Do You Have Goals? Celebrations? And Links for Writers!

"I've watched through his eyes. I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."

Do you know the book that these first lines are from?

Last week's quote and answer: 
"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home." 
from The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

It's the end of the month, and I have some celebrations and goals updates!

Many thanks to Lexa Cain, Katie, and LG Keltner for keeping this fest up and running! It's a fest that reminds us to celebrate the small things - from laundry finished to writing done.

Many thanks to Misha and Beth for reminding all of us to dream big and then put foundations under those goals!

1. Publication goals and celebrations:

For my writing classes, I prepared three private print run book publications with one book for each class. It was slightly time-consuming, but it makes my day to present students with their own work published into a book format.

My small press book deal almost took an upside down turn, but it's back on track - release date still unknown. Title: Eight if By Sea. Genre: MG Paranormal Fantasy. Extras: selkies, orcas, and a sea shanty. :) Here's a pic I've been using on my pinterest board to help me:

I re-pubbed a few of my short fiction stories at Quarter-Reads and with Kindle Select: "The Biggest Waterslide," and "When Okay is Enough" are out "there" now.

I sold a story to Imaginate which should be out in their June issue!!!

Underlying goal: To get work off my pc and into the world. (And a side one this month: to help my students know the joy of seeing their work in print.)

June Goals:  To re-pub my Summer Vacation Devotions booklets that I created way back in 2009 for my old church. Expected release date: June 25th. Pre-order available for 99 cents.

To private publish a collection of my oldest daughter's home-school writing from pre-school days to this year. She hasn't graduated yet, but she is off to a dual credit program at our local community college next year.


2. Writing and Write 1 Sub 1 goals and celebrations:

I attempted to submit five haiku for the 6th Annual Haiku Contest at Sometimes The Wheel is On Fire! Nate Wilson makes this a super fun yearly contest but I had tech issues. :(

Then, I subbed three hint fiction stories to the West Hartford Libraries Hint Fiction Contest.

And, I subbed a drabble for Boston Literary Magazine.

And, I wrote two chapters for a writing curriculum book, revised two chapters for another writing curriculum book, and inched Champion's Destiny closer to its finish.

Underlying goal: To strengthen my writing skills and finish several projects this year.

June goals:
Finish revision of Eight if by Sea - I need to add a few more thousand words of description for my editor.
Finish revision of C.D. and DW1, plus write and submit at least one story.

3. Marketing goals and celebrations:

I tried selling books at a small community vendor event that happens monthly. I sold one book. However, the other vendors told me that the best months are October, November, and December, so I will try again in the fall.

Underlying goal: To get better at this strange thing called "marketing." Making some $ from my writing would be nice, too.

June Goal: Apply for spot in book fair in July. Make action-items for the rest of the year. Guest post?

4. Exercise goal and celebrations:

I rode my bike for 20.54 miles on a flat trail last weekend! I was amazed I could go that far.

I've walked at least 20 miles this month, and biked at least 50 miles this month total. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm taking steps to get there.

Underlying goal: Health and fitness.

June Goal: Bike 150 miles, walk 50 miles, get yoga routine back, start swimming/kayaking. Drink more water (not while swimming/kayaking).

5. Invitational goal:

Hmm - kind of small stuff this month.
I invited family to my daughter's 8th grade graduation and my hubs and I offered to van-pool a group of home-school kids to the home-school formal - getting there involved crossing a toll bridge (expensive!) and I think it was more fun for the group to ride together.

Underlying goal: To have an invitational attitude.

June goal: Invite friends over for at least one backyard barbecue/grill session.

6. Spiritual goals: lots of prayer, some study, had fun helping the Youth Sunday School write and film their short video "So, You Think You Can Disciple?" for the youth Sunday worship that will take place in June.

Underlying goal: deeper, stronger faith and relationship with the Lord.

June goal:  Prayer, Bible Study, Cell group, look at volunteer opportunities.


LINKS for WRITERS
Imaginate has openings for non-fiction, short fiction, poetry, and flash fiction for their fall issue. Submissions are due July 1st! This is a paying, professional market!

Every Day Fiction publishes a flash fiction story every day of the year and is open for submissions. This is a paying, professional market!

Splickety has ongoing themes for flash fiction. Lost at Sea is their next theme for submissions - due 7/10. I'n not sure if this is a paying market or not.

Brilliant Flash Fiction is hosting another contest with the theme: Equality. A cash prize is available for the winner of the contest. They are also open for ongoing submissions as a non-paying market.

EspressoStories.Com is an excellent market for hint fiction. Nonpaid, but friendly, ongoing market.

Nail Polish Stories is another excellent market for hint fiction based on nail polish color names. Non-paying, but friendly, quarterly market.






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Celebrations and Do You Have Goals Mixed Together

Celebrate The Small Things and Do You Have Goals Mixed Together - The Insanity Edition

Many thanks to Lexa Cain, LG Keltner, Katie, Misha, and Beth for these two positive hops!

I realized that my goals might be slightly insane. In fact, I decided around March 10th, that I might tear out all my hair need to slow them down a bit for sanity. But here is a glimpse of the work I've been doing. (Beware, although I am celebrating, there's a bit of a vent in here, too.) Hit bold highlights if you need to run . . .

Dynamic Writing 1 ground me into my desk and gave me formatting for e-book nightmares. I struggled and decided to put out a "sample" book with the first 15 lessons . . . on a whim. Not sure it's the right move, but it's available via kindle for 99 cents. 



After looking at curriculum prices and noticing that most curricula don't come via e-book and that they usually cost over $25, I thought I might split Dynamic Writing 1 into two different e-books, for first semester and second semester. Then, I decided to "improve" a few of the lessons by changing some of the order around. Formatting nightmares ensued. I had first semester out for kindle and Smashwords for a few days and was happy that no copies sold because it didn't pass the Smashwords Epub check and I can't figure out why. Is it because it's in 2.0 spacing? I need at least the writing samples to be in 2.0 spacing because that's the required spacing for my students when I teach the class. It's either that or the numeric lists of questions and answers for the sentence variation practice problems. I don't really want to pay an exorbitant fee to get the formatting done, so currently I'm planning on finishing the paperback in late May, and if I can fix the stinking e-book formatting issues by then, I'll re-release the e-book version.

Dynamic Writing 1 contains 185 lessons in writing that cover journal practice writing, sentence variations practice, and a multiple draft process for essays, poetry, and short fiction. I've been using a "casual," private print version for a year now with one of my classes. It's basically all the notes that I had for class bound into a book. And, I have Dynamic Writing 2 and 3 drafted out that way as well. However, taking it to the "public" and formal level has had me banging my head on my desk. I think I should have avoided the idea of an e-book and just gone for a print format first.

Celebration point for that mess: Progress.

In my tiny, experimental, "crazy" writing, things have been going much better.

Ashes Burn Season 2: Ashes Stirred has been merrily airing three times a week for a few months now, and I just compiled it all into it's own little e-book. Today is release day for Ashes Burn Season 2: Ashes Stirred! The first five official (with a comment) visitors here, at the Ashes Burn blog and at the Wings of Light Publishing blog can get a free download via a Smashwords coupon, if so desired. It's available for 99 cents at:
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords
Kobo

And Ashes Burn Season One: Ashes Away is #perma-free since it is a strange experiment in tiny writing form.
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords
Kobo







Other writing goals for 2015 have received a paring down to size that will allow for some sanity. Dynamic Writing 2 and 3 may or may not be released this year. Champion's Destiny and some short stories are my next top priorities, along with surviving A to Z as a Commando Muffin. (Oh, and finishing at least the paperback of Dynamic Writing 1 before June. Agh.)

Exercise: I'm back to it! I can walk 1 mile, bike 30-40 minutes on an exercise bike without much tension on it, and I can do yoga.

Prayer: every day, all the time, as much as I can. Bible study: some days, yes. some days, less.

Relational: the invitational attitude idea kind of suffered when my kids were sick earlier this month and I was tearing my hair out over projects. We did invite friends to see a movie with us. Our niece came to dinner one night. And, I had some guests and spotlights here at my blog, including Shelly Sly, Elizabeth Seckman, Lori L. MacLaughlin, Emma L. Adams, and Nick Wilford. I'm planning to celebrate them again, along with a few others, for A to Z!

Write 1 Sub 1 goals: I wrote and subbed a flash fiction story to Brilliant Flash Fiction's photo prompt contest and . . . the results of that are below. (Happy dance)

Lexa Cain, awesome leader of the Celebrate the Small Things hop, requested some pics of the kayaking and canoeing race from last weekend, but the wind came up, the rain came down, and my girls both had a really rough day (falling in, broken rudder on the kayak, etc.) so I'm going to wait until I have a cheerier pic to show.

On a last, and unexpected, celebratory note:
I had a fun-to-write-but-quirky flash fiction story, "The Biggest Waterslide," short-listed at Brilliant Flash Fiction's last photo prompt contest. It's the seventh story on the page. I was in stinky armpit mode the day that I wrote it - hard to explain, unless you read it.

And I have a couple of tiny twitter stories up @7x20 this week: "Buzz" went live yesterday and "almost spring" will air later today.

What are you celebrating today? Are you staying sane in pursuit of your Dream Goals? 

And, if you can, please check out that story for free, or pick up a free copy of Ashes Burn Season One, or a 99 cent copy of Ashes Burn Season Two. :)

Celebrate the Small Things

This week, I'm celebrating:

1. The act of walking into a local bookstore to ask for a book signing.

2. The awesome owner of the local bookstore (who has helped me before) not only said, "yes," but also invited me to a poetry reading event to celebrate National Poetry Month with local poets and writers! (Two gigs out of one friendly conversation!)

3. IWSG!

4. Submitted five hint fiction stories to @7x20 (unpaid twitter market) and a flash fiction story to Imaginate (paid market) last Saturday - just before the deadline for Write 1 Sub 1. :)

5. New blue jeans - two pairs - a much needed addition to my wardrobe. I was down to one pair without holes, stains, or other issues.

6. Permission granted to start exercising slowly. I get to try walking for a 1/4 mile, and I get to try riding a stationary bike with no resistance. Yay!

7. Milo James Fowler, Speculative Fictioneer, let me hijack his blog on Monday! I'm so thankful!

8. Training for the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Nationals Racing Team starts tomorrow and my daughters are excited to get paddling (even on cold ocean water in March). One of their international level team-mates (best teen canoeist in the USA and 3rd place winner at the Pan-American Championships) just had his picture on the cover of a local magazine, and we're excited for that because not many people in our own community know about our racing team - even though they've won Nationals three years in a row.



Tips on asking bookstore owners for shelf space coming next week!

Do You Have Goals Update and Celebrations!

 Many thanks to Lexa Cain, Katie, and LG Keltner for keeping this hop hopping, and many thanks to Viklit for starting it!

I'm celebrating everything below in this post, and for this hop, specifically:

1. Shelley Sly's sweet review and interview on Monday.
2. C. Lee Mckenzie's Opening Lines guest post here.
3. Getting done with a novella on Wednesday night at 11:24p.m.
4. Lexa Cain's shout-out for my "Seedling" story freebie. Thanks, Lexa!

 Write 1 Sub 1: I have today and tomorrow to make this happen. Agh. I'm working on a few hint fiction stories because that's the length my brain can handle outside my longer projects right now.

 This is my personal goals banner for the year. And, I've been working on those foundations every day!

Official Goals Update for Do You Have Goals, hosted by Misha and Beth:
1. Finished the novella project.
2. Received rejection letters (at least three, didn't want to count more), but that meant I submitted work, right?
3. Re-subbed a hint fiction story.
4. Re-entered my curriculum project - ultra copy edit time.
5. Really happy with publishing A Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts and it's sibling projects: A Pocket-Sized Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts, Jumble Journal 1, and Jumble Journal 2.
6. Relational: I have a few bloggers guesting here next month! But I haven't invited anyone for May yet. (Skipping April for A to Z) And, in the HD/real world, I need to get invitations going for March.
7. Exercise: minor floor exercises: leg lifts, sit ups, etc. No walking/biking allowed by docs yet. Next month.
8. Spiritual: Ash Wednesday talk at my church, Children's Message at a Sunday worship, daily time - most days with prayer as the focus and some Biblical study.
9. Marketing . . . some twittering and regular posting here. Using the free version of the Buffer app for pre-written twitter posts.

So, do you have goals? How do you put foundations under them? And, what are you celebrating this week/month?



If you are looking for a few writing prompts, A Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts is only 99 cents for e-readers at Kindle, B&N, and Smashwords.

Celebrate the Small Things

Many thanks to Lexa Cain and her wonderful co-hosts, and to Viklit for starting this hop!

What I'm celebrating this week:

1. I've been banging my head against the keyboard over a particular plot point this last week, and finally, finally on Thursday evening I had an idea and wrote blissfully until my oldest daughter came in and told me she was HUNGRY - and somehow, even though it was nearly 8p.m., I didn't overcook the beef roast.

2. Um, despite said above project being due very shortly, I have just barely enough time to work on it. (I will try to visit around today, but my comments might be tiny short.)

3. I've had some amazing retweets this last week for A Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts, and I'll have an interview with Shelley Sly on Monday!



If you are looking for a freebie flash fiction story, check out "Seedling" for Amazon kindle - it's permafree these days.


What are you celebrating today?

Guest: Charity Bradford and Celebrate the Small Things

Today, I'm starting out with a celebration of a wonderful author and blogger, Charity Bradford!
Q's by me, A's by Charity.

1. What's your favorite scene or line from Fade Into Me?

As my daughter would say, “So many, so many!” Here are a couple of lines.

·      I closed my hand to stop her fingers from causing any more damage to my resolve. ~Caedan

·      My inner demons snarled and clawed until the butterflies had been shredded. ~Ryanne

·      Happiness is never a guarantee and it always requires effort. ~Caedan’s mom

·      The collective magical ignorance of the human race compelled the colors to remain motionless. Here (referring to his world) they played like joyful children. ~Caedan

·      All I could think about was following him down the street for a fist to face conversation. ~Caedan

·      In that one moment between blinks, the restlessness disappeared, and I was home. ~Ryanne

·      The entire last chapter. sigh

2. How did Fade Into Me take on a life of its own?

Wow, that’s a great question. I originally planned a sweet romance, that in all truth would have been blah. Then Ryanne took me on the first detour. I was typing and something about scars on her back appeared on the page.

What in the world?

Well, I let it percolate and things became much more complicated. There were so many questions to be explored. The answers brought a lot more depth to Ryanne’s character and helped me realize there was a message I wanted to share with the world.

Bad things happen. They might leave us broken and scarred, but that doesn’t mean we’re unworthy of a love that heals and lifts us to a better world.

3. What prompted you to write about the message of Fade Into Me?

This is a little harder to pin down. Perhaps its just life that led me to this point. I’ve suffered depression, watched my mom/sisters/myself struggle with co-dependent tendencies, spoken with friends who have had very traumatic events in their past, etc. Although our individual experiences were different, we shared many common emotions. “I’m not good enough.” “Why would he love me when he could have someone else?” “It’s my fault so this misery is justified.” “If only I had been better, prettier, something, things would have been different.”

Sadly these are VERY common thoughts in today’s world. And not just with women. In my life one thing has always helped me keep moving forward. Love. Love of family, my sweet husband, my friends. None of us is perfect. Love isn’t even perfect. But it’s worth fighting for and it can make us whole.

So true. Love is worth fighting for! (comment)

Bonus: What's one of your favorite scenes from one of your favorite books?

I have an entire bookshelf of “favorite books”. You know, the ones you can read over and over and never get tired of them? Well, today I’ll share a newer favorite. I think I read Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon three times last year. OMGosh this book makes me laugh out loud. I picked it up for free under the romantic suspense kindle section. This year I hope to make enough money selling my books to buy the rest of this series.

Anyway, I love the scene where CIA agent Fortune (whose hiding out from some really bad guys who want her dead in a little back water Louisiana town called Sinful) is trying to get to Gertie’s house (one of the geriatric mafia—seriously you just got to read this book). She’s also trying to avoid the only eligible bachelor in town, Deputy LeBlanc. It’s a really small town and she ends up in his back yard while he’s going in and out to grill out. She’s hiding in a bush trying very hard not to attract the attention of his dog. Well, she get’s Gertie to call him, he leaves and she has to dump the meat off the grill to distract the dog while she jumps the back fence. Unfortunately she leaves behind a few strands of her platinum blonde hair snagged in the bush. He has to wonder if she’s stalking him.

The whole book is filled with laugh out loud fun.

Author Bio:

Charity Bradford has been a voracious reader ever since her 5th grade teacher introduced her to the world of books with the WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS and SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS. She soon lost herself in the worlds created by Card, Bova, Asimov, Bradbury, Nagata and Niven. She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her hubby and four kids that keep her on her toes.

Blurb:

Caeden Frey doesn’t believe humans will evolve to see the magic, much less control it. Even so, he has two months to marry a human or face the wrath of the High Council. Bitter about a responsibility he thinks prevents him marrying for love, he figures any human girl will do. He’s ready to propose when his soul mate stumbles into—and right out of—his arms.

Human, Ryanne Killian might be Caedan’s one shot at happiness while still fulfilling his duty. Unfortunately, she guards a dark secret. She’s determined to push Caedan away to protect him from her past.

Caedan must convince her she’s worthy of his love before a rival family puts an end to his wedding plans. If she can see her own worth, she just might save herself and his people.

Links:

Buy it on Amazon

Watch the Trailer

Read the first 2 chapters

Find Charity at:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Charity is so right! Love is worth it! 

I just have a few other things to celebrate!

1. Two awesome awards - Liebster and Very Inspirational - received and given away earlier this week.

2.  A Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts is out! (off my desk after 4 years of prep)

3. I have a guest post at M.J. Joachim's Writing Tips blog! The Makings of an Every Day Writer!

4. And, I graduated from the "walking cast boot" aka "boot of evil with good intentions" into brand-new hiking boots. I can now drive our stick shift again, and take small strolls (inside the grocery store, etc). 

Hiking boot rules over "the" boot. 

What are you celebrating today? Do you think love is worth fighting for?  Please say hello to Charity and check out Fade into Me!

Celebrate the Small Things

Celebrate the Small Things:

1. Natalie Aguirre - for her mention of Ashes Burn Season 1: Ashes Away at her site this week! Thanks, Natalie!

2. Finishing the "get-to-know-you" questions for a podcast interview with Speculative Fiction Cantina at WriteStream Radio! I'm excited for that and it's in April!

3. I sent almost half of Eight if By Sea, the novelization of "Eight if By Sea" the script (with extra B plot material by me), to my editor, and she gave me both encouragement and helpful tips for giving that section polish and finishing the second half.

4. Despite feeling swamped this week, I had a couple of much-needed sleep-in days.

5. IWSG always rocks! I may not always know what to post, but I love the IWSG posts by other bloggers. :)

6. I'm excited to be a part of the Muffin Commandos - an A to Z Team under the Head Muffin, C. Lee Mckenzie!

7. I signed up for A to Z. :)

Deja Vu Blogfest, Celebrations, and Do You Have Goals Wrap Up!

Brought to us by the awesome Blitzer DL Hammons and the fantastic Nicole Zoltak, this fest invites us to re-post a post from this year!

Due to triple threat post I have going on here, I chose a super short one that was overlooked . . . mainly because I was late to the party that day. 

This was my "Endings Blogfest" post from January 9th, 2014 that celebrated the blogaversary of LG Keltner's blog.

When I saw this fest, I couldn't resist. 

However, due to a cold, waking up late, and getting the kids going on their lessons for the day (we homeschool and breakfast is planning time), I'm a little late to the party. Sorry.

And I have thought over what to say . . . but no idea seemed like the right one, until now.

 

The endings I like best are the endings with a sense of homecoming and a sense of open horizon - a look to the possible future.

 

Every ending like that feels like the one described at the end of The Last Battle:

 

"And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has ever read: which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before."

 

What kind of ending do you like?

Celebrate the Small Things, originated by Viklit, has been an awesome part of blogging for me these last few years.

This year, I'm celebrating two things:

1. You, dear blogger buddies, who visit and comment. Thank you!

2. The continuation of blogging. It's been a struggle this year, but I have kept going. 

Do You Have Goals? is a blog hop that has helped me tremendously this last year. Misha and Beth have been wonderful encouragers, and I appreciate everyone involved in this hop.

To Wrap Up the year, but not get too long-winded:

We were encouraged to create huge, amazing goals, and then chase them down. :)

My goals were: Write and Publish two novels/novellas and some short works.

What I actually accomplished:

The finish and publication of Champion in Flight: the second novel in The Champion Trilogy.

The finish and publication of Light Reflections: a collection of poetry.

And, the publication of:

two articles on writing in How I Found the Write Path and IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond.

seven new short stories and poems: "Red Carpet, Take 1," "Red Carpet, Take 2," "Cloud Download," "Seedling," "Big Money," "Green Planet," and "Robot Sonnet." 

and three re-publications of stories in e-title format: "Seedling," "The Bridge Snap," and "The Horse in the Well."

When I list all that out, I realize that although I didn't hit my original goal exactly, I did accomplish a great deal, with more on my horizon ahead. 

What kinds of endings do you like? What goals have you accomplished? What are you celebrating? And, do you have a deja vu post?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! 

I'll be back for IWSG on January 7th.

Links and Celebrate the Small Things

Yesterday, I re-subbed five stories to four different, new-to-me magazines. I posted links for those on my facebook page and asked where other writers were submitting their work. M Pax kindly added a few links to the list, and so . . . I thought I would share a few of those links here. (I didn't share the one closing on the 15th because that seemed to be cutting it a bit close)

If you are looking to submit your short story, flash or micro fiction, here are a few links:

Fantasy Scroll Magazine - a paying market for fantasy short story, flash and micro fiction.

Oblong - a non-paying, literary, off-the-wall market for micro and flash fiction.

Daily Science Fiction - a non-paying market for Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Slipstream micro and flash fiction.

Lamp Light Quarterly - a paying quarterly market for Dark short story and flash fiction.

And, from M Pax - a link for a novella sized work:

The Lost Worlds - a paying anthology in the Steampunk Horror genre dedicated to the post-apocalyptic theme at Eldritch Press. They are looking for novellas up to 20,000 words in length and the deadline has been extended until filled.

Celebrate the Small Things:

Our Christmas tree is up, with lights and ornaments! Yay!

And, I have a new #FridayFreebie for today:

"The Horse in the Well" - a tiny biographic. For more info on it, just scroll down to my last post. :)


What are you celebrating today? And do you have any submission links to share?

Celebrations!

This week, I'm celebrating:

1. Good books from the library that are inspiring me to write. :)

2. Family cuddle time.

3. Wonderful IWSG!

4. IWSG's new, free book!!!

At: Nook   Smashwords   Amazon    Kobo

5, #fridayfreebie = "Seedling" 

Dunnie has a secret: a power inside him that's gone wrong in the past. When it's time to introduce himself to a new teacher, what will he say? And, will his classmates ever accept the truth? 

What are you celebrating this week?

Thankful Thursday, Early Celebration for Friday

Today, I'm giving thanks for:

1. An amazing book signing at Harbor Christian Homeschool Co-op (where I teach and my kids take a few classes one day a week)! - HCHC represents my largest, most encouraging, off-line group of readers and supporters.

2. The organizational skills of my youngest daughter. I paid her for some of her "personal office assistant" help she gave me this week - organizing boxes of books to go to signings, helping me learn how to use square (too late for the first signing, but on time of the second), and helping me with my bookmark creation.

3. The sage advice of my Commercial Fiction writing teacher, Pamela Goodfellow, from back in 2001 - Just Smile and Nod. This came in handy at my second book signing of the week. I might, just might, write a post of what I mean by that phrase.

4. The time I was able to spend encouraging a young teen writer and a busy-mom-of-toddlers-writer on Wednesday. Time spent with fellow writers is always time well spent. :)

5. I won a critique from Sharon Mayhew through a contest held at Diane K. Salerni's blog. Woohoo! I sent her the first 500 pages of my current version of Captain Wrath.

6. I had great comments on my last post about the "business" of self-publishing - thank you all!

Early #fridayfreebie news:

This Friday, "The Bridge Snap" will be free again. Enjoy! The sale starts sometime in the a.m. on Friday. Next week, I'll have 2-3 titles for free for Black Friday.


And, finally, many thanks to the Celebrate the Small Things group!!! You rock!

Celebrations and Do You Have Goals?

Many thanks to Viklit and her team for hosting Celebrate the Small Things, and Many Thanks to Misha and Beth for hosting Do You Have Goals?

I'm going to combine posts, so hopefully it all makes sense, and is short enough to read. :)


1. Progress on Champion's Destiny sputtered and nearly died, and then I started up again - new plan, refreshed perspective.

2. I wrote a grouping of poetry/fiction/vignettes and submitted them at the beginning of the month, so my "short works" Write 1 Sub 1 goal is on track. Plus, a previous submission, "Cloud Download," was published at Espresso Stories.

3. I'm working on several "short" projects like: my micro-fiction series, Ashes Burn, a free, ongoing series; plus some re-pubs of individual short stories like "Seedling," "The Bridge Snap," and "The Horse in the Well" - which are all kindle select publications which I plan to use for my Friday Freebies. (Hint: wait for them to come up free on Fridays in the months to come.)

4. I had a sale on my books this month - trying to earn some coffee money, at least. Marketing seems to be a skill that has escaped me entirely, but I'm still persevering.

5. I'm signed up for NaNoWriMo. At first, I planned on focusing on Captain Wrath (finally), but now it looks like I'll be working on dueling plots: Champion's Destiny in the mornings, and Captain Wrath in the afternoons/evenings. I will get them finished, by hook or by crook. (does anyone else actually say that?)

6. The red carpet premiere of Ghost Noir - a little indie film that both my daughters acted in this last summer and fall. (2 pics at the end of post - added late)



What are you celebrating? And, do you have goals that you're working towards this year?


#FridayFreebie Dragonfold and Other Adventures - only free on Friday

Celebrate the Small Things and Prep for NaNo, part 3

Celebrate the Small Things:
(Brought to us by Viklit and her team of Celebrators)

1. My husband's hospital stay was less than 36 hours - yay! He's a healthy guy, but we had a scare that is requiring some further tests. With some minor medical care and his usual eat-healthy-bike-to-work lifestyle, he should be ok.

2. Lots of prayers, thoughts, hugs, and offers of help by family and friends. Thank you. When my prayers were in the speechless-shock-groan-of-the-heart category, I had some serious
prayer warriors intervening. Again, thank you.

3. Ashes Burnis on its 9th episode today. The three characters: Wend, Teresa, and King Bryant have intertwined stories. Wend's story updates on Mondays, Teresa's story updates on Wednesdays, and King Bryant's updates on Fridays.

4. And, these eyes . . .

Clyde, our "foundling-rescue" dog. And yes, he's full-grown - part pug, part beagle, part ?

Prep for NaNoWriMo, Part 3: Super Simple Outlines

 Loglines are a single sentence summary of the plot. Although a challenge to write, they guide me through the twisting "squirrel" chasing moments of mad writing for NaNoWriMo.

I would write more about loglines, but I found this amazing, incredible post on loglines by C. Lee Mckenzie.

After I write a logline for the whole book, I try to write one for each character.

 Logline for the novel:

Logline for the MC:

Logline for the antagonist:

Logline for the love interest/best friend/mentor:

  
When I get through my loglines, I expand to this style of outline:

Super Simple Outline:

1. Set up/Inciting Incident: What starts the story?

2. Three challenges/obstacles that the MC will face:

3. Mirror Moment: at what point will the MC see the difference between who she/he wants to be and who she/he is, and decide to change/make a difference?

4. Climax:

5. Resolution:


Slightly more extended outlines, like the Save the Cat 18 point outline, are where I head next . . .

Do you use simple loglines or outlines, or do you need the twenty page type outlines to write? Are you a plotter/pantser/hybrid?

What are you celebrating this week?

And don't forget your Friday Freebie: Dragonfold and Other Adventures for kindle readers. This is a book of fantastical stories and poems. Enjoy!

Also, the first two books in The Champion Trilogy, Champion in the Darkness and Champion in Flight, are currently 99 cents for ebook. This sale lasts until the end of October.

 

 

 

 

Celebrate the Small Things!

Many thanks to Viklit for starting this hop, and to her awesome team!

This week, I'm celebrating:

1. A story re-submission acceptance e-mail. It did say that editorial changes will be needed, but I'll take it. :)

2. I'm back into writing Champion's Destiny and even though I got a slow start the last few days, I'm determined to finish it by October 31st - at least in super rough form.

3. Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Team won the Pacific Cup in Canada! Both of my girls raced, and my oldest is gong to start canoeing with the team (although she raced in a kayak for the weekend).

The guy holding the trophy was the development coach last summer, and he's only 17 and super talented. He has a great head coach teaching him the ropes (but the head coach stood outside this picture and let him hold up the trophy).

 



4. My oldest (kayaking since June) went K2 with a more experienced kayaker and they took 5th place in a heated 500m race. She also took a 4th place in the 1000m for her age group . . . but feels less excited about that since there were only five competitors.


5. My youngest, who has been kayaking since March, took 1st for her age group in the 1000m - and she was way out front and shaved 30 seconds off her best time for that distance - the coach was amazed. My daughter glowed the rest of the weekend.

6. Watching kids I know outside of racing team practice (church, homeschooling, long term friends) grow in self-confidence and skill as they race. It's really cool to see a kid I knew as a baby stand up there on the podium, and another kid that used to be a super shy middle school kid stand up on the podium again and again and grin at the crowd (I think he took home at least four first place ribbons, if not more).

7. Getting in a training kayak and playing around in the training area by the lakeshore. :)