regional advisers For the
(02:37):
SCBWI New England. So thank you so much, Christy, for your time
today. Thank you, Sara. Here we go.
We are gonna dig into some project management because, writing a now
a novel is a huge undertaking that has A lot
of in between steps up to the finish line here, and
Christy is a huge project management nerd, if I
(02:59):
might call her that. But Nerd in general, but,
sure, project management nerd too. So she is gonna
help break all of this down. So perhaps, first,
We should start with all at least all the
major tasks that might go into writing a novel. It just sounds like
I'm gonna Put some words on a page until I reach the end, and ta
(03:21):
da. I have written my novel, but that's probably not, isn't
it? What's really gonna happen to write a novel, and then There it
is. Yeah. And and think that is definitely one of the reasons why we
wanted to have this conversation because there is so much more than I'm gonna write
a novel. And So at some point,
you're going to have to plan what you want that to be. You're gonna have
(03:44):
to figure out your characters and your plot. Some people do that before they
write. Some people do that after they write, but that process has to
take place at some point. You're gonna have to write the damn thing,
And then you're gonna have to revise it and edit it. And depending on what
your goals are, whether you're gonna self publish or try and
get an agent, then you have querying or copyediting and proofreading
(04:07):
and formatting and all of that stuff. Just thinking about that,
That's insane. Like, why do we do this? Why do we do this to ourselves?
But The the end is never truly the
end. It's it's not. But what does that even mean, the end? How
do you know? So part of why project management is so important is because how
do you know when you're there If you don't know where you're going and you
(04:30):
don't have things established in place. And
I say, you have your whole life to to write your 1st novel because
nobody is waiting for it. Nobody is gonna be on you. Like, it's up to
you. And so maybe it takes you 10 years, and that's fine. But you
You probably don't want the next one to take you 10 years. And, certainly,
if you're lucky enough to get a contract and you have an agent and all
(04:52):
that, you you need to be more efficient, and so trying to have a
process in place is absolutely beneficial
and necessary. And there's some Parts of
the projects that have to be done before others
can be done. Like, you're not gonna format the novel until it's in
its finished state, And you can't be in your finished state if you haven't
(05:16):
revised, and you can't revise if you haven't drafted, and all of those things.
So not only do you have a lot of things, but, like, the order in
which They are done often makes a difference
as well. Although I'm sure all of us have at one point tried to
Format our nonfinished manuscript to make it look like how it would look like if
it was a book and it was printed out. So, I mean, we won't pretend
(05:37):
we haven't done that. For for realistic
purposes, no. Don't do that in the beginning. Yeah.
How do you generally if you have A writer coming to work with you, and
they say, I'm ready to write this novel. How are we gonna break down this
project management from the beginning?
So I think you need to know kind of your end goal
(05:59):
of when you wanna have it done by. Right? Any project, you work
backwards. You have an end date, and From there, you have
to work backwards. And for some people, that's a specific,
I wanna get this done in a month. I'll be honest. Like,
unless you're doing nano and maybe you just wanna plop out a
draft, that's not realistic. It's really figuring
(06:22):
out what your goals are and then how much time and energy you
have. Because it's one thing to say, I'm gonna finish this
novel by the end of the year, but if you have a full time job,
if you're a parent, if you have volunteer stuff and other
things going on, realistically, And I think that's the
hard part is realistically be realistic with yourself. How much can you
(06:44):
actually do? Are you setting yourself up for an impossible task from
the beginning that you're never gonna be able to accomplish so that you can keep
feeling bad about yourself when you say, I'm gonna have my novel done
by the end of the summer, and now here we are in September and you
didn't. Are you just gonna keep doing that to yourself until to
feel Like, you're a failure, or are you gonna say, let me actually come
(07:05):
up with a plan with milestones that are
achievable that you can celebrate along the way because
it's not just about finishing. Like you said, there's
so many other things that go into that. Like, Celebrate that as you're going
along. We need to enjoy this process. Right? Otherwise, again,
why are we doing this to ourselves? Yeah. I love how you said that we
(07:26):
have to have an end date in mind, though, because if we don't at least
put the goal out there, it might fluctuate as life
happens and Stuff comes up. But if
you don't have an end date in mind, then it becomes an open
ended project that can be I can write
my novel anytime, and you and I both know that anytime turns
(07:48):
into no time. And it's true. I
Say, if it's not on my calendar, it doesn't exist. Yeah. So
you have to, I think, put aside that time, but
also schedule that time and have it and know what you're going to do
during that time. I mean, there's a difference between, Let's go to the
supermarket. With no plan, you're 1 I mean, I don't know about you.
(08:11):
I'm wandering up and down every single aisle. It's a
3 hour excursion versus here's the list. We know what we're gonna have for
dinner. Let's go in. Let's just get this. Bam, bam, bam, and and we're
out. So It's kind of the same
thing you need to know. Who doesn't wanna check
things off their list that they've gotten it done? What are you checking off? If
(08:33):
your only goal is to finish your novel,
I mean Yeah. You won't be checking anything off for 6 months.
Horrible. Like, it's just so cruel for yourself. So it's setting a date.
But first, It's thinking about again, is
that realistic? I don't know how you work with your coaching clients, but my typical
1 on 1 packages are 10 pages a week.
(08:57):
You can write faster than that. You're handing in 10 pages a
week. That's, like, 6 months for Yeah. A a
60,000 word novel. So we don't
and I think most of the coaches that we that are our
colleagues with author accelerator kind of Use
that same sort of timeline, so nobody expects you to do this in a month.
(09:20):
Like, don't expect that this is gonna be done in a month. Don't expect this
is gonna be done in 2 months. That's not realistic, and it's
just too much pressure for you. And you again,
let's not set ourselves up for failure right from the beginning.
So So when people are thinking about, setting this realistic
goal, they're gonna have to consider how much time they can
(09:42):
devote to the project, and then you also mentioned energy.
Could you talk a little bit about the energy level just a little bit
more? What do you mean by that? Personally, I have chronic
illness. I also have ADHD. So, I mean,
like, either I have no focus, too much focus. I
wanna focus. My body doesn't want me to do anything.
(10:05):
You have to know what you're capable
of. And I think Most of us at
this point in our lives or I mean, I don't know how old the people
listening. At some point in your life, you're gonna have to like you are
who you are, and there are some things about you that are just not going
to change. And it's easier to work
(10:27):
with yourself Yes. Than against yourself and try and do it
because so and so says they sit down every single day and they
write 500 words, and this person says they write at 5
AM. You know, I might be up at 5 AM. I'm not in a
creative mood at 5 AM. I am worthless at
5 AM. So as much as I love the, it feels
(10:49):
like a very romantic writerly kind of lifestyle.
Right. I've got, like, the 5 AM writer's club on Twitter. They're
doing workshops at 5 AM. Like, not me.
But But what can you do if you have time? If you look at your
schedule and you say, okay. First thing let's back up a little bit. Like, the
first thing I would do is look at your whole calendar.
(11:12):
We are adults who have responsibilities that we probably can't
get out of. So even when you're planning for what your next month
or quarter looks like, There's stuff you're crossing off right away.
Right? You've got your meetings, your family functions, your
holidays, your doctor's appointments, whatever. I just go right in and I
cross off those days. I try and block my days
(11:34):
into 3 blocks, a morning, an afternoon, and an evening. I do
work a lot of evenings. And then look at, like,
how much do I have? What do I have that week? If I've
got 3 big meetings in a row, like that 4th day,
I'm I'm gonna be kind of fried. So, like,
what can I do that day? Yeah. So I think knowing where you have the
(11:57):
time, understanding where your energy
is. If you have a day job, are you a
person who can be creative first thing in the morning? Are you someone who needs
to do that at night? Do you have a little bit of time in the
morning and a little bit of time in the evening, but your energy is
different? And then having a list of things. Like, this is where
(12:18):
having your steps of what you need to do comes in handy because
maybe like, I can answer emails at 5 o'clock in the morning.
I'm not being creative. I can go on
Instagram and click like, you know, having
the different things that you have to do. Maybe you're trying to get your to
know your character better. You can do a journal prompt in the morning.
(12:41):
Yep. But you can't sit down and actually write the scene that you
need to write. Maybe you can read what you wrote yesterday so that
you're ready for the afternoon when you sit down, but that's what I mean by
managing your energy and saying, what is it realistically
that I can get done? And I don't think you can even know
that without trying it. So much of this is iterative.
(13:02):
Right? It's Yep. Let me try it for a week, for 2 weeks,
and see how it feels. I am a big fan of
tracking what you're doing with my writers in my group
coaching. We have a daily check-in. Everybody has a goal for the month,
their own goal Yeah. Based on, you know, all of this stuff. Every day,
they check-in whether they did it, If they couldn't do it or if
(13:25):
they passed because we're grown ups again, we have we can't
yeah. Every day is not feasible for everybody. And then tracking how many
words they wrote or edited and how much time they spent and how they felt
about what they did. And then having those stats at the end of the month,
one, We remember the things that we think we
fail at. We don't necessarily remember the things that we did well.
(13:47):
Mhmm. And seeing that progress, it feels like you're
not doing that much maybe, but when you look at it altogether at the end
of the month, and you can be like, I actually wrote an
average of 45 minutes a day even though Yeah. I know I
had multiple bad days. You had multiple good days that you didn't realize.
But then you can also look. We've broken down the stats. Like I said okay.
(14:09):
So here's, like, where the nerd definitely comes out. So
Since all of that information goes into a spreadsheet, we pulled out
data. We saw Tuesdays were better for revising for most people,
but those Tuesdays were more writing days. Days and,
like, people had a better mood on Wednesdays versus
Thursdays. Like, as a group, so weird. But so funny.
(14:31):
What's so interesting to know about yourself? Right? Like,
this is how I work, and so I will be most successful if I
can make a plan that accounts for those things
and then just constantly adjusting it. No. I love that you're saying this. I I
think it was when I was talking with Our fellow book coach,
Rona Gosstein, she was mentioning that the 1st novel
(14:54):
that you write, not only are you learning how to write a novel, But you
are also learning how you write a novel because it's gonna
be different for every person. And while you might do some
things that I can be like, you know, that would be a good idea for
me to try. I think that would work for me. You might also be doing
some things. I'm like, that sounds terrible. And if I don't Honor that
(15:15):
preference. I might just abandon the project altogether. That
that's such a good point. It's like telling people, like, you should exercise, but if
you hate to run, Then you just won't exercise if you think that
that's the only form of exercise that exists. So
you definitely need to Honor who you
are and honor your reality of what's going on in your life. It
(15:37):
is important to kind of to pay attention to what's working and what's
not working and to So at least give it a try because there's a good
chance that if you try something one time, you could either
have a really great day or a really bad day, and I don't know that
you wanna establish entire practice on, like, this 1
one day. But you start to see kind of that pattern. And, again,
(15:58):
what works like, Works for 1 person doesn't work for everybody.
And we I know as writers, we love to hear other people's
processes, and that's the first thing you ask somebody who's published is, What did you
do? Tell me everything that you did so that I can do the exact same
thing, and I can be published. It's just not going forward
Let's you. Face it. What we're hoping that they say
(16:20):
is that they just sat down at a computer one day and had these
thoughts that they then typed. And 3 days later, they had a
novel, and they submitted it to an agent who picked it up
right away, like, within 24 hours. And then within a week, they had a
publishing deal, and here they are. That's what we're hoping they will say. Yeah. And
if they did, then we're probably in a Hallmark movie, and that
(16:43):
But that this is like I said, coming up with a plan and and being
able to execute it, it it shows you that you are moving
forward when you might not feel like you're moving forward
because I think sometimes if we're left to our
own devices. And maybe this isn't everybody. I'll just speak for myself. I
I'll redo the same thing over and over and over and over again. And are
(17:05):
you really making it better? So how do you keep yourself from
rewriting that 1st page over and over again when you haven't
gotten to the end yet? Yeah. How do you know when you're
ready to give it to a beta reader or ready to query
without having an established kind of process of these are the things that I
know I have to do. This is the order that works for me. Because like
(17:27):
you said, some things have an order, and other things are kind of fluid.
Like, the planning and drafting process is kind of
fluid. I mean, they kind of feed off each other because you
might hit something that forces you to go back and reconsider something you had
planned and Feeds into the next thing, and it is a
little bit of a like, what you called it, the iterative process. Right. And
(17:49):
then depending on whether you consider yourself a Plotter or pantser
or discovery writer or gardener or an architect or whatever
people wanna call it. Like, you're you. And so
establishing what do I need to know in order to start
writing. What do I know that I need to know? Because it that is
also something that is different for for everybody. Even outlines,
(18:12):
right, are different for everybody. Some people only need to know
their major turning points, or there are tentpole scenes, and
other people wanna plan out every single thing. So
people wanna have know everything about their character and write all of the
back stories, and other people just wanna start writing. So
(18:32):
having a plan and then but then saying, I know.
I'm done when. Yeah. I do that with my clients. I'm like, what is it
gonna take like, you say you're gonna be done. What does that mean?
Right. What is it gonna take for you to say, I'm done drafting,
and I'm moving to revising? I'm done planning, and I'm moving to
(18:53):
drafting, knowing that, Again, you might have to go better.
But That's true. Because 1st draft could mean a different thing for
lots of people. Some people's 1st draft is, like, literally a stream of
just blah of things that they think are going to happen in the book.
Some people's 1st draft is like a Robust outline. Some
(19:13):
people's 1st draft is very clean and and
closer to the finished product because everybody just works differently.
And Right. What do you consider a 1st draft? I can oh, that's
a good question. I consider a 1st draft when I have written
out the scenes that I think will be In the
novel, they might not be too
(19:35):
polished or anything like that. I I tend to write very light, So I tend
to be missing a lot of interiority and, descriptions and things like
that. So that might be a layer that has to go in, but I consider
the end of a first draft Something that if I were to give it to
somebody, they could at least understand the series of events and what the
character is going through from beginning to end. That that's for me.
(19:57):
How about you? Yeah. I think in some form, like, having told the
story from beginning to end and whatever form that
I'm like a talking head writer. So they're either in their
heads or they're just talking to other people, but, like, in a blank room,
and there's just nothing, yeah, nothing else going on around
them. But if I know all the
(20:19):
things I've told it from beginning to end, now I can go back and layer
those things in. And like you said, so because
If the the way that you plan, if you
do some of the tools like we use with our our clients, if
you do a blueprint, if you do an outline, lane, and you've essentially done
a 1st draft because you have figured out what your story is from beginning
(20:42):
to end. And now when you go in, you're you have a a
purpose and intent. Like, everything needs to be done intentionally,
so then you know. And then the I
mean, I know people don't like outlines, and we'll argue
how much we like outlines. But I think there's also something to be
said for Having a planned writing session and also
(21:04):
knowing what it is that you're gonna do when you sit down. Right. Right? The
difference between, I'm gonna sit down at 5 AM every morning and
write. Right. What? Like, whatever comes to you? What if you spend half
an hour trying to figure out what that is?
Versus I'm gonna do the scene tomorrow, or I'm gonna attempt the
scene tomorrow, and I know what kind of needs to happen. Right. And even
(21:26):
if someone who even if someone who considers themself More of a
pantser. For them, that might be not, like, literally doing
that entire process before they've started on page 1. It might be
maybe they've started writing On page 1, they finish a few pages,
and they're like, okay. Next time I come back, I'm gonna pick up, and this
next thing is going to Happen. They don't necessarily have
(21:49):
to I I am someone who will preplan the entire thing, but I'm just
saying not everybody would have to do that. But then your project plan
looks different. If you're not like I said, there are things that will have to
be done. At some point, you are going to have to make sure that your
character is fleshed out, that your character has a journey, that it
is consistent that the stuff makes sense, whether you try and figure that out
(22:11):
beforehand or you figure that out in revision. Right. You have to figure it out,
or People are gonna call you out on it. So then that
goes in your project plan. I'm a character first person. That's probably the
first thing that Most of the time when I'm writing, that's what I work
on, will be the character work. Do you do that in the beginning? Do
you do that after you have a rough outline? Do you write some
(22:33):
and then come back? But knowing how your process works and
then actually having a plan, like, okay. And then
maybe even limiting yourself to how much time you're allowed to spend on
that. Yep. Yep. Right? Because, again, I think we could just
kind of Chapter 1. And forever.
One more time from the top. But, like, what you were
(22:56):
saying before, how it it feels like and a
good book will make you feel like it was magic. Like,
it just came out like that, but it didn't.
It was a lot of work. It was a lot of revising. It was a
lot of layering, and there were many people involved, and it doesn't
just come out. But because it's done so well, it
(23:17):
feels like it's magic. So you have to recreate that by
being and you're allowed to be deliberate. You're allowed to plan it out and
say, this is what I'm going to do and execute it
well. And, yeah, people will probably ask you later. Yeah.
How you did it? Sure. If you wanna say it just came out of you
like that, everybody will hate you, and you can do that. But I
(23:40):
it's And I know some of my writers
have said they feel like when they have to plan or
putting this stuff on paper, it takes away from the magic. I think
it makes it easier for the magic because having constraints on your
creativity allow you to be more creative in a way, if
that makes sense. Yeah. It does. It totally does. And
(24:03):
by nature, we're even the most disciplined of us
are Still lazy at heart. Like, we we constantly
want to take the route that will conserve our energy,
And whatever seems the easiest way is what we're going to do. And so if
we don't have a plan to achieve something hard because writing a novel is
hard. And if you're not gonna have a plan to get there, if you're just
(24:25):
gonna leave it how you feel, you probably
won't I won't Say it can never happen, but but you
probably won't finish. Do you find that to be
true? Yeah. I can I have many unfinished manuscripts
that can attest to not having a plan and
or I have one where I made too much of a plan? I have done
(24:46):
that, and it felt Yes. Too I felt like I already wrote it, and I
didn't need to write it now because I planned it too much. That's a whole
other extreme. When you get stuck,
you wanna stop because it's hard, but maybe that's because you didn't
you don't actually have a plan. And having alternatives,
like, you know, we said before. Like, sometimes there's different things to give
(25:09):
you what are the things we get stuck on? Right? We oh, I need
to research this. Like, no. Put in brackets,
research this, put it on a separate piece of paper, a list of things that
you have to research. Okay. I have 10 minutes. I don't feel like writing
a scene. What can I do? Let me do one of my research questions.
Let me figure out this thing about my character. Let me figure out a timeline.
(25:31):
Let me practice that having a bunch of
tasks that are high energy versus low energy
versus time intensive, things that can be done out of
order, something you can just do, I think, that keeps you
moving instead of being stuck. When you get
stuck, it's not usually the spot where you're stuck
(25:54):
isn't usually the problem. Right? It's something else. Yep.
And I love this idea of research because so I am someone
who tends to want to
Collect a lot of like, I I feel very stuck if I have
not collected an adequate amount of information.
Sometimes that could be, Reading novels in
(26:16):
the style of something I'm trying to write. Sometimes if it's a
nonfiction, it's do I have enough, data and information
to properly process my thoughts about this matter.
And so I'm someone who, like, needs the input in order
to Get the output. But having said that,
(26:36):
putting a deadline on it is like I'm allowed to collect information
for this long, And then I probably have enough. But I have to make a
plan to collect that information because if I just say, oh, I'll just I'll just
read the history book when I feel like it, and I'll just Look up the
thing when I feel like it. It just drags on and on and on. God.
And then it it's just and nerd to nerd, like,
(26:56):
The rabbit holes, they're just everywhere. And they wear all rabbit
holes. It's like I mean, I I literally will
set timers using the Pomodoro timer to Yes. Like, let me write for
25 minutes. I will say, like, I'm only allowed to do this for
25 minutes. Yeah. This is not going to get better if you Spend 5 hours
on it versus the 20 minutes. Like, you only need 20 minutes, and then you
(27:18):
move on. And if doing drafting like,
We both agreed that a draft, the job is just to tell the story
from beginning to end and not neither of us said it had to be
perfect because it doesn't. Neither of us said we had to know
everything because we don't. So it's just,
like, what is gonna make me happy to move
(27:40):
on? Yeah. Don't say it has to be perfect or it can't move on because
you'll never get anywhere because it all works together, and
it's all over. Perfect. Even when it's published, it won't be perfect.
So there, we've killed that.
That's true too. But you said what Rona said, it's That's so true. Like, we're
learning you're learning about yourself. You're learning how to be a better writer.
(28:03):
Every day, you're getting better. So By
focusing on 1 part over and over again, you're taking that you're
almost hurting yourself by taking away that ability for yourself to grow by
doing the other things and doing them poorly
Yep. Because you're gonna get better. Well and the
key part of all of this, so, is that you'll notice neither of us have
(28:25):
I read about all the different things that you could try. Like,
you actually have to try. You actually have to try them.
You do. There's different things. Like I said, if it's not on my calendar, it
it doesn't exist. So I will literally block off time
to say I am going to and as business people, this becomes important.
(28:45):
As a writer, you're kinda also a 30%, right, if this is something you take
seriously. It's probably gonna be the thing that you put aside
first because someone else needs you, because your kids need something
from you, because your spouse needs something from you, because you decide It's a nice
day and you decide to go out. But putting that
putting it on your calendar Is a reminder to you that
(29:08):
you're showing up for yourself. You're taking it seriously. And for some
people can just get up and do it themselves. Other people
need accountability partners. You know? That's why there is the 5
AM writers club on Twitter. Right? Knowing someone else is sitting there with you,
it can help you. Maybe you're not even showing up for yourself
in the beginning. You're showing up because you know that they're waiting for you to
(29:30):
show up, and that's fine because eventually you're showing up for yourself. Even if you're
both showing up for each other and not for yourselves, you're showing up and you're
doing it. Yeah. Some people can body double,
Like, what we're doing here talking, don't ever do it with me. I have been
told I'm very distracting, and I will chitchat. But I will also be like, what
is This is what I'm doing. What are you?
(29:52):
I'm not. So I don't recommend that for myself. But being on
a phone call and muted, like, there's so many things that you can but putting
that on your calendar and scheduling it like it matters,
it goes a long way. Yeah. Well, both you and I
love talking about Project management and productivity
and schedules and spreadsheets. We didn't even cover spreadsheets.
(30:14):
Even cover spreadsheets. But I do wanna be conscientious of the time.
So, writers, if you are looking for some help here with some
project management, Christy has A wealth of
knowledge. Definitely connect with her in all the places.
But I guess we should also We we would probably be remiss if we
(30:35):
didn't mention the fact that we are book coaches, and that is one
of the primary Functions of a book coach is to
help their writer tease out this project management
for themselves as they're working on their book. So,
Do with that information what she will, but, yeah. So,
Christy, what do you have coming up? Do you have anything Anything
(30:58):
Yeah. So, I mean, this is great timing because I said I
am a planner, and so I always do a quarterly
planning call with my group coaching, and it is always open
to, the public. So figuring out and coming up with a
plan and how you're gonna get there and even just
learning how to do that for yourself. Yeah. So I would love
(31:21):
to see some people there, and then my giveaway is a
workbook that can help you do this too. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank
you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you for
letting me nerd out. I mean, we didn't even get into, like I
know. Crazy details of different types of project management,
but just There's always the next time, though. So I'll just do a whole
(31:43):
summit on nerd projects. Oh my gosh. That would be fantastic. And we
could whip out the the spreadsheets and diagrams and the infographics.
And I know some of you are appalled by this idea, but I know some
of the writers out there will be They're out there. Rejoicing as
well. So that's fantastic. Alright. Thank you again. And,
writers, thank you, and we will catch you in another session.
(32:05):
Bye. We
hope you enjoyed this episode of Coaching Kidlit, a writing and book coaching
podcast for writers who want to level up their kidlit writing game. For
more about us And to discover what a book coach could do for you,
check out coachingkidlit.com and follow us on social
media.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com