About two years ago, I was chatting with Becca Syme, creator of the Better Faster Academy while taking the course “Write Better Faster.” The course—which I highly recommend along with Becca’s “Dear Writer” books and super helpful YouTube videos—uses CliftonStrengths to determine what will work best for writers based on their individual strengths.

When I had my one-on-one session with Becca, I remember saying, “I have no desire to write a book a month. That’s just not me.” Well, two years later, I’ve continued learning about my CliftonStrengths report and it turns out, it is me!

There are two strengths in my top ten strengths I can safely say have helped me get these books written: Focus (#2) and Activator (#6). The short version of what these strengths do is in their names. Activator helps me take action and get started and Focus keeps me going. There is so much more to the strengths than that, and I hope you’ll learn about your strengths too. This was a total game changer for me. You can get a special code for the CliftonStrengths test from Becca through her website.

During 2021, I learned that I can be very externally motivated, but there were also some books I wrote just for me. That may seem counterintuitive considering I’d like to make a living writing. Check out my list of what I published, and why, to see what I mean.

What I Published

In October 2020, I realized I had a ton of premade book covers sitting in my Google Drive not being appreciated by anyone but me. There was no way I was going to let the designers’ hard work result in those covers dying a lonely death in Google Drive, so I got the crazy idea to set up some pre-orders on Amazon and at least start showing off some of those covers.

Here are the books I published in 2021 and what kept me motivated to get them into readers’ hands.

Maggie’s Mark (Steamy Romantic Suspense ~ 36,000 words)

CIA agent Maggie Barnes is a force to be reckoned with. I fell in love with this character as I wrote the story. I wanted to be Maggie Barnes. I’ve never felt this so strongly about one of my characters. I also had listed this book as one of my pre-orders back in October 2020.

I started writing this story at the end of December and published it in January. Maggie kept me going for sure. Plus, I was writing about a dangerous cartel which was probably a little more fun than it should have been. You probably noticed from the word count that it’s also a novella, so it was much quicker to write than a full length novel.

Sanctioned (Steamy Romantic Suspense ~ 46,000 words)

I wrote this book in the summer of 2020 for Corinne Michaels’ Salvation Society, and it was a priority for me because I was under contract with Wild Thorns Press to submit it before October 2020. I put it ahead of most of my self-published books, because I didn’t want to have to ask for an extension. I finished early, and the book was published in February 2021!

Reyna’s Revenge (Steamy Romantic Suspense ~35,000 words)

I started writing Reyna’s Revenge once I was under contract with Wild Thorns Press to write Sanctioned. I wanted to write a book that somehow tied into my existing series as well as the Salvation Society, but I didn’t think the idea I had for Sanctioned fit into Cynthia Webber’s world, so I decided to write something new.

For this book, I wanted to experiment with publishing chapters on my blog. I thought this would motivate me to keep going with the story, but it really didn’t. I only got nine chapters published between April and September 2020. I needed to buckle down and finish the book before the pre-order date came up in February 2021. This is the second book in the Ceiba Cartel series, and I put it on sale for pre-order at the same time as Maggie’s Mark.

Veering Off on Valentine’s (Chapter Book ~ 13,000 words)

I write children’s books with my kids as AJ Kormon, and they were nagging me to get this one finished. It worked! They make excellent beta readers for my kids books, so they always know what I’m working on under my pen name. They often contribute to the story in some way too.

As you can see by the word count, this is really more of a short story or novelette than a novel. I wanted to write something especially for my boys who, at 9 and 11, have yet to take up reading novels on their own. They still prefer me or my husband to read to them.

This is part of a mystery series for kids 9-12 years old. All the paperback versions are formatted with Century Gothic Font—a font known to be decoded easier by struggling readers. Unfortunately I didn’t meet my goal of publishing this before Valentine’s Day, but at least I still got it out there in February.

Saving My Spring Fling (Chick Lit ~ 34,500 words)

This is part of a series I put up for pre-order in October of 2020. I had all the covers and blurbs ready to go, so I listed the whole series for sale at the same time. This way I could also test if longer pre-orders got more sales than shorter ones. They didn’t.

Love Overseas (WWII Romance ~ 55,000 words)

Although most of the writing for this book was done in 2021, I started researching it back in 2019. It’s a fictional version of my grandparents’ experiences during WWII, and I was nervous to publish the story, thinking that it might not be of interest to anyone but my family.

As I researched what my grandmother had been through working in a munitions factory in England and then as a war bride in Canada, I knew I had to publish the book. Not only did I know I had to publish the book, but I got ideas for additional books about war brides inspired by the true stories I read.

To challenge myself to finish this book, I booked two editors, months in advance, establishing a deadline for myself. Of course, I dragged that out and had to keep telling the editors it was almost ready.

Snagging My Summer Love (Chick Lit ~ 36,000 words)

This is the third book in the Seasonal Singles series, so it was another pre-order I had established in October 2020.

Faking My Fall Crush (Chick Lit ~ 38,000 words)

And this is the final book in the Seasonal Singles series. It’s also the last book I had set up on pre-order before completing the writing. Phew! No more pre-orders for me unless the book is already complete. What a crazy year!

Moxie (WWII Romance ~ 46,000 words)

This is another Salvation Society book written almost exactly a year after the first one I wrote. Since I was becoming more familiar with my writing process by this time, I opted for the shortest contract available and said I’d have the book turned in by September 1. It was pretty tight getting the book self-edited in time to send to my editor and proofreader, but I did it.

This was another story that I felt emotionally connected to. I knew certain historical things that were going to happen, and I knew my main characters really well, which made the writing go faster, or so it seemed. Moxie will be live on November 7 and available in Kindle Unlimited.

Stringer (Forthcoming Romantic Thriller ~ 60,000 word count goal)

I’m writing this post on October 21, 2021 and right now, all I have for Stringer is a general premise and a few notes. It’s on this list to guarantee I write and publish this book by the end of the year. In the back of my book Unaudited, published in 2020, I promised readers Stringer was coming in 2021, and I don’t want to break that promise. (Update: I did not publish Stringer in 2021. Instead, it’s publish date is April 2022. So sorry, readers!)

I started writing a different book, Death Tax, thinking it was the book I promised. Six chapters in I realized I made a mistake and sent a poll to my email list asking them if they wanted Death Tax or Stringer. Stringer won, so here I go. Watch my fiction site for the Stringer release in December!

Of course, to publish these books I first had to write them, so here are a few things I did to get the writing done.

How I Got the Writing Done

In all fairness, once the pandemic hit in 2020, I was out of work, so I had a lot of time to write. I also wasted a lot of time, so I’m not completely sure I wouldn’t have been able to get all these books written and published if I was also working. I’m working again now, so I’ll be testing that theory going forward for sure. Stay tuned for a follow up post at the end of 2022.

Write for You First

After taking Write Better Faster, I noticed a lot of my lack of writing and procrastination tactics stemmed from worries I had about people reading my books. I worried they would find lots of typos or grammatical errors and I worried they wouldn’t like the stories. Once I put several books up for pre-order, I didn’t have time to let these things hold me back anymore. There was no longer any room for procrastination or worrying.

I started writing to get my story ideas out of my head and into the books. I also wrote for the challenge of trying to get all those books written, edited, and formatted before the pre-order deadlines. Of course, I still want people to read my books, but while I was challenging myself to write all these books in 2021, I stopped worrying so much about being judged by readers. I just wanted to reach my goals in the timeframe I had set for myself.

Clear the Deck

Something else that makes it hard for me to write is having other things on my to-do list. Sometimes these are little things like the weekly housework I didn’t do the day before. Other times it’s writing projects I owe to freelance writing clients.

When I’m constantly thinking about these other things, it distracts from my ability to write stories. Even though I will be taking time away from novel writing by doing these other tasks, I’m able to focus much better once I do them and get them out of the way. I’m clearing the deck for all the fun novel writing that’s about to take place.

Just Write Something

I’d love to say I’m a meticulous plotter, but I can’t. I wish! I brainstorm and usually know a few key scenes before I start writing, but then I get stuck. Rather than let this bother me, I just start writing. Sometimes I don’t even know the first scene, but as long as I know something, even if it happens in the middle of the story, I write that. The rest always comes eventually.

If I run out of scenes on my list then I try to come up with three things I think should happen next. If that doesn’t work, then I just let the story sit until something comes to me. I also start editing when I get stuck. This helps me revisit what I’ve written so far, and I usually have a better idea of where I’m going with the story once I’ve edited what I have so far.

Use Short Bursts of Time

I have two kids and three dogs. Some days it feels like the most time I get to myself is twenty minutes before someone needs me to do something for them. Yes, I’m trying to train my kids to be self-sufficient but at 9 and 11 there are some things they still need help with.

My dogs haven’t learned how to open the door to go outside or get their food from the cupboard. (Thank goodness!) Learning to write (or plan) in short bursts of time has really helped me not feel so disappointed when I get interrupted.

In 2019, I discovered writing sprints, and I joined the Simon Fraser University Creative Writing department on Twitter for their monthly writing sprints several times. At these sprints, you write as much as you can in 15-minute intervals with a five-minute break for one hour. Since I have a family, I never know when my writing session will be interrupted, so I enjoy working in several short increments like this, and this is still how I write today.

I shared some writing sp rint tips back in 2019 if you’d like to learn more.

What I Learned

Motivation is a huge part of writing. As you can see from my list of books, I’ve been motivated by the characters and the story and self-imposed deadlines like pre-orders and editing agreements as well as publishing contracts. But the most motivating factor for me is the story and the characters. I have to enjoy what I’m writing. If I don’t feel like working on something, I know I need to work on the character or story details.

You probably noticed most of the books I’ve published this year are novella length. It seems like I’ve got a good sense of the patterns in that length of book, but I’d really like to write something longer. That’s why you see the 60k word count goal for Stringer.

Will you continue to see this many books from me in the future? Probably not, but you never know. I’ve learned I work best by focusing on what’s going on now and trying not to plan too far into the future. (My #1 Futuristic strength hates that!)

There are a lot of things I want to accomplish in publishing, but when I share my goals in public (such as a book release date) before I’m ready, I feel like a horrible person for letting readers down even though I believe goals are made to be changed.

Now that I know what external motivators work for me, it’s time to try some internal motivators. These are things like crafting longer and better books, finding an agent, and writing about things that really hit me where it hurts. Hopefully these kinds of stories will grab my readers by the heart strings too. Internal motivators can have external impact. Maybe even more so than external motivators.

Stay tuned for my follow up post around this time next year! Thanks for reading!

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