The Importance of Systems and Habits

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As a writer and editor, I'm involved in a number of different projects each week. Many of these tasks are routine and something I do over and over. For example using Hootsuite, I post on social media 12–15 times each day. I write and each week I post an article for The Writing Life. I read books and write book reviews. I speak with authors about their submissions to Morgan James and many other tasks.

 

One of the ways these various projects get done is tied to my habits and various systems that I've created. Do you have such patterns in your own writing life? I encourage you to create habits and systems using tools to be consistent. I've written in these articles about the importance of being consistent. How does consistency happen? From my experience, one of the key ingredients is to develop a habit or system. 

 

Here's a few of the habits and systems I've created in my writing life:

 

--I consistently read books and after reading the book, I write a short review and post it on Amazon and Goodreads. 

--Also I am consistently listening to audiobooks, writing a review and posting it. Each of these actions are intentional.

--Regularly calling people or emailing and looking for new opportunities.

--Consistently emailing or calling and inviting authors to submit their book manuscripts or proposal to Morgan James.

--Also I follow-up consistently with potential Consistent follow-up with my potential Morgan James authors.

 

The Difference Maker

 

There are many functions that I do over and over. Consistent completion is important for many of these tasks. For example, I have a number of monthly writing deadlines. I enter the task in my reminders which helps me complete the task on the deadline. Meeting deadlines is a critical element for every professional writer. You do not want to be asking your editor for more time to meet your deadline. It is not a good impression you are making on them.

 

For almost any task that I do on a regular basis, I often create a system or method which as I do it over and over and eventually it becomes a habit. I’m always looking for ways to streamline and improve the  system with a new tool. The result is these tasks get completed. Are you using systems to create these habits for your writing life? Or are you reinventing it each time?

 

Completing these tasks is important for several reasons:

1. Professionalism
2. Dependability
3. Your Reputation as a Writer
4. To Add to your body of work as a writer
5. To get additional work or assignments

 

From my experience in this business, nothing happens without taking consistent action which involves regular communication (phone or email or in the mail or text). How important are creating systems or habits in your writing life? Let me know in the comments below.

----

Last week, Glyndon Greer at the Adazing Podcast published our interview about publishing and how authors can succeed with their books. Listen on Spotify or Apple. 

 

Tweetable:

This prolific editor and author details about the importance of systems and habits in this article. (ClickToTweet)

Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

The Right Tools Are Critical for Every Writer

As I begin a new year (2018), I take some time to reflect on the accomplishments of last year and also look ahead to what I want to happen in the year ahead. I'm grateful for the different opportunities I've had to write and also help others. As I get into this reflective mode, I look at some of my habits. For example, over the last few years, I've focused on growing a large following on Twitter which has grown to over 220,000 last year and continues to grow. Twitter has added a graphic of twitter impressions (see this image from my twitter page)

Since 2008 when I joined Twitter, I have tweeted almost 40,000 times. In recent years, I tweet about publishing and writing almost a dozen times a day. I use a tool called Hootsuite which has a free version and also a paid version. Recently I have switched to the paid version because Hootsuite added a limit of the number of future tweets you could have on the free version. I exceeded this number.

For me, Hootsuite has been the right tool for my social media because:

--I can schedule the tweets
--I can add an image to my tweets (important for visibility)

Because of my commitment to Twitter and Hootsuite, I have developed my own system with my tweets. For example, I begin my day with an inspirational quote. As I locate these quotes in various places, I cut and paste them into my Hootsuite with a photo. I've saved many of my photos in a little folder on my desktop called Twitter photos. Rather than search each time for a photo, I often have an image saved in my folder because I've saved them and developed an easy system to keep and retrieve them.

Your writing goals will be different from mine. Maybe you want to be published in more print magazines. You will need to learn how to write a query letter and develop a pattern or habit of pitching editors on a regular basis. If they are Christian publications, I encourage you to use the Christian Writers Market Guide 2018. If they are general market publications, then use the 2018 Writers Market Guide and make sure you are contacting the right editors with your pitches. You can also find the Writers Market Guide in the reference section of most public libraries.

If you want to sell more of your books, then you will need to be reaching your audience through the radio or print or social media or your own newsletter list. Each of these venues are effective and ones where you will need to learn the right tools and develop a regular pattern or system. As I use my various regular patterns or systems, I don't have to reinvent anything but simply use what I've created earlier over and over.

What tools are you using with your writing? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Every writer must use the right tools for your writing. Get some ideas here. (ClickToTweet)