Julie Artz works with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington, with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Check out her weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, and subscribe today.
[Wyrd Words Weekly] Guard your writing time!
Hello Reader,
I attended a webinar this week put on by the amazing Dallas Travers. It was called "Find Inbox Freedom" and it really changed my life. One outcome of that webinar was the decision to create a new email address for this newsletter.
Action: Please add newsletter@julieartz.com to your whitelist/contacts, because that's where this newsletter will come from starting next week.
Some of you already know this, but if you hit reply to this newsletter, you end up right in my personal inbox. And that's actually not going to change. I absolutely love hearing from all of you--the increased engagement with my writing community has been one of the unexpected joys of moving this newsletter from monthly to weekly last year!
But I do need to make sure that my clients (and my lovely assistants) get responses from me in a timely manner. So they'll get sorted to the top as a result of this change. Thanks for understanding.
You Should Guard Your Time Too!
Part of the reason I wrote to you about this change was so that my emails wouldn't end up going astray on their way to you. But the other reason is because this relates to your writing too. Taking steps to guard your time, to create efficiency, to delegate tasks, to make space, is such an important and often neglected part of the writing journey.
The truth is, unless you're Stephen King, there's always something else you could be doing besides writing. Tending to your day job. Caring for your family. Exercising. Doing a load or two of that laundry that's piling up. Getting groceries. Reading one of the 852 books in your to-be-read pile. You know, living your life.
All of those things are important. But so is your writing!
All my previous attempts to conjure up a laundry fairy have failed, although my husband does list himself as "Chief Dishwasher" on social media (seriously). So short of hiring help, how do we make space for our creative pursuits in a busy world?
For me, decluttering electronically by making this inbox change is going to be huge for me. Decluttering physical space can be another way to make room for your writing work, though. Imagine how much more appealing it will be to sit down at your desk if it's clutter free. If you have plenty of space for your notebook, your gel pens, your highlighters, your sticky notes, your reference books, your doodles and maps and other sources of inspiration...
But so can evaluating what really truly needs to be done now and what can wait until you've written your words today. So this week, no matter whether you've got 10 hours of writing planned or are just hoping to squeak in 10 minutes of story brainstorming between other tasks, see if there's something concrete you can do to make space for your writing. Then maybe you'll be able to find 20 minutes next week, and 30 minutes the week after.
Hope you make some space for your story this week!
Warmly,
Julie
Julie Artz | author, editor, book coach, dragon
Julie Artz works with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, ProWritingAid and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington, with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. Check out her weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, and subscribe today.
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