Staying Mobile

As writers, we’ve all pretty much got used to the idea of taking a notebook with us to scribble down ideas about the current manuscript.

As an anchored author, however, you’ve got publishers, agents, PR & marketing colleagues, the media, other authors, and your readers all demanding a piece of your time when they need it. Thanks to the myopic industry pretense that there’s no such thing as a fiction author with a day job, most of these people think you’re sitting at home behind your computer, and expect you to respond within hours, if not minutes, of receiving their request.

So you need to figure out a way to take as much of your writing affairs with you wherever you go.

Carrying everything electronically makes it convenient, and saves you re-typing work when you get home, but if you’re more comfortable, or your lifestyle or day job dictates the use of paper, accept the compromise – it’s better than not having access at all, and you can still achieve a lot with pen and paper.

Here some of the things you should be carrying with you at all time, and ways you might want to carry them.

The Current WIP

Your current manuscript, and all the support files that go with it that you consult while you’re writing (research material, character profiles, outline or synopsis, list of character names and their role in the story, etc.)

• Laptop computer
• PDA or Smart phone & fold-up keyboard
• Electronic reader of some type, such as the Kindle or Sony e-Reader, and a notebook to pick up where the electronic file leaves off.
• Compact, bound notebook dedicated to this manuscript.
• Your day job’s computer, with Internet access, and your manuscript parked on an on-line file space, such as Google Docs, or Microsoft space (which won’t allow access to the manuscript outside your day job).
• Your day job’s computer and a USB memory stick.

Manuscripts you’re trying to sell, or have sold but not published, yet.

• Laptop
• PDA or smart phone and fold-up keyboard
• Your day job’s computer with internet access.
• Your day job’s computer and a USB memory stick.

Already completed manuscripts need to be carted around in editable electronic format. You can’t make on the spot edits and send them to your editor immediatly if you’re using a bound notebook.

Contact information for everyone involved in your business

This includes their email, all their phone numbers, snail mail address, IM address, website (and appropriate log-ins for that site if necessary).

• Laptop computer
• PDA or Smart phone
• Day-Runner, or Filofax or other paper-based PIM system.

All your marketing materials

All the marketing and support files, and all the materials that have been generated for the book you’re currently marketing.

• Laptop computer
• PDA or smartphone and keyboard
• Your day job’s computer with internet access
• Your day job’s computer and a USB memory stick.

Most marketing materials are delivered electronically, including media kits, these days.  If you’re pro-active about your own marketing (and you should be), then you’ll need all of it ready to go when you need to send it somewhere pronto.

A laptop looks like a clear winner for carrying everything with you, as it can handle all of the above and more, with no messy synchronizing when you get home.

For the record, I personally don’t like using them. They’re clunky, heavy, and impossible to whip out and jot down a quick sentence when you’re standing in a line. And the fact most people overlook is that you’re carrying around with you the sum total of years worth of sweat and agonizing. If the laptop is stolen, it isn’t simply a matter of phoning the publishing company for a replacement manuscript and cancelling the stolen one, like you do with a credit card.

I used a laptop for two years, and was relieved when it went belly-up a few months ago. Now I use a combination of a Palm Pilot and keyboard, cellphone, and a high capacity USB memory stick for when I’m at the day job.

How do you carry your career around with you?

First appeared on Anchored Authors on July 14, 2008

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Tracy Cooper-Posey © 2009. Cannot be copied or distributed without permission.