Has Authoritis Got You Down? 5 Steps to Heal Author Overwhelm

Do you have high performance patterns and strategies, yet throw them out the window when faced with ... Facebook? Do you twitch instead of Tweet and become disconnected instead LinkedIn?  Would you rather pine for something else besides Pinterest? Or how about your Blog, is it blogging you down?

How do we overcome this perplexing dilemma? Your 5-point healing plan begins here.

Step 1  Revisit a time when learning was fun. 

Explore, play, experiment with the new media. You don’t have to be the perfect adult. Be willing to try something new—maybe a dance class; a cooking class; something outdoors—skydiving; how about archery, golf or a speed reading class ... even gulp, a class on something that is computer oriented? 

You may feel incompetent and foolish for a few months, but practice and more practice moves you up and out. Get out of your comfort zone. Be willing to look foolish. Silly. Outrageous. Embrace the learning curve.

Step 2 Start with the basic steps. 

Your established high performance pattern will help you select the right marketing and social media steps to take. If you write articles, you may  find that blogs feel natural to you.  If you have a sales background, you may be comfortable starting with Twitter. If you like to chatter and connect with people, you may migrate toward Facebook and Pinterest. Whatever you choose, go with your strengths and desires.

Step 3  Connect to your creativity. 

This is the fun part. Get ideas from others, but march to your own drummer. Integrate what feels and looks authentic to you. You may try to get someone else’s system work for us. Why not? Look at their success, it's working, it may for you as well. It may ... Remember, their process works for them because it is their process. If you work in similar ways, it may also work for you. But if feels foreign, awkward, and you hate it—probably it won’t. Find one that fits you, or create a new one tailored to your needs and personality.

Step 4  Get organized and dump your clutter. If you’re buried in clutter and keep adding more to it, don’t expect to get a lot done. It won’t happen. Clear out the clutter. Organize your writing life.

If you’re too busy, hire someone to help you and focus on getting rid of unnecessary “stuff.”  Having someone with you will keep you on track. Embrace the Dump Zone.

Step 5 Write something every day.

One of my favorite books is Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Within it,he revealed that he sets writing goals for himself every day, including holidays.

Most of us have some kind of writing routine—otherwise, we wouldn’t be authors. But do you have a similar routine for promoting your books? Let’s say you write 2,000 words a day, and you’ve finished your book--as in done. How will you use that now-free time?

You are the author of your time as well as of your book, so explore the social media options and choose the ones that work for you.

Write your own prescription for overwhelm, and you will find your cure for Authoritis.

  Judith Briles is known as The Book Shepherd a book publishing expert and coach. She is the Founder of Author U,  a membership organization created for the serious author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. Judith is the author of 31 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms, Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers  and a speaker at publishing conferences.

Become part of her inner circle by joining the Author's Arkand exclusive monthly webinar and coaching event. Her audio and workbook series, Creating Your Book and Author Platform is now available. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U - Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet Network at http://togi.us/authoru. Follow @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like” at AuthorU and TheBookShepherd on Facebook.  If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact Judith at Judith@Briles.com.