Organizing Life as an Author or Independent Contractor

Thanks to Books-n-Kisses for letting me stop by on the release day for Stripped with the Vampire!

After my eighth year of teaching high school, I quit to write full time (and to prepare to become a foster parent) I was so sure that I would be the most productive person on the globe with the luxury of so much time. Not so! Organizing my own schedule was a dream come true that ended up being way more of a challenge than I had expected! It amazed me how fast all that extra time slipped right through my fingers.  That first year, I think I got less writing done than I had when battling my old 8:30 AM-8:30 PM teacher’s schedule. I was so used to running from one task to the next—I was a theater teacher; there was always something immediately in need of being done—that I didn’t know how to proceed when I had so many options in front of me.

I’m still not great at self-scheduling, but I’m getting better. The most important thing I’ve learned is to set priorities and be rigorous about sticking with them. My first priority is responding to readers. (If you’ve ever tried to contact me, and I didn’t respond, the interwebs ate something or something went horribly awry. My deepest apologies and please try again!) My second priority is writing and editing the next book. My third priority is running the business of writing. Some days it’s hard to keep them in this order. Far too often I find that the business of writing—formatting, vendor relations, marketing efforts, budgeting, and those things that are part of the job but aren’t writing—takes a front seat to the writing itself. Some days life throws extra curve balls that have nothing to do with writing that send me off course. But if I keep my priorities in mind, I can always get myself back on track.

Have you ever found that more time actually made you less productive? What did you do about it? Any other time scheduling advice for me?

I’ll give two copies of Stripped with the Vampire away, one to a random commenter and one to the commenter that gives my favorite piece of advice!

*****

Stripped with the Vampire

Amazon | B&N (coming soon)

In a world of dark spells and blood ties where no one is safe, love is the most powerful magic of all.

Shy vampire Charlie never intended to see Vince again after the bad boy human broke his heart. But when Vince turns up beaten and marked for sacrifice to an Aztec God, Charlie will do anything keep him safe.

Vince has never forgiven himself for the lie that ended things with Charlie. The spark between them is as hot as ever, and Vince would risk body and soul to make it a fire again. But as they hide deeper in Austin’s supernatural society—a world of lies, dark magic, and warring immortals—he finds the path to reconciliation more twisted than he’s ever imagined.

Make sure to check out Kelly’s review of Stripped with the Vampire HERE

Bio

Jax Garren is the author of hot, urban paranormal romance like the Austin Immortals and the Tales of the Underlight. Though descended from Valkyries and Vikings (she’s part Swedish), Jax was raised a small town girl in the Texas Hill Country. She graduated from The University of Texas with a degree in English and a minor in Latin then found her own Happily Ever After with a handsome engineer who is saving the world through clean energy technology. Jax can be found at jaxgarren.com, at facebook.com/JaxGarren or on Twitter as @JCGarren. She loves meeting new people, so online or in person, make sure to give her a Viking “Hail!”