Guest Author Sarah Mäkelä

Today I have a special guest on the blog! Please help me welcome Sarah Mäkelä. Also if you're interested in winning $10 to Amazon please follow me here today. And my publisher Crescent Moon Press has been kind enough to have me on their blog, here, where I tell the terrifying tale of the Wicked Witch from the West shadow from my youth. Now, Sarah, please take it away!

Sometimes You Need a Plan

Thank you for having me back on your blog today, Kinley!

Recently, I’ve had a lot of projects going on at once. Ever since Changeling Press contracted Techno Crazed and Jungle Heat, I’ve been thrilled beyond belief and trying to do what I could to get my name out there. Within the past three and a quarter months, I’ve gone through edits on two books with another book’s edits that’ll probably be happening within a week or so. I’ve written one novella and am finishing up two others right now. Basically, I’ve felt like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

The other night, I was talking with Kinley about our plans for the rest of the year. Of course, we know nothing’s set in stone, but there’s something relaxing about figuring out your next step. It’s just like with writing a story. I don’t plot everything out, but I like to know what general direction the story needs to head in.

Of course, there are always variables when it comes to planning. I could sell a manuscript that would need my full attention and stop me from working on another story, or get massive edits which could draw my efforts from writing a story, etc. Besides, my plans at the beginning of this year were a lot different than the ones I have now, and in a darn good way too! I’d definitely be working on different stories than I am now.

Anyways, back to making a plan. Here’s a few tips for making one.

1. Know what you can do. This is important because it’s easy to say you want to write four novels in a year, or read 100 books in a year, but will you be able to realistically keep the pace needed for that? If last year you wrote one novel or read 25 books, a lofty goal like that might be setting yourself up for defeat. Go with something just challenging enough that you know you can accomplish.

2. Break your projects down into steps. If you’re going to write a novel, break it down into. Create your characters, write your outline (or whatever pre-writing planning you do), and then figure out how many words or pages you want to do each day. It’s a lot easier to think that you have to do a smaller step as opposed to picturing the big task.

3. Set a timeline. If you give yourself a timeline, then you’ll be able to keep track of your progress and know how far ahead or behind you are. I enjoy monthly goals since I can feel like I’ve really accomplished something within the allotted time. I knew that last month I needed to write Savage Bytes and turn it in to my editor, which I did. Yay!

4. Give yourself emergency time. It’s important to plan for emergencies or the days when you don’t feel you can muster the willpower to set about accomplishing what you want or need to do. If you have a little bit extra time, you have a safety net to fall back on where you don’t have to do a last minute crunch.

5. Celebrate your victories. Finish writing your outline? Treat yourself! Finish writing your novel? Break out the champagne! It’s important to reward yourself for a job well done. Writing is hard work, so having something planned for once you get done with what you’re working on can be a carrot on the days when you’re not feeling it.

What’s on your plan? Do you have any tips I missed on making planning easier?

Sarah Mäkelä
Dark Magical Encounters of Passion...
Website: www.sarahmakela.com
Blog: http://blog.sarahmakela.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarahmakela
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorsarahmakela

Here’s the blurb for my newest release, Jungle Heat. I hope you enjoy it! If you’re interested, the excerpt is available here.

The Amazon Rainforest still contains a few secrets. One of these secrets is a hidden village of women whose history is filled with the horror of conquering men.

Adara Rukan, princess of the Amazons, ventures away from her village to find something waiting for her. Andrei "Rei" Makarov is a weretiger and a biologist on assignment. Can Rei and Adara find love enough to bridge their two separate worlds?

Jungle Heat is available now from Changeling Press: Buy Link