I've created an annual reading challenge for authors to grow their business and craft. I am sharing it becuase we are all in this together. You could probably apply it to any creative business with just a few adjustments. 

I have not written a blog or newsletter in a while. I could make excuses, but quite frankly I set everything down last fall and am now just picking it back up. Writing projects, the book I was reading, everything. I lost my father suddenly on November 1st. And for those of you who have experienced loss, you know that limp feeling that takes over, where nothing tastes right, nothing feels right, and there is no creativity or light in your day? That is where I was. For those of you who have not experienced it yet, you will at some point. And I am here to tell you it is okay to allow yourself the grace to grieve. 

​There really was so much more to that moment in my life. My MIL was already battling Breast cancer. She'd had a double partial mastectomy and developed MRSA infections in both surgery sites. I, being the only female in the family, became her main support. My 15-year-old dog was struggling with day to day life. My roof was leaking. I was planning Christmas already because my son was coming home from college for the month. I was working on a couple projects for clients, planning an author extravaganza in December. You get it, life was happening. And I was managing it all. That’s my personality. Bring it on. I can manage it. Between oncology and veterinarian appointments, I received a call that my father, who lived in another state, had been diagnosed with cancer and given a year to live. So, I began to shuffle priorities. I would see him when my brother got married in a few months so I still had control over enerything I needed. Then the next day my brother called and said the Doctors were wrong, dad had a week. I shuffeled faster. And the next day he was gone. It happened that quick.

At that moment I literally sat down. I figurately let go, and everything I was ‘managing’ toppled to my feet. Nothing I did mattered. It was as if I had fallen into a river that rushed around me, and the one branch I struggled to keep a grip on wasn't helping. Trying to hold on only seemed to force my head under. So, I let go. I had no fight left. I didn’t care enough to make a decision about what I would have for dinner, let alone a business decision. I called any obligations and explained I needed a hiatus. I knew it could cost me dearly, but I also gave myself permission to just accept the consequences of letting go. 

Despair has movement like a river. It speeds up and swirls all around you at times. Then there are moments dark stillness. I rode out the rough spots, and sought peace in the quiet. I felt myself floating freely, finding solace in the ebb and flow of the torrent around me not caring where I ended up in the end.

I happened to have a doctor appointment of my own scheduled, one which I had no choice but to keep. When the Doctor heard all that had happened, she said I showed symptoms of depression and offered an anti-depressant. I declined, not because I am brave, or have anything against taking anti-depressants. But I found her offer strange. I thought, or felt, I had every right to be sad at that moment. That sounds like a strange statement, but it is accurate none the less. 

I kept envisioning this river of sadness I floated in. Happiness. Life. Joy. It all sat on the far shore. Every once in a while, I’d get the impulse to swim for that shore. But my arms were heavy and the strokes were difficult in the beginning. I mostly gave up before I even got started. So I worried that taking anti-depressants would cause me to get comfortable enough to stay in the river rather than even attempting to swim for shore. I thought perhaps what I felt was not the same as chronic depression that many people suffer from, that my sadness was a result of loss, a process I had to get through. And that taking the anti-depressants would just prolong that process. Perhaps if I didn't work through it now, it would just be waiting for me later when I tried to stop taking the anti-depressants. Or worse, I would lose site of the shore entirely and never leave the river. This may sound weird, but I chose to embrace the sadness, to drift in it until I felt like swimming.

When I spoke with my brothers, we wondered at how the world didn’t seem to notice. How everything went on as usual, and how we felt numb to it all. And I continued to drift.

It's been three months. And I find swimming toward that shore is easier. This week I picked up one of the items I dropped that day. I finished the book I had been reading. It felt good, like reclaiming part of my "normal".  Sometimes I think I am free from the river. Other times I realize although my feet touch bottom, the water still tugs at my legs trying to reclaim me.

​We talk about things like self-care and mental health as if they were goals to be met rather than things to experience. I tell you, whoever needs to hear this, you do not need to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get on with life on anyone else’s schedule. You have a right to feel whatever grief you feel. It is part of the healing process. If you need help from those around you, ask for it. But do not feel bad or ashamed for taking the time you need to swim to shore. You don't have to hold the world together while you grieve, it will be there when you get to the other side. 

Just an announcement, in case you have not noticed.... I've moved my monthly book wrap up solely to my newsletter. It just makes sense, so you all are not getting duplicate information from multiple sources if you happen to follow me on more than one platform. If you don't subscribe to my newsletter, why don't you? I send one a month with super hot book recommendations, and perhaps a blog post every couple of weeks, only if there is something interesting to share. No spam, I promise. Sign up and check it out.

As authors, we are no strangers to project management. We use it in all aspects of writing from planning the book to planning the book tour. But I feel like many authors don't do much planning when it comes to their website. We get tangled in all the things we are expected to have on a website between our blog and book buying links, back links to other resources and all the other attention-grabbing elements that are part of our brand. Often, we miss mark of creating a balance between usability and information access. 

This is where project management even for your website becomes important. Planning the steps by creating a task list, research, monitoring progress and budget, implementation and review. Will help you fit the most important elements in a way that makes sense as well as decide where best to spend your budget, especially if it is a tight one. For example, if you only have $100 a month to spend, you need to know if you want to spend $20 a month on blogging images, or $20 a month on a newsletter list tool. 
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I suggest using a process called wire framing to outline the pages and plan each tag, hyperlink and button making sure you have everything you need to be successful and drive traffic and sales the way you hope to in the time frame you need them. I know you are thinking your time would be better spent planning the next book. But consider this, your website is the hub of your brand. It is the thing that all social media and platforms like Goodreads, Amazon and the like point to, your virtual store front if you will. Don't you think it warrants the same consideration any other large part of your business plan receives? 

Networking and personal branding has always been hard for me. I have no problem walking up and saying hi to someone, especially if they are holding a cute baby, or puppy, or planner, something I can relate to. When that happens, just try to get me to shut up.  It’s the next step that is difficult for me. The part when they say hi back and are holding your hand in a friendly shake looking at you expectantly. Bridging the moment between introduction and elevator pitch is like crossing the Grand Canyon for me. And I think it’s that way for many authors.

By nature, authors spend a lot of time alone in our heads. It’s what we do. But, being an author is not exactly a solitary job anymore. You have to get out there and mingle to sell books. Every once in a while we see an opportunity and jump on it, but have you ever been on a rope bridge? That is how those fleeting moments feel to me. I want a more solid, reliable way to cross that cavern. That bridge has come in the form of networking.

The very first day of school I asked my marketing instructor, “How do I stand out in a saturated market?” He answered, “In a world full of barking dogs, be a cat.” Okay, so do I walk around meowing, looking for a can of tuna? All semester I have been wondering what does that mean? Then, this week two of my classes tackled the topic of networking simultaneously. And the curtains flew back letting in the light! AaHaaaaaaaa!

I’ve been studying networking all week and really thinking about how it applies to us solitary authors holed up in our office or local coffee shop doing our thing. How do you network when you are literally alone? Well first of all, you get out of the mind set about trying to sell your book to every person who walks by. I have this term I like to use called ‘carnival barking’. You can’t sell books if the people walking by hear “Step right up, I’ve got something for you to see. Don’t miss out.” Do you know how many times I get an email or a post in my feed that actually uses the words “Don’t miss out”? It’s obscene. Instead focus on building a bridge (network) to people who care about the same things you care about (brand). See what I did right there?

Don’t run away screaming because I used that word from the 50’s that brings up connotations of men in smoky back rooms with sweaty handshakes wearing funny hats wheeling and dealing. That is not networking. That is film noir and if you come across it in real life, run. It ends badly for the innocent. No, networking is much easier than you think. Let’s say it again… Build a bridge to people who care about what you care about. Network to your tribe around your brand. Get it?

So how does a person who is used to solitary confinement network? As it turns out, the answer is pretty simple. Service. You may not be a Chatty Kathy, but you know how to help people right? Build bridges and leave them up for cross traffic. For example, I write zombie romance novels. If I find someone doing research on bug out bags, or survival bags in my snowmobile group and I say hey, I know a thing or two about bugging out and help them. The fact that I write zombie novels is just a happy side note. Then when a friend mentions they love a good zombie book, the person I helped is going to say, I know a lady.
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Find people you can be of service to. Solve their problems. Don’t worry about selling them a book right now. You don’t even know if they read, or what they read. Focus on being helpful. In your blog posts, newsletters and online groups, solve a problem. They WILL notice you. 50 Shades didn’t spread like wild fire because everyone stumbled across it. It spread because people were talking about it. Be what people are talking about by building your bridges.

I read an article this month about independent contractors carrying Professional Liability Insurance. My first thought was I wonder if book designers and editors carry this type of insurance. But I'm an author, I don't need it. Then I got to thinking... or do I? I did some research and the answer may surprise you as much as it did me. Turns out, yeah, yeah I do. And so do you. Self-published and traditionally published, all of us are at risk.

So what is PLI insurance, aka Errors and Omissions Insurance? Well, here I go quoting Forbes again...

"Professional Liability Insurance: this type of insurance is also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance. The policy provides defense and damages for failure to or improperly rendering professional services.  Your general liability policy does not provide this protection, so it is important to understand the difference.   Professional liability insurance is applicable for any professional firm including lawyers, accountants, consultants, notaries, real estate agents, insurance agents, hair salons and technology providers to name a few..." excerpt from 13 Types of Insurance A Small Business Owner Should Have

Back in 2008 Writer's Digest reported (read here) a general increase in authors being sued for all sorts of things from accidentally plagiarism to copyright infringement and liable. They noted even back then that it wasn't just the self publishing world being effected by this, depending on the contract, authors with traditional publishing house backing them were taking a hit in their royalties when and if the published house got sued because of something they wrote. 

In fact The Balance reported a similar article as Forbes in 2017 focused specifically on what types of insurance a writer needs. Sure enough, PLI is at the top of the list. 

Why insurance? Because by putting yourself out there, you put everything you have at risk. People get snarky when they feel their rights have been stepped on. Often times that can lead to ugliness even when it was never your intention. Why not protect yourself when all it takes is a phone call to your current insurance agent and a few questions? 

I'd love to hear from you in the comments about any experience you have in this area, both good and bad. 

Happy writing my friends!