Blog - Angelique Jones

Doing it all...and publishing a book

Introduction

Working full time, taking care of children, and maintaining healthy relationships with your significant other as well as with your friends and family can seem overwhelming on its own. Add to it a passion for writing and the dream to publish your own book, and it can sometimes feel like someone is handing you a brick while you are struggling to keep your head above water! It is important, however, to make time for the things you love!

Make passion your priority

Your passion should never become a burden. As a mother of six children between the ages of 18 and 3, I am here to tell you that you can do it all. Just to be clear, I am NOT a super woman. I do, however, enjoy being busy.

Writing a book was a dream of mine since the fourth grade when I wrote The Billowing Pillow. Okay, okay, it was far from being a masterpiece, but it was a 26 page (handwritten and at least triple spaced) “book” about a floating pillow. My teacher, however uninteresting she must have thought it was, saw that I really enjoyed writing and encouraged me to pursue. I am one hundred percent sure she has no clue of the encouragement she gave me, so thank you Mrs. Thompson! Fast forward a few decades and I decided it was time to return to my childhood passion and write a book.

Make a realistic timeline

Whether your idea is already thought out and you have a clear plan in your head (or on paper) or if you haven’t even decided the type of book you want to write yet, the complete process of writing a book from planning to marketing takes time. Even full-time authors don’t write novels overnight. Don’t forget that even when the last period at the end of your last chapter is placed, you still have a long way to go before having the book in your hands. Your book must be edited, evaluated, corrected, rewritten (passages or entire chapters or sections), summarized, published, and finally marketed.

I was lucky enough to have written my first book of my three-part series The Covens – A Change in Fate while I was on maternity leave with my first child. It took me a year to write. Once I was done, I printed it and gave it to my father to read. My father does not have an editing background, but I mention giving him a copy because he passed away four years ago so I am extremely happy that he got to read it.
When he finished reading it and made corrections and suggestions, I tried sending it to traditional publishing houses, to no avail. I put it aside and forgot about it for 15 years!

I found my manuscript while looking through old papers and I decided to give it a read. I have worked as a technical and proposal writer for almost 15 years now so my writing skills had dramatically improved over the 15-year period, and I was…I must admit…embarrassed when I read my manuscript. Although the story was excellent (if I do say so myself), the writing was awkward and difficult to follow at times. I had to rewrite it completely.
I wasn’t sure how I would find the time to rewrite a complete manuscript with both me and my spouse having full-time jobs and having six children to take care of. I had to figure out how to use my time wisely.

Choose how you spend your time

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to find time for an outing right away while others seem to be booked solid for years on end? It has everything to do with how people choose to use their time.
Everyone’s idea of success is different, and everyone puts forward the effort they feel is necessary towards the things that make them feel like they are being successful.

I quickly decided I needed to find more time and make writing my book a priority. I Start by blocking off the time periods I couldn’t move such as work and other commitments. Then, I wrote down all my chores and activities such as doing the dishes, cooking, laundry, grocery shopping, sports, homework, etc. It quickly became clear why I always felt like I had no time for anything else! Then, I added writing my book to the list.

Evaluate and Prioritize

Once the list complete, I rated how much I liked each item on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 was something I wished I could spend a good portion of my free time doing and 1 was something I did because I had to.

Let’s be clear, this does not mean that you will spend all your time on the 10s and none on the 1s, but it does mean that you will spend only necessary time on the lowest scaled items (1-5) to make time for the higher scaled items (5-10). Hint, hint…writing your book should be pretty high up on the scale!

Once every item was evaluated and prioritized, I made the changes.

Implement the changes

Implementing the changes might seem impossible or even scary, but remember, the goal is finding time for writing without stopping or reducing the time spent on the activities you enjoy the most.
Start by looking at your low scale items and figure out the least amount of time you can spend on each item below 5. Make small changes and only go as far as you feel comfortable. Saving even 30 minutes a day can give you enough time to start your book.

I started with little things like not folding socks and towels, cleaning my floors only once a month, and I reduced the amount of time I spent in the shower. The important part is that you feel comfortable with what you are doing. Try not to get caught up in what you think you should be doing or what you think is expected of you from society.

A big time consumer for me that was on the low scale items was cooking, meal prep, and grocery shopping. I looked into meal delivery services. I opted to get meal kits that included all the ingredients needed to cook nice meals in under 30 minutes. Everything was delivered to my doorstep and it even ended up saving me money and saved me about 1 hour per day!

By making these simple changes, I worked 1 hour per evening on my book. I chose to write in the evening after I was done my day and my youngest sons were in bed, but if you prefer to write in the morning, go for it. Find what works for you and stick to it!

Conclusion

Writing a book takes time, and since we all lead very busy lives, we need to find a few hours a week to accomplish our dream. By listing daily activities and ranking them, you can reduce the amount of time you spend on activities you don’t enjoy and save up time to work on your book.

Remember, only cut back as much as you feel comfortable and if you have a hard time cutting back at all, try and think of it as a temporary solution and once your book is marketed, you can go back to your old ways.

Give me your feedback!

Drop me a message and it will be my pleasure to get back to you or post your comment
Thanks for your support!