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

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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

 

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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?