Do the Math!
October has always been a month of reflection for me. A time when the leaves fall, the days become cooler, and the moments in my head spin endlessly as I assess where I am in life and where I’m going and if what I’m doing is working for me.
Part of that assessment this year included looking at my Author Interview series. As many of you know, I’ve been profiling authors on my personal website since 2017. And in my debut year, I had hoped to showcase as many debut authors as I could—my own little pump of solidarity and support.
Did I have a certain number of interviews as a goal? No, I did not. My plan was to just do what I could. Apparently, I could do a lot!
As of this writing, I’ve published 39 interviews, and I’ve sent questions out for 12 more. That will be 51 interviews total for the year, just about an average of one a week.
Almost every one of those interviews has been a joy to pull together, and I’m so grateful for everything I’ve learned from the authors and the connections I’ve made. But that many interviews take time! I craft (mostly) original questions for every interview, and the research and writing can take close to 60 minutes for each author. Once the answers are sent back, putting the interview into WordPress, proofreading it, and making sure everything works properly can take another 30 minutes. And, on the day the interview runs, I need to create a graphic and post on social media. That’s another 15 minutes.
So let’s do the math!
51 interviews x 105 minutes = 5355 minutes. Divide 5355 total minutes by 60 minutes, and voila! I just spent 89.25 hours of my life on interviews! That’s over two work weeks out of my year.
And I wonder why my own writing has been lagging, why my own book promotion has been delayed, why I’m feeling a little bit stuck professionally right now.
Interviews allow me to give back to the writing community, and I’ll be continuing the series. But next year, I must scale back.
I must spend as much time on my own work as I spend on everyone else’s.
I must support and believe in my own work because if I don’t, who will?
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Some of you—if you made it this far!—might be asking, “How can I help?”
SPREAD THE NEWS. Retweet the tweet; repost the Instagram picture; share the Facebook post. When you do, you’re promoting the author as well as yours truly. And I’ve found that the best recommendation is still by word of mouth.