getting things done

March Recap

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This month was a little mixed after the euphoria of finishing my draft. I left the manuscript to steep for a while because I was taking a course, and wanted to give it my full attention

The first draft didn’t fair so well. It wasn’t that it was a bad story, it just wasn’t the right story. I had a big AHA moment about the whole series so it changes things in terms of structure. That isn’t a bad thing, it just means I’ve had to take a few steps back.

 

And of course, Spring has sprung and my granddaughter celebrated her 16th birthday on International Women’s day. Our mimosa (the symbol for the day) has almost had it’s day but has been beautiful, despite the snow! I cannot wait to see and hug my family again.

 

 

 

Books Read This Month

Here are the titles I’ve read this month, a more fiction than non-fiction. Any recommendations are welcome!

  • The Night Raven by Sarah Painter
  • Echoes of the Gidat by Eme Savage
  • Mistress of Masks by C Greenwood
  • Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
  • Structuring Your Novel (finished up) K M Weiland
  • Beautiful Demons Box Set Books 1-3 by Sarra Cannon – just started.

Stories Published

I decided not to publish any short stories for the time being. It’s not attracting much attention and it takes quite a lot of time. But… I have had book one of the Luna Legends proofed and I’ve sourced a cover – well several to choose from – so I’m going to be launching it very shortly. I’ve also changed the title (it was Wolf Moon) as part of my series AHA moment. All will be revealed. So watch this space.

Goals Update

I continue to make great progress with my goals using the HB90 system. As this blog is published I actually have started Quarter 2 which is amazing and we’ve yet again entered full lockdown as Italy (and lots of Europe) are experiencing the third wave of the pandemic. And don’t mention the vaccination programme. Still, plenty to keep me going.

Goal 1 Writing and Editing

  • Edited Book 1 for publication
  • Plans made for Q2 which included participating in NaNoWrimo
  • Reviewed Season 1 of Luna Legends series

Goal 2 Publishing and Promotion

  • Completed Publish and Thrive Course – which has generated a load of actions and a strategy to go forward.
  • Prepped Book 1 for Publication and sourced a cover

Goal 3 Healthy Writing Habits

  • I started monitoring my mood again and there are more smileys than others
  • Completed the #vss365 challenge every day and published them on Twitter. In fact I’ve managed to complete this challenge for most days of this quarter and penned over 3400 words!

As well as my writing I’m trying to pinch a little part of the day playing around on Procreate, a drawing app on the iPad. I created this, with a lot of help from Art With Flo, for #EarthHour day which also fell on what would have been my Dad’s 87th birthday. I so miss him still.

This month was the hardest yet, a combination of things beyond my control sent me into a bit of spin to be honest. But I’m back at the desk and even more determined to work my way through the mire of being an Authorpreneur. I will do it.

Hope you’ve had some successes this month, would love to hear about them.

Ciao

 

Bootcamp Bubble July 2020

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It’s been some time since I’ve posted. I have no excuses, not real ones. I could blame the virus, but then it’s here to stay for some time and we’ve been on lockdown since March so I can’t use that.

So instead I’m going to become one of my female characters who needs to get herself into training to slaughter the monster of procrastination and prioritisation. It’s not a matter of time, I’ve always hated the excuse of ‘I’m so busy’. It’s such a lame lament. We all have the same number of hours in the day, it’s how we choose to use them and what we consider as important.

For far too long, I’ve put my writing at the bottom of the list. Well this month things are going to change and I’m going to fight and destroy the creature that has pinned me down, eaten my muse and trampled over my confidence. If I don’t. It’s time to hand in the towel. And I have fight left within me, so fight I will.

This month in my little Boot-camp Bubble I shall be committing to the following:

  • Time out from my online group, Writers Abroad. We are currently in the midst of celebrating our 10 year anniversary and there is a lot going on but it takes a lot of my energy. They will all be there when I return, as lovely and as supportive as ever, but this is a fight I have to do on my own.

 

  • Musing every day, for 31 days. Every. Single. Day. I will write to a creative writing prompt. I generally do this every week day morning but I also plan to turn at least one of these musings a week into a short story or a scene.

 

  • Journaling I’ve been doing ‘Morning Pages’ almost every day since 2015. It had purpose way back then when I was struggling with so many things. But it’s not challenging me any more, it’s a daily diary, of my daily, rather mundane life. So I’ve purchased the Journaling Compendium by Amie McNee and shall be using her daily prompts to explore myself as a writer, if she’s willing to stick around.

 

  • World Building My writing project priority is the Moon series. I published the first novella back in early March just when we went into lockdown and I’ve not done a thing. So I shall be pulling the publication and exploring and revisiting the world I created to define the next in the series and perhaps a third. Who knows?

So, I hope to be sharing my progress on a short weekly post and I hope to pop out of my bubble at the end of the month. That’s if the monster doesn’t eat me first.

“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself, the challenge is to silence the mind.”

– Caroline Myss

 

Ciao for Now . . .

 

Writing Process

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I don’t know about you, but my writing can be affected by the seasons, or any other distraction for that matter. Perhaps a large part of it is that my other ‘work’ is as flexible as my writing routine. That can be seen as a dream for some and I know I’m very fortunate but like everything, it can also have its downsides. A couple of weeks ago it looked as if Autumn had really arrived, talk of bonfires and dark evenings. However, for the past few days, the days have been warm, almost Indian summer-like with cold nights that have required us to light the wood burner.

Here are four things that I find useful in keeping my writing on track, whatever the season (or distraction, usually animal related) that may be. And given that NaNoWriMo starts in a couple of weeks, I think these are going to come in handy!

Monthly Goals

I’ve always set goals, every year for as long as I can remember. And for as long as I can remember, I’ve never reached the end of that year having achieved them. I’m too ambitious, too full of hope that this year will be the one and therefore I set myself up to fail. Following the example set by another writer with the same dilemma, I’ve been setting monthly goals now for the better part of this year. And they work, for whatever reason I’m getting more done than I’ve ever done. Perhaps it’s more time relevant, more in the moment and I can actually see the progress rather than wishing on a star. It’s also helped by the second hack I’ve employed this year.

Focused Project Days

Again, for all my life I’ve considered myself to excel at multi-tasking. That was certainly true for my younger self as a single mum, having a full-time job and completing a degree all at the same time. Nowadays I’m not so good at balancing all those spinning plates. And what’s more, it didn’t work. Not for my writing anyway. Now I split the weekdays into daily focused projects where I concentrate on one thing at a time. It could be a short story I’m polishing for a competition or editing on one WiP or researching a new one. Occasionally I find myself dipping into something I shouldn’t be but a sharp rap on the knuckles does the trick.

Sweating the Small Stuff

Having said I focus on a daily project, I do spend half an hour at the beginning of the day just getting those small niggly things of my list. The things that may seem insignificant, like replying to an email or some housekeeping admin, watering the pots, tickling the kitties… whatever. If I tick them off my list that’s more headroom for writing. And that can be a good thing.

Daily Free Writing Sessions

For the past two months during the hot weather, I’ve set myself a target of daily, Monday to Friday, free writing sessions. The WA Monday Muse often forms one of these but I’ve also used them as preparations or the start of scenes in my current WiP and most definitely for the project the day. I’ve missed one or two days because of one thing or another. But it certainly has helped in me getting to The End.

What works for you?

Monthly Goals: June

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Now as still I’m away travelling, I’ll be carrying over my goals from May. These goals were chosen as being the most realistic to achieve and I’ll report on my progress in the July.

 

🎯 Schedule all Social Media posts as far as I can up to end of June

🎯 Re look at Journals for Writers and plan relaunch (for my return in June)

🎯 Organise and clean up my One note Bujo (which is essentially my whole life) and Pinterest Boards

🎯Work on scene list and world building for Rainbow Chronicles

🎯Read, read and read!

 

Writing Goals: May

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Last Month’s Goals (April)

A better month health wise and I think I’ve made great progress with my aim for getting ahead. As we leave for a six week trip in Bobbus, our camper van, on the 8th May I need to be prepared… as well as think about what I can achieve realistically whilst we’re away.

😛 Post four more chapters of Wolf Moon on Wattpad – yep, I continue to keep on target with Wolf Moon and most of all it’s helping me to get the edits done. All about accountability.

🙂 Market Short Story as a giveaway – well I’ve finished The Earth Dragon of Sassi and it’s now available here… as for marketing it, well I’ve given a little nudge but as writers we all find it hard to blow our own trumpet… but it’s finished and that’s a big thing

😕 Marketing Plan for Journals – this keeps being pushed back, but that’s okay. It’s one of the projects I might spend some time on whilst we’re away as it’s easy to pick up in small windows of time. I hit a brick wall because I have spent some time creating new covers but the format of the interior has gone all awol… and I’m not sure why

😎 Complete snowflake for the Rainbow Book 1 – I’ve had so much fun with this over the past four weeks and I’m so excited about the story. I’ve started the scene list and again it’s something I’ll dabble with whilst I’m away.

😉 Plan timeline for for the first draft of Rainbow Book 1 – well, I’ve not given this much thought but I shan’t be drafting it until I get back. So by the end of summer (2019 that is) I hope to have the first draft done.

So this month and half of June is going to be a little scatty in terms of goals. I don’t want to set the stakes too high, yet I do want to maintain momentum so these are my initial thoughts for this month…

🎯 Complete all edits of Wolf Moon – before I leave on 8th *gulp*

🎯 Schedule all Social Media posts as far as I can up to end of June

🎯 Re look at Journals for Writers and plan relaunch (for my return in June)

🎯 Organise and clean up my One note Bujo (which is essentially my whole life) and Pinterest Boards

🎯 Work on scene list and world building for Rainbow Chronicles

 

 

 

 

April Goals 2019

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Last Months Goals (March)

Now, I’ve had a month of two halves… the first part I spend sniffling and coughing away with a very heavy chest cold and the second half I put my back out pulling my leggings on! The pain has been excruciating (and I have a high pain threshold) and debilitating. And not to mention the distractions of another ‘B’ word I refuse to sully my blog with. So despite all that…

🙂 Publish four more parts of Wolf Moon on Wattpad – yep achieved this goal and managed to get ahead of myself as we will be away in the van May to early June.

😉 Publish Short Story – Ring of Fire this story is almost finished but needs some polishing and I’ve decided not to publish but offer as freebie to join my subscribers list…

🙁 Marketing Planner for Writer’s Journals this one got left on the back burner. It’s not one of my top priorities but I do plan to pick it up again this month if time.

🙂 Plan a Blog and Social Media Strategy for next 3 Months by the skin of my teeth and a useful filler for when Scooby had a little op and I was distracted by hourly supervised garden visits and lots of cuddles. All posts planned until end of June… feels good

😉 Complete Snowflake for Rainbow Books made a good start on this and so enjoying it, but priorities and time got the better of it… will pick it up again this month

So, what’s in store for this month?