I Can Get It All Done – Just Maybe Not Today

By Heather Blanton

If you feel like you’re writing life is about to go flying off the rails because you JUST CAN’T GET IT ALL DONE—maybe I can help.

The last year has been pretty hectic. I released two novellas and a novel. I guest blogged so many places I can’t remember them all. Like 90% of all authors, I do my own marketing, maintain my own blog, and I recently (finally) started a newsletter. I exercise four—sometimes five—days a week (because sitting is the new smoking and I don’t want my dream job to kill me). I read and listen regularly to podcasts from authors and marketing gurus. And somewhere in this crazy mix is a husband, two kids, a farm, and a Youth Sunday School class.

Allow me to share some time-saving tips I’ve picked up over the last couple of years that have kept me from pulling out my ever-thinning hair. Maybe you’ll find them helpful.

Outlining – probably the biggest improvement in my productivity. I discovered that if I sat down and actually tried to think a novel through, lo and behold, I wrote more. Faster. This from a formerly avowed pantser. No longer. I get a pretty tight outline/synopsis/storyboard going before I write the first sentence anymore.

Scrivener—let me just say, I have not been paid to endorse this wonderful, magical, brilliant, labor-saving software. However, they should pay me. I am a Scrivener evangelist. For the uninitiated, Scrivener is a word processing program that, among so many other capabilities, lets you write in scenes—even create 3x5 note cards of the scenes—and then move those scenes around simply by dragging your mouse. The ease with which I can organize and navigate through an entire novel leaves me breathless.

Evernote—Honestly, I’m just beginning to scratch the surface of what this nifty little free program does. It saves webpages, images, PDFs, audio recordings, and notes (typed or handwritten). I can write notes on images, which is awesome. I can even drop audio into the same file with the image or notes.

I tend to leave a gazillion tabs open in my browser because, you know, I might need that website in six months … if ever. Before Evernote, I kept a Word document entitled “Web Pages.” Brilliant, I know. Just a list through which I had to scan to find the desired web site. Evernote saves the URL as its own file and in various formats. Things are so much easier to find now. 

I can set reminders in Evernote, too. This is helpful when I want to schedule time to look at research or listen to a podcast.

Did I mention this app is free?

iPad—Because my iPad has Siri, I’ve started using it to dictate emails and responses to things on my social media sites while I simultaneously work on my laptop.

Help—literally, I got help. I have a dear, dear friend who works for peanuts (when I pay her) a few hours a week. She helps me with the newsletter, blog, giveaways, and a little social media. She is a godsend.

These aren’t earth-shattering, super-illuminating lifehacks, but they’ve created some extra time for me. Maybe they will spark some great time-saving ideas for your life.

Now get back to writing.

No. Seriously.

Get back to writing.

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A former journalist, Heather Blanton is an avid researcher and skillfully weaves truth in among fictional story lines. She loves exploring the American West, especially ghost towns and museums. She has walked parts of the Oregon Trail, ridden horses through the Rockies, climbed to the top of Independence Rock, and even held an outlaw's note in her hand. She is the independent bestselling author of several Christian Westerns, including the Romance in the Rockies series. She writes Westerns because she grew up on a steady diet of Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and John Wayne movies. Her most fond childhood memory is of sitting next to her father, munching on popcorn, and watching Lucas McCain unload that Winchester! Both men inspired her love of guns. Heather lives on a farm outside Chapel Hill with three boys, ages 13, 16, and 56, and too many animals to count. She can be reached several different ways:  Blog: http://ladiesindefiance.com/  SocialMedia: https://twitter.com/heatherfblanton   https://www.pinterest.com/heatherfblanton/

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The Pocket Folder

by Jessica Kirkland

It was tucked away in a ragged, grey pocket folder. It also had friends. I stared at it through six cities, three colleges, and the birth of three babies, my now 5-year-old triplets. All the while, I asked God, “Are you sure you want me to be a writer?” As a matter of fact, I’ve asked Him that same question since I was 15 years old. How many times do we hear the whispers of purpose only to whisper back, “Really, God?”  See, I love a comfort zone and uncertainty has never been my favorite friend.  I don’t color outside of the lines, and usually when I come face-to-face with something new like technology, I never read the manual. So, how in the world did a girl like me find herself writing, creating, and releasing a children’s book app for iPad?

It all started with the pocket folder. I am sure that you have something similar. Maybe it’s a desk drawer, a secret journal you keep stashed away, a computer file, or a blog. Yet, everyone that dreams of writing has a proverbial “pocket folder.” You’ve probably toted it through cities, colleges, marriage, and childbirth, and you might have even shown the world, only to have “rejection” stamped all over it. Then, you took out your folder, and put your story back under lock and key.

In today’s global marketplace, pocket folder stories can find a home. Let me tell you a secret about “The Sounds of Night,” my Christian book app for kids. I was too afraid to even get it out of the folder. Then, one day I started researching e-books and listening to the success stories of new authors, just like me, finding their niches. I read about e-books for months and I asked God again; “Is an e-book for me? Are you sure you want me to be a writer?”

Then, one day my mother-in-law got an iPad and I noticed something; my children were enamored with it. Then, my own mother purchased one, and soon I followed. Suddenly, the television was out and the iPad was the most sought after piece of entertainment in my home. They played Angry Birds, built Cupcakes, and did Geometry. Their fingers slid over that touch-user interface in a way I never imagined. My four-year-olds were learning and having fun with one of the hottest pieces of technology: the iPad. Then, they wanted more.  As a Christian parent, I wanted them to have apps that taught them, entertained them, but also brought them closer to God. I started searching for Christian book apps and my search turned up completely dry. How could that be? For weeks, I typed in key words and looked for reviews on the Internet for good, Christian apps, and still nothing.

It was at that point that I decided the contents of the pocket folder must be unlocked, tweaked, and ultimately transformed into fun, interactive books that taught kids about God. Inadvertently, my kids love for the iPad coupled with a felt need in the Christian marketplace for quality, God-centered apps, was the catalyst for me entering the exciting world of children’s book apps. I removed my tattered, grey pocket folder from an even more tattered brown moving box, and took a giant leap of faith. Along the way, I have seen my God-given gifts, talents, and hobbies all funneled into one place: apps. If I listened to my distaste for manuals or my love/hate relationship with technology, I would never be here. Instead, I listened to the pocket folder, the dreams tucked away, and the One who gave them to me years ago.

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Jessica Kirkland lives in Southeast Texas with her husband, Robb, and five-year-old triplets. She is an author and speaker whose greatest passion in life is to see young families grow deeper in their walk with God. When Jessica isn’t writing, you can find her cheering on her boys at the soccer field, or watching her little girl at the dance studio.  To find out more about her current writing projects, connect with her at: www.christianapps4kids.com or on her personal blog: www.jessicakirkland.com

We, at Southern Writers, would like to invite you to preview Jessica's app:  The Sounds of the Night