Working on a blogging schedule

That's my boy lost in thought. He's a deep thinker just like his mama. Actually, he was wondering why the boys playing basketball didn't pull their pants up all the way, but hey, that's still a deep thought.

I need to stop thinking about organizing my free time and get organized. What little I have left, that is. This means I need to get myself on a regular blogging schedule.

Mondays: this will be my give back day. I'll post reviews, promotions, giveaways, and guest posts. The third Monday of every month is the W4WS event. I believe it's important to give back to our community, and I'm so glad to see so much support and generosity this year.

Tuesdays: Teaser Tuesdays. This is a quick post to write and read. I'm always curious as to what everyone is reading. It's my way of peeking over shoulders and seeing what books you're interested in.

Wednesdays: First Wednesday of every month is the IWSG. The other ones will be my Wicked Wednesdays. Paranormal romance is my genre, and I love to talk about it.

Fridays: Friday Five. An update on my writing and other interesting things in my life.

Of course, for any special news, blogfests, and tours, I'll be changing the schedule. Don't forget my blog tour for THE ORACLE & THE VAMPIRE starts on Monday. I'll be having a huge giveaway!

Four days a week. That's very reasonable. I'm telling myself to be okay with setting a schedule. It'll be very good for me, and readers like to know what to expect on blogs.

Do you have a blogging schedule? Does it help your time management?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group for May 2013

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to make each book of my 13th Floor series better than the last. I cracked last month. The fifth book with my favorite character in the series was not good. Nope. It just wasn't working out the way I'd hoped. The previous four books came out very well on the first draft. Why wasn't this one?

I hold myself up to higher than normal standards. Sometimes it's so high, I can't reach what I want. I keep pushing, though. Clawing at the wall, fingers going numb, eyes wonky from staring at the screen.

Then I step back and ask another opinion.

Hm. I don't need to scale that impossible wall. I can take another route. Why didn't I see it before?

So that's what I'm doing. I'm rewriting the fifth book with both Harriet's and Kiral's points of view now. Usually I don't like to do more than one point of view, but it's working for this story. The pressure is easing. A little bit. I still have a deadline I must make!

I'm so lucky to have bright and understanding CPs and betas. They've supported me so much with this series. Thank you.

Have you ever felt you smacked yourself uselessly against a wall and then discovered a path you didn't see before?

Social media and time

I've been doing some research on social media lately and how to use it to my advantage without giving up too much more of my free time. I already put a lot of time into my blog and connecting with people through here. For me, this has been the most effective tool in making connections.

I have a Facebook account, but it's my personal account. I check it twice, maybe three times a day. It's mostly for keeping in contact with friends and family, and bragging about my kid. I'm planning to make one specifically for Christine Rains the Writer. I haven't decided if it's best to create a fan page or open a new account for this purpose. Have any of you had the experience of both? And if so, what's your preference? If you use Facebook at all, how often do you check fan pages as compared to accounts?

I don't have a Twitter account. I'm going to start one when I open the new Facebook account. I was never a fan of Twitter, but I do admit that it has a large following and it would be beneficial for me. I've read in a few places that for Twitter to be an effective marketing tool, you have to tweet at least 25 times a day, but no more than 35 or else people will get annoyed. That's a lot. I don't have the time to do it either. For those of you that use Twitter, have you found it helpful in marketing yourself?

I have LinkedIn and Google+ accounts, but I rarely use them. I really like Goodreads, but I haven't done any promoting on there. I just like seeing what people are reading and their reviews. I have no interest in MySpace. My husband suggested Digg (a social news website). He works with marketing at his company and Digg is growing.

Even if I signed up with various sites, I don't have the time to maintain them. I considered a social media management site like Hootsuite. I'm afraid that it might make it all more complicated. Does anyone use any type of social media management systems? If you do, what has your experience been like?

I realize it's important to get your name out there. There are a lot of opportunities to do so on the internet, but it takes time. Time that I don't have. Time I should be writing. And the most important thing I need to be doing as a writer is writing.

I'd also like to give a big thank you to Tara Tyler for awarding me the One Lovely Blog Award. She passed it on in such a clever way too!