Thursday, January 1, 2015
Happy New Year!
Wow, it's been quite a while since I last blogged. Needless to say, I haven't been writing much either, but one of my resolutions for 2015 is to write at least 1 page a day. It's also my goal to release a new novel this year. It will likely be AROUND THE WORLD TONIGHT and not KM6, unless Estela and Moo start talking louder. I feel like I need a good, solid idea for KM6 to really fly and right now it's weak. So, here's to a year of more writing, blogging, exercising, and living 100%. Cheers!
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Happy New Year! I think that's my biggest issue with series -- the characters may be strong but the plot itself is weak so you can't finish it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this will help you any but it looks like an interesting way to try and plan writing for the new year.
http://pacemaker.sewillia.com/
I hope your writing goes better this year and that everything else is working out for you as well.
Thanks, Jammi! So far this year my writing is going much better. Today is day 8 and I've already got 20 pages written. I hope I can keep plugging away and finish a draft of a novel and then get well into the start of another before the end of the year. Do you have any writing plans or big resolutions for this year?
ReplyDeleteI do have some writing resolutions for this year. My main goal is to make time for writing/writing related things every single day. I'm doing that by trying to make sure I write a steady amount of words every day for six and a half months.
ReplyDeleteI need to write 268 words a day minimum (with a lower amount during the two weeks I'm travelling) and I think I can make it and even if I miss a few days/don't hit my goal count I can catch up to that amount fairly easily as long as I don't let it go too long without writing.
If I hit a day when I can't write, I want to do something writing related even if it's not for my 'main' novel. That means research, plotting, outlining or editing an older work. Something to make sure that everyday I find myself in some sort of 'writing' zone.
I got into the habit of not writing for long stretches of time and then banging out 10k or more over a weekend and I no longer have the time to write like that and so I wasn't writing at all.
I'm doing pretty well so far, I'm really hoping to maintain it and if I finish a novel in a year (which I have never done before) will be awesome.
I think it's a great idea to have time for both writing and writing related things! I think the related things are just as important as actual writing. How are you doing so far with your goals? So far, I've skipped two days, but I think some of my heavier writing days make up for the days that I have skipped. I hope so anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think one of my biggest goals for this year is to work on how to market myself. I'm starting with a new website (just posted it). I'll likely buy a domain name as well, but one step at a time. I'm trying to figure out if I like WordPress. It's got more options that Blogger, but it still is really new. I spent over 2 hours on what's up there currently! Oh well, it's fun to set something new up. Hopefully it will motivate me to blog more.
:)T
I've been doing pretty well, I think not having teh stress of having to write a certain number of words is actually making me write more. I've missed a few writing days but I made up for it by outlining a few chapters and brainstorming possible outcomes for another issue that had come up.
ReplyDeleteI think for marketing you'll probably have to join forums and see how other authors are doing it. That always seems like the hardest part for me as well and my 'real' job is in advertising. Writing the book and editing it is hard, but then having to sell yourself without coming across as annoying seems so difficult.
But, if you're wiling to spend money, I'd look into online advertising on blogger sites, goodreads, dearauthor (for your romance stuff), look into how you can get a blog to review your novel keeping in mind that you can't guarantee a positive review.
Maybe take classes on book covers, because while yours aren't bad, I'm sure there's books out right now that are getting picked up because the covers look professionally done.
But book blogs are definitely a big thing, but finding someone who will 1. want to review your book and 2. reads your genre/your style of writing can be hard.
You could always do the first book in a series for free to hook readers or have 'sales' happening around previous books in a series when you have a new book coming out.
I'd join Wattpad and put up the first book in a series there, not sure how they feel about advertising but the community on there appears to be *huge* and a great way to reach your audience although, like fictionpress, it'll take time.
Have you updated your fictionpress with a note chapter letting everyone know that your books are now up for sale? That's how I learned an author I really liked on there hadn't just taken her books down to edit it for publishing but had actually published something.
I'm sure there are more things and I have never worked on having to sell a book but those are the ideas that came to me off of the top of my head for a self-pubbed author. I'd definitely try the word of mouth stuff first as well.
I'll think on it more, I know I followed a fairly successful self pubbed author and she had a series about writing/marketing, but the link is probably lost to time.
I'll definitely stop by your site once I get a chance.