Ever Evolving Goals #IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh. July's co-hosts are Nicki Elson, Juneta Key, Tamara Narayan, and Patricia Lynne. Please visit the other participating blogs.

Optional IWSG Day Question: What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?

Ultimate Goal #1: Take over the world, Pinky.

Oh, whoops, wrong list. Writing goals, writing goals, where are you? Ah, here is the list.

My current ultimate writing goal is to produce enough work that sells to supplement my retirement in 24+ years. When I first started writing with publication and profit in mind, I had hoped to eventually make enough money to write full-time, but I've decided I'd rather not have my main income tied to the whims and fancies of readers and retailers. The market is too unreliable for my anxieties to put all my faith in my books selling. But it would be nice to make enough where I could retire early.

Of course, most days I'd settle for breaking even. Heh.

What are your insecurities this month?

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First off, thank you so much for your comments on my post about The Fate Challenges! For some reason, Blogger wasn't sending comments to my email, but I tried to visit everyone who commented.

So my proofreading goal didn't quite work out as planned. I was placed on a new medication that drained me of all my energy. I struggled to just stay awake at work and get the day job work done. *sighs* My energy levels are a bit iffy still, but I think I'm doing a little bit better. *crosses fingers* This month's goal is to finish proofreading all 571 pages of Elements of Untethered Realms.

What are your goals this month?

2018 Stats

20,257 words written

17,708 words edited

106,163 friends' words edited

Writing Update: October Goals | Awesome Giveaway

Happy Wednesday! Since there is a fifth Wednesday this month, there will be no new blog post until October 7's IWSG post.

My goals from last month are going pretty well. I'm still writing every day, which surprises me. Using a timer has really helped my productivity. Like Pavlov's dog salivating at a bell's ring, as soon as I press "start" on the timer, I'm ready to write. I've been averaging 980 words in forty minutes between three projects: Forged (novel, The Fate Challenges), The Mission (novella, The Gaia Project #1.1), and the short story "Folds in Life and Death." Yesterday, I finished the final proofread and formatted Mayhem in the Air, which will be out this October. The UR anthology is up on Goodreads now.

I still have a friend's novel to edit as soon as she gets the manuscript to me.

Here are my October goals:

Primary Goal = Write 25-30 minutes a day. Forged is in this spot.

Secondary Goal = Write 12-15 minutes a day. The Mission will be my secondary project until I finish this novella, but I will slide "On Day 168" into this spot afterwards.

Finish writing, edit, and submit "Folds in Life and Death."

Edit Marked (The Fate Challenges #1.5).

Publish Mayhem in the Air.

I need to do some outlining soon. When I finish "On Day 168," I'll have the secondary goal ready for a new project, and right now I'm considering putting into that slot the rewrite of Virtuoso (The Cassandra Project #1), which is about a college student/violin virtuoso who develops telekinetic abilities after a car accident and the government man who's after her. But in order to be ready to rewrite Virtuoso, then I need to read through the very crappy first draft and make a new outline. But that'll be on the side and is not important yet to add to my goals.

2015 Stats (1/1/15-9/22/15): 77,241 words written and 1295 pages edited

 

Welcome to the kickoff for September's giveaway. All of the books are fab and the authors are amazing. Seriously you don't want to miss out. Here's the link to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway. And here are the books.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Writing Update: June Goals

Happy Wednesday!

May has been a pretty busy month between getting everything ready for the Once upon a Nightmare Blog Tour in June and editing the stories for Mayhem in the Air. Since I read Libbie Hawker's Take Off Your Pants!, a book about outlining, I plan to apply what I learned to my outline for Marked and hope to dive into writing soon. *crosses fingers*

For those who don't know, my wrists, the right one in particular, have been bothering me now for five months and have affected how much I can do on the computer at a time. I've been diagnosed with mild carpal tunnel, tendonitis, and osteoarthritis and so far haven't found anything that's fixed the pain. (I'm still waiting on my new ergonomic chair/desk at work.) I'm slower now, and I've finally accepted that I can't do quite as much as I used to or want to. But it won't stop me from completing my goals, even if they take longer to accomplish. I've been mainly focusing on one goal to completion. The progress is slow but still progress.

That said, here are my June goals:

Mayhem in the Air - So far I've edited a little over half the stories in this Untethered Realms' anthology, and I have four or so more to edit. It should be a great anthology, and I hope to complete this task by early June.

Update Blog/Websites/Social Media - I have my spiffy new tagline (Feeding your inner bookworm) and know what I want to do, but I still have to modify my blog, websites, and social media with new pictures and the like. After I finish the Mayhem in the Air stories, this is my next goal.

Marked - Once I finish the blog/websites/social media updates, the plan is to modify my outline and write Marked, Liam's story.

Blog Tour - The Once upon a Nightmare Blog Tour will run from June 22 to June 26, so I'll be doing a lot of blog visiting those dates. I'm also running my first Kindle Countdown deal from June 22-28.

***2015 Stats (1/1/15-5/26/15) - 15,077 Words written and 1,121 pages edited***

What are your goals for June?

Writing Update: February Goals

Happy Wednesday!

Although I'm already behind where I'd hoped to be, I am very pleased with the progress I've made. I'm over a third finished with the second edition content edit of Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection, and I'm very happy with the two chapters I've written in Marked and the one scene in "On Day 168." I'm hoping to kick things into a higher gear in February, and I'm crossing my fingers that the day job will be calmer than it has been in January.

Best of all, I'm loving writing again. It's energizing me and getting rid of the clutter in my mind. I remember now why I write and feel in a better place with my writing. This is very good because there were a lot of times last year I really considered stopping the torture I was putting myself through and quitting either by taking everything down and acting like being a writer never happened or finishing up The Fate Challenges (I do hate leaving a series hanging) and never publishing anything after that. Sometimes we need a break to refocus and reorganize what we want, and I'm happy that I still want to write and share all these stories in my head.

Also my writer anniversary came up in January! On January 15, 2009, I decided to write with publication in mind and wrote my first chapter of Reborn, which I published in May 2014.

That said, here are my February goals:

• Once upon a Nightmare - I want to finish the second edition content edit. I still have line edits and two proofreads (one on my Kindle and one print proof) left to do before publishing. Once I finish the content edit, I'll be taking down the individual stories and the collection (ebook/print) from other retailers. I wasn't going to do a print version at this time, but I found the perfect pre-designed cover art and getting both ebook and print covers together cost the same as getting either print or ebook. I plan to publish the ebook in KDP Select for a limited time and publish the print book everywhere.
• Marked - I will keep writing Marked.
• "Paper Lanterns" - This short story will be in Untethered Realms' anthology Mayhem in the Air (Forthcoming 2015), and I would like to complete my self-edit of it before sending it to our first editor (I'm the second editor of the anthology). I haven't said too much about "Paper Lanterns." The story is futuristic fantasy, and the premise is how far would a person go to destroy the one he loved who betrayed him. The story involves paper magic and takes place about twenty-five years before a New Adult series I'd like to write one of these days.
• "On Day 168" - If time, I'd like to write another scene in "On Day 168," which will be in UR's anthology Ghosts of Fire (Forthcoming 2016). "On Day 168" is epic fantasy and is set in the Amoran universe but in Norvadia (the Great Beyond) instead of the Kingdom of Amora.

What are your goals for February?

2015 Writing Stats (1/1/2015-1/27/2015): 7748 words written and 61 pages edited

Writing Update: October Goals

Happy Wednesday!

I've finished my final edit and first two proofreads of People of Foxwick and Their Neighbors. As soon as I get my final cover art from my brilliant cover artist, then I can purchase my print proof and finish my final proofread before publication. While I'm waiting on the print proof, I plan to write Remarked.

Here are my October goals:

• People of Foxwick and Their Neighbors - Once I get my print proof, I will do my print proof proofread, make changes to the document, and upload the final draft to Createspace. I'll also create my e-copies to upload. I plan to put People of Foxwick on pre-order (ebook only) with an official release date of December 9, 2014. During the pre-order period, people can purchase the ebook for $0.99, for a savings of $3.00. I'll press publish on the print book close to December 9th.
• Remarked - I hope to finish the first draft of Remarked, then finish People of Foxwick, and then type up and edit the second draft of this novella. I hope to send it to my alpha readers by the end of October.

My main goals revolve around People of Foxwick first and then Remarked second.

What are your goals for October?

2014 Stats

40,533+1900 Words Written

2622 Pages Edited

*Stats taken from 1/1/2014-9/23/2014

IWSG: Evaluating Goals

IWSG is the brain-child of super ninja Alex J. Cavanaugh. Click here for the other participants.

Happy Independence Day to those in America! Personally, I would've had no qualms with staying with the mother country, but my ancestors thought differently. Yes, my ancestor John Penn was one of the ones to sign the Declaration of Independence. Oh, well.
 

Also, today is the honorary birthday of my beautiful cat Cinderella. She turns six years old today.

Today's post is more about goals, though, or evaluating them. At the first of the year, I like to make goals for the year. When I look back on those goals, I've come to the conclusion that I was temporarily insane. Sure, I could've gotten all those things accomplished, if I didn't have to sleep and/or had a time turner. (Scientists, get on that!) I've evaluated my goals throughout the year, but since half the year is over, I thought it would be good to evaluate what I have done and what I still would like to do.

In the past six months, I've written 50,043 words and edited 1,811 pages. I've published Defying Gravity, Fighting Gravity, A to Z Flashes of Foxwick, and Women of Foxwick. I've had a short story collection, The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk, with authors Aubrie Dionne and Lisa Rusczyk published. I participated in the A to Z Blogging Challenge and hosted the 2nd Annual Flash Fiction Blogfest. Although I may have wanted to get more accomplished, I think I did pretty well to stay productive.


The next six months will still keep me busy. I plan to self-publish (i.e. write/edit/proofread/format/publish) Pull of Gravity, Nightmare Ever After, and Twelve Days of Foxwick. I hope to finish editing Starred, a YA Contemporary novel. I plan to write Paranormal Junkies, a YA Horror novel, for NaNoWriMo in November. I will also have 2-3 clients' manuscripts to edit as well. I have a few others things I would like to do, but I doubt they'll get accomplished in the next six months.


Although I create goals for a year, I typically evaluate them every month. Do you keep track of your goals? Have you re-evaluated your goals recently?

Also, today is the last day to purchase Women of Foxwick at the introductory price of $0.99. I'm raising the prices tomorrow when I get to work.

 

Amazon US / UK / DE / FR / ES / IT  Smashwords  Nook

And right now, Defying Gravity is part of the Smashwords Summer Sale. For the month of July, you can get Defying Gravity for free on Smashwords using the coupon code: SSWIN.

 

 Smashwords

And A to Z Flashes of Foxwick is still free on Smashwords, Amazon, and Kobo.

 

Smashwords, Amazon, Kobo

Wednesday's Writing Update: May Stats and June Goals

 

Happy Wednesday!

I have May's stats available.

Words Written: 3,830

Pages Edited: 350

I ended up editing much more than I wrote last month.

I still have quite a bit to do in June. I have a client's manuscript I'm editing. I'm working on publishing Women of Foxwick as well as writing Pull of Gravity. My main goals are Women of Foxwick and Pull of Gravity this month. It'd be nice to get them finished, so I can start focusing on Nightmare Ever After. I've decided I would like to get all my major writing done in the next few months for the stories I plan to self-publish this year. Then I can focus on editing Starred and gearing up for NaNoWriMo in November with my YA Horror Paranormal Junkies.

The new planned release date for Women of Foxwick is June 26th. If you would like to read and review a copy, please let me know in the comments, and I'll send you a Smashwords coupon as soon as it's available.

I'm really trying to tell myself not to do August's Camp NaNoWriMo. I really am. I have a week off in August, but I don't want to have two more first drafts this year to edit later on, especially when I have four novels already to edit. But that shiny idea of an adult fantasy novel keeps sneaking up on me.

So what are you working on this week?

Wednesday's Writing Update: Stats and Goals

 

Happy Wednesday!

I'm sorry I've been slow to respond to comments and get to blogs. We started our summer schedule at the library, so it's taking a while to adjust to the new hours and get everything done.

Because of the A-Z Challenge, I didn't get a chance to post March or April's stats, so here they are...

March Stats:

Word Count - 11,674

Pages Edited - 120

April Stats:

Word Count - 6,506

Pages Edited - 301

It's clear when I edit more I write less and vice versa. I did manage to publish two works in April: A to Z Flashes of Foxwick and Fighting Gravity.

I mentioned it briefly in my IWSG post about focusing my time and using time more wisely, so for May, my main focus is writing and editing Pull of Gravity. I would like to have it ready to publish in June.

I also updated my 2012 Goals list again. I want to give the proper amount of time to things, so I needed to make changes. If I can get things done as I hope, then this should be my writing/editing schedule for the rest of the year.

May - Pull of Gravity, Novelette #3 in the Gravity trilogy

June - Women of Foxwick, Short Story Collection

July - Nightmare Ever After, sequel to Once Upon a December Nightmare

August/September - Starred, editing last year's NaNoWriMo novel

October - 12 Days of Foxwick, a Christmas short story from the Foxwick world

November - Paranormal Junkies, writing my YA Horror novel for NaNoWriMo 2012

December and on - The Phoenix Prophetess, editing my YA Epic Fantasy novel

I still plan to write Men of Foxwick and Neighbors of Foxwick, but it looks like they won't be written until next year. Of course, this schedule is subject to change depending on how long it takes me to write and edit things. I worry the most about June, since I have jury duty. I might not be around enough to write much.

So what are you working on this month? Have you recovered from A-Z Challenge yet? Don't forget to sign up for my Flash Fiction Blogfest here!

Wednesday's Writing Update: Stats, Goal Changers, and Cover Art Reveal

All links open up as a new page.

Happy Wednesday!

You can read my review of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games at Surrounded by Books Reviews. Plus my sister and I are going to the midnight showing of the movie tomorrow night! Yay!

I have February's stats.

Word Count: 7,511

Pages Edited: 217

I haven't sent anything out on submission in a while, so I have nothing out there to be accepted/rejected.

I have the cover art for Fighting Gravity finalized. Here it is, along with the description of Fighting Gravity. You can add this book to your Goodreads list here.

Forced into executing Aresia’s people, Phoebus escapes the Aresian Guard by flying his spaceship through a wormhole.

The only single woman of marrying age, Marissa flees her prospects of becoming Elder McGee’s third wife for a chance at freedom upon the New Atlantic Ocean.

When Phoebus’s spacecraft crashes upon an asteroid-ravaged Earth, he is captured by a rogue Earthling youth and thrown into a cellar. Marissa stumbles upon the spacecraft, but it explodes before she can find any sign of the alien. When she awakens, she discovers the alien’s whereabouts and vows to help him. They plot his escape when they learn Phoebus’s Aresians have landed and are searching for him. Phoebus and Marissa must battle against their despair and their peoples in their quest for freedom and love. And through it all, an Earthling and an Aresian will find it easier to fight gravity than their love for each other.

You can also add A to Z Flashes of Foxwick on Goodreads here.

If you click here, you'll see that I modified my 2012 Goals page quite a bit from the start of the year. Yeah, I was overly ambitious at the start of the year, and the only way I could've done everything I would've liked to do is either by giving up social networking (not happening) or sleep (definitely not happening). So I've had to modify it quite a bit and make it much more reasonable.

I've decided to focus edits on two books this year: The Phoenix Prophetess (I'd like to get the edits done by the end of June) and Starred (I'd like to get the edits done by the end of December, preferably by the end of October).

For NaNoWriMo, I plan to write Paranormal Junkies, a YA Horror novel.

I'll still have #fridayflash to write for the blog.

Then, the rest of my focus will be on some forthcoming self-published titles including: the last two books in the Gravity series, my short story collections (4 of them: A to Z Flashes of Foxwick, Women of Foxwick, Men of Foxwick, and Neighbors of Foxwick) involving the Kingdom of Foxwick, and the long-awaited sequel to Once Upon a December Nightmare titled Nightmare Ever After. I'm not sure if I'll get all the Foxwick stories done by the end of this year, but the others shouldn't be too much of a problem.

It'd be nice to get everything done before December, so I can take December off to read more and do some light writing. Of course, depending on time and everything else, this schedule in itself might change, but it's definitely more manageable, I think.

Have you decided to modify your goals before? Do you find yourself planning too much or too little?

Also, don't forget to sign up for my author newsletter. You'll get news before everyone else. I promise not to spam you. Plus, you will receive a free short story ("Magna's Plea") from the Phoenix Trilogy universe. Subscribe to our newsletter
 

Wednesday's Writing Update: The Day I Defied Gravity

 

All links open to a new page, so click away!

First off, my review of Selah Janel's Mooner is here.

*waves to new and former followers* If I haven't followed you yet, please let me know with a link to your blog. I try to follow back.

And I knew I forgot something from yesterday's post. Margo Kelly tagged me on Monday, so I picked three questions and answered them on a previously tagged post. Monday was Margo's birthday too, so please go by her blog and wish her a belated happy birthday.

Also, if you look to the left of the blog, you'll see that I am creating a newsletter. If you want to see cover art, excerpts, and writing news before I announce it elsewhere, then please sign up. I promise I won't spam you or anything like that. You'll most likely not receive an email except once a month or more. 

Before I get to the good news, I have received a few bad reviews on Defying Gravity and I wanted to address something about that. This is normal for authors, and these people were disappointed it wasn't hard science fiction. That is their right, and I respect their opinions. If I loved hard sci-fi and read my story, I would rate it lower too because it wouldn't meet my expectations. Of course, my story isn't hard sci-fi, more space opera/soft sci-fi romance/alien fantasy. I understand wanting to jump at my defense too, but please remember these people have a right to their opinions. Their lower ratings help weed out the people who really wouldn't like my book in the first place. If you disagree with them based on reading Defying Gravity, the best way you can help me is by writing a review on the book. Otherwise, it makes me look unprofessional, even though I don't have control over what my fans think or say or do. I appreciate all reviews.

Okay, on to the good news. *grins*

 

Last Thursday was my 30th birthday, but it was also the first day I put Defying Gravity for free on Amazon. The results were amazing. I definitely had the best birthday watching my space opera novelette climbing the charts. Thank you to all who downloaded a copy and/or spread the word about it.

Yes, that's my book beside of George R.R. Martin's!

When I started out free, I thought it would be great to reach the top 100 in a category or two. I would love to get over 250 downloads in a 24 hour period, but what happened defied all my expectations. Defying Gravity had over 2300 downloads in a 24 hour period (2235 US, 62 UK, 10 DE, 2 FR). It reached #129 Kindle Overall (Free) and #2 in Science Fiction (Free).

When it went off free, I wasn't expecting much, but since then I've had over 100 sales and have seen my Defying Gravity rise in the rankings.

That's taken from March 12 around 1 PM EST.

I've had borrows since then, saw my book as #3 in Popularity in the Science Fiction category on KOLL, and much more. I got my first sale in Germany! It's just been magical and makes me even more excited to finish writing Fighting Gravity and getting it out on May 1st. By the way, you can add Fighting Gravity here on Goodreads and Pull of Gravity (#3) here on Goodreads.

Thank you.

So what have you defied lately?

Wednesday's Writing Update: July Stats, August Goals, and more!

Happy Wednesday!

Is it just me or does it seem like August has come way too early this year?

Since July ended on Sunday, I have July's stats.

Submissions: 1

Rejections: 0

Acceptances: 0

Stories Short Listed: 2

Total Word Count: 10,951

Total Pages Edited: 269

The pages edited number was a bit lower than it should've been, but I wrote more words last month and read more too.

For August, my main focus is on Virtuoso rewrites. My goal is to rewrite/edit a chapter every two days. I still haven't finished my dragon short story, so I'll work on it when I have time. I do have a few flash pieces to write, but this month shouldn't be too bad. Of course, I have editing too. I'm trying to write in the mornings and edit in the afternoons. It's working out so far.

On Raven and the Writing Desk, our theme this month is deserted islands. I continued Mer's journey in my flash piece "Washed Upon the Shore" in today's short story "Cursed Isle." You can read it here.

Today I have announced my "Favorite Summer Reads" blogfest on my Surrounded byBooks Reviews blog in honor of its one year blogoversary month. Stop by, read the details, and consider signing up. It should be fun and a great way to learn about new books.

So does anyone have any new news?

Wednesday's Writing Update

I can't believe it's already March. I'm even more amazed that I have 165 followers. Wow! I said when I reached 100 that I would have a blogfest. Then, bam, I had well over 100. So, I promise in April, I'll mention this secret blogfest I have in mind as well as prizes. So stay tuned for those updates. *grins*

Now, on to the writing update. Here are February's stats:

Submissions: 3

Rejections: 0

Acceptances: 1

Short Stories Written: 2

Submissions Still Out There: 4

Word Total: 17,390

My March goals are pretty simple. Get as much accomplished this month in blog posts, short stories, and flash fiction, so in April and May, I can focus mainly on rewriting Virtuoso. I also want to have time to visit the A to Z bloggers and my fellow Crusaders, so if I can get everything else done, I'll have more time for other things. Or, at least, that's the hope.

I finished my rewrites for my novelette Defying Gravity last week. I plan to make some edits this weekend, so I can polish it up and submit it sometime next week.

I also have some posts set up to go on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. Why? After tomorrow, I'll be off for five days from work, which means I won't have my nice, fast work internet. I'll be on s...l...o...w dial-up. Plus, Tuesday is my birthday, so I planned ahead. *grins*

I may not be around as much, but I will keep up with everyone's blog posts and try to comment when my cell phone or dial-up lets me.

Now, I'm off to continue working on my new PWP assignment.

August Writing Goals and up-coming vacation

July is gone, and it is now August. Where has this year gone? July was a very successful writing month for me, and I'd like to touch on July's stats.

Word count: 12,470

Submissions: 1

Submissions out in submission world: 5

Rejections: 0

Acceptances: 0

I wrote two short stories, five flash fiction pieces, wrote one chapter of my novella, and wrote one chapter of my WIP novel and polished three chapters. Most exciting of all is that I wrote 12,470 words last month. I haven't written that many words in one month since February.

The only goal I didn't complete in July was working on editing/rewriting my previously completed novels, Virtuoso and The Phoenix Prophetess.

As for August, I have similar goals as July. On Mondays, I work on my novel; Tuesdays, short story; Wednesdays, novella; and Thursdays, flash fiction. I must get back into editing my novels, so I'm going to hope to use Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to work on them until they are polished and ready to send to agents. I need one novel to that state by the end of September, since I'll be pitching a novel to an agent/editor at the James River Writers Conference in October.

As for short stories, there are at least four I would like to write:

"They" a post-apocalyptic story

"Government Program 10312010" a horror story

"Rays of Ra" story for Raven and the Writing Desk

"Changeling" a writing prompt contest fantasy story for Gypsy Shadow Publishing.

Of course, I realize I might not get all those stories written, and if I don't, that's fine, but I hope to complete them all the same.

As for this week, I edited the rest of chapter three in Moonlight Murders on Monday. Next Monday, I plan to read through chapter three one more time and then move on to writing chapter four. Today, I think I'll either work on "Rays of Ra" or "They." Wednesday, if I get time, I'll work on chapter two in Panther Moon. And, I'm hoping to edit my novels the rest of the week.

Yesterday, I received my final edits for Once Upon a December Nightmare. I read through it and sent it back. It's almost ready to go. Yay! It'll be my first ebook in over a year since the fiasco with the publisher-who-must-not-be-named.

I'm taking Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off from work, so I won't be online again most likely until Monday. We have dial-up at home, and although I might pop on at least once while I'm gone, it takes about five times as long, if not more, to do things with dial-up. I just can't stand for it, so I will answer emails and such most likely next Monday.

Don't worry, though. Flash Fiction Fridays will still happen. In honor of the release of my ebook Once Upon a December Nightmare, I'll be writing flash fiction with the characters pre-December Nightmare. This week's piece will involve best friends Cassie and Mary. Look for "Departure" on Friday!

And, since I'll be gone, I'm hoping to have a very special surprise ready for my fellow blogger followers on Monday. Yes, I'm up to 30 followers, so do we hear contest? Oh, we just might. But all details will occur next Monday. *grins*

And, one more thing before I head out. I've decided to torture myself again at the next Valley Writers meeting this Thursday. I'll be reading the first chapter of Moonlight Murders. Should I try my British and Cockney accents? I might. Also, I'll find out if my story "Soul Drinker" will be moving on in the Golden Nib competition with the Virginia Writers Club, which I just so happen to be a member of it. I kinda doubt my story will move on, especially since this is my first year with the group and there are so many wonderful and more talented writers than I am, but I had to try. We'll see. 

So, a lot is coming up, but that's fine. *laughs* You don't even want me to tell you how busy I'll be on Wednesday (it involves me getting up at 4:50 AM for it), but I'm hoping my vacation won't wear me out too much. I'll see you again on Monday (and kinda Friday, even though I'm setting up the post today to post on Friday).

Have a great week and weekend!

Wednesday's Writing Update

Well, it's time for another exciting Wednesday's Writing Update.

Today, we will cover last month's writing experiences and include May's writing goals.

Last month was a very short month in writing words. I spent most of the month editing. So here were the stats for April:

April's Word Count: 2,530

Submissions: 6

Acceptances: 0

Rejections: 6

Stories Released: 2 ("Grave Mistakes" with Emerald Tales and "Hell Hath No Fury" with All About Eve)

Submissions still out there: 5

I edited a few chapters in my WIPs, "Once Upon a December Nightmare," and "Grave Mistakes."

I also wrote my first poem in several years.

On May 1, I also received an email from Abandoned Towers for my story "Soul Survivor." It had a flow problem, which I agreed and fixed. I should now know back by the end of August about the story. I've done two revisions with that story now for Abandoned Towers, so I hope they accept it for something with all this work I've put into it. But, we'll see.

Now, on to my goals for May. For one, write June's story for the Raven and the Writing Desk blog. For two, finish my edits/revisions for Virtuoso. And, that's basically all, folks! More edits again. It's very important that I do my best to finish Virtuoso, though, especially if I want my free book in June from Createaspace courtesy of winning NaNoWriMo 2009.

I will be blogging shortly about a rejection I received for "Magna's Plea" from Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I received the rejection on Friday, but I've been so busy at work that I just now have a chance to blog about it and the lesson I learned.

Now, if you want something to do after reading this, then I suggest heading over to Raven and the Writing Desk and reading my story "A Mother's Gift."

Marching into March

Today is the first day of March, and I'm looking forward to this month. The possibility of snow is still there, but spring is right around the corner. Plus, my birthday is in one week, March 8. I'll be 28. I also am getting off four days (Friday-Monday), so it'll be a nice long weekend for me.

On the writing front, I want to look back on February. February's word count was 11,346. That's 4,302 words less than January, but I didn't work any on my novels in February, so that brought down the word count. The first two weeks were really difficult for me, since we had so much snow. I just couldn't get motivated to write at all. Other writing stats for February include:

Short stories written: 3 ("Grave Mistakes," "A Lesson Learned," and "The Golden Staff")

Submissions: 3 (one magazine, one writing contest, and one anthology)

Short listed: 2 ("Defying Gravity" and "The Golden Staff" were both short listed.)

Rejected: 0

Accepted: 0

February really wasn't a bad month, especially since I had those two stories short listed. March will bring up the rejections/acceptances, though, since I should find out about several stories in the next couple of weeks.

As for March, I have some March goals. For one, I really need to get back into my novels. I'm so far behind where I wanted to be by now in them. I would like to have five chapters in The Phoenix Prophetess edited/rewritten as well as five chapters in Virtuoso edited/rewritten. I want to write two chapters in The Phoenix Sorceress.

For short stories, I only have one short story that I want to write where the deadline is March 31, 2010. That short story is currently titled "Soul Drinker," and it is based off the Yanamamo tribe in South America. I want to write this story for The Way of the Wizard anthology. I had previously written a story ("Eclipe"), which was readily rejected, but I thought I would give it one more try.

In April, there are up to four places I want to submit to, so I might add one to two short stories in March to catch up. I plan to write "Magna's Plea" for Sword and Sorceress 25. It is a story that really is asking for me to write it, so I might go ahead, even though I can't submit it until after April 17th. "Magna's Plea" is based off my Kingdom of Amora in the Phoenix Trilogy that I'm working on.

The other anthology that I might go ahead and write for in March is A Halloween Whodunnit, published by Pill Hill Press. I plan to re-enter the world of Detective Liam O'Hare in a Halloween masquerade ball mystery. The current title for this short story is "The Harlequin's Last Laugh." Liam O'Hare is the detective in my short story "The Case of the Tom Cat," which was previously published, and is the featured detective in the book I'm slowly working on Moonlight Murders.

So, I have a lot I would like to accomplish for this month. We'll see if it happens. Wish me luck!

Writing a Trilogy

On January 18, 2010, I began writing the second book in my Phoenix Trilogy, The Phoenix Sorceress. It took a couple weeks, but I finally finished chapter one and sent it to a couple first readers, who have previously read book one, The Phoenix Prophetess.

I recently read that if you plan for a trilogy or series not to write any books in it beyond book one. They say if the first book can't stand alone as well as sell, then you will have multiple books that won't sell. I do agree with their reasoning, and it made me consider not writing book two yet. But, I decided against it. As I'm doing rewrites and edits on book one and writing book two, I am thinking of all these new things to make book one stronger and better than the first draft. If I wasn't thinking of book two, then I don't think I would have come up with these things to introduce in book one. So, I changed my mind, and I'll continue writing book two to help out book one, if that makes any sense. Now, if I'll write book three as I wish to in 2011 or not is still up in the air.

I really enjoy my Phoenix Trilogy. It's an amazing trilogy, if I say so myself. I know that all authors probably think that about their work, but I can see the Phoenix Trilogy really being picked up. Of course, I admit that I could be completely wrong, but I'm doing my best to make it the best the story can be. As I do my rewrites/edits, I'm learning more about the world of Amora and the characters within it, and I must admit that I love them. They are like friends that reveal more about themselves every time I enter their world. And, even though I'm writing and creating their world, I often feel like the characters speak for the world instead of me.

I was wondering if other writers feel the same? Do you feel that the characters create the world and conflicts or do you create them? Sometimes, when I write, I'll smile or gasp or various other emotions as I type what the character is doing. I will sometimes act out a scene in a book in words and/or actions before I go to bed. Maybe it is my theatre background coming out that helps me connect to my characters and in a way become them. Does anyone else do this or have other ways that they relate with who they write?

On another note, January is over. I wrote three short stories and three chapters in my novels (two in Prophetess and one in Sorceress). My word total for January was 15,648 words. I submitted four short stories and received four rejections (not of all the short stories I submitted but a few previously submitted before January). This month received zero acceptances, but I did get paid my $5 advanced for my short story for WolfSinger's All About Eve anthology that should be out in April/May. So, overall, January wasn't a bad month. I do need to go back through my old short stories and pick one a month to fix and send back out. Right now, I'm trying to decide between "Cat and Mouse" and "Breaking Bifrost." Any suggestions?

Also, it snowed over the weekend. We received around nine inches. My sister and I played out in it on Saturday. I was supposed to work, but I couldn't get out because of the snow. My boss was cool about it. Sunday, January 31, was also my sister's 15th birthday. I hope her birthday wasn't too bad, even though all our plans for it were cancelled because of the snow.

As for February's writing goals, I plan to finish my edits/rewrites for The Phoenix Prophetess. It is a lofty goal, but I hope I can at least finish over half of it, if I'm going to keep on schedule. I plan to continue writing in book two. I also have two short stories I want to write. One is a thriller for Emerald Tales and the other is fantasy  for Pill Hill Press's Legends of Atlantis anthology. And, as I mentioned above, I wish to go back to one of my old short stories and fix it to send out again.

I hope February is a good month, and I hope we don't get much more snow. Snow is fine and all, but I hate driving in it. I'm ready for spring!