by Rosalind Bauchum

Most if not all of us surround ourselves with the people, places, and events which make us comfortable.  Often times we encounter situations which may prove difficult, tough, challenging, or even painful.  When faced with a decision, new opportunity, a job offer or a desire to do something new; do you stay within your comfort zone?  What does it take to walk out of your comfort zone?
 
 I have talked with many promising authors who are in various stages of writing; or have written book manuscripts.  These authors are at the point of being nearly finished with their respective work; but fall short of meeting the publishing benchmarks. Why?  Let’s look at some of the reasons:

“I don’t know how to end the manuscript and I hesitate in writing anything further!”
“I’m afraid the book won’t sell, how about I change the middle of the manuscript chapters to the beginning, and then move the end of the story to the middle of the book!”
“I am fearful of concluding the text right now!  I’m just not sure of this entire project!”
 
Can you relate to any of these factors?  Which of the respective authors in the three scenarios need to venture out of their comfort zones?  When we dwell in the midst of our comfort zone we may struggle in moving forward to a new level.  What’s the best way to walk out of the zone?

Decide that you want to venture out of your comfort zone.

​Delete procrastination in your daily life by creating at “to do” list.  Schedule what you will accomplish each day.

Once the decision is made to leave your comfort zone, identify three ways you can initiate activities to assist you in moving forward.  For example;

Set aside (date and time) to work on the final chapter.

Complete the transition of chapters by (date and time).

Review the final chapter and submit to the editor for a draft edition by (date and time).
 
Develop your own guided affirmations to assist you in moving from your comfort zone.  When you accomplish your objective, feel good about moving on to the next one!  Enjoy your new zone!

by Rosalind Gumby Bauchum

Have you ever had an idea for a book, a project, a drama, or an idea to develop a new product?  What about the great idea you have to create something brand new, but you didn’t have time to sit down and develop the outline?  You probably know as well as I do, there are many of us who sit around and say; “one day I am going to start the process on my idea, book or project but ……!”  Over and over, week after week the same phrase is repeated.   Once a friend phoned me to enlighten me about a great book idea he had.  My friend said he was too old to begin the project!  “Huhmnnn,” I said, how old would you be if you didn’t begin this project? 

Many of us have in one way or the other delayed our own ideas for various reasons.  Whether your desires are to write a book, an article, a screen-play, or further develop an idea for a trademark or a patent; all are within reach!  Just take the step! I have heard the difficulty in taking the first step to initiate your project.  The answer is in taking one step at a time, one moment at a time.  Have you ever notice we take the time to do little things that we want to do?  However, when we have real desires, we just don’t have the time? Your goal may be to write a book about your experiences in life.  Another goal may be to write and produce a film about a favorite topic.  Whatever you have in mind, you can do it!  Perhaps some of the following suggestions will help you launch your ideas.
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• Take five minutes of your lunch break and jot a few notes about your book, play, drama, or creative work. 
• Wake up five minutes early and devote the time to writing the first lines of your work. 
• When you don’t have time to write, grab your phone instead and record your text for five moments. 
• Take three to five minutes to make a sketch of your design or creative for a product.
• Before retiring for bed at night, turn off the TV and spend five minutes to work on your objectives.
• Give social media a rest for five moments! Rather than catching- up on what is going on in the world; devote some time to catch-up on the things you want to do in your life!

The personal aim is to “begin.”  Did you notice the emphasis on five minutes?  Five minutes is not a lengthy amount of time.  Repeat the actions the first two weeks for “five minutes,” then add ten minutes for a total time of “fifteen minutes.”  Increasing your time toward your objectives should help you on your journey toward your pursuits! 

How to get visibility for your book from a reader's point of view.
 
Book Sales Stale?  Speaking engagements non-existent? 
 
Well it is time to TALK IT UP!  What is talking it up?  Well I'm a reader.  I am the kind of customer that you are trying to reach.  When I find out that one of my favorite authors is launching a book I am getting in line!  I start checking the library, Amazon and other places. 
 
How do I find out about new books?  Well straight from social media!  I follow publishers and authors. The authors I follow are always sharing their writing processes, photos, launch dates,  WHERE you can find their books, pictures of them in stores where they found their books on the shelves or videos or their book search, etc.  Many of them share a little bit about their personal lives too. They become REAL PEOPLE to me.  I personally want a book written by a real person vs a person only in it for the money.
 
What else makes them real to me? Many of them respond to requests and questions online.  They even ask the US THE READERS what we would like to see a character do in an upcoming book.  We can even ask questions for our book clubs to help end a debate. 
 
What kinds of authors do I not support? Personally I am not a fan of authors that use profanity to express themselves.  I feel like the dictionary has enough words to choose from. Also I avoid authors that PUSH their books like used car salesmen.  I need to know HOW I will benefit from reading your book.  Yes I’m looking for little nuggets in every book I touch.
 
So, now you know what we avid readers are looking for.  Hope it helps.
 
#keepgainingmomentum

There’s an actual science behind promoting your book on Twitter — or more accurately, there’s enough good data out there to inform how you approach using Twitter as an author.
To make the most of your social media time, you want to maximize the effectiveness of each and every tweet. But how?

First, you should schedule your tweets at peak hours to get them in front of the most eyes. Second, you want to craft tweets that encourage action (retweeting, purchasing, replying, etc.)!

7 ways to smarten-up your book promotion on Twitter:
1. Longer tweets get more clicks. Internet marketers like to tell you to keep things short. But a tweet is only 140 characters, so it’s one of the few cases online where you actually benefit from using all the space you’re allotted.

2. Use more verbs. Less nouns. We’re emotionally stirred by action! So make your tweets sing, screech, punch, and dance.

3. Tweet in the afternoon and evening. After 2pm, Twitter traffic increases fairly dramatically. Maybe folks feel like they’ve got enough work done for the day that they can afford to sneak in 5 minutes on Twitter. So schedule your tweets with those people in mind.

4. Tweet closer to the weekend. As the workweek draws to a close, Twitter traffic soars — with Friday being the busiest day. So your heaviest Twitter activity should be on Thursday and Friday.

5. Ask for the retweet (“pls RT”). A lot of times in life the simplest way to get something is to ask. The same goes for Twitter. People are far more likely to retweet your content if you ask them.

6. Spread tweets out by at least 1 hour. You want to get the most people possible to see your tweets. By spreading out your Twitter activity by at least an hour, you’re increasing the likelihood of different folks seeing your activity. Plus you’re not annoying your followers by cluttering up their news feeds all at once.

7. Try putting the link towards the beginning of the tweet. Sure, 60-80% of your tweets should link to interesting content. But there’s also evidence to suggest that you should place that URL towards the beginning of your tweet. In many A/B tests between similar tweets, the one with the URL up front performed better.