Hey Reader,

Longtime readers might remember when I used to do the 3@3. New readers, welcome to the explanation: a few years back, I used to go live once a week at 3pm and answer 3 questions that had been pre-submitted. It was all live, no editing, just raw talk. Turns out, I've got a pile of those clips sitting around, and honestly, most of the advice hasn't aged a day. Would I add some information or say it a bit different? Maybe. But these are still so solid, I decided to resurrect them and share them with you again!

The question this time:

When everything seems important, how do you decide what your priorities are?

If you've ever felt like writing, marketing, PR, reader emails, and your actual life are all screaming for attention at once, this one's for you. My answer starts with the obvious but easy to forget truth: if everything is a priority, nothing is. Priorities only mean something when they're not all equal.

Where you put your attention should depend on where you're at. Brand new and don't have a book out yet? Finishing the book is the priority, full stop. Ten books in with no readership and you actually want to make money? Marketing and branding just became your priority, because more books nobody sees won't fix that.

The piece I keep coming back to is the glass ball and plastic ball idea (it's an old Coca-Cola exec's commencement speech analogy, and I'm not the only one who's borrowed it). Ask yourself: if I drop this, does it break, or does it bounce?

When we’re talking strictly about your publishing career (not including your personal life), finishing the book is often a glass ball. Marketing, when you don't have a book out yet, is a plastic ball. It'll bounce. You can pick it back up later. But plastic balls can turn into glass balls over time (and vice versa, actually), so it's worth checking in on what's actually become urgent while you were avoiding it, lol.

Full explanation, plus my three-priorities rule for weekly planning, is right here in my new video: How to Prioritize When Everything Seems Important​

If you're trying to sort out your own glass balls from your plastic ones, my free author community Just Keep Writing is a good place to think it through out loud with other writers, and you can join whenever you need it.

And still asking: would you want live 3@3 back, or something like it, so you could bring your own questions?

Happy writing!

~Angela
​

This is a paid sponsorship. If you click, we get a small commission. No further action is needed from you, so just clicking on the sponsorship helps us pay for this newsletter!