In rock climbing, a "commitment move" is when - if you proceed - you can't back down to the safety of your last bolt or protection. It's onward, upward, or a big fall. It can scare you but also motivate you to push forward quickly to the next clip or secure hold.
New Year's Resolutions sort of work that way, too. You tell the world you're going to start exercising or change careers or move to Thailand, and now they expect it from you (until you become known for big talk and no action).
Well here's my little commitment move, my October Resolution (which is every bit as good as a New Year's one): I'm going to finish the major revision of the Christmas book I wrote ten years ago. I'm going to finish this month.
This same resolution worked for me the first time around. It was October 3rd and I had nine chapters finished and vowed to finish by Halloween. I finished the next twenty something chapters with a week to spare.
Which was part of the problem. On one hand, even though it turned out to be rather popular, hanging around Amazon.com's top 200 rankings for a couple years, it could have used more revision. On the other hand, I was so sick of it, I could hardly look at it for months. Because of that, it was hard to motivate myself to really market it the way I should have.
But this time the book is not just begun, it's already nearly done. And it's much, much better than the original.
Also nearly finished is the website where I'll market it: Free Christmas Books.com. I'll give away the old version for free (plus S&H) and hope that leads to sales of the revision, the sequel, and any other books I put up there.
There's a lot left to do, and it's a bit daunting, but I'm not ready to be lowered off the route. I'm not going to give up. I came here to reach the top and that's what I'm going try for. This is the sort of excitement and adventure that can become so very rewarding.
So here goes.
Shaun, we know you for big talk and big action. We’ll hold you to this!
Well the first 30% is totally solid now and ready to go. Time for a little break.
Also, FreeChristmasBooks.com is already #1 on Google for “Free Christmas Books”, but that only gets searched about a thousand times per month. I’m gonna start aiming for “Christmas books” since that gets nearly 100,000 searches.
Over 50% finished. Time to quit for tonight.
82% finished, but the next section is gonna take MAJOR revision! I’m still figuring out everything I need to do to keep it really engaging and valuable.
Then the last section is mostly already great, so with a few tweaks, I’ll be finished!
And then it’ll be time to focus on SEO, marketing, and maybe finishing up the revision of the sequel as well. It has one section that needs major additions, too, but overall I think it’s pretty darn close and another great book.
Way to go – I’m enjoying having my monthly goals as well since I am totally all talk, no action on my New Years Resolutions! 🙂 Can’t wait to read the revision.
Going S L O W L Y today. Sometimes all I can do is sit and stare at the page until an idea comes. But bit by bit things are falling into place and it’s all coming together. I hoped to finish this week, but it looks like I’ll need a little more time.
I’ve figured out just what to do with the difficult section – it’s going to be good! It’ll be great! Now that I know what to do, the writing should come along pretty smoothly. Still needs some brainstorming, though.
Took some time off to ride motorcycles this morning. That’s always a good idea despite the slippery mud that made progress up a few steep spots as difficult as the current writing spot.
Got about half of the tough part done today. I may finish the whole thing tomorrow, then let it sit for a few days and go over that part once more.
Almost there! Though there’s plenty more work waiting after the writing’s done.
The second half of the tough part was supposed to be easy, just a lot of chopping and revising.
Unfortunately, I learned some life lessons over the past few days and that changed the way I wanted the story to come out. I decided I’d need to learn a few more things for myself before I could finish the story.
Fortunately, I learned more lessons this morning and with them, figured out how I want the story to go, and have a solid start.
Unfortunately, I won’t have enough time to finish today.
Fortunately, the lack of time is partly due to taking the scouts and Becky rock climbing, and packing for a motorcycle trip to Moab. It’ll all be finished soon.
Yesterday I got FreeChristmasBooks.com all up and functional so visitors can sign up for new release announcements and buy books. I also revised another web page that will total over 4,000 #1 search results per month on Google. Then I got another site that may add another 15,000. Promising, but…no chicks have hatched yet.
Today I got a lot more of the book finished but one chapter still gives me some trouble trying to make it perfect. I’ll figure it out tomorrow, I hope, as well as put a few finishing touches on the chapters that follow.
Almost there. Stay on target!
Also, it’s time to think about cover design for the new book. If you’ve read it and have ideas, let me know!
Not to be a copycat, but I just thought I’d throw it out there as an idea. How about something more simple and obviously Christmasy, like what Richard Paul Evans does on his covers? The Gift, The Christmas List, Finding Noel, etc., they all follow the same kind of look and feel. I’ve never read any of his books, but I think his cover designer does a good job of nailing the “Christmas” feel.
Just thinking out loud. Er, typing out loud. No, it’d be thinking and typing.
I DID IT!!!
I just finished the entire revision, and I gotta say, it’s good!!! Those last chapters turned out a lot better than I expected!
I did some preliminary checking on printing costs and may be able to sell it for less than I thought. Now to design the cover and lay it all out in InDesign for the printer.
Moving right along!
I did it again. I just finished the sequel, The Perfect Gift. There’s a lot of really good writing in there!