Project Management for Authors 101

Want to finish your WIP but keep getting stuck? Too many projects on the go and struggling to prioritise to get anywhere near finishing any of them? Frustrated? Doubting yourself? It might be that you need to take a step back and use some project management.

We all want to concentrate on the writing... tapping away at our laptops or scribbling in a notebook, sitting under a tree or in our perfectly cosy den of creativity as the latest word count racks up. And at times, we have to tear ourselves away from where we want to be to run the business side of being an author... the self assessment accounts, tracking SOR stock, promotion and marketing, spreadsheets and invoices. But how often do we plan what we're doing and look around to see what's going on?

Project management is utilised in business and the corporate world because it helps to deliver successful outcomes on time and to budget, improves communication between teams, and facilitates effective reaction to challenges that arise. As authors, especially indie writers, we're usually rolling on our own. If we're lucky , we might have support from family, friends or members of a writers' group... but we don't have colleagues checking in or senior management demanding results. It's down to us to motivate and inspire ourselves every day.

How cool would it be if we could have a regular check-in, a team meeting, where we do look around, take stock, be honest with ourselves over our goals, set deadlines that are realistic and achievable, and consider what blockers might be stopping us, what risks there might be on the horizon, what opportunities might be waiting for us to look up from our keyboards...

Just before Christmas 23, we had a fab session with the Robinson House Writers at our regular meeting in Stokesley where we used Project Management tools to look at our writing, our WIPs, our goals and ambitions. We only had an hour and over-ran as usual, but it made me think that we should do this more often.

Join us once a month on a simple 40-minute Zoom session to run through some basic, established project management tools and assess where we are and what we need to do to get where we want to be.

If you're a paid subscriber, you'll get an invite each month. There's no need or obligation to come along but you're welcome to if you think it'll be useful.

If you're reading this and haven't yet decided to sign up, but would like to try a session, drop me an email and you're welcome to join us for a Zoom to see if it's for you.

Happy writing,
CGH xx