Something I love about Goodreads is how easy it is to track my progress towards my reading goals. At the end of the year, Goodreads gives stats on my reads.
Redfae Bookshop is my Affiliate Bookshop.org shop link. NB: This post contains these affiliate links.
2020 Reading Goals
My goal was set at 12 books, thinking I could easily read one a month but I hadn’t taken into account how busy I’d be certain months launching my own book, Ocean Heart. It turned out just 12 books was harder than I thought.
The year has include some books I absolutely loved, and one I hated. I’m pretty good at choosing books I know I will love that I wasn’t surprised that my average rating was high. I just don’t have time to read books I won’t like. ?
Wiccan Romances: Amelia’s Story by Nicola Hebron
This was my first read of 2020. It was a book I’d been eager to buy, but was lucky enough to win a copy from the author on Twitter! Whoop! Whoop! I love fantasy set in the real world so it was a good start to my year.
My last two reads of 2020 were Garden in the Sands by Ellie Mitten and… I rather unusual choice for me… The Substantial Meal by Florence Green. I’ve rated them both on Goodreads but still need to write the review.
Garden in the Sands by Ellie Mitten
I think I preordered this book, but I’m such a slow reader, by the time I got to it, it’d been out a little while. I’m going to write a review very soon but as you can see from my 5 star rating, I LOVED THIS BOOK!
The Substantial Sandwich by Florence Green
I can’t remember how Florence & I got talking, but I was a bit glum I wasn’t going to make my pathetic reading goal of just 12 books. I was beating myself up. Then Florence cheered my up by sending me his recent release, an erotic satire using innuendos and puns about the Covid restrictions. It was a quick short read and succeeded at cheering me up. Review coming soon.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas is the most popular book I read. I’m not surprised as I saw it all over Instagram. I actually bought my copy in summer 2019 at YALC.
Another YALC buy was Sea Witch by Sarah Henning. It’s a historical fantasy/fairytale retelling of The Little Mermaid. I really loved the book, and hope to read book 2 in the series this year.
A book that should be more popular is Sorceress of Truth by J D Groom. It’s contemporary fantasy and has everything I love in a book. The MC was relatable, but all the side characters were well developed. With a modern day sorceress, fairies and vampires, what’s not to love?
2021 Reading Goal
To alleviate pressure, I’ve lowered my reading goal to 10 fiction books. I know, some people can read that amount in a month. But, I read for pleasure. And, I have to be in the right mood. If I’m too tired or engrossed in my own writing, I just can’t get into the book.
I also have a few resource books I need to read and review. I didn’t review any last year despite reading some. So, you can look forward to that. These are separate from my reading goal.
This year, I’ve really struggled with creating my goals. The problem is there’s so much I want to do but where to start?
I know if I have too many plates spinning, they’ll all crash. As I’m writing this it’s January 1st and I’m finally choosing my goals after agonizing over them for two weeks. And… I may still tweak them before this post goes live.
Personal
Skincare routine: Over the years, I’ve tried loads countless products and I’m constantly changing my routine. During 2021, I plan to finalise my skincare products which I think will benefit my skin.
I hate waste so I need to use up products I already have, and it also depends on money too. I’ve already decided on the products and look forward to sharing these with you as I buy them.
Visit Hollowtree Farm: Fear of the virus and lockdowns reduced the number of places we visited. We even had a gift voucher for a fun day at the farm and never got to go. They’ve said it doesn’t expire so this is a priority for 2021!
Selfcare: I never have time to indulge in things like doing my nails or a face mask. So, I’m planning to reward myself with products to support this when I hit my other goals.
Writing
Sky Heart: This is the BIG one. I want to finish book 2 in the Soul Heart series. But… there are many steps to a published book so this will likely take me all year.
Publishing a Novel To Do List
For accountability, I’m going to tweet my progress every Sunday.
Novella1: I’m working on two novella’s but I want to finish “Denny’s story” first. I’m thinking of using it as a readers magnet.
Novella2: This project will be on standby and only worked on if I’m waiting on stuff for the other writing projects. This is ”Luna’s story”. I’m still working on the titles of my novellas.
Ocean Heart: I have ideas to do something special in Mer-May. But, I can’t say more until I’ve figured out the details.
Reading
10 Books: Yes, it sounds low but when I’m busy on a writing project I only read a chapter or two a night making my progress very slow. 2020 I only just hit my goal of 12 books. ?
I do only record fiction books but I also read a few non-fiction books on writing. I’m hoping to review these on my YouTube channel this year, as well as other bookish content.
I will keep posting my reviews to my blog, Goodreads, Amazon, Book Bub, Litsy, if able to. I will track my reading goal on Goodreads.
Goodreads/Litsy/Book Bub/Book Sniffer: I’ve used Goodreads for a few years but never been very active. I hope to improve that and get better at using the other reading social apps. Which brings me on nicely to my next goal…
Social Media
Website update: I’m going to quarterly review my website content to check it is up to date. And, update during that month.
Shop: Okay, it’s not social media but it is connected to my website. I’m trying to create a shop on my website but struggling. I will master it! I mastered moving my website during my book launch.
Trial Canva Pro: I love Canva and been tempted to pay for the pro version. But now there’s a scheduled too. It would be incredible to have everything in one place.
I bought Planoly during my book launch so I could schedule videos and carousels on IG. There’s been a few occasions it hasn’t posted, so I’m tempted to try other schedulers.
Consistently Post: This went really well this year for my blog and Instagram. I want to continue it and add YouTube and Twitter to my goals.
Blog: Mon, & Thurs
IG: Mon, Weds, & Fri
YT: Tue (fortnightly)
Twitter: Sun
Newsletter: end of month (was every other month)
Followers/Reviews: I’ve seen people track their followers growth. I’ve never done this but it’s a good idea. I will aim for a 20% increase over all platforms.
2021 Followers Count
I’d love to reach 10k on Instagram as it opens up certain features but it feels still too far out of reach. Until I worked out what 20% was, I was thinking of aiming for 5k by June. I think 4687 is more realistic and although social media helps with marketing my passion is writing.
My Facebook page has been around longer than my group. The Soul Heart Readers group was created in October to help with Ocean Heart’s release. I’m hoping members will stick around for Sky Heart – I’ll need BETA and ARC readers later this year.
I use Parler the same way I use Twitter, and really like the platform. My numbers grew fast when I first joined but has now slowed down. It’ll be interesting to see which of the two platforms has more growth in 2021.
My YouTube channel is very new, I’m not sure how fast it will grow. I’ll also be posting to Odysee to try out the new platform – I’ve not used it yet. Over the Christmas break, I created a new Intro & Outro which I’m looking forward to using.
Reviews: I have a page on my website where I’ve collected my favourite reviews of Ocean Heart, and directed readers to where the original can be found.
Reviews are really important for a books visibility, so I will be tracking how many I have and – eek – remind my readers to leave reviews.
January Goals
Listing my goals for only this month looks like a lot. Eek ?
Personal
Record unboxing of Naturismo box (then start using products)
Writing
Sky Heart: Write 5k per week – track progress on Google sheet. Share progress on Twitter/Parler for accountability
Reading
Set annual reading goal on Goodreads
Finish reading Cinderella is Dead (paperback) – track progress on Goodreads
Finish reading Winter Trials (eBook) – track progress on Goodreads
Social Media
Update website content
Add shop to website
Blog & IG: Create January content & make a start on February content (aim to always be two weeks ahead)
Record, edit, schedule two YouTube/Odysee videos
Try out Canva pro – if scheduler is good, cancel Planoly
She recently had some mobile woes and took the plunge to get a new phone. It wasn’t as straight forward as just popping to the shops to get it and she had to wait F O R E V E R for her new handset to come in. She this on Instagram and I offered a few words of support. We got messaging and she asked if I’d help her test out her new mobile with an IG live.
As you know, I am trying to get braver in front of the camera My inner introvert was screaming “Say no!” but to get more experience on camera, I said Yes. And, I am so glad I did. Layla was so lovely to speak to.
We agreed a date & time for the Instagram Live, and both connected without any issues. Yay!
We mostly discussed writing and reading romance. I discovered her novels are steamy, and her series features around diverse characters. Her readers demanded more stories about her side characters, so she wrote some novellas. You can discover more about her book here.
She also shared tips with me on plotting. And, we covered writing in different point of views and making believable characters. She is a developmental editor and we both discussed how valuable they are. She has five novels and uses a developmental editor too. You can find out more about her services here.
Spoiler alter! I didn’t reach 50k. I knew I wouldn’t because November is a busy month, mainly with birthdays galore, but add to that everything that goes with launching a book and it’s pretty impressive I wrote anything.
Maybe I should have passed this year’s NaNo but I just can’t help myself. I love the NaNo community.
Planning
The goal for NaNoWriMo is to write 50k words in 30 days. This works out to roughly 1,667 words per day.
But, what if you can’t write every day. What if you know on certain days it will be near impossible to write? And, 30 days is a long month if never allow yourself a single break.
I made a calendar in Excel and put Y or N depending on if I could write or not. I think counted the Y, and worked out I could write on 18 days of the month. This meant on my writing days, I needed to achieve 2778 words.
How It Went…
Week 1, went well. I had planned for a day off for for going live with Holly but joined a World Indie Warriors writing sprint afterwards. I also planned a day off for my birthday but decided to celebrate by writing This put me ahead of target. I needed to hit 13,890 words and had 16,306 words.
Week 2, I allowed one day off for my son’s birthday so it didn’t impact my goal. But, I also skipped two planned writing days, and that put me behind. I needed to hit 30,558, but I only had 26,725. This is why in my mid point check in I said I was behind, even though I had more words than NaNo participants that were on target, because I knew I had less days than them to write.
Week 3, was not good. I had planned a day off for going live with Nicola. But, I agreed to an unplanned live with Lyndell. Then, I decided to sell my house and had to tidy up (everywhere) for the Estate Agent (and then we decided not to sell). Then our boiler broke and spent a whole evening trying to create a bath warm & deep enough to bathe. This resulted in my not writing on four days I planned to – not good. I needed to hit 47,226 words, and I had only reached 31,473 words.
Week 4, was getting close to my release date and I wanted to give it my full attention. I only planned to write on one day and I did. This week involved pre-recording a radio interview. I also attempted to migrate my website myself from one server to another, and transfer my domain to the new location. It wasn’t smooth sailing. I also attended a full online writing festival, Indie Fire. I needed to reach 50,000 words but only had 38,643. I could have written some evenings but I didn’t want to burn out.
Week 5, is just the last two days of the month.
Was It A Success?
I didn’t get 50k words, so I failed NaNoWriMo. But…
My big goal for this year was to publish Ocean Heart, and I wasn’t going to let NaNo ruin that. If NaNo had distracted me from my launch then it would have been an epic fail.
When I set out to do NaNo this year, I just wanted to get back into Sky Heart. I achieved that. To me, personally, that makes this NaNo a success.
What’s Next?
I’m going to enjoy my book release week as I need to recharge and revel in this long awaited moment.
I will continuing working on finishing Sky Heart, book 2 in The Soul Heart Series. I’m hoping the first draft will be ready for Betas by the end of January.
Book 2 in The Soul Heart Series
I’ve created a work in progress cover, to visualise achieving my goal. Do you like it?
I’m also working on two Novellas. I’m hoping with these being shorter they’ll be quicker to get out & help with the wait for Sky Heart. I’ll announce those once I have a title.
All Author Cover Contest
Ocean Heart is currently entered in the All Author December 2020 Cover Contest. If you like the cover of Ocean Heart please vote for it.
Well… I have not one, not two, but THREE projects for November. And, I still probably won’t make the 50k goal.
That’s not me being a defeatist. I’m not quitting before I start. In fact, despite the odds, I’m still going to try. And, you should too!
November is always a busy month. It’s my son’s & I’s birthdays, and the birthday of lots of other loved ones. On top of that, I’m launching Ocean Heart. There’s a lot going on. Plus, someone always gets ill in November – I’m hoping the social distancing is going to help avoid that this year.
Realistically, November is not the best month for me to write. However, the NaNo challenge encourages me to be more focussed and accountable. Because of this, I write more because I took part. And, I love the community spirit, writing with us.
Project 1 – Sky Heart
This is the main project. Sky Heart is book 2 in The Soul Heart Series. Getting this published will be my 2021 big goal. So, I need to get it written.
Kiely got dumped for Christmas. Heartbroken she makes rash decisions to get over her ex-boyfriend, starting with a blindfold and a mystery kisser.
Kiely’s new wild lifestyle places her in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she must stay alive, as she’s drawn into an ancient shifter war with werewolves and reapers.
Kiely’s battle to overcome her ex is about to take her to new heights.
Project 2 – Prequel
This will be a short novella. I may give it away as a readers magnet for newsletter signups. It’ll be a Historical Fantasy, but not set a long time ago. It’ll be in the 90s.
Project 3 – Luna
My werewolf villain wants me to tell her story. I’m not sure if it will be written just for me so I know her better or to share her with the world.
Luna’s story is also to be a Historical Fantasy. This will be going back to medieval times. It’s anticipated to be a novella.
What about you?
Are you doing NaNo this year? And, what do you think of my projects?
I usually focus on just one but I’m really feeling all three of these right now and just want my creativity to flow.
I’m planning on attending a few live write ins with World Indie Warriors on Instagram.
This June the latest World Indie Warriors Brochure was released.
Indie Books
The brochure is packed full of indie books, their blurbs, where to buy and how to connect with the authors. But, thats not all…
Indie Services
There is a directory of service providers. These are small indie business offering services that support the indie community. It’s a great resource to discover cover designers, book formatters, editors, coaches and marketing.
Indie Products
The brochure also showcases indie businesses that make and sell their own products. This enables you to discover unique and custom items that can’t be bought in mainstream shops.
Articles
The brochure is full of useful information from start to finish. There are tips for readers and an interview with a book blogger. There is an interview with the author who won a book cover contest. And you can discover what World Indie Warriors is all about.
It’s FREE to download
If you’ve read this far, you probably want to know how to get your hands on it.
The brochure is to showcase World Indie Warrior members. To join you just need to follow them on Facebook or Instagram – they are working on a forum.
They do lots of different activities to support the indie community. For example, this month, they are doing CampNaNo on Instagram and have a goal tracker on Facebook. Being part of a team is a great way to stay motivated towards achieving whatever creative goal you set.
If you check their blog you’ll find details on how to get your content included in the next edition.
I can’t believe it has been 10 years since I first wrote my novel. I’ve written countless other novels but this one I felt had potential. This one, I decided to take seriously.
2009 and 2010
It was Christmas 2009 and I was off work for the holidays when the idea for a novel, about a redhead teen with no idea she is a mermaid discovers she has powers, hit me. I wanted it to be like a modern Little Mermaid.
Once I sat at my PC and started to write I was unable to stop. Without an outline, it was like I was possessed, I struggled to sleep, to eat… I felt anxious if I wasn’t writing Drift.
My fiancé got worried. He saw the sudden change in me and urged me to take a break, to visit family.
But, I couldn’t not write. So I lied to appease him. Pretended to go out, then sneaked back once he had gone to see his own family. It was like having a secret wiring affair. But after an intense week, the first 60k words were written.
I share my novel with anyone willing to read it. My novel was on WeBook where I developed a supportive group of fans. They were a huge confidence boost and we had our own little group to chat about my stories!
It is laughable now but I edited my novel in 2010 and started querying. Surprisingly, I did get some requests. It is surprisingly because now I look back at that early version and see how it wasn’t finished. At the time, I thought it was ready.
My fan had some valuable feedback for me, “You can’t end the story like that!” At first, I saw that as excitement for the next book in the series and began writing Wipeout, but slowly it dawned on me that they were right.
Promise and Deliver
I learnt an important lesson. Readers will develop certain expectations of your story and you must deliver on those.
Version 1 ended with Jace winking at Fern and there being the ‘suggestion’ they were about to get together. But, fans had read for 60k words. They wanted to see Fern achieve her happily ever after and a ‘wink’ was not the grande finale they had invested their time for.
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Early 2011, I was distracted by wedding preparations as my June wedding date got nearer. Then, I desperately wanted a baby. We were also trying to move house and the recession meant the value of my home was dropping every month, loosing the equity needed to move.
But 2013, we sold our house, bought a lovely family home and I had my son. With everything falling into place I would like to say I returned to my novel… but my baby boy was the biggest distraction of all.
Stupidly I thought being off work with a baby would free me up to write more but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Noah was not a chilled out baby. I spent his first year keeping up with his hunger, entertaining him and sleeping whenever I could.
Have realistic expectations
Sadly WeBook was no longer the thriving community it once was. All my fans had moved on, possibly grown up, and I had lost them through inactivity. I had to find a new source of feedback. I joined Movella, Figment and Wattpad.
Wattpad became my new favourite. I began editing Drift and Wipeout and shared other novels and created some poetry collections.
For Drift, I changed the ending so Lily (formerly Fern) is asked out by Jace (formerly Sam). I removed the parts by Denny (Jace’s mum) – she gave an outsider perspective of Lily’s unusual upbringing.
Th sequel Wipeout was also told from Lily’s viewpoint and had a few part’s told by Kiara – she was able to show what was going on with Murray. The sequel wasn’t coming to me as easy as Drift had and I was falling in love with Kiara…
2017 and 2018
2017 started with my employer going into administration. I had worked for the company for over 10 years. It scared me, not knowing where my next pay cheque would come from. With bills to pay, I had to find work fast and job hunting became my new priority.
Once I found a job, I felt a little disappointed in myself. I felt I had wasted an opportunity to spend time with my son as I now worked more hours. I realised how I wasn’t prioritising my dream. My profession is a job, not my passion.
Make it a priority
Whilst job hunting, I thought HR and PR work looked appealing but didn’t have the knowledge employers wanted. So in September 2017, I told my employer I was interested in doing the CIPD HR qualification and to my surprise they were willing to support me. I learnt, if you don’t ask the answer will never be yes.
In November 2017, I found out I was pregnant. I was over the moon and in a much better place.
Passing my course, doing well in my job and having a baby were all super important. But, I no longer wanted to treat writing as a hobby. I knew how busy my life would be once Aria was here so I became determined to edit and query before her arrival. My goal was to be signed by an agent by August 2018 (Aria’s due date).
I learnt knew ways to query. I developed my pitch and took part in Twitter events, I found out about Agent 1-2-1s and worked on improving my synopsis. Despite getting requests, I never got offered representation.
In 2018, I edited Drift by removing the parts told by Gwyn (Lily’s mum) – she did some foretelling using her crystal ball. I also decided to scrap Wipeout. I took parts from the sequel and put it into Drift, Glide or cut it out completely.
2019
My goal was to finish editing Drift and Glide. I began by restructure my novel using Save The Cat Writes a Novel. It started off a a way to check my plot and pacing but it soon became apparent that I needed to pull the whole novel a part. It was very intimidating but by the end I had a better novel and a brand new ending. Now there was the highs and lows, romance and I had delivered on the promise of an epic battle. This novel was so different from my original idea of a modern Little Mermaid and I needed a new title, Jewel of the Sea. I also renamed Glide as Diamond in the Sky.
I tried new ways of querying my novel. I pitched on Twitter and in person and got requests but sadly never heard more. Although, I still love the idea of traditional publishing, I have spent the year learning about indie publishing.
I discovered the writing community on Instagram and joined groups like Hustling Writers, Fellow Creative Minds and World Indie Warriors. I also connected with talented authors like Pagan Malcolm and Bethany Atazadeh who share their journey and advice.
Connecting with indie authors gave me insight into their world and processes. No longer did their world scare me, but intrigued me. With their support and encouragement I decided not to spend another decade waiting for someone else to give me permission to publish.
Say yes to yourself!
The problem with querying is you are waiting for someone else to say you can publish. They can say no for countless reasons and rarely have time to explain why. The truth is you don’t need their validation because you can give it to yourself.
You no longer have to traditionally publish. If you are willing to work hard, you can choose your own team and publish yourself. With so many crooks masquerading in the traditional publishing world, it is a mine field to navigate now (I’m sure I had requests from at least three dodgy publishers, I didn’t submit to in 2019 alone).
After ten years writing and querying Jewel of the Sea (formerly Drift), I have decided to Self Publish.
2020
This year is the start of a new era. This year, I am going to publish. It won’t be easy and I have lots still to learn but I’m ready.
Jewel of the Sea is due back this month from a developmental editor. This is my the first step in my big publishing plan.
Celebrate your milestones
To celebrate this new venture, I feel Jewel of the Sea, aka Drift, needs a new name.
I have set myself some strict deadline to keep myself on track but I I won’t rush to publish. I have waited so long for this, I want to be certain my novel is a quality product when I put it out there. I want my readers to love it.
I will blog about my publishing journey, so if you are interested in the process, stay tuned. I would love to hear your thoughts on the new title Ocean Heart.
You may have caught my last post of 2019 where I reflected on how last year went. As I welcome in the new year it’s time to set new goals. Oh my, some of these are big!
I’m always looking for ways to improve myself and to start the year I am changing up how I set goals.
Publishing – Jewel of the Sea
This is the big project of 2020. I have no idea how long things will take me as I have no benchmark to compare it to. I’ve set these deadlines to help keep my on track but I will need to check progress often to adjust deadlines as I figure out what is realistic.
Here is my rough outline of all the different things that need to happen if I want to release my book by June. I have a feeling that these goals are rather ambitious but there is no harm in trying.
JOTS = Jewel of the Sea; DITS = Diamond in the Sky
General Writing Goals
Here are my everyday writing goals.
Social Media
Blog (Word Press): Aim to post once or twice a week.
Instagram: Aim to post to feed every other day.
Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr: Continue to share links to my content on these platforms.
News letter: Aim to send out my newsletter at least once every other month.
Writing
Jewel of the Sea: Aim to publish my novel by June. See info graphic that breaks down activities required to achieve this.
Diamond in the Sky: Finish writing first draft in full. Start editing.
Festivals: Attend festivals:
London Book Fair
Felixstowe Book Festival
YALC
Bradford UK Indie Lit Fest
MK Lit Fest
Wow-Con
World Indie Warriors: Continue to be part of this awesome group. I loved making their brochure and if they’d allow me to do this again, I would love to do this.
Personal
Crafts: Make time at least once a week:
Planner: try different methods of managing my time and goals to find a method that works for me
Pocket letter: write another pocket letter
Scrapbook: Do at least one page
Crochet: Finish Aria’s blanket… I know, I feel awful that I haven’t finished it yet. I just need to tuck in the loose ends.
Read more: Last year I set the bar low at only 6 books. This year, I am going to double it and aim for 12 books. I know that isn’t many to some people but with everything else I have planned… I have got to be realistic.
Development
Editing course: Complete the Self Editing course provided by Willow Editing
Resource book: Buy and read a book to develop my writing craft.
What are your goals?
I shall review these throughout the year. I will likely need to check in on my big goal every month but the general goals I’ll do once every three months.
Here is an update on how I have progressed towards the goals I set in September 2019 (towards achieving my annual goals set in January).
Social Media
Blog (Word Press): To continue to post at least twice a week keeping to my content schedule as much as possible.
I am so proud of myself for keeping up with this goal. Even during NaNoWriMo I managed to post twice a week.
Instagram: To maintain the new connections I have made and continue to engage with them and share content about my writing.
My posts have slowed down but I am still posting regularly. Recently my post have been every two days.
Twitter: Continue to share links to my content on Twitter and connect with writers on the platform.
I took part in #RevPit and was one of the winners. I keep meaning to write a blog post about it. Basically, winners get to email their first 5 pages and query letter to an editor. The editor then tweets about the ten submissions they have with advice on how to improve – this advice is useful to all writers so worth following the hashtag. The next day, winners get an email to let them know which tweets were about their work.
I did Boost My Bio for Pitch Wars then forgot to enter the main competition for a mentor – OMG I was so cross with myself (serious understatement). It had been a busy weekend with two book festivals!
Facebook page: To brainstorm how I can use this to connect with more writers.
I haven’t done anything new to my page but it is getting more traffic. I have also been active on World Indie Warriros Facebook page. I did my first Live via their page. Then during NaNoWriMo, I did three live write-ins and I’ve hosted a midweek chat in December.
YouTube: To be brave and get in front of the camera and start sharing video content.
I’m not sure I understand the change in terms for YouTube videos so I’ve not pushed myself to do this but I am super proud of myself for getting in front of the camera (see Facebook above).
Tumblr: Share Instagram and Word Press content to this platform.
This happens all the time as my other sites are set up to automatically share there.
Newsletter
I sent out my second newsletter at the end of October. This also included a full guide on using Hashtags on Instagram. My next newsletter is due out at the end of December. Click here to sign up.
Enter into the Wattys. Put novel out to Beta Readers. Take part in September’s #PitMad. Work on my query letter.
I entered Wattys but wasn’t a winner. I also entered Wattpairs Mentorship Challenge on Wattpad but wasn’t chosen to be a mentee. My Beta Readers went quiet… I didn’t let these things halt my progress towards my dream.
At the end of December it will be 10 years that I have been chasing traditional publishing. I have decided it is time to be brave and self publish. With my birthday money I have booked an editor and taken that first step towards making it happen.
Re-plot novel, edit existing version and write ending.
I edited the first few chapters and updated Diamond in the Sky on Wattpad. I then used Save the Cat to plot and develop the remaining chapters. Then during November, I worked on this novel for NaNoWriMo. I managed to write a further 45k words, bringing the book up to 60k words. There is still more to be written but I am so pleased with my progress and I know how it end now.
Red Dresses
#NewYearNewNovel start a new novel for 2019
This is the new novel I started in April this year. I plotted out the first few chapters and wrote the first 15k words to see how I got on. I really enjoyed this novel. I envision it being a steamy new adult romance. I definitely plan to return to this project at a later date.
Tinsel Tiger (picture book)
Research publishers and Literary Agents and pitch events to consider querying. Consider whether to commission an artist to do the images and then self publish.
I haven’t had any time to make any further progress on this project so it has taken a back seat.
Other
In October, I volunteered to write the World Indie Warriors brochure, ready for December.
I planned to have the brochure completed by the end of October so it would not distract me during NaNoWriMo. It turned out to be really hard to get all the details required from all the creatives involved.
During November, there was still missing information I was chasing. I set aside Sundays to make time to get it finished and I managed to get everything by 1 December 2019.
It was my first time creating a brochure and it was a steep learning curve but I really enjoyed doing it. I wish I could do something like this everyday for a living. You can view the World Indie Warriors brochure here.
I also attended WoW Con which is an online Literary Festival run by Write Mentor. I also paid for a one-to-one via Skype with a Literary Agent. I intended to write a blog post about it but just haven’t had the time.
Make time at least once a week: Planner: continue to use Carpe Diem planner; Pocket letter: write another pocket letter; Scrapbook: Do at least one page; Crochet: Finish Aria’s blanket for her birthday.
I haven’t found anytime for crafts. I haven’t been using my planner, written any letters or created any cards. I haven’t added to my scrapbook or finished Aria’s blanket.
I did attend the Festive Planner Meet in Felixstowe. I can’t even begin to express how amazing it was to spend time with these girls doing crafts for a few hours. It had made me feel motivated to do more crafty things in 2020.
For Christmas, I have brought brown paper and festive stamps to decorate it with. That counts as a craft, right?
Read at least four and a half books by the end of September (annual goal 6 books)
I’ve exceed this goal and read a total of 11 books. I will be sharing a post in early 2020 with a collection of all the book reviews posted in 2019.
I have also read The Practice Boyfriend by Christina Benjamin (review scheduled for January 2020) and Crown of Conspiracy by Kara S Weaver (review scheduled for February 2020) and Trust Me by Maddie James (review scheduled for March 2020).
I have also signed up to Net Galley to be able to review new releases. I will write a review on how I get on with the site and I’ll post about any books that I manage to read (time is always my biggest challenge).
Development
Writer courses: Continue to take advantage of any free courses that come my way if I have the time to do these.
I desperately want to enrol on Page Malcolm’s courses, especially her author academy, but it is beyond what I can afford. I keep missing her live videos as they are when I am asleep but I always try to catch the replay as the content is valuable.
I am also incredibly lucky that Willow Editing has given me access to her self-publishing course to beta test it. I started it at the end of October but then had to stop due to NaNoWriMo. I intend to make good use of this during December. She is so friendly in the videos she actually gets me excited about editing which is you knew how much I hate editing then you’d understand how awesome she is.
Resource book: Buy another writing help book. I am considering the Emotion Thesaurus.
I haven’t ordered any resource book but my wish list has got longer. lol!
What’s next
I am really pleased with what I have achieved this year and I’m feeling positive that 2020 is going to be even better. I am actively pursuing self-publishing and I love being part of World Indie Warriors.
How did your goals go this year? Are you feeling positive about 2020?
For the November 2019 NaNoWriMo there was a new revamped website. I am going to start with how I got on using it and how it affected my NaNoWriMo experience.
Wrimo Buddies
All the old information had transferred over except connections. I sent invites out to those I remembered and added some new ones I made via other social media sites. If you would like to add me, I am Redfae on NaNoWriMo.
Forums
I still feel the social side of the NaNoWriMo site isn’t really working for me. I can’t figure out the forums but I didn’t have much time to explore them. Maybe they will get easier to navigate as the site develops.
Stats
OMG! I love the Stats. I used to have to create spreadsheets to record where I was with my word count and calculate if I am on or off track and how many words I need to do to keep up but the new website does this for you and can tell you cool facts like when and where you like to write.
I found it really motivating to see my overall progress It helped to visually see when I was falling below the line and knew I needed to step up the pace.
You can choose between a bar of line chart. In the above chart you can see my overall progress. I started off ahead of target but after an unfortunate week and a spell of not writing, I struggled to stay on track and then fell behind target. The rest of my NaNo progress is trying to get back on track. On a positive note, you can see that I didn’t give up and the line does keep going up even if it’s not as steep as I needed.
The last few days I really pushed myself to catch up and managed to write 6k on the final day! That was my best daily word count all month. This bar chart really highlights the days I skipped. Those days were detrimental to me reaching 50k, but sometimes I need to take a break for my own well being and I didn’t want to burnout.
Here are links to my weekly writers diary for you to learn more about how my NaNo weeks went (click on the picture):
Here are the last final two days of my writers diary:
Fri, 29 Nov
I dropped Noah off at school. I then needed to call the doctor about Aria’s shoulder making an odd popping sound (they booked me in for a call back). I had to call Very because they had sent me my order twice and charged me twice – no thank you. Once that was done, I decided to take Aria to a local playgroup as she missed out last week. I kept my phone on so I could hear if it rang.
When I was about to leave the playgroup I saw I had a text from the doctor’s surgery to say they had tried to call but there was no answer and I needed to call if I still wanted to be called. It was odd because there was no missed call on my phone. I rang to get put back on the waiting list. Although Aria isn’t in any pain, I want her to be seen as she is always doing crazy stuff all the time and I worry she may have hurt herself and just not let us know.
Finally, I got a call back and had to accept an appointment when Aria usually naps. I dreaded I was in for a grizzly afternoon but she wasn’t too bad at the doctors. In fact, being sleepy probably helped as she wasn’t tearing up the place. The nurse that saw her wasn’t concerned about Aria’s shoulder and said to keep an eye on it. If Aria appears to be in pain then take her straight back otherwise hopefully it will go on its own (I’m to keep an eye on it for 1 to 2 months).
I then did school pick up and as Noah was trying really hard to be good, I took him to a local sports club that he has been banned from (by us) for four weeks. Noah got so excited at the class that he was bouncing off the walls, crazy, embarrassing, very naughty. Needless to say, the ban is back.
We got home and had dinner. Then I got on the PC and forced myself to write although I was still quite upset about earlier and feeling a little put out that I am so far behind and unlikely to make 50k. I am now aiming for 40k. I did pretty well and ended the night at 39k. I feel motivated that I can meet my new goal tomorrow.
Sat, 30 Nov
My husband let me have a lay in which I used to write an impressive 2k, on my mobile phone, in bed. It made me feel great knowing I have achieved over 40k today when I thought it would be impossible as I have a very busy day planned. One appointment cancelled, giving me a little more breathing space.
My husband took Noah to get his hair cut. Then, I took both children for a Christmas photo shoot. I booked it because I really struggle to get nice pictures of them. They are both full of energy and struggle to stay still.
Sadly, Noah was still in his silly mood. He was photo-bombing Aria’s pictures and running in-front of the light and casting shadows. He was messing around with the props and climbing all over the furniture and trying to touch the very expensive camera. The photographer polite and patient with him but I am not hopeful that we managed to get any pictures – I now have to wait and see. Once out, I asked Noah why he did it. He was ‘excited’ and he wanted more pictures.
Aria was no angel either. She didn’t want to stay on the set or sit still – this is the reason my pictures of her are a blur or she’s half out the shot. I really felt like giving up and then I saw a cute picture of her on my phone that I took on holiday. I posted it to Instagram and it shared to Facebook. One of my friends commented “She’s gorgeous but she would look even prettier without the dummy x”. It broke my heart. I thought it was a cute picture and I was being judged for allowing my baby a soother. People are always judging parents and I was at breaking point. I wanted to send her the study on Sudden Infant Cot Death that showed dummy use reduced cot death by 90%. Yeah she might not look pretty with it, but she’s happy, she’s safe, she’s sleepy and I have a photo of her. But, I didn’t fight back. I was exhausted, feeling like a terrible mother and I just cried.
My husband gave me a prep talk and helped me feel better about myself. They are both going through tricky stages. Noah will learn to control his energy. Aria is just running everywhere and climbing everything because she’s discovered she can and the novelty will wear off – hopefully, soon before she hurts herself.
I got on the PC straight away and decided to write to see how close to 50k I could get. I finished at 45,062 words. It might not be 50k but I a damn proud of myself.
World Indie Warriors Live
Another massive achievement for me was going live on Facebook. I did on the World Indie Warrior Facebook group and hosted a live write in. It was lots of fun and really motivating.
I don’t know about you but Monday are meh. But, getting online and chatting with other writers reminded me that I am not alone. I am part of team. This indie community is so supportive and we cheered each other on. We shared what we were working on and I read out samples of their projects that they share with me (including some very steamy scenes).
As I completed chapters during NaNoWriMo, I posted them to Wattpad. You can read them here in my novel Diamond in the Sky. I warn you it is a real first draft!
I’m really pleased with the progress I have made and can see me finishing this novel. NaNoWriMo estimates it will be finished by 5 December but it needs to be more than 50k to be done.
I am going to continue writing it whilst Jewel of the Sea is getting edited. That’s right! I paid for an editor for my birthday and I am taking those first steps to publish my debut novel. Wish me luck.
I created this cover in Canva using an image from Unsplash.
JOTS = Jewel of the Sea; DITS = Diamond in the Sky
