Yup, green

Two quick clarifications first.  

      1)    I don’t celebrate Halloween, just in case anyone out there is wondering.

      2)    I think I am going to cut out the mid-week post. I may have mentioned before that I was leaning that way, but want to say it again. Unless I have some big news that can’t wait, you’ll only be seeing me here on Sundays.

So, how have I fared in the last week? (Green highlight is a goal that is on track, yellow highlight was at least worked on, red letters is a total fail.)

1)        Finish writing my current novel, “The Big House”. I wrote 3,107 words last week, for a total of 17,334 so far since starting this August 21, which is 23% finished.  I had the lofty goal of finishing the rough draft by the end of the year, but since that means I would have to average close to 1,000 words per day – well, hold it. Actually 1,000 words isn’t bad. I only wrote three times in the past week and that came out to be just over 1,000 words at a crack. But, no, am I crazy? I just don’t have the time to write every single day. But okay, I will leave the lofty goal hanging out there and see what happens

2)        Work on readying “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” for publication. On Monday, I received the Pre-Publication form from my publisher’s creative director. That’s the questionnaire asking for all my thoughts on what I think should go on the back cover, my brief bio, my elevator speech, and other stuff like that. I worked on that three nights and emailed it back to them on Friday morning. So I am on track there.  

3)        Do some editing on my two memoirs, “Pat’s Story” and “Two More Trips To Africa”. I read through three or four chapters on the “Two More Trips, so that is on track. 

4)        Continue posting to my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles” three times a week.  On track, three posts this week.

5)        Finalize the next trip to Kenya for my daughter’s nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers.  Well, I at least talked to my daughter about it. She also got the coupon books to sell for a fundraiser. We stopped at a venue to sign up for their craft fair next month, but only got the number for the contact person. Um, I think that’s it. Can’t say it’s a win, but not a fail either, right?  

6)        Get my body in shape. I think my goal was to exercise four mornings a week and lift weights, run or do aerobics three evenings a week, as well as lose some weight. I actually met all those requirements, even though the weight loss was only a pound this week, but hey, it counts, right?    

A freaking bunch of green, don’t you think? So I think I will try to get the same things done for the coming week. I also need to get better about supporting my other ROW80 bloggers and it's really time I updated my website. We'll see how that goes. 

How about you? Are you maintaining your goals or cutting back? Or doing so well you are adding goals?  

Yup, green. 

a mostly red week

Once again I didn’t accomplish much this week. I just don’t know where the days go, how seven of them can fly by so quickly with so little getting done.

I usually work until seven on Monday nights at the day job, but this week I was supposed to get done at five. About ten to five, a co-worker made the benign statement, “I don’t want to work until seven.” Without thinking about it, the following words fell out of my mouth, “I can stay til seven for you.” What is wrong with me?? She asked five times in the following ten minutes if I was sure I wanted to stay and I just kept telling her, “get out of here, don’t worry about me, I usually work late on Mondays, so it is no big deal.” Crazy nut that I am.

Ok, so then Tuesday night after work I had my women’s group at church and Wednesday I went out for dinner with two former co-workers. So, yea, it’s easy to see where last week went. Of course I realize how important it is to spend time with people, so I’m not beating myself up over any of this. Oh, and also Hubby and I took my daughter out to eat Friday night coz she had a bad week. So there went another evening.

So here’s the facts. Green highlight is a goal that is on track, yellow highlight was at least worked on, red letters is a total fail.

1)        Finish writing my current novel, “The Big House”. I only wrote 2,313 words last week, for a total of 14,224 so far since starting this August 21. I haven’t had any writer’s block. When I sit down to write, I could just keep going, but I have to get some sleep, the house has to be cleaned, the hubby needs some attention and everything else that is going on in my life. I don’t know how prolific writers have enough time in the day.  

2)        Work on readying “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” for publication. I talked with my publisher on Friday. Their editor is due to have the first round of edits to me by December 9, so I won’t have to work on my share of the revisions until then. In the meantime, the creative director will be contacting me for my ideas on the cover design. So right now I am waiting on that. Also, by the end of the year, I need to find various outlets where I can do book signings or readings. I have some ideas which I need to research.

3)        Do some editing on my two memoirs, “Pat’s Story” and “Two More Trips To Africa”. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t look at either of them last week.  

4)        Continue posting to my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles” three times a week.  On track, three posts this week. Only one on this blog, but I didn’t include this blog on my goals, sooo, I’m calling it a win.   

5)        Finalize the next trip to Kenya for my daughter’s nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers.  Didn’t work on it.

6)        Get my body in shape.  Um, not this time.   

Right now, I have nothing out of the ordinary on my schedule for the coming week, so no excuses, come next Sunday, I will be all green.

How about you? How are you coming along on your goals? Or are outside forces slowing you down? 

Readying for the Frenzy

I’m sorry that I am posting this so late. I was at a writers’ retreat this weekend, and even though I got home from it by mid-afternoon Sunday, I was too scattered to sit at the computer. Instead, I took a nap.

The writers’ retreat went well. Gave me more ideas of things to write about and how to write them. Things like the family story. Somehow I need to fit that in to my schedule, but more and more fictional characters are showing up on my doorstep insisting that I write their stories first. Argh. Not enough hours in the day.

So have I made any progress on my concise list of goals? As usual, green highlights are a win, yellow highlights are worked on and red letters are a fail.  

1)      Finish writing my current novel, “The Big House”. I only wrote 2,080 words on this newest novel last week, and those were all last Sunday afternoon. (I need 5,000 a week for the green.) Revised goal number 2 has taken precedence.

2)      Continue researching publishers for my first novel  Work on readying “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” for publication.. Since I signed a contract last week with Ambassador International to publish my novel, I will be spending long hours working with their editors, design artists, marketing people, etc., for the next six months. This Friday I have a phone conference with the publisher, which should give me a better idea of the time line for this project.   

3)      Do some editing on my two memoirs, “Pat’s Story” and “Two More Trips To Africa”. Edited chapter one of Two Trips. (With this crazy schedule, I’m saying one chapter a week is a win.)

4)      Continue posting to my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles” three times a week. Didn’t get to a post on Sunday for the Chronicles, and the Sunday post here is a day late.  

5)      Finalize the next trip to Kenya for my daughter’s nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers.  Hmm? I don’t remember working on it at all. Oops.

6)      Get my body in shape. I don’t remember. I think I exercised three mornings, but I think that’s about it. I’ve also been eating like an Ethiopian who has just arrived in this land of plenty. Oink, oink, oink. I really need to get it together.   

Right now my number one priority needs to be working like a slave for the new publisher, meeting their deadlines and driving myself to bring the very best product that I can to virtual book store shelves. I know that somehow in that frenzy I need to take time for myself as well. I’ll find a balance. I’ll be fine.  

Apple something recipe that I baked with Minnesota apples. Only one of the many things I've been pigging out on. 

Time for an Announcement

I suppose it is time to make this common knowledge, because after all, it’s irrational to publish a book and not tell the world. I’ve decided to sign with Ambassador International to publish my novel, “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”.

I have prayed on this and slept on this and hunted for signs everywhere telling me this is the thing to do. And even though, in the end, we always need to trust our gut instincts on these kinds of decisions, we also need to gather all the facts we can and lay them all out.

      1)      There are all sorts of places to look for publishers. Random blurbs come up on my Facebook feed claiming things like “5 Top Publishers for New Authors”. I also did Google searches of “Christian publishers”, “Fiction Publishers”, etc. Another avenue I traveled down was just plain looking at who published books which I like. Lastly, there was my “2012 Christian Writer’s Market Guide”.

      2)      At that point it was getting overwhelming, so I narrowed it down to the first three I found which publish women’s contemporary Christian fiction and accept work without going through an agent.

      3)      I studied their websites, looking at not only what types of books they had already published, but also if they had typos. It is shocking to me how many places use “their”, “they’re” and “there” interchangeably. (And remember, I am still an amateur – you can forgive me the occasional misspelled word.) And even though there is a place for bad grammar, is it ever on a publisher’s website?

      4)       Next I studied those books they published. How was their ranking on Amazon? Did they get good reviews? Did the authors have an online presence? I even clicked on the “look inside” icon and read the first few pages of these books. Any typos there? Did the first page get my attention? Is this a book I would want to read? Or recommend?

      5)      I picked out two authors from the publisher which showed the most promise and emailed them asking about their experiences. They both got right back to me, more than happy to answer my questions. Maybe I am still just a small-town girl, but in addition to their positive responses, I appreciate that they did get back to me so quickly and didn’t seem as though I was bothering them in the least.

      6)      Last, and perhaps I should have done this first, I went on the “Editors and Predators” website and clicked on each of the publishers which had caught my eye.  One of the publishers rated a negative review, so I did throw that one out right away. Reviews on the remaining two were a bit ‘meh’, as my son would say. And by the way, Aneko Press, who published my first three books, isn’t even listed on E&P. This website is a valuable tool, but like so many other things out there, it is only one tool in the toolbox. 

       7)      Final thought – what do I want for my book, my baby? It took me nearly six years to get it to this point, how much more of my own sweat equity am I going to put into it? How many people do I want to reach with it? How many people should it reach?   

So after all of that, I submitted it to Ambassador International and they offered me a contract – which meant one more thing to study and analyze and pick apart. And lose sleep over. I sent the publisher my list of questions and they were all answered professionally and reasonably. Oh, and I also online stalked the owner, the chief operating officer, and anyone else who I could find who worked for the publisher. Is that being too creepy? Or just playing it safe?

I’ll keep you posted on this new journey. 

A mixed bag

This past week has been a mixed bag. Some days I got a lot accomplished, some days I was nothing but a lazy sluggard. I had hoped to get so much more done, but once again I must admit that it is what it is.

Yesterday, Hubby and I went for a ride and I took an unbelievable 107 pictures. Oh, for the days before digital cameras, when I actually took the time to look at things, instead of click, click, click. I’ve shared the very best picture above. You will have to keep checking my other blog, The Dino Chronicles, for more pictures and stories from the day. Right now I am so far behind on posting to that blog, that I have material until Christmas.

But what about my current goals for this blog?

Here they are. My wish is to have all of these things marked in bold green by the end of the year. For now, regular green is what is on track for the next 12 weeks, yellow has been worked on and red is a fail.

1)      Finish writing my current novel, “The Big House”. Crunching the numbers, that means I need to average 5,000 words a week to end at 70,000 words or so. Right now I’ve written 9,400 and 2,900 of those were this week. I think that 5,000 a week is a far stretch for me, but let’s give it some time and see what happens.  

2)      Continue researching publishers for my first novel “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”. This goal has me stymied. The one and only publisher I've submitted it to wants to publish it. I know – super, duper, yippy-yi-ya! It just seemed too easy, you know? When something seems too good to be true, it probably is. They’ve sent me a contract, so I suppose the first thing I need to do is go over that with a fine tooth comb and see what my gut instinct tells me then. Right now, I have a good feeling about them, but there is no reason to make a rash decision. I’m going to try to blog later this week about the process I’ve been going through. Maybe if nothing else, that might help others out there in the same boat.  

3)      Do some editing on my two memoirs, “Pat’s Story” and “Two More Trips To Africa”. Not a thing yet.  

4)      Continue posting to my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles” three times a week. Yes, on track. As a side note, Tuesday’s post has had the second most views of anything I’ve posted to that blog in the six years I’ve been keeping it. Last count 732. The most viewed post, “Are you a seal or a sea lion” has had a whopping 5,904. I have no idea why, except I guess that people are interested in sea mammals.

5)      Finalize the next trip to Kenya for my daughter’s nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers. At our meeting last Sunday afternoon, four prospective volunteers filled out applications to join us on the trip. We will see who follows through and who bails.

6)      Get my body in shape. I would have to say this was a fail this week. I think I exercised three mornings, lifted weights once and took a couple walks. In between, all I did was eat. I did set up a tire obstacle on one of my trails in the woods and naturally the first time I ran it, I fell. That would be the story of my life.

I think what I should do is commit to writing on my newest novel four times a week, do some editing one day a week, continue blogging and stop being a slug. That’s what I’m going to shoot for this week. I think I'm also going to sign up for Pacemaker. That will help track my progress and hopefully help keep me on track. 

Hope to hear from lots of my fellow ROW80’ers on Facebook. I’ll check in with as many of you as I can. 

(Huh. I should write about this - obstacles to our writing, and not just the tires.)

Shall We Make a Fresh Start?

In June of 2012, I stumbled across the blog Round of Words in 80 Days. It was about the same time as I was trying to decide if I wanted to start a second blog. I’d been posting to The Dino Chronicles since the spring of 2010, but that blog was mostly about my adventures in life, both the past and present. I thought I should write a blog just about my adventures in writing. And so I started this one.

Since that time, I’ve been trying to write here on Sundays and Wednesdays, sharing my writing goals and the successes I have had with them. I’ve posted that progress to the ROW80 Linky-thing. Starting today, I believe officially, Kait Nolan, the founder of ROW80 has changed the guidelines and we will be posting our blogs (or other writerly items) to the ROW80 Facebook page instead of to the Linky-thing on her blog.

In light of that, I’m changing the way I post to this blog as well. I am going to continue (to the best of my ability) to post my goals and progress on Sundays. On Wednesdays (or maybe Tuesdays or even Thursdays), if I have the muse, I will post helpful hints for writers and readers, such as writing tips (as if I were the pro on that!) or book reviews. Anything I find or am inspired to write about writing.

All that being said, what are my current goals?

From now until the end of the year, I hope to:

1)      Finish writing my current novel, “The Big House” (working title only, I’m sure that will change as soon as a better title strikes me).

2)      Continue researching publishers for my first novel “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”. I submitted it to one publisher earlier this week (super-yeah!), but I shouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket. If (and when!) I get a rejection, I want to have another home waiting in the wings.

3)      Do some editing on my two memoirs. Neither one has so much as a working title (loser!), so let’s just name them: “Pat’s Story” (that’s benign enough, the story of my sister’s battle with cancer) and “Two More Trips To Africa” (about my second and third trips to Kenya).

4)      Continue posting to my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles” three times a week.

5)      Finalize the next trip to Kenya for my daughter’s nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers. It’s still up in the air if I will be going back in the spring as the team leader, or if my daughter is. That has to be decided by the end of the year.

6)      Get my body in shape. I had my yearly physical on Friday and even though my provider didn’t give me a you-rah-rah peptalk, I have some options. As much as I hate taking drugs, I’m going to be faithful with the ibuprofen twice a day for two weeks to see if that settles down the inflammation in most of my joints. I’m also seeing an orthopedist for my Achilles heel tendinitis. I’ll be sure to let you know what he thinks. I’m also seeing the chiropractor for my back. See what a wreck I am!!!!

Wow, I really think that is enough, don’t you? I am off from the day job this week, and of course am already booked up. But I will try to work on some of this stuff, as well as decide on what I should really try to tackle each week.

Hope to hear from lots of my fellow ROW80’ers on Facebook. I’ll check in with as many of you as I can.