I recently interviewed Sara Robinson, MA, author of the forthcoming book Choose You: A Guided Self-Care Journal. We discussed self-care (of course), creating great content, and landing a book deal. Sara also shared some great tips for getting your writing done. You can view the interview by clicking the video below, or keep reading for a summary of what we discussed.

Who is Choose You for?

It’s for women in their 20s to 50s. It’s not often that a product or service is designed for such a wide audience, and Sara was a little skeptical at first. There’s a lot of pressure to make something appealing to such a wide audience, but it’s really for anyone who wants more self-care in their life. The journal is designed to make self-care easy, so if you don’t feel like journaling one day, you can check off a few boxes and make some notes instead.

Is this a joke?

Is what Sara thought when she was first contacted by Adams Media with the opportunity to write Choose You. She even googled “Adams Media” to make sure they were legit. The publisher was in the market for a writer to work on their self-care project, and Sara had spent a lot of time optimizing her blog with SEO for this very topic. Sara admits she hasn’t been keeping up with her blog as much as she’d like, but this is a great example of how when you have a lot of highly relevant and informational content on your blog, people will find you.

What about the moms?

Because Sara is so passionate about self-care for moms, she found herself wanting to add content to Choose You that was specifically for moms, but the editors at Adams Media were decidedly not looking for that with this book. Sara decided to pitch another project to them and they accepted.

Self-Care for Moms is a book specifically for moms that includes 150 quick and easy self-care ideas that moms can do in as little as five minutes. If you have more time, there are also activities that can be done in longer time periods like 15, 30, or 60 minutes.

How do you find the time?

Sara wears many hats and has a lot of projects on the go in addition to being a mom to two little boys. As someone who knows what it’s like trying to work while parenting, I wanted to know how Sara managed to write two books with such tight deadlines while staying on top of all her other commitments. Here’s what she had to say:

Manage your deadlines. While a traditional publisher will set deadlines for you, even as a self-published author with potentially no external deadlines, it’s important to set some and stick to them as much as you can. It’s important to leave a bit of cushion for editing and other changes.

Chunk it down. Break the larger writing project down into smaller more manageable pieces like chapters or scenes. In Sara’s case, she knew her publishers wanted a certain number of quotes and activities by certain dates, so she was able to figure out how much she needed to write each day in order to meet those deadlines.

Reward yourself for meeting your goals. It’s important to recognize your accomplishments. While Sara was writing her books, she rewarded herself with a sticker each time she met her goal.

What’s your writing goal?

Speaking of meeting goals, Sara mentioned that really understanding what it is you want to accomplish with your writing can help you stay motivated while writing. The are other ways to get your writing out there besides publishing books. Blogs can be a great way to share your expertise and they can often be monetized easier than a book. If paying your bills is one of your goals, then freelance writing can be a great way to accomplish this.

Defining your writing goal ahead of time can help you find work as a writer, like Sara did with her second book project. She knew she enjoyed working on Choose You and she seized the opportunity to pitch a self-care book for moms, something she is extremely passionate about.

Choose You is currently available for pre-order and will be available at all major retailers on November 13, 2018. Watch for Self-Care for Moms, also currently available to pre-order, in major retailers April 2019.