Lately I’ve been extremely overwhelmed with the task of creating a steady stream of content for my blogs.

When I started seriously blogging in 2006, I felt like it was important to separate all of my blogs. I was using the Typepad platform, and category tags weren’t really available then. I thought, for branding, separation was key.

For a while, I had blogs for writing, marketing, life and career, along with one on social media for nonprofits (which had maybe five posts and LOTS of spam comments). I used Typepad, WordPress and Blogger for these, and started a Tumblr account for short fiction, hoping that would spur some fun inspiration I could share with others. It sat, virtually untouched, until recently – and isn’t focused on fiction.

After the demise of a pop culture review site I worked for, I launched the blog, Authors & Appetizers, where authors share recipes and book news. I wanted to start a DVD blog, because I love films – and get amazing fictional inspiration from them. (I also want to share my clips with readers.)

It was simply too much.

From the pressure of creating content at least three times a week for a variety of blogs sprung a self-created purgatory where I knew I needed to produce, and just revolted against it every time I thought about it. Then, I’d feel like a failure when I realized the content wasn’t updated and the site statistics were dwindling to nothing.

There is simply no way I can keep up. With advancements in social media – and changes to how we use it – it is now OK to combine a variety of blogs. I found a terrific post from the author of PaulyMath.com about how he combined his blogs – and how it helped with his content production. This was one of several articles by bloggers who were just like me.

The one that summed it up best was on ProBlogger, Why I deleted all of my blogs by Kole McRae of Office Buddha.

I deleted my writing blog, only keeping a few posts that I thought others would like to read. I consolidated all of the Market My Novel posts into one category and exported them into a new blog that would be my one-stop blogging area. I also plan to post DVD reviews there – just because I can.

It took a while to get the site going, simply because I didn’t want to put a lot of time and effort into it. I just wanted to be able to GO, not deal with the nit-picky details of site creation. However, I now have a good enough start on it to share it.

The Demented Muse will eventually be the only place I blog. I would love it if you would go there, check out the site and let me know what you think.

J.W. Nicklaus

Reading through Angela’s blog one can glean a lot of fantastic ideas about marketing yourself and promoting your work. I, for one, can certainly use all the ideas I can absorb. I could discuss the things I’ve done, like color bookmarks, signings at independent bookstores, etc. Instead, I thought I would share my version of time management where writing is concerned.




I think it only proper to start with being prepared to write. “Well, DUH!” you say. I realize that seems overtly obvious, but how many among us have tried to squeeze in a little writing time in-between appointments, or maybe about forty minutes before you need to be somewhere else. I don’t doubt that some people can pull this off, but my money would be on the more numerous of us that have our good intentions slip from under our feet. Most people I know who write like to be secluded, tucked away in a quiet room, or at least removed from all the distractions of daily life. I know some who even wait until everyone else is in bed or wake up before everyone else to have those quiet moments to write.




When you do have (or make) that time, be ready to do it. Be focused. Have your coffee, tea, or whatever next to you. Have your notes at your side. Have your laptop or computer fired up and a cursor blinking, waiting for your keystrokes. If you write low-tech — and good for you if you do! — have your pad and pen at the ready. Have the lights on where you need them. Next time you sit down to write, try to note how many times you get up for this or that. It’s an eye-opener to become aware of how easily distracted we can be.

I set all that up because I have to be prepared to write. I work full-time, and depending on the time of year also have things I do with my son, so my time can be limited. My approach to making the best use of this time is a little unconventional, and it’s two-pronged:




• I use work time, driving time, etc., as what I call consideration time.
• I utilize my Blackberry as a miniature typewriter.




See, I don’t always have 3-8 hours a day that I can devote to writing. I do have that kind of time away from the keyboard, though. So I needed to find a way to work at writing without being in front of a word processor, and the human brain is a magnificent tool we all have at our disposal all the time. Using “consideration time” allows me to feed my subconscious and actively mull over ideas, characters, dialogue—in short, everything. The mere act of active thinking creates connections in the brain. When we sleep these connections are often used as fodder for dreams, and more importantly for those long stretches when we’re not dreaming but more deeply at rest. We almost literally let those thoughts simmer. I’m always amazed at how the constant activity of the subconscious brain can yield results I likely never would have conjured via the usual waking efforts.




For those times when I know I’ve had that ‘light bulb’ moment, I use the notepad feature on my Blackberry to at least get the skeleton of my thoughts documented, because chances are excellent they won’t make it to my fingertips by the time I can sit down and write. Typing on those little keys lacks the gratifying flailing of fingers on a keyboard, but it also saves my fleeting thoughts for inclusion later.




I’ve found that by making the most of my time away from the keyboard I can make the most efficient use of my time at it. As with all things personal, your mileage may vary.




About the author




J.W. Nicklaus is the author of The Light, The Dark & Ember Between. To find out more about J.W. and his book, visit www.avomnia.com.

Take the hassle out of the Inbox to save precious writing minutes.

This week, I got a nasty surprise.

My calendar – my lifeline to the world that holds all things virtual book tour – vanished.

On Friday, it sat, cozy and snug on my home office desk. By Monday morning, it was gone. I was frantic. November is a busy month at Pop Syndicate with author virtual book tour slots through Thanksgiving – all for our special recipe month promotion. I got behind and only had the first week of November completely posted. I’d planned on using Monday to finish up the month.

A frantic search of my work area, under my bed, in closets and suitcases and work bags I haven’t used in months proved unfruitful. I was between crying and killing the likely person who moved it.

After a few deep breaths that did nothing to calm me, I logged into Gmail to search for what I could find. Perhaps with a little luck I could piece together the tour by searching emails, I thought. If only I could remember the names of each author who was booked!

With more than 800 new messages in my Inbox and thousands more already read, I nearly hyperventilated – until I saw a long-forgotten label titled, "Recipe Week." I clicked it and discovered I’d been smart enough to label eight of the 13 bookings.

After a little more digging, I remembered one author booked via Twitter and another’s publicist was sending entries, so that left just three entries to find.

It took nearly the entire morning – and most of my energy for the day – to search for this blasted calendar and the entries. My hide was saved just because I used a free organizing feature in my email platform – something I’d always done when I worked in a cubicle, but had become lax on while working from home.

This brought home my desperate need to organize my Inbox – a problem that strikes just about everyone who uses the Internet to communicate.

If you deal with a large bulk of email, consider labeling them as they come in. Better yet, create groups that will automatically send emails to certain folders when they arrive.

If I’d stuck with the immediate organizing principles I had in Cubicleland, I would have either labeled the emails as they came in, put them in a folder, posted event-centered e-mails to Google calendar, or posted the information to check them off the To Do list. (Ironically, I don’t use an electronic device for the scheduling function because I don’t trust them not to lose the information.)

Trust me: Organizing your electronic mailbox will save you time – and panic – in the future. How do you organize your Inbox?

Here are a few articles about how to organize the Inbox:

10 Tips for Organizing Your E-mail (Web Worker Daily)

Trying to Organize Your E-mail? Keep it simple (Monster)

7 Ways to Organize Your E-mail (Microsoft)