As my adventures in self-publishing continue, I’m learning (slowly) how to juggle the many hats I need to wear. Key, for me, is to have the discipline to change hats and not keep the same one on all day.

I love writing, and I’d be very happy to become a stereotypical writer, sitting in a garret pecking at a keyboard all day and rarely interacting with another, real-life human being.

But that sort of behaviour isn’t going to get my books an audience. I have to be a bit more sociable and leave the computer (and my characters – sob!) to fend for themselves now and then while I do all the other tasks needed to bring a book to market.

I’ve found a fairly straightforward “divide and conquer” rules works for me. New words get written in the morning, then after lunch I deal with administration – which can be putting together images for a Facebook advert, formatting my new release ready to press the publish button, or writing of a different form – a blog post, or an e-mail to my reader group.

So far, it’s working, although next on my list is learning to manage my eternal optimism – I always think I’m going to get far more done than I can, and I look at the clock in disbelief when it’s time to stop working and put on my mum hat while my to-do list is still scrolling off the edge of my desk!