Guest post by Angela Baker

If you’re looking for inspiration as an author, sometimes reading the thoughts of those who have already had a taste of success or have a wealth of experience can really help. Many of these people also like to share their knowledge (which is great for everyone) and do so on a regular basis via their blogs.

​But which blogs should you take a look at? I mean, blogs are not exactly a new thing, so your choice can be a little overwhelming.

Here are our five favorite blogs that we think you should (as an author) take a look at, and if there’s one we missed which you think is amazing, just let us know in the comment section below.

As an author it can sometimes feel very lonely, you’ve great ideas for a book, you’ve either finished writing it or are in the process, but where do you look for some advice when you need it?

Well, there are other successful authors who have been where you are, and through their experience, you can gain insight into what you should (and importantly) what you shouldn’t do to be a successful author.

Guest post from Angela Baker

Writing is a beautiful creative process that can have a beneficial effect on our mental health and inner peace. It can help us find a connection between our mind and our emotions and establish a balance that we all need. This is because writing can shape thinking. But, what does that mean?
 
There are impressive ways in which writing shapes our thinking and can help us reach depths we didn't even know existed. If you want to learn more, just keep reading. Here's how writing positively influences your thinking and helps you grow.

The beginning of a new year will always fill people with ideas of change and motivation to achieve their goals, but several weeks in and it is easy to slip back into the old ‘comfortable’ way of doing things, before you know it, the goals are a distant thought and it’s ‘business as usual’, which is not great for you or your goals.

But you may be asking yourself ‘I don’t have many goals set, I just want to publish my book or lose weight or get that promotion’, whatever the goal is (and as you’re reading a blog which is heavily based around books and publishing, I’m assuming its about working on your book), you should take some time to refocus and plan out how you’ll achieve hitting or even setting your target for 2021.

The good news is that setting targets and goals is easy to do, you just need to be specific and realistic about it. If you look at the world of business, goals are set as S.M.A.R.T goals, meaning that they are:

Currently many people are having to work from home, their places of work doing the right thing (and where possible) ensuring that their team can still be productive, but from a distance. For many authors this may feel like an extension of how you would set your home up for writing, it’s just that now most of us are quarantined and making your home/work life work is vital (if you want to stay productive).
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So, what should you consider when spending more time at home and either working or writing your book? Here is our list of what will help any author have a more productive time while working from home.

For most authors the dream is to hit it big and spend your days as a full-time writer, so, if you have written and published a book, you’ve certainly made a start towards realizing that dream. But there are other ways to make an income through writing (although you’ll still want to keep working on your next book, I’m sure).

​There are plenty of places where you can sell your work and at the same time grow your skills (along with your writing portfolio), here are four areas where you should also be considering if you want to become a full-time writer.

The way in which we both read and write books has changed so much over the past 25 years, for those who write, the landscape has shifted and the tools now available for you to be able to create is growing very quickly. This is not to say that writers don’t use pen and paper and there may be some who still use a typewriter, but on the whole, we have adapted to new technology and embraced the new options it has given us.
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And this leads on to our obsession with cell phones, we have them with us at all times and use them for more and more tasks, so why not use them to help with your writing and publishing?

The beginning of a new year always makes us think of resolutions and goals for the next twelve months, for many this will involve diets and maybe the search for a new job, but for an author (or those who want to become authors) it fills us with the inspiration that this should be the year of publication.

They say that we all have a book within us, so what’s stopping you from completing yours?

But the key in starting any resolution or goal is in keeping the momentum and making it past a very enthusiastic first week, as with those who take up a new form of exercise, the first couple of weeks is full on, then you tire, lose interest and go back to sitting on the sofa watching TV.

So, trying to complete your book in a month (unless you absolutely have to) is not always the best idea, overburdening yourself when you may well have a full-time job or others to take care of is a fast track to failure. And this is important to remember when you have other priorities, if you can’t write full time, don’t try to.