Keeping Track of Chaos by Lynn Cahoon

Reading the past contributions, I thought I’d talk about one thing no one ever mentioned to me when I started out – keeping track of the chaos that is publishing. 

First up, my story. I have always dreamed of being a writer but thought that was something someone else did. I was a rural Idaho kid who had nothing to say that was interesting. And yet, I was drawn to telling stories. But I was also practical. My mom was widowed in her mid-thirties with no career, and five kids, including a 1-year-old baby. Me. I needed a job to make sure that didn’t happen to me. It was the seventies and Ms. Magazine told us we could do anything. My guidance counselor was more specific. Teacher, nurse, office worker. None of them called to me but I could see myself as a younger, hipper, Mary Tyler Moore, so I made sure I had office skills – like accounting and typing.

 Years later, in my third career, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was a wake-up call and my focus changed to making writing my job, not just a someday wish.  I started with my strength – learning. 

I realized quickly once I was published that I needed to learn more than just writing craft on how to tell a good yarn. I needed to understand and develop a production plan. 

Basically, a production plan is a way to not only meet your writing or drafting deadlines, but to make sure you are being prepared for events, editing, and marketing.

For a long time, I was a working writer. I had a full-time job, was writing several books a year, in several series and attending some events that I could fit in. 

And I was failing. 

I started making a goal list, focusing on annual goals, then breaking it down to monthly, weekly, and finally daily to do list, supporting those goals. Writing several series. I needed an overall plan that can give me a view of what’s next to write, or edit, or an event to attend. 

This is the chaos controller. I use a clipboard with a notebook paper that has three columns. On Deck, Soon, and Future. On deck are the big picture list of things I’m working on. The last few months have included promoting An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder – book one in the Bainbridge Island series. I also had developmental edits on Confessions of an Amateur Sleuth. I was drafting (writing) a new Haunted Lives book as well as several blogs and articles on a new release, Seven Secret Spellcasters. I had video, in person, and Facebook group appearances. Everything was on my one page so I could make sure it got on the calendar. 

It’s a system with a lot of moving parts. The bigger projects, like writing the book, I use a computer program called Asana to schedule the writing.

Sometimes things still fall through. But if I follow my plan, most things get done. So, I’ll count that as a win. I even found an error by my publisher since I didn’t have a round of edits marked off my clipboard list. They’d forgotten to send them to me. The book might have been fine, since it was final edits, but I’d be worried if I didn’t get the chance to read it, one last time.

Do you have a planner? Or a system? Let me know what works for you. Giveaway – Seven Secret Spellcasters – signed copy – to one lucky US address winner. 

Lynn Cahoon, author of An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder, the first in the Bainbridge Island mystery series is an Anthony-award nominated, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. Lynn pens several cozy mystery series including The Tourist Trap Mysteries, The Kitchen Witch Mysteries, Survivors’ Book Club Mysteries, The Farm to Fork Mysteries, and The Cat Latimer Mysteries. Readers can expect a fun ride no matter where the mystery is set. She lives in a small town in Eastern Tennessee like the towns she loves to write about with her husband and two spoiled Keeshonds. Find out more and sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com

AN AMATEUR SLEUTH’S GUIDE TO MURDER

A Bainbridge Island Mystery

An irresistible new series from New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . .

 TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE

Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon.

 Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer.

 TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

That’s when the lightbulb goes on: Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion.

 Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide—

 TIP #3: BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS

Links – 

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Amateur-Sleuths-Guide-Murder/dp/1496752090 

www.lynncahoon.com  for more vendors.