Juggling Writing and Marketing

It's been a fun ride the last couple of weeks, and it's time to put my feet up and do some writing. Marketing is fun in its own right but writing, shall we say, is a bit more like therapy. And I need some therapy today.

If you are finding that you're continually marketing your newest work and have no time to write the next, then it's time to do some juggling.

Photo by Manchester Library, courtesy of Flickr

If you've ever watched a juggler at work, you'll notice that all of the balls are continually in a rotating motion. Nothing is at a standstill unless a mistake is made and all of the balls come tumbling to the floor. The same is true of writing and marketing. When you're marketing, writing should take place and when you're writing, a bit of marketing should still be in movement.

The reason for this is simple; you'll continually have your work moving forward, and, at the same time, keep your own emotions in check. There will be less time for burnout because the options for moving forward are continually in motion.

When I find that I really don't want to market, or I really don't want to write, it's usually because I've forgotten about connecting both writing and marketing in my life. I've been forgetting one or the other in favor of struggle.

I don't know why it is that we think that we have to struggle, work painfully hard, and continue to do it day after day to make a success of our writing career. What we need to do is to listen to our heart, shift when we need to shift, and balance all of those things that bring joy to us.

In the end that's all we've got.