Staying Focused on Your Ultimate Objective

When you're an online freelance writer, everyday can be an uphill battle.  Some days are considerably worse than others, and when those days occur, you have to literally force yourself to keep thinking positive and stay focused on your ultimate objective.

Fiverr Offer Discontinued

Today, I decided to discontinue the only two Fiverr gigs that I was offering on the Fiverr website.  I had to rethink my thoughts about what I was doing, with regard to my Just Charm publishing services for Smashwords.  The idea of helping to publish new authors really appeals to me.  I want to get really serious about helping other writers become authors.  I discontinued my related offer on Fiverr, so I can more fully concentrate on Just Charm and not on being a Fiverr provider.


I was offering two Fiverr gigs (pertaining to a discounted package that consisted of a ton of publishing services for five dollars).  My hopes was that it would help to provide exposure for my new Smashwords status as an independent publisher.  I love the fact that Smashwords gives authors an opportunity to help one another, and even promote books written by other authors and earn a commission.  I have been doing this for several years, promoting other author titles on my websites and blogs.  Now, I'd like to see how it feels to actually be responsible for helping some of those awesome titles get published.

I'm actually kind of relived that the Fiverr community failed to provide any service requests thus far.  I didn't want to end up doing what I did in a prior year; providing quality press releases for a few bucks a pop.  It was great when I needed the extra income to help keep me afloat, but the time and energy cuts in on your other creative pursuits, like ebook writing.  If I had managed to start filling gig orders for my publishing services, I would have once again ended up providing quality and time consuming services, and sacrificing what I want to focus on most.

Just Charm's Agenda

I realize now, that I can't  focus on Fiverr's agenda, and my own.   In fact, I can't focus on anyone's agenda, without taking some of the attention off my own.  So once again, I had to stop and clarify for MYSELF, just what my agenda is.  I want to help myself as an author, and help others in the process.  I want to share the joy I feel when I write with other writers and the rest of the world.  I want to write what I want and be read.  I want to be paid for my writing and I don't want to feel restricted in what or how I write. 

My 2016 Goals AGAIN

Restating my goals help me to refocus my attention where it should be.  I plan to publish one really awesome writing resource this year - sooner than later.  I won't be revising my top three writer resource publications (Finally Paid to Write, Ready Set Write, and How to Stay Focused on Your Internet Goals).  Instead, I'll be compiling all the new content that would have gone into these three books, and putting it into a whole new publication.  That is one of my primary goals for 2016.  I also hope to have new writers contact me, those who want my ebook publishing help.  I look forward to the mutual benefits that can come from mentoring and being mentored. 

To an aspiring writer, becoming a published author is a big deal, but that's not to say that I believe that becoming an author means that you have ARRIVED.  Far from it!  I know from experience, that there are many issues to concern yourself with once you manage to self-publish a book.  Monetary success can be so minimal, that after a while, you stop having that "I'm really a published author" feeling.  Being published doesn't mean a hill of beans if no one is bothering to read and review your book(s).  Even when you manage to get a few book sales here and there from your various titles, the whole experience can feel like such a let down.  But what can you do?  Either stay down, or get your ass up and keep right at it!

If there is one thing that I know how to do in life, and that is to get back up, and keep at it!  If you enjoy reading my blog posts, social media posts, website content, please take some time to check out my current publications on sale at Smashwords.  These titles will remain available until my new writer's resource book comes out this summer.  You can also enjoy my only novel:  Experimenting With Murder - exclusively available (until May) on Amazon.com.