#IWSG for July 2018

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month's awesome co-hosts are: Nicki Elson, Juneta Key, Tamara Narayan, and Patricia Lynne!

This month's optional question: What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?

A long time ago, I wanted to be the next Stephen King. I wanted to be picked up by a big publisher and an agent, be an international best seller, make millions, and have movies made from my books. If that still happened, I'd be ecstatic, but I'm much more realistic now.

I no longer feel the desire for an agent, and I don't query publishers. I'm in control of my own destiny. Being an indie author wasn't an option when I was young, but these days, it is a wonderful choice. I'd love to be able to make enough money to equal my husband's salary which would make me a mid-lister. In our publishing world, that would be a marvelous achievement. And instead of movies, I would love an HBO show or series on a cable channel that follows my books as well as Game of Thrones followed Martin's.

I have no doubt my ultimate goals will change again in ten or twenty years. The industry might be a whole different beast then.

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We're only sixteen days away from this month's IWSGPit! Click on the image for all the details. It's a fantastic opportunity for writers.

8:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

P.S. I'm lounging by the lake and reading this week. I'll get around to everyone's blogs later this month. Have a great week!

Word Witch Wednesday - reviewing 2017's goals and looking to 2018

It's that wonderful time of the year where we sit down with holiday treats and make plans for next year. I'm sharing my cookies, if you'd like one.

2017 Goals

1. Write and published the TOTEM books. Done! A nine novella series. Yikes! I had a lot of fun with it, but I don't think I'll take on a series as long as that again. Trilogies sound perfect in my mind right now.

2. Self-publish the nine books I had with my publisher. I did that at the beginning of the year. Will I be writing more in the erotic romance genre? I don't know. I might if I'm in the mood for something light and funny.

3. Write the first drafts of the second two books in the Of Blood and Sorrow trilogy. I didn't do this one. My feet have been dragging these past few months. I will finish one before the holidays. I'm right at the big climax, but I won't start on the final one until January.

4. Read and review 100 books. I'm right on track with 93. Only 7 more to go!

5. Write and submit six short stories. Done. I'm constantly learning and improving. I wrote a lot of speculative fiction this year.

6. Study and try various marketing techniques. Ugh. This was my big time suck this year. I lost a lot of writing time to trying to figure out how to market my work. The only lesson I learned that will work: write more books.

7. Improve my writing speed and focus. I started the year off well with word sprints, but it got lost under my worrying about marketing.

2018 Goals

1. Write and release the second two books in the Of Blood and Sorrow trilogy. I haven't set release dates yet for my own sanity.

2. Read and review 100 books. This is a good number for me. I will try to do it every year for the rest of my life.

3. Write and submit ten short stories. I'm upping the number for this coming year. I can do a flash piece in an afternoon. It will be a nice break from the dark world of my trilogy when I need it.

4. Write more, market less. This year, I only wrote in the afternoons... if I had any time left. Next year, I'm making time in the morning and afternoon. Marketing will be scheduled for very limited times. Hopefully that will decrease my anxiety over it.

5. Take up the word sprints again and increase my writing speed. I'm hoping I'll write more with less marketing anxiety to weigh me down.

6. Work on new project. I have several written down I want to write. I'm not going to name one right now, because I might come up with something new and want to work on it! I'll go with what I'm feeling passionate for in that moment.

Did you meet your goals this year? What are yours for next year?

I'll be back on Christmas Day with a special surprise!

Goals for 2016

As much as that nagging voice in my head says I should have done more, I had a productive year in 2015. I published one novel and six novellas plus a handful of short stories. I met all but two of my goals. One was a novel I put aside because I wasn't ready to write it yet. In its place, I wrote and published The Paramours and started on my biggest project yet, Totem. I read over 100 books and wrote reviews for them, but I could not find a way to coax more readers to write reviews for me. I also did not manage to find the balance between writing and blogging. I did better than 2014 with that, but I have to learn to be more strict with myself and stick with my schedule.

Here are my goals for 2016:

1. Revise and submit the Sasquatch Susies to my publisher. The first drafts are done. Not too much I have to do story-wise in the revision phase.

2. Write the rest of the Totem books and start to publish them. The first two novellas out of nine are done, but not revised. I'm trying very hard not to rush myself with these. I learned some valuable lessons in publishing the 13th Floor series. I will be much kinder to myself and my CPs/editor with this one. Tentatively, I'd like to say I'll start putting them out by early summer, but I'm not putting any definite deadline down on paper yet.

3. Read and review 100 books. I did it last year and the year before. I'd love to continue it for the rest of my life.

4. Write and submit six short stories. I managed to do this last year. I was short-listed on pro venues five times. I'm so close to my goal of being accepted by one.

5. Blogging. Once again, I'm going to attempt to find a balance between writing and blogging. The writing of my blog posts doesn't take too long, but keeping up with everyone's blogs and returning comments does sometimes. I will not give up the latter. So I will schedule a certain amount of time each weekday for returning comments, and if I have time left, I will make some visits. I must decide what is the appropriate amount of time for that, though. How much time do you spend a week returning comments and visiting blogs?

What are your goals for 2016?

Goals for 2015

2014 was a rough year, but I managed to reach most of my goals. I took some chances and many of them didn't pan out. Countless rejections and many hours of revisions threatened to take me down. I refused to give in. What I did accomplish was to set the stage for a fantastic 2015.

1. The Dice & Debauchery series. This was an unplanned project. I wrote the first book on a whim and the publisher loved it. This Friday, Loose Corset (D&D #1) will be released from Ellora's Cave. I have two tours planned and ready to go. I do not have release dates for the second two books in this series which have been written and submitted to my publisher, but they will be out at some point this year. My goal: promote and expand my audience.

2. Of Blood and Sorrow. I spent over six months last year revising this urban fantasy novel. I queried it to five publishers that I was interested in. All of them rejected it. I'm excited to self-publish this story. I already have an awesome cover. I'm in the last stage of polishing it up. This will be my first indie published novel. My goal: to publish it by mid-February or mid-March.

3. Super Famous. This superhero novel took a backseat last year to my D&D series. I have all the critiques back from my CPs and betas. It's ready to be revised and polished. I'll likely not get to it until late spring or the summer, though. My goal: revise and self-publish in October.

4. New urban fantasy novel. I have this awesome new shiny idea. I want to write it. I want to write it now. Maybe I'll get a chance to start by the spring. My goal: write the first draft and start to revise it.

5. Short stories. I really want to participate in Write 1 / Sub 1, but I'm uncertain if I'll have the time. If I can manage to write one flash fiction piece a month and submit it somewhere, I'll be happy. I also have to write a new story for the next Untethered Realms anthology. I'm going to stick with what I did last year. I was short-listed on pro venues five times last year, but rejected. So close! My goal: Write six short stories and submit them.

6. Blogging. I had trouble sticking to a strict schedule last year. I have a three day a week schedule. If I do any more, I fall out of balance with my writing and home life. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are my days. Of course with touring, it will be a little different, but that's expected. My goal: keep to a three day a week blog schedule.

7. Reading. I managed to achieve last year's goal of 100 books. Woo-hoo! I'm setting the same goal for this year. My goal: read 100 books.

What are your goals for 2015?

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Speaking of starting the new year on the right foot,
check out Angela Brown's gorgeous new covers
for Neverlove and They All Fall Down.

Duty or love... there can be only one.

A love worth fighting for...

These are awesome reads. I highly recommend them.
And Angela has a new book out from Evernight Teen Publishing,
Beacon.

Friday Five for February 28th, 2014

1. I did a happy dance on Wednesday after I unchained myself from my desk. I finished the 3rd draft of my superhero WIP. Woo-hoo! I sent it off to my CPs and betas. Then I celebrated with peanut butter cookies. On Monday, I will start revising WIP #1 again. I'm right on track with my writing goals so far this year.

2. It's been a tiring week. I've been babysitting every day. It only reminds me I no longer have the energy of my youth. I just wish the youths understood that!

3. My husband was sick on the weekend, and with stuffed up nose, he snores more than usual. So I spent two nights on the couch. I love my couch. It's amazingly comfy, but it always gives me weird dreams. One dream had 5 good versions of myself fighting 5 bad versions. Not clones. (I don't have access to Alex's cloning machine!) It was more like a spirit battle. It was unsettling. Thankfully when I'm sleeping in the bed, I only fight monsters and not myself, er, my selves.

4. I've been reading a lot lately, and I realized I have a favorite bookmark. Until recently, I didn't care what I marked my pages with. A lot of the time it was just a strip of paper ripped from a recycled scrap. Now I have to have a certain one. Do you have a favorite bookmark?

5. I got some BIG news this week: the 4th book in the 13th Floor series, THE HARBINGER, has been nominated for a BigAl's Books & Pals Readers' Choice Award in the category of Fantasy. I'm honored and excited. Voting starts on March 2nd and runs through to the 12th. Please consider voting for my book. I'll share my cookies with you!

My Writing Goals for 2014

2013 was a great writing year for me, but one that took away time from other aspects in my life. (And how fitting I'm writing this post on the 13th!) I will attempt to make 2014 a year more about balance and organization. I even started off the year with a very clean and organized house. That also includes my online home. Hopefully organizing everything will help me make better use of my time.

Now for my writing goals!

Novel #1 - Revise and query. This is a paranormal romance I wrote at the end of 2011. I didn't like the ending I had scribbled down, and so it sat for a while until I was ready to come back to it. There are hot vampires and some unusual demons. I believe it has a great hook and will be highly marketable. Plus, it made me laugh and cry. That's a good sign.

Novel #2 - Revise and query. With a bit of POW! and a lot more ZAP!, I'll be marketing my superhero novel. I've been a comic book geek since I was a kid, but only recently have I started researching the genre by reading novels. Mine is very different from anything I've read. I hope that's a good thing!

Short stories - Write 6 / Submit 6 for the year. I would love to be able to do one every month, but with working on two novels, I won't have the time. I didn't have any acceptances the last half of 2013, and it depressed me. I was aiming high for an acceptance by a SFWA approved venue, though. I was short-listed a couple of times. That's closer than I've ever gotten before.

The A to Z Blogging Challenge - I've been going back and forth about it, but due to my time restrictions especially in April, I will not be participating in the Challenge this year on this blog. BUT I will be sharing the Challenge with my fellow Untethered Realms writers. We'll each have our days on the UR blog. I'm excited about it. I'm so honored to be a part of this talented group.

NaNoWriMo 2014 - I want to say yes. Let's make it a tentative yes. We'll have to see where I am with my novels in November. The novels have priority this year.

Balance writing, marketing, and home life - Home life comes first. No more grumpy mommy because she didn't get enough sleep. Writing comes in second. I wrote a lot last year, but I spent even more time marketing and networking. This year, I want to set weekly goals for writing. If I reach the goal, I can add extra time to networking, but only if I get my writing work done first. Balance is difficult for me, but I know it's vital to making me a happy person.

Don't forget to check out my post about sticking to your writing goals on the UR blog!

What are your writing goals for the year?

Friday Five for January 10, 2014

1. A bit of a rough week. School was canceled all week due to the weather and the after-effects of the frigid temperatures. I was stuck in the house for three days straight with a 3.5 year old. Cabin fever and I became reacquainted. One night, I watched a documentary about the Donner Party and wondered what if that happened in a modern city. Story idea?

2. I managed to do a little bit of writing work, but not as much as I planned. I wanted to be finished the 2nd draft of my WIP, but I still have about 10k to go. I keep telling myself I have no deadline except for what I set, but I'm still working with being flexible with myself.

3. Speaking of flexibility, I wrote about setting writing goals on the Untethered Realms blog this week. I'll be posting my 2014 writing goals on Monday.

4. I had a great review for The 13th Floor Complete Collection on BigAl's Books & Pals. The reviewer said the bonus short story, "The Shadow" was a 5 star addition to the series. Woot!

5. I baked a lot, cleaned some more, and played Uno Moo dozens of times. It always evolves into a story about a farmer and a family of skunks who like to sit on the roof of the barn. I do love it that my son is really big into imaginative play.

Have a terrific weekend!

Happy 2014!

May this be one of the best years for all of us!

I did great with last year's goals.

I'll be posting my writing goals for this year very soon.

I didn't manage to read as many books in 2013 (112) as I did in 2012 (128), but I wrote a lot more! I still hope to read 100 books in 2014.

Cheers!

Updated goals for 2012

I know it's difficult to see my goal tally on the sidebar. For some reason, Blogger automatically shrinks it even when I tell it not to. I've updated and revised my goals for this year.

I'm doing very well with writing and submitting a short story every month. I even have May's story written already. It's a sci-fi piece and my first attempt using an omniscient POV. I like the way it turned out. I'll have it critiqued by my writer's group at our monthly meeting and then I'll submit it.

I've gotten a couple of rejections lately, but this morning I was happy to find an acceptance in my inbox. My paranormal crime short story, "Immaculate" has been accepted by The Harrow Press for their anthology, Mortis Operandi. I don't know the release date yet, possibly November or December, but I'll keep you posted.

I planned to revise three of my novels this year, but it wasn't happening. Other things in life have to take priority, and so I've changed my novel goals for this year. I'll still participate in NaNoWriMo. I can't miss that! I'm not sure what I'll write yet, but that's still a little while off.

I started on my revisions for my paranormal romance, Witch's First Rule. I've done a lot of work on it, and it's survived two drafts so far. I love most of the changes I've made, but the one thing I'm struggling with is changes to the protagonist. This manuscript had gotten a lot of attention from agents and publishers when I queried it, but they always passed after reading the full manuscript. Two were kind enough to send personalized rejection letters. The problem they had was the protagonist. They feared readers wouldn't be able to relate to her. Basically, they felt the protagonist was too much of a b!tch. Yes, my protagonist is sometimes dominant, selfish, and defensive. (There's a reason why, but it would spoil the plot if I explained why!) So while I was revising, I attempted to make her more likable, to soften her hard edges. I realize it's important that readers need to be able to relate to the main character, but I didn't like how I changed her. I wasn't happy. She wasn't happy. It was her hard edge that made her unique. So I've stopped. I'm not going to change my protagonist. I've put it aside for the moment until I decide what exactly I want to do with it. Self-publish or seek a small publisher? I'll know with more certainty what I want to do after I complete my next project which will take me on a self-publishing adventure.

I'm writing a paranormal romance/urban fantasy series consisting of six novellas. They'll be in the same vein as my story from the A to Z Challenge. I'm really excited about this project. I considered seeking a publisher for them, but with the way my life is at the moment, I don't know if I could keep deadlines. I want the freedom to move at my speed and to promote the series as I want. It will also be a good way to see if I want to self-publish anything else in the future. Self-publishing has its own challenges, but I need that flexibility right now in my life. I won't say anything else about this project until I have more to give you, but it's going to be so much fun.

Have a good weekend!

2012 Writing Goals

I didn't do nearly as much writing as I wanted to this year, but I learned a lot about the craft, networking, and critiquing. Learning how to tear apart someone else's story makes me a better writer in the end when I do the same for myself. Connecting with other writers has also helped encourage me and taught me so much. You guys are the greatest!

Goal #1: I want to get back to writing one short story a month and submitting it. I did this for a few years before my son was born, but I lost a lot of momentum when I had a newborn to care for. This will also mean I will have one new short story to present to my CPs and writers' group every month. My lessons in critiquing will continue.

Goal #2: Try to get one short story polished to such a degree that it is published in a SFWA approved publication. This is a very difficult thing to do. I want it, though. I want it so much. It will take work, work, and more work, and whole load of originality and great storytelling.

Goal #3: Revise and submit three of my paranormal romances: Witch's First Rule (mainstream adult paranormal romance), A Lion's Heart (erotic paranormal romance), and Sorrow Phage (urban fantasy with a romantic subplot). It's going to take a lot of time. Revising is one of my least favorite things to do. Yet marketing it properly when I submit a novel is something I like even less. I will take my lessons learn and apply them, and hopefully *knock on wood* I'll have a novel with a wonderful press next year.

Goal #4: Complete the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April. I'm very excited about this challenge. I think I might do a story that covers all 26 days. The tricky part will be making it apply to each letter. I also realized that April will be a hectic month for me. My son's and husband's birthdays, and we'll be visiting my family in Canada for a week. I'll have to make sure my blog posts are written beforehand.

Goal #5: Complete the NaNoWriMo challenge in November. It might be my only chance next year to write a new novel.

Whew. That sounds like a lot, but I have the whole year. I can do it... right?

What are your writing goals for 2012?