Time To Get Organized

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

With the New Year’s Day coming this week, I'm writing my final article about The Writing Life for this year. The bulk of the publishing community is silent. It’s something I call the Silent Days and I wrote an article about how to thrive during this period (follow the link).  Officially Morgan James Publishing closes for the last two weeks of the year and reopens on Monday, January 5th. I’m still sending a few emails and doing a little work but not my typical effort.

From my perspective, these days are a great time to get organized. In this article, I’m going to show several of the activities that I’m doing and hopefully it will stir you to take action for your writing life. Toward the end of this article, I have information about a FREE live event on January 6th. I hope many of you will attend and take advantage of this opportunity.

Time to Reset

For many years, I’ve read through the Bible from cover to cover. I have at least four different versions of the printed book which I use:

The Daily Walk (the one I’ve read this year)

The Daily Messenge (the one for next year)

The One Year Bible

The Daily Bible in Chronological Order

For each version, I’ve purchased the digital version on my phone because I can make the type bigger for ease of reading. Also when I travel and I’m away from the printed copy, I continue to read my Bible each day. These volumes help me to set the pace and pattern of my day. If you don’t use one of these tools, I highly recommend it to keep you moving forward and connected to the most important book, The Bible.

Also I keep my financial receipts for the year in a box. This time of year I find an empty box and get it labeled and ready for the new year.

Sort, Organize and Throw Away

I have several stacks of print magazines that I will sort through, use and discard. Then I do the same task several shelves of books. Overall I read less last year than the year before (something Goodreads managed to tell me with an email). It moved me to recommit to doing more consistent reading during the coming year.

Reconnect with Friends and Colleagues

The holidays are a great time to reconnect with friends and colleagues. I’ve been doing a bit of that effort this year and hope you will take the time to do it as well.

Make Plans for the New Year

While I don’t make resolutions which are easy to break and not fulfill. Instead I take time to reflect on what happened last year. For example I traveled to and taught at three writer’s conferences. Each one opened up new opportunities in my writing life--and not always in the expected way. For example, at one event I met another faculty member and we recorded a podcast. At another event, I did not bring a single author into Morgan James Publishing (even though I tried and presented contracts to several new authors I met). Instead I met a freelance editor and author who referred an author to me. This referred author did publish her book with Morgan James and it will release this coming year. My lesson for you is to seize whatever opportunities open from a particular event even if not exactly the one you were projecting. 

Podcasts

Throughout this year, I’ve been guesting on various podcasts. The bulk of these podcasts I’ve made through PodMatch which is connected to over 90,000 podcasts. I have booked or recorded over 60 different podcasts which have been downloaded 7,200 times. Each podcast opens a new door of opportunity for others to learn about my work and reach me. One key lesson I’ve learned is I can’t control when the podcaster will launch our recording. What I can control is the stories and answers I give during our time together. Before each podcast, I review my key stories, talking points and websites that I want to mention (no matter what question is asked). Within the writing world, we call this skill media training. If you want to learn more or take a refresher course in this area, I recommend this FREE training with Gayl Murphy (follow the link).

Plan to Attend a Writer’s Conference

Some of my greatest relationships in the publishing world started at a writer’s conference. There are some amazing opportunities at these events. Follow this link for some possibilities. In May 2026, I will be at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. This link contains my speaking schedule.

Boost Your Writing Year on January 6th

I’m speaking at the Publicity Club on Tuesday, January 6th from 5 pm to 6 pm Pacific. I'm teaching on Seven Simple Actions to Boost Your Publishing This Year. The first meeting is free and here’s the Facebook event link with the details. I will be telling some stories but also including an action-packed handout. I hope many of you will attend and get my free resource. 

Throughout my years in publishing, I appreciate the insights and knowledge I’ve gained from others. Here’s a simple truth: knowledge alone is worthless. It’s your consistent and persistent actions that will make the difference in the results of your writing life. Maybe you wanted to write a book or some other goal last year and it did not happen. The year ahead can be different if you take consistent and persistent actions. 

Organized people accomplish more than working in chaos and a mess.Ideas are fleeting so capture them then work to get them accomplished. The image I chose for this article is not my actual desk but hopefully this organized office gives you some ideas and motivation for what your office could be like. Take a little time to get organized and it will pay off for your productivity and accomplishments in the days ahead.

How are you using these days to get organized? What am I missing? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

The slower pace of these days can provide time to get organized according to this prolific author and editor. Get the details and specifics about a free event.  (ClickToTweet)

As I’ve worked in the publishing world for years, I’ve spoken with many authors about their expectations and dreams for their books. I’ve found many of these authors have  unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help and take actions no matter what the publisher does for your book. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses. 

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