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Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The importance of planning

So, yes, I've got my work cut out for me, with regard to my projects, and yes, it is a tall order I have before me. Last time I checked, I had no less than 16 publishing projects underway, all of them in various states of completion. Some of them are more "baked" than others, some of them are just glints in my eye. And in the wings, I've got 12 more projects just aching to be tended to. They'll have to wait.

For each of these projects, I will be producing:
1) a printed book, published through Lulu.com
2) a regularly updated podcast
3) a regularly updated blog

Some of them will be "bundled" with others -- my multi-version As A Man Thinketh is not going to have a separate podcast and blog for each version, but they'll all come together. And the same holds true for my different poetry books.

Even so, it's still a tall order to do all of this and stay current in three different media. How can it be done? Can it be done at all?

Oh, yes, it can be done. With proper planning and disciplined follow-through, it can really, truly be done.

First order: Get the proper tools.

For the blogs, I make sure that I've got a blog setup (I presently use Blogger, because it's what I'm familiar with and it's free).

For podcasting, I've got my portable iRiver 890 and monaural headset microphone, which has a suprisingly good quality, compared to the microphone on my PC. And I've got Audacity (and Wavepad for backup) for editing. I've also got Podtopia.net, which is a podcasting platform I built myself, being dissatisfied with the other podcasting services out there.

For print, I've got my Lulu account set up, and I know the publishing process well.

For publicity, I've got my list of free press release distribution services.

For my website(s), I've got my servers set up, and my host chosen.

For all of the above elements of my process, I know how to do what I'm going to do, and I know how to do it fast and cheap. Wicked fast and wicked cheap. All I need now, is time.

When time is your "gating factor", its abundance (or lack thereof) determining the level of your success, planning becomes key. I'd say it becomes even more critical than, say, technical expertise or equipment. Because no matter how proficient you are at your execution, if you don't have it all planned out and properly timed, you're screwed. Even if you don't have a mini media empire to launch, if you can't plan to do the things you love, you may never get the chance to do those things, in this busy day and age.

I've learned that much the hard way. I've got a strong academic streak, and I love to dabble and explore new ideas. I have a wide variety of interests that consume my attention. But I also have a family I need to provide for, and my household has to come first. After years of having to fit all my projects in around a 9-to-5 job that didn't leave me much time for the things I love most in life, like writing and studying and reading and exploring new ideas and concepts and inventions, I've developed an almost compulsive planning streak that has allowed me to both ply my day-job trade and do well at it, as well as develop a whole lot of writing projects on the side, program content management systems, and read all about the 12th Century Renaissance in Western Europe.

Some people would look at all I've had going on, over the years, and shake their heads, thinking, "This is way too much for any one person to do." Au contraire. With proper planning and lasered focus, it is indeed possible to get everything done, and have time left over to relax in the evening with your loved-ones. You just have to know exactly what you want to do, and when you want to do it by. Then things fall together.

In fact, I've found that the more you have to do, the more you can get done. Proper planning makes it possible for you to group your interests and needs together, so you can knock out a bunch of related activities at the same time. Take, for example, the 45-minute commute I'd been doing for four months, while on a tech writing contract. I had gone from a 20-minute commute, which allowed me to get writing done in the early a.m. before I went off to work, to twice that time in a car. Some might say I'd lost a lot of time. But when I planned out my day and I collected the proper equipment, those 45 minutes turned out to be some of my most productive. With an iRiver MP3 recorder an a headset microphone, I was all set to record hours and hours of podcasts for later production. Now I've got probably around three months worth of podcast content to edit and post on several different podcasts. All I need is the time to produce them, and I'm set.

Just one example of how you can get more done, when you plan. No matter what life sends your way. Make lemonade, already!

So, that being said, 16 projects underway may seem like a tall order, but I've got things all planned out. Check back again, to see how I'm faring. I promise to tell the truth, if it doesn't work out as planned.

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