The importance of little things

Hello everyone and HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Today we are going to talk about the little things that make a big difference in our writing [craft], writing [selling your book] and your overall business plan. Along the path to publication there will be little mistakes that can teach you a great deal. I learned that AGAIN this weekend.

It was not the first lesson though.

Consider the little things in your own writing life that steal your time. Writing or reading just ONE more email rather than calling that person you need to interview for an article. What if that 3 minute delay means missing them before they left the office for the next 10 days? And what if that means they won't be in the office until the DAY your article is due--or later? Lesson, don't put off until tomorrow what can be done today.

Then there was the time that I had an editor ask me to send them a full manuscript [those of you who have been keeping up on my HIGH (How I Got Here) series will remember I had only a few weeks to finish it]. As I was still writing the manuscript I sent it off to a friend to read through. We decided the name "Chuck" wouldn't work. I clicked "Find" on my editing bar and selected to replace every "Chuch" with "Charles".

I was quite proud of myself and my mastery of MS Word...until I scanned the Manuscript I'd sent off to the editor and found one of my characters had "Charlesled" instead of "chuckled". I was embarrased...and I'm sure the editor could tell I was still a green writer. [Feel free to laugh about this example. I do.]

And then there is the issue of my website delay. Friday Ron Ruiz of Memberstar.com spent over 13 hours emailing back and forth with me, then spent considerable money, to find the reason the website didn't work was I'd capitalized my email address. Since it was transferred in to the program code it messed up the whole system of my website. I learned that NOT ONLY do I need to pay attention to the smallest detail, but I ALSO realized the importance of excellent customer service and rolling with problems.

I didn't get mad ONCE with Ron or badmouth his software. I acted like a professional. There will be setbacks in even the BEST laid plans. I'm glad I followed his advice to do a test run before announcing it to all of you. And I'm glad he is professional enough to stand behind his product.

When you're writing books, articles, websites, or anything else...be professional. Stand behind your work and be willing to exceed expectations. That is what will separate YOU as a true professional. And even if someone gets nasty with you or doesn't appreciate your hard work-you will haven integrity and THAT is the kind of reputation you want to have.

For those of you who are members of this blog [through feedblitz] you will receive your special link to the new website tonight. I'll send it out around 5:30pm EST. This website will also have the new Writing Career Coach product about building a strong platform. We'll talk about platforms more this week.

If you'd like to get the announcement, subscribe before 5:30pm est. Watch for it in your inbox.

For the rest of you, I will make the announcement in a few days so all of you can go too.

I'm super excited about the mentorship website and hope you will all see it as a useful tool in your writing business. Have a great Monday. I must now go type up that article so I get it in on deadline. [see first lesson above :-) ]