Six Things You Can Do While Waiting For Publication

By Deborah Malone 

 

1. Establish A Website: Once your book is contracted and by the time it shows up in online bookstores, you should have a website – preferably one with your author name as the URL,(www.deborah-malone.com) so that readers can easily find you. Use Google blogspot for free and pay only for the URL. 
   
2. Start A Blog:  I’ve discovered blogging and reviewing books is a great way to get your name out in the world of writing. You can build a following before you have your book published. If possible use your author name as your URL. Interviews and book giveaways are a great way to draw traffic to your blog. You can use Google or Wordpress for free
3. Start An Author Facebook Page:  If you start an author page as opposed to a personal page it allows followers to connect with you without having to wait for a friend approval. You can post book news, awards, and book signings.
4. Get An Updated Author Photo:  This doesn’t have to be a high-priced photograph, but make sure it is updated and of good quality. It won’t hurt to have a couple of different shots.
5. Set Up Accounts On Reader Sites:  There is a great opportunity in this area. You can sign up at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Shelfari. Then when your book is published you can set up author pages and list your book and your information.
6.  Get Business Cards, Postcards and Bookmarks:  Vista Print offers great prices on these items. You can get your business cards before your book comes out – be sure and put your picture on your card. Someone might not remember your name, but they will remember your face. If you place a small order with Vista Print they will send you discount cards with that order then you can place future orders at a greatly reduced price.
   I made my own bookmarks out of heavy duty paper and saved a lot of money. Don’t forget the book I mentioned earlier “Stress Fee Marketing” by Renea Winchester, it includes a lot of detailed information on these marketing strategies.

Deborah Malone

Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association as well as Advanced Writer’s and Speakers Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

Tools For Your Publishing Toolbox

Deborah Malone

“Death in Dahlonega”

"Murder in Marietta"

www.deborah-malone.com

 The Road to Publishing

1.      Finish That Novel:  Finish the book. Publishers are not really interested in ideas. They want to see that a would-be author has the skill, the stamina and the discipline to finish the job. After finishing your book set it aside for a couple of weeks then go back to it and start editing. Hire an editor if necessary. Two books I’ve found invaluable for my writing:

“Write in Style” by Bobbie Christmas and “Goal, Motivation and Conflict” by Debra Dixon.

2.      Researching Publishers And Agents:  Study books that are the same genre as your book and see who their agent/publisher is. It is usually listed in the front of their book. Look for publishers on-line and study their guidelines for submissions. Find out what they are looking for. There are also books that are helpful to find publishers such as: “Christian Writer’s Market Guide” by Sally Stuart and “2012 Writer’s Market” by Robert Lee Brewer. Note: It is necessary to have an agent for big name publishers. If you do not want to go this route please do not forget the small presses. Please do your homework and check out small publishers or self-publishing companies. If you go this route a book you will want to read is: “Stress-Free Marketing” by Renea Winchester.

3.      Write A Synopsis And Query Letter: According to Kaye Dacus at www.kayedacus.com  you should first and foremost familiarize yourself with the kind of synopsis your targeted publishing house requests. Most will want a “normal” synopsis (about one doubled-spaced synopsis per 10,000 words of your novel.)  - Your query letter is your introduction to an editor/agent. You do not want to immediately label yourself as a “newbie” or an amateur when they open the envelope. Spend time learning the correct way to write a query.

4.      Prepare Your Proposal: The proposal is where you really brand yourself as a writer. It’s where you show the agent/editor that you’re so much more than just 100,000 words of a story written down on paper. It’s where you show them you understand the industry, you understand what they’re looking for, you know who your competitors are, and you realize that 80% + of the marketing for a published author is done by the author.

5.      Send Out Queries:  Be sure and follow the guidelines of the publishers you’ve researched. Send only what they’ve ask for – do not add anything unless they’ve requested it. It is important to not send any photographs or illustrations. Do not use fancy paper or elaborate fonts. These are the marks of an amateur, and will only hurt your chances. (www.mythicscribes.com)

6.      Be Prepared For Rejections:  You will receive them. Most of the rejection letters will be in form letter style. Do not let this get you down. Keep sending out the queries. Every author has a story to tell about the rejections letters they accumulated before being published. Consider a rejection letter as a sign you are writing. How many people can say they’ve even received a rejection letter? Keep writing and persevere. The writers who persevered are the ones who are now published.

7.      Continue Writing:  Don’t stop writing. The more you write the more you improve in the craft of writing. It will help you find out if you are able to write more than the “one hit wonder.” It might be that it will be your second or third book that gets published so don’t sit idle while waiting to hear from those publishers.

  

 

 

                 THINGS YOU CAN DO WHILE WAITING FOR PUBLICATION

1.      Establish A Website: Once your book is contracted and by the time it shows up in online bookstores, you should have a website – preferably one with your author name as the URL,(www.deborah-malone.com) so that readers can easily find you. Use Google blogspot for free and pay only for the URL.

2.      Start A Blog:  I’ve discovered blogging and reviewing books is a great way to get your name out in the world of writing. You can build a following before you have your book published. If possible use your author name as your URL. Interviews and book giveaways are a great way to draw traffic to your blog. You can use Google or Wordpress for free

3.      Start An Author Facebook Page:  If you start an author page as opposed to a personal page it allows followers to connect with you without having to wait for a friend approval. You can post book news, awards, and book signings.

4.      Get An Updated Author Photo:  This doesn’t have to be a high-priced photograph, but make sure it is updated and of good quality. It won’t hurt to have a couple of different shots.

5.      Set Up Accounts On Reader Sites:  There is a great opportunity in this area. You can sign up at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Shelfari. Then when your book is published you can set up author pages and list your book and your information.

6.       Get Business Cards, Postcards and Bookmarks:  Vista Print offers great prices on these items. You can get your business cards before your book comes out – be sure and put your picture on your card. Someone might not remember your name, but they will remember your face. If you place a small order with Vista Print they will send you discount cards with that order then you can place future orders at a greatly reduced price.

I made my own bookmarks out of heavy duty paper and saved a lot of money. Don’t forget the book I mentioned earlier “Stress Fee Marketing” by Renea Winchester, it includes a lot of detailed information on these marketing strategies.

 

 

 Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association as well as Advanced Writer’s and Speakers Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

 

Marketing Your Book or Shameless Self-Promotion

I had a book signing this past weekend at Amicalola Falls State Lodge. It was the first time I'd been at a book signing other than my book launches that I was the only author present. I have to tell you that it was a new experience for me. I had my table set up with my big sign of the cover of my book and had a nice display. Not many people were coming to the table so I finally decided to get up and go around introducing myself to tourists in the lobby. I would introduce myself, hand them a card and tell them what I wrote. I was amazed at the difference that made. People began coming over to the table and buying books. Some said they didn't know what I had and others said they thought I was with the lodge selling something.

It was a lesson I learned well and the next day I made a poster to announcing "Meet the Author" and taped it to the front of the table. I didn't waste time I started off by going around and introducing myself. It was a much better day. As one of my friends said in a post he wrote that you must shamelessly self-promote. How true that is. At the lodge they gave wildlife talks and one day it was about snakes. Here is a picture of me with one of the snakes. Also, I've posted the article on marketing by my friend Bryan Powell.

 

 

 

So, you've written a book. Congratulations!

Putting in the time and effort to write your thoughts is a great accomplishment. Greater still is publication.  Now you can sit back and watch the dollars come rolling in, right?

Wrong!

 

Besides the hard work of writing and editing, there is, The Business Side of Writing.

If you plan on selling your book there are several important aspects that must be taken into consideration: promotion, compensation and negotiation.

The Art of Shameless Self-Promotion

How do you get to be a New York best seller?

In a word—promotion; shameless, relentless, white-knuckled promotion.

It is a necessary part of the writing process. No matter how much you may hate public speaking, it is a necessary evil.

While much of today's focus is on cyber marketing, good old-fashioned public appearances are another important part of the mix.

Why do some writers succeed at this and some fail? The better question is; why do some of us persevere, and others give up? The answer is simple, there are those of us who will give anything to achieve our dreams, and there are others who will give anything to stay on the couch. Okay, so I’ve convinced you. Where do you begin?

Start With a Smart Strategy

The phone can be your best friend or your worst enemy. When I was in real-estate, my broker challenged me to make 100 calls a day and ask two simple questions: “Do you want to sell your house?” and “Do you know someone who wants to sell a house?”

I was chasing customers I know, but it worked. The last house I sold was a $400,000 home to a woman from Brazil.

I learned to get tough skin and make the calls, but in the book business, who do you call?

Reach Out

1. Start with your niche market. If your book is about gardening – call stores that deal with gardening. If it’s a cookbook  – call restaurants and sandwich shops. Ask if you could set up a display and talk to the customers about your book.

• Know your market – learn where your book sells best. Christian books sell better in Christian environments.
• Talk to people – when you are at an event. Don’t just sit behind the table. Stand as much as possible, greet the customers and talk about your books.
• Link up with a local pregnancy crisis center, or the local chapter of a Cancer Society and have an event together. This will take planning and advertising.
• Use your social media connections to promote your event. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Eventful.com, Events.GSTV.com, Eventbrite.com, Goodreads.com, Oogle.com, bookmarketing.com, salesspider.com to name a few.

2. Independent bookstores

• Have a nice display and buy push-cards. Vista Print and ColorFunmerch.com are two places where you can get quality promotional material.
• Have a poster displaying your book cover and hook.

3. Libraries. They love authors. Ask about literary or local author events.

4. Christian book stores and big-box book stores are the last targeted phone calls for retail stores. Invariably, they will charge 40% to sell your books on consignment. We’ll discuss this in greater detail in my next blog.

5. Fairs, Festival and Literary Events.

• There may be a cost involved in this, but it will be worth it. Try sharing the cost with other authors.
• Have plenty of cash on hand and learn to make changes.
• Also, you will need to have a way to process credit card payments. I use Square, but Pay-pal also has a card reader.

6. For the fun of it, call independent living facilities. (Those are the ones where the residents control their own money). Have the activities coordinator to promote you as a local author coming to do a reading.

7. Call schools and ask to speak with the English/Language Arts teacher and see if you could be scheduled to come and speak to their class.

8. Become your own competition.

• You may even post your book on Ebay and Craig’s List in order to boost your sales on a national scale.
• When your book is listed with Amazon, they will under-cut your price by a sizable percentage. I went to Amazon and found how much they were selling my book for and under cut them

The take away of this is simple. If you want more than the satisfaction of having your book published, and I hope you do, then you must establish goals and a marketing plan. Work within your time and finances. Step out of your comfort zone and let’s sell some books.

Our contributor, Novelist Bryan M. Powell is also a composer/arranger with over eighty choral works to his credit. He now enjoys pursuing a career as a full-time writer. Some of his fifteen Faith-based “G” rated mystery novels have found their way into publication by Tate Publishing, Kindle Direct and Vabella Publishing. His website is www.newlifepublicationsonline.com

 

Making Writing Managable

BookBaby

                     



[This article was written by guest contributor Lynda McDaniel, co-founder of The Book Catalysts.]

Have you ever coveted a cozy writer’s garret where you could create brilliant bestsellers in long, uninterrupted writing sessions?
Well, don’t. That fantasy can ruin your chances of becoming a successful author. Here’s why:

1. As long as you think that’s what it takes to write a book, you’re less likely to write.

“Oh, I don’t have time to write today,” you tell yourself because you don’t have several hours to spare. Or “It’s just too hectic to write today.” Excuses like these feed the procrastination beast, which seems to have an insatiable appetite.

2. Uninterrupted periods of writing can cripple your creativity and productivity,…

… according to Benjamin Nugent in the New York Times (February 2, 2013). He learned this the hard way while enrolled in a master’s program in fiction. Nugent isolated himself in a prairie town with no Internet, no TV, no iPhone so he could produce great literature.
Only he didn’t.
“The disaster unfolded slowly,” he writes. “The professors and students were diplomatic, but a pall of boredom fell over the seminar table when my work was under discussion. I could see everyone struggling to care. And then, trying feverishly to write something that would engage people, I got worse.”
He explains that when writing well was his focus, the quality of his work became the measure of his worth. As a result, he couldn’t judge whether his latest draft was good or bad. “I needed it to be good in order to feel sane,” Nugent adds. “I lost the ability to cheerfully interrogate how much I liked what I had written, to see what was actually on the page rather than what I wanted to see or what I feared to see.”
So take heart if you can’t create a distraction-free environment. You don’t want one!

3. You don’t need to write for hours.

It takes only 40 minutes a day to start—and finish—your first draft. Sure, you’ll need several months at that rate, but you will finish because this amount of time is doable for just about anyone. Forty minutes is 10 or 15 minutes longer than studies such as the Pomadoro Technique, but according to researcher Pierre Khawand at
People-OnTheGo in San Francisco, those extra minutes are magic. “My belief,” Khawand writes, “after working with thousands of people on productivity issues and challenges is that … after 30 minutes of focused work, the ‘engine’ is now fully warmed up and functioning optimally, so those extra 10 minutes are ‘pure’ performance. Those 10 minutes are all in the high-potential area. We must grab them while we can.”

4. Instead of long slogs or occasional spurts, regular writing sessions keep your creative brain on alert.

The pick-up/put-down method of book writing tends to dilute the brain’s focus. When the brain is primed by writing regularly, your “idea factory” continues working while you do other things—like having coffee with a friend, stirring the soup, or walking the dog. Ideas seem to pop into your head out of the blue.

5. The specter of long sessions can lead to long periods without writing,…

… which leads to lost continuity and playing catch-up. Again, that pick-up/put-down method requires you to repeatedly find ways to reengage in the process. But when you write regularly, you’re in touch with your work in progress.

 6. As little as 10 minutes can be productive.

In addition to writing a few sentences of copy in your manuscript, you can accomplish a lot in 10 minutes. Here’s a sampling:
Brainstorm: book and chapter titles; subheads; dynamic verbs to replace a couple of flat ones; names of people to use in your anecdotes, case studies, and stories, and idea for sidebars.
Jot: key points to list at the end of a chapter, a summary of a chapter for your book proposal, a list of illustration ideas for your book, and notes for a hook in an upcoming chapter.
Plan: your calendar and block out available writing times in the next 30 days, note the experts you need to find for backup information, do a computer search to verify an essential fact or two you’ll need in a future section.
Ponder: your project with your eyes closed, perhaps focusing on a dilemma—describe it to yourself, define it, and invite the answer in. Then open your eyes and go on with your day, open to fresh solutions and ideas.
For every subhead you brainstorm, list you make, or fact you verify, you’ve saved yourself a few minutes later on. Besides, no matter how much or how little you get done in a few minutes, you’re keeping your creative brain primed—ready and raring to go to the finish line.
###
Bio: Lynda McDaniel is the co-founder of The Book Catalysts (www.bookcatalysts.com), offering book coaching, manuscript editing, and the on-demand book-writing course “Catapult into Your Book!” (http://bookcatalysts.com/writing-class )

Deborah has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, since 2001, for the historical magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published during this time. Her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails” edited by Olin Jackson. She has also had a showing of her photographs at Floyd Medical Center Art Gallery as well as winning several awards. Her debut cozy mystery "Death in Dahlonega", a winner in the ACFW Category Five Writer's Contest, is now available. She is a current member of the Georgia Writers Association, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Deborah has been nominated for Georgia Author of the Year 2012. She has an established blog, Butterfly Journey, where she reviews Christian Fiction. You can also catch her at Sleuths and Suspects, where she reviews mysteries. She also contributes to the Cozy Mystery Magazine every other Tuesday.
 

Tools For Publishing Part II

THINGS YOU CAN DO WHILE WAITING FOR PUBLICATION

1.      Establish A Website: Once your book is contracted and by the time it shows up in online bookstores, you should have a website – preferably one with your author name as the URL,(www.deborah-malone.com) so that readers can easily find you. Use Google blogspot for free and pay only for the URL.

2.      Start A Blog:  I’ve discovered blogging and reviewing books is a great way to get your name out in the world of writing. You can build a following before you have your book published. If possible use your author name as your URL. Interviews and book giveaways are a great way to draw traffic to your blog. You can use Google or Wordpress for free

3.      Start An Author Facebook Page:  If you start an author page as opposed to a personal page it allows followers to connect with you without having to wait for a friend approval. You can post book news, awards, and book signings.

4.      Get An Updated Author Photo:  This doesn’t have to be a high-priced photograph, but make sure it is updated and of good quality. It won’t hurt to have a couple of different shots.

5.      Set Up Accounts On Reader Sites:  There is a great opportunity in this area. You can sign up at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Shelfari. Then when your book is published you can set up author pages and list your book and your information.

6.       Get Business Cards, Postcards and Bookmarks:  Vista Print offers great prices on these items. You can get your business cards before your book comes out – be sure and put your picture on your card. Someone might not remember your name, but they will remember your face. If you place a small order with Vista Print they will send you discount cards with that order then you can place future orders at a greatly reduced price.

I made my own bookmarks out of heavy duty paper and saved a lot of money. Don’t forget the book I mentioned earlier “Stress Free Marketing” by Renea Winchester, it includes a lot of detailed information on these marketing strategies.

  

: Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction at Butterfly Journey and Sleuths and Suspects.  

Deborah Malone

www.deborah-malone.com

 The Road to Publishing (Part One)

1.      Finish That Novel:  Finish the book. Publishers are not really interested in ideas. They want to see that a would-be author has the skill, the stamina and the discipline to finish the job. After finishing your book set it aside for a couple of weeks then go back to it and start editing. Hire an editor if necessary. Two books I’ve found invaluable for my writing: “Write in Style” by Bobbie Christmas and “Goal, Motivation and Conflict” by Debra Dixon.

2.      Researching Publishers And Agents:  Study books that are the same genre as your book and see who their agent/publisher is. It is usually listed in the front of their book. Look for publishers on-line and study their guidelines for submissions. Find out what they are looking for. There are also books that are helpful to find publishers such as: “Christian Writer’s Market Guide” by Sally Stuart and “2012 Writer’s Market” by Robert Lee Brewer. Note: It is necessary to have an agent for big name publishers. If you do not want to go this route please do not forget the small presses. Please do your homework and check out small publishers or self-publishing companies. If you go this route a book you will want to read is: “Stress-Free Marketing” by Renea Winchester.

3.      Write A Synopsis And Query Letter: According to Kaye Dacus at www.kayedacus.com  you should first and foremost familiarize yourself with the kind of synopsis your targeted publishing house requests. Most will want a “normal” synopsis (about one doubled-spaced synopsis per 10,000 words of your novel.)  - Your query letter is your introduction to an editor/agent. You do not want to immediately label yourself as a “newbie” or an amateur when they open the envelope. Spend time learning the correct way to write a query.

4.      Prepare Your Proposal: The proposal is where you really brand yourself as a writer. It’s where you show the agent/editor that you’re so much more than just 100,000 words of a story written down on paper. It’s where you show them you understand the industry, you understand what they’re looking for, you know who your competitors are, and you realize that 80% + of the marketing for a published author is done by the author.

5.      Send Out Queries:  Be sure and follow the guidelines of the publishers you’ve researched. Send only what they’ve ask for – do not add anything unless they’ve requested it. It is important to not send any photographs or illustrations. Do not use fancy paper or elaborate fonts. These are the marks of an amateur, and will only hurt your chances. (www.mythicscribes.com)

6.      Be Prepared For Rejections:  You will receive them. Most of the rejection letters will be in form letter style. Do not let this get you down. Keep sending out the queries. Every author has a story to tell about the rejections letters they accumulated before being published. Consider a rejection letter as a sign you are writing. How many people can say they’ve even received a rejection letter? Keep writing and persevere. The writers who persevered are the ones who are now published.

7.      Continue Writing:  Don’t stop writing. The more you write the more you improve in the craft of writing. It will help you find out if you are able to write more than the “one hit wonder.” It might be that it will be your second or third book that gets published so don’t sit idle while waiting to hear from those publishers.

 

 

 

Author Bio: Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

 

 

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I don't cook much so I'm not good with recipes so when it comes my time to post I naturally tend to gravitate to writing articles. I hope this is useful to someone out there that might be writing or thinking of writing.

Here are a few techniques I found on the internet for writing humor. I have a lot of humor in my books and love to read books that have humor. These are written by Vonda Skelton, speaker and writer. Her website is www.vondaskelton.com.

1. Set the story up well. Take the time to lay out the groundwork in a logical way.
2. Use exaggeration. This is one time you want to take literary license through the use of hyperbole. The story is still true, but you just make it more. As I tell the school students in my Writing is Fun Workshops, take real life and make it bigger, badder, meaner, sadder.
3. Apply the rule of threes. Even though it’s not officially a rule, we know there is melody in the use of threes. And there’s humor in the use of threes, too.
4. And whether you’re using the rule of threes or simply telling a story, try to place the funniest word at the end of the sentence.
5. Punch words and/or punch lines often work well.
6. Write tight. When I initially write out a story, it’s a rambling story with all the details I normally include when I tell it from the stage. But in writing, I discovered it was best told in no more than half the spoken words.
7. Use words that begin with hard consonants, especially the K sound.
8. Use short sentences for more emphasis.
9. Even in humor writing, be sure to listen for the music or cadence of the words.
10. Rewrite…rewrite…rewrite.

 Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.  

Happy New Year!



Time to make those new years resolutions. Oh no, not again. How many times I've made them and never followed through. I found some tips that might help us with our goals - that is the catch word- goals instead of resoultions. We can make goals anytime. I hope these little tidbits will help you reachyour potentials.

 

 

 

10 Stratagies For Reaching Your Goals

 

10) Focus on one goal. The fewer things your brain has to deal with the better, then you'll be able to focus your motivation on one goal increasing the chances you'll succeed.

 

9) Get someone to hold you accountable. Tell your goals to a few close family and friends who will be honest with you and keep you on the right track.

 

8) Set Ultra-Specific Goals. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be to reach that goal. "Lose weight" or "get in shape" is a bad resolution; "Lose 15 pounds by March" is a good one. Setting multiple specific goals throughout the year is good, too. That way, you always have something attainable to focus on that doesn't seem far off.

 

7) Piggyback your goal with existing habits. If your resolution involves building small habits—like, say, flossing every day or taking daily vitamins—you can "piggyback" these habits with other, already-established ones. Stick your dental floss in your shower and floss during your shower, or put your vitamin jar inside your kitchen cupboard so you always remember to take them when you eat breakfast.

 

6) Give yourself a trial run. Give yourself a 30-day trial run to work out the kinks, where you can let yourself stumble a bit and tweak your goals to something better suited for success. Keep in mind that not all habits are formed in 21 days, as conventional wisdom says, so even after the trial run, give yourself time to sink into the habit before you start admitting defeat.

 

5) Trick your mind. Focus on anything that makes you feel like you're succeeding. If you're trying to lose weight, eating from smaller plates will make you "feel" fuller, even if you're eating the same amount of food, for example. Do whatever you need to do to trick your mind and you'll be well on your way to success.

 

4) Visualize the end result. If you're having trouble staying motivated, focus on what you'll get from your end goal—whether that's feeling better at a lower weight, being able to impress your friends with your new guitar skills, or just being able to breathe now that you've quit smoking. Staying positive seems like common sense, but it can be hard when you're in the middle of a big plateau.

 

3) Closely measure your progress. If you've created specific goals, then getting positive reinforcement should be easy. Every time your each one of those goals—even if it's just a daily goal—mark it off on a checklist or calendar.

 

2) Remind yourself of your goals everyday. If you're having trouble keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind, you can use one of any number of tricks to constantly remind yourself (besides tracking your progress). Set an alarm on your phone with a message of why you're doing this, record yourself on a webcam every day, or use dry erase markers to write your goals on your bathroom mirror.

 

1) Start right now. Why wait until New Year's Day? Whether you're reading this at the end of December or in the middle of July, start right now—even with small changes to prepare you for the big push—and you'll be one step closer to achieving your goals. There's no reason your goals need to start on January 1st, so call up those accountability buddies, jot down your milestones, and get started with that resolution right now.

http://lifehacker.com/5971803/top-10-strategies-for-making-your-new-years-resolution-stick

 

 

                                                                          

 

 

Author Bio: Deborah Malone’s first novel Death in Dahlonega, finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Category Five writing contest! Deborah was also nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year in First Novel category. She has worked as a freelance writer and photographer, for the historic magazine “Georgia Backroads.” She has had many articles and photographs published, and her writing is featured in “Tales of the Rails,” edited by Olin Jackson. She is a member of the Georgia Writer’s Association. As a current member of the American Christian Fiction Writer she has established a blog where she reviews Christian Fiction.