I’ll be the first to admit in a crisis Time managment goes out the window.  In fact I believe I might have thrown it out the window, basically because I didn’t know where I ended.  I was being stretched so thin during the renovations after the fire and then my DH falling ill, I just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide from it all.  For the rest of FOREVER!!!

However I couldn’t do that.  I had a job, kids, a family that all had to be handled while all this was going on. 

I wasn’t able to put in the full hours that I would usually put into running Phoenix rising promotions, and promoting my clients, but I did keep in contact as best I could.  I kept my stress level down as best I could, and even if I was only able to work for 2 hours…that was 2 hours worth of work I didn’t have to do when all was said and done.

Time Managment in any job is crucial.  The ability to accomplish all that needs to be done in one day and not be ripping your hair out is a good thing.  Planning the day ahead of time as best you can is a great thing.  Especially in a crisis or after one. 

I had my days planned as best I could.  I knew that the contractors were going to be in in the morning, and so breakfast had to be out of the way before then.  I knew what day the carpentars were going to be installing the carpets so I made sure that the kids were amply entertained in one of the bedrooms.  My life was in chaos for almost a month, and I still some how managed to come out of it with a full head of hair, and of it’s original color.

I guess what this blog is getting at, is even in a crisis there is the possibility to manage your time the best way to keep you from going crazy.  If you can only write for an hour, than only write for an hour.  Do not try to push yourself to hard because if you do than you’ll just end up having to do it all over again.

Phoenix

There are many different ways to research for an upcoming sex scene.  You could chase your DH or wife around the house screaming “I need to research…hold still!” or you can roam the internet. 

When I am researching for the sex scene I sit alone in my room and lock the door, because frankly it can get kind of embarrassing the way I research.  I could look at the Kama Sutra books and try and study the pictures but you know my imagination just wouldn’t start working.  Even Lena tried to help me and send me scanned copies of these sex position cards that she has, and you know as that helped it didn’t give me what I wanted.

So I went searching the web and let me tell you there are quite a few free porn sites out there.  Yes you read that right…I do research by watching free porn.  My favorite site is www.juicyclips.com because you don’t have to download anything.  You click on a link and it takes you to a 30 second clip of the actual movie so you miss all the boring bow chicka bow-wow stuff at the beginning.

That is my advice for the day, if you are having troubles with your sex scene, and you can’t get your spouse to sit still or even tied down…then lock yourself away somewhere and watch other people do it and get your imagination flowing.

Is the Love Romance Cafe’s Rising Star of the Month for the month of May!  Check her out at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/loveromancescafe the entire month.  Check her out for the rest of this month!

Much Congrats Sloane Taylor!

Phoenix Forrester

So you’ve probably been listening to Lena Austin talk about the POWER HOUR in many of her workshops and probably tell yourself “what does she know? She’s retired, does not leave the house to go to work…All her kids have left the nest…hell the state!  She has all the time in the world to write!” –don’t deny it…I thought the same thing– but let me tell you what…it does work.  Take it from a woman that has three jobs…Marketing Coordinator for Aspen Mountain Press, Owner and manager for Phoenix Rising Promotions, Published Author, Student, Mother and Wife,  the POWER HOUR does work!

To do the POWER HOUR all you have to do is pick a quiet time of the day…after the kids have gone to bed, or during nap time, or even on your lunch break at work while your eating.  Lock yourself in your bedroom, bathroom, the trunk of your car and WRITE for an HOUR!  Do nothing else, except maybe take a drink of your beverage, or a bite of your sandwich but WRITE till your fingers want to fall off.  Set a timer!

At the end of the hour check your word count, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you will get at least 1-2K in that hour as long as it’s quiet with no distractions from outside life! 

If you can average 1-2K in an hour than you will be on your way to getting your work done in just ONE HOUR A DAY!

Even 500 words a day 5 days a week is 2500 words a week or 10K a month!  A pidly 500 words or more a day can get you a novella in a month!  This is how people get the reputation of being “Prolific”.

Try it and tell me I’m wrong!  I DARE YA!!!!

Phoenix Forrester

Hello everybody,

Our lovely Author Ashlyn Chase is being featured at The Romance Studio all this month!

Check out her interview at http://www.theromancestudio.com/blue/who10.php

Also check out her new release Death by Delilah…awesome read!

Why is it that all authors run around like chickens with their heads cut off?

We all do it…so don’t even try to deny it!

Between the writing, promoting, editing, deadlines, editors, the muses who work too much, and the muses who are on strike…and above all else FAMILY AND FULL TIME JOBS!

It’s amazing that any of us have any hair left on our heads, or that our significant others haven’t had us committed for the signs on the office door that might read “If you open this door I’d better hear sirens OR I’m going to hear sirens.”  to “Your life depends on whether or not you open this door…choose wisely”.  When did being an author mean you had to be a disorganized, frazzled mess?  It doesn’t!

I am here to instruct on how to pace yourself, yet keep yourself organized and still get plenty of work done in the 28 hour day!  LOL

Take me for example…

I am an author, promotions manager for 11 clients, 1 group and a publisher, I am a critique partner, full time student, mother of two, wife of one, and the occastional domestic bitch!  LOL!  People ask me all the time how I can be so calm yet still get so much done around the house.  Well I’m going to tell you…so get out your notebook or turn on your printer and take notes.

There are two major things that I do to keep my life as anti-chaotic as I can…

1.  I update my calendars twice a week if not daily.

           I use my calendars to remind me of chats, doc. appt., client reminders anything I need to be reminded about or else I’ll forget.  There fore I get the emails or the pop ups reminding me of what needs to be done when, where, and why.

2.  I keep lists!

        Yes that was pluralized.  I said Lists.  I keep three lists in all, Personal, AMP, and PRP.

         A.) my first list is my personal list, a list of things to do around the house, such as laundry, lay out dinner, clean the kitchen, vaccuum, chase my child around the house or a short items list of things i need at the store when I go out.

         B.) my second list is my list of things to do and/or plan for my marketing coordinator position with Aspen Mountain Press.

         C.) my third list is my list of things to do and/or plan for the clients or Phoenix Rising Promotions.

I have three seperate notebooks, one for each list.  At the top of the page I put the date and day.  Then I start my list.  I put all the important has to be done today stuff at the top of the list and work my way down to least important.  Then I start at the top and work my way to the bottom.  Do not skip around as you will not get the important stuff done. 

Here is where Pacing Yourself comes into play.  DO NOT try to get everything on your list done in one day.  You will find yourself adding things to your list constantly and you will never get everything done in one day.  So at the end of the night or the next day you turn the page in your notebook, put the date and day of the next day at the top of your page, then you take the items on the list that you didn’t get done and put them at the top of the list, then add from there.  There fore there is nothing you need to do that goes more than a day without being done.

In a matter of weeks if you use this system everyday you will find yourself more organized and calmer.  As you check off the items on your list you can visually see that you accomplished a bunch of somethings that day, instead of panicking that you got nothing done!  You can go to bed and rest easy knowing that you had a very preductive day.

So remember my lovelies to PACE YOURSELF!

Phoenix