Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.
Writing
My word count goal changes depending on my current project and deadline. I like to divide my final word count goal by the days I have to get it done to find out how many words I need to type a day to reach the goal.
Editing
I could be re-writing a book or working on line edits from my publisher.
Brainstorming
This is when I’m thinking up a new book. I might play around by drawing maps. I might sit with a notebook and jot down ideas. I might go on a long drive to think, think, think.
Research
I spend too much time online researching. I lose hours in this. I dream of making enough money someday to hire a tech assistant to help me with this. It could happen. You never know.
Reading
I read a lot. I read fiction. I read non fiction. Some of it is for research. Some of it is to read my genre. Some is to read books that are getting a lot of buzz. Some is to read a book a publisher sent to me for an endorsement. Some is because I just want to read a book for fun. But I’m a writer, and I should be a reader too. So I read.
Business Writing
This is when I have to write proposals, synopses, queries, and such. It can be very time consuming. But sometimes it is easier than I expect. And those are good days.
Photoshop
I am addicted to Adobe Photoshop. And I use it for so many things. I create ads for my books. I create maps for my books. I create extras for my books. I also create images for posting on Facebook or Pinterest.
Blogging
I blog for Go Teen Writers. And when I have time, I blog on my author website. I haven’t blogged on my author website in several weeks…
Website Updates
I periodically must update my author website so that it is current. I do this at least once a month to keep up with my monthly giveaway. But I also change ads every-so-often. And I like to update my WIP word counts. I don’t know if anyone looks at those. But it makes me happy to see them grow.
Social Media
I should only pop onto Facebook or Twitter once or twice a day. But I often leave it open all day and do a lot of procrastinating there. I’m thinking it might be a good idea to just not log in each morning.
Promotion
I spend time promoting my books or myself in various ways. I try only to do this when I have a new book, only because I could make a full time job out of promotion. Doing interviews falls into this category. And book giveaways too.
Critiquing Others
When my author friends need help, I read their work and give them feedback. And I do occasional critiques for people as well. I also judge contests sometimes. I try not to do too many critiques because this is one of the most time-consuming things I do. I just can’t critique quickly.
Email
This is a beast that haunts me. I feel as though I will never catch up on email. It just keeps coming. And some of them are harder or more time-consuming to answer than others. So those tend to sit in my inbox until I have some extra time, which I often have none of.
Mailings
I also spend quite a bit of time with snail mail. I do lots of giveaways. And sometimes people buy books from me online. So I make many trips to the post office to mail things. They know me well down there.
Bills, Royalty Payments, and Taxes
I am a business, and as such, I have bills to pay. Many more bills than I’d like. So that takes time each month. I also pay royalties to Stephanie for the GTW book and to my friends who adopted a child for Chokepoint. I try to pay royalties every quarter. It takes me several hours to do this. And when tax time rolls around, I need at least two days to get my stuff all added up and turned in to my accountant.
Looking for Stuff
Sadly, I waste time looking for things I’ve misplaced. Last week, I spent and hour and a half looking for a map that I’d brainstormed some notes on. It is very frustrating. I do try to keep organized so that this doesn’t happen. But every once in a while, it just does.
No wonder I have trouble getting my word count in some days! How about you? What do you do all day?