Words: 3,541Time: 2:30pm - 10:15pm (2 hr break)
Mood: Great
Impression: Good
I watched Charlie Rose 2 nights ago. On it was Jim Collins. He is the author of one of my favorite books Good To Great. He has come out with a new book about how start ups survive difficult times to become great big companies.
It was an interesting show and I learned something from it. I'm proud to say that I have many of the qualities of his example of great start-up company leaders. I have incredible focus, I have incredible devotion to projects, I think of things from both a creative and business stance and if I'm given time to make an important decision, I use ever minute of it researching all sides before deciding.
There was one thing though that I pretty glaringly lack. Jim was telling a story about this guy who was the first to make it to the North Pole. He mentioned that one of the things that allowed him to make it there on time and to bring his entire team back alive was that not only did he cover the territory he said he would during the bad days, but when he had the good days, he only traveled the alloted amount, no more. I don't do that. I will cover my allotted amount of work on a bad day and then try to do twice as much on a good day. I'm positive that that is not going to help me return from the North Pole alive.
So thinking about that, I have decided to allow myself not to finish my latest story tonight. Instead I will do 2 editing passes on the story I wrote yesterday, create the cover for yesterday's work and then publish it. I should be done by about 6am. I'm not sure that it is exactly what Jim Collins would recommend, but baby steps, right?
I think generally speaking I'm running out of gas on the writing though. My plan was to push as hard as I can until Dec 20th and then take a break. My goal for this month was to release 8 new titles. I had to work on Samurai Zombie Hunter for the first week of the month so that time was shot. Since then I have published 2 shorts and I've written 1 and a half others. I will probably start another on Saturday and all three should be published by Monday.
That will leave me 9 days to release three more books. It's doable, I guess, but it seems that I'm needing more rest periods than I did last month. I'm not sure how many 15 hr days I've done this month but I know there are fewer. This week alone I've had 2 non 15 hour days and it's just Thursday. I'm just slacking I'm telling you, but according to Jim Collin's research, 15 hour days are bad anyway, so maybe it's a good thing in disguise.
But if I can manage to make my quota of 8 titles this month, I will have 21 erotic titles overall. So If I can do 6 by December 20th, that would mean that I have 29 or 30 title (the count includes compilations) before I take my 3 week break. That number is important in the erotica game because 30 titles is the magical number when author are thought to take off in earnings. What does "taking off" mean? Well I would love to believe that it means between $4k and $6k a month. I'd take it, but we'll have to see if it is actually offered to me.
I think that most of the people who took off at 30 titles had something that I won't have though, more time. Most people don't write 30 titles in three months. Time is important so that Amazon can do their algorithm magic that puts your titles in front of a lot of eyeballs. But, like I said, we'll see.
On another front, I got a confirmation this week that I am still as psychic as I have always been. I would usually explain what happened but it is kind of personal to someone else so I can't. But needless to say, I am god damn impressive... And Tao of Psychology is a really great book that I have proven to be incredibly accurate multiple times. And the 2 main times have been incredibly impressive.
Other highlights since I last wrote. My books Fixing Cupid and Run From The Reaper have both received 5 star reviews. It was the first for Fixing Cupid and the first for Run From The Reaper on Barnes and Noble. RFTR is averaging 4.5 stars on B&N. Cool!
Also, I've made a realization that I am once again down to having only about 6 or so close single friends in Los Angeles. It used to be that whenever I had something I had an extra ticket for I could pull someone on a moment's notice. Now, all of my old reliables are married or engaged or in a serious relationship. WTF? So now I have to go out recruiting. Damn it!
It should be good though. I'm also looking to fill the slot of a close female buddy that may or may not be in a commit relationship with someone else, but you have to open about the fact that you think I'm attractive, you have to secretly like me as much as your boyfriend, and you have to make time for me on a regular bases. That's slots been open for a while now and the person I've been grooming is clearly not going to work out. Let me know if you know of anyone that fits the bill.
Now I'm back to work.
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