Prepping for #NaNo

I think I'll do NaNoWriMo this year. I normally don't bother because I write every day anyway. But I'd like to finish 2 more books by the end of the year, so NaNo may be what I need to get that done.

I don't participate in the whole "track my words per day" thing. I never have. It's enough that I write every day and I stay on track to get the book done by X day. I'm about 1/3 of the way done with a current manuscript, and I may set my goal as not November, but the end of the year for both books.

It's good to have goals. I work best with a deadline, so we'll see if it helps. I have a bunch of other events going on between now and the end of the year, and this might not be feasible, so wish me luck!

J L
(jayellwilson.com)

Setting Realistic Writing Goals by Jannine Gallant

As the new year begins, most of us take a moment to set a few goals. Since we're a group of authors, my focus is on writing resolutions. However, some of these principles can be applied to other goals, so keep reading even if your life doesn't revolve around getting words onto a computer screen.

Setting goals is easy. Following through on them...not so much. What can we do to change that?

Having realistic expectations is the key to success. And, knowing our own habits is critical to setting reasonable goals. That means you shouldn't stress out because Jane Doe declares her goal is 5000 words per day, but you have a day job, and kids and a husband who expect to be fed regularly, and a dog who stares at you with sad eyes if you don't walk her twice a day, etc. etc. That kind of goal is only going to set you up for an overload of stress and failure. So, take a long hard look at what you can manage with your schedule. Do you only have time to write for an hour before everyone else gets up in the morning or before you go to bed at night? Maybe you have five hours a day you can devote to writing. Are weekends strictly family time, or are they the only time you can take for your writing? My suggestion would be to block out your writing time for the week on your calendar and then subtract a day. We all know life happens, so allow for the unexpected.

Once you've made a realistic commitment to writing time, give yourself a word count goal. If you're slow but precise, you might have a 500 word goal, while someone who writes a dirty first draft may easily write 2000 words in the same amount of time. They'll probably have a lot more editing to do, so it all evens out in the end. Some days don't go as well as others, so I take my daily goal and turn it into a weekly count. That way I can "make up" words on a good day to cover for that day when writing was harder than pulling teeth. Less stress!

Once you have a time slot and a word count worked out, the objective is to actually commit to writing during that time. Facebook is my nemesis. Some days I wonder why the heck I got so little done. Well, maybe it was because I spent my writing time on the internet. MY BAD! Unplug for those two hours. Tell your dog she's going to have to wait for that walk. Set the alarm and actually get up when it goes off in the morning. Turn off the TV in the evening. Do whatever it takes to give yourself a fighting chance at success. And if you really need a morning to sleep in, or an evening to watch Survivor, or a day to clean your house, or your child has a soccer tournament on the weekend...well, that's why you allow yourself a guilt-free day off. Cut yourself a little slack, but not too much!

And last but not least...share your goal with a friend or group of friends. We all need encouragement to keep going. Sometimes knowing you have to report that word count to your CP will be the kick in the butt you need to get off Facebook and write. If you have a deadline to make, that might be motivation enough. Or it might lead to a whole lot of stress. So, set yourself up for success by planning ahead to be finished with time to spare. Adding 100 words a day to your total word count might save you from flipping out somewhere down the road.

So, in the spirit of sharing goals, mine is to write 1000 words per day. Subtract one for life getting in the way and one for promo/editing, and my goal is 5000 words per week. I have two books to produce in 2017. Easy peasy...if I stick to my weekly word count goal. So, what's your writing goal? Think about it and share in comments. Maybe we can all keep each other on track in 2017!

For info on all my books, stop by my WEBSITE. Happy New Year, everyone!

Making Goals a Priority by Alicia Dean

Rather than actual 'resolutions,' this year, I am attempting to not only set goals, but to actually figure out a way to reach them. This past Saturday was our OKRWA meeting, and each January, we write our goals and seal them in an envelope. (I joked that I was ready to set unattainable goals, but unfortunately, that's really not a joke. I usually set too many unrealistic goals :() Then, at our December Christmas party, we open them and see how many we reached. I failed miserably in reaching my 2015 goals. Although, to be fair, I did accomplish many things that were not on the list. Sometimes, my failure to reach my goals is due to becoming involved in too many other things that derail me from them.

This year, actually in the first quarter of the year, I need to write about half a dozen manuscripts (some, thank God, are novellas). Since I work full-time and edit for the Wild Rose Press and coordinate contests and, etc, etc, that might be a little tricky. There's also the social media thing and email thing and wasting time on the internet thing. Social media and promo are vital to an author's career, but I need to find some balance and set aside a certain block of time, no more than 30 minutes per day, to devote to marketing. I'm working on that.

Something else I am determined to do in order to reach my goals is to give myself more time in the mornings for writing. That means, I need to get out of bed two hours before I really have to. I am not all that self-disciplined, and I'm finding that a big challenging. I discovered a few nifty little alarms that might help in that area. One is a 'Wake Up' app. There are several like this, but with this particular app, you have to walk a certain number of steps to turn off the alarm. You can set it from 10 to 100. Once you've walked the steps, it's unlikely you'll go back to bed. One of the problems is, I need to make myself actually set the alarm the night before, and in order to do that, I need to go to bed a little earlier. Maybe I should start out in 30 minute increments each morning until I'm up to my two hours. Another alarm I am going to try is a clock I purchased where you can custom record an alarm. If I can figure out how to get it to work, I'm going to record a short pep talk to wake me. If that fails, I'm going to go full 'drill sergeant' and threaten and berate. :) (I was in the Army National Guard many, many moons ago, so I know how it's done).

So, do you have any clever tips or tricks to help reach your goals? If so, we'd love to hear about them.

And, speaking of goals, today happens to be release day for LIBERTY EMPOWERED, Book 3 in my Isle of Fangs series. It's a book I should have had written a year before I did, but it's one of those goals I couldn't quite meet.

Click HERE to be taken to Amazon Buy Page

She’s striving to embrace her nature…he’s fighting to restrain his.

Vampire hunter Liberty Van Helsing is responsible for protecting the humans living on Sang Croc, a tropical island in the French Polynesia. While striving to improve her recently acquired hunting skills, Liberty wrestles with her attraction to vampire, Eli Barkley, estranged son of Rupert, leader of the Evil Ones. 

Then the grandparents of a young girl—who Liberty has befriended—is snatched by the Evil Ones, and Rupert offers Liberty a deal: herself for the hostages. 

Rupert is certain his son will, in turn, voluntarily trade himself to save Liberty. Liberty has a better idea. Launch a rescue into Rupert's stronghold. But first she must tap into the elusive Van Helsing strength, and convince Eli he's not like his father... not anymore. 

Excerpt:

 "Can I talk to you for a sec?" Eli's expression was calm, but beneath his words, Liberty sensed a hint of anger. Maybe more than a hint. She squeezed Hannah's hand. "I'll be right back."

Liberty followed Eli into the kitchen and leaned her butt against the counter. "Well?"

"I know what you're thinking, and you can get it out of your head right now."

"You don't know what I'm thinking."

"You want to go rescue her grandparents. But you can't do that."

Maybe he did know what she was thinking. "Why not?"

"Not only is the compound well-guarded and dangerous, some of the humans are there of their own free will."

"So you said, but her grandparents aren't there voluntarily. I can at least help them."

He threw his hands in the air and let them drop to his sides. "You have to listen to me. You can't rescue her family. You're a hunter, Liberty. Your job is to hunt on full moon nights, not charge off like Wonder Barbie. You are the last of the Van Helsing line. If anything happens to you, what do you think will happen to the people on this island? The Evil Ones will pillage and plunder to their hearts' content."

"Nothing will happen to me."

"I know. Because you're not going."

Liberty barked a laugh. "How do you think you can stop me?"

"You forget, I'm stronger than you. If I have to, I'll handcuff you to me."

She ran her hands through her hair and shook her head. "I need to get Hannah home. We'll talk about this later."

He grabbed her upper arms and captured her eyes with his silver gaze. "Don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything without talking to me."

Liberty twisted free and drew in a stuttered breath. "Fine."

"Promise?"

"I said fine!" She stalked out of the kitchen. She couldn't make any promises. If she could help Hannah's grandparents, she would. Yes, it was risky, but what good was she as a hunter if she couldn't save people she cared about?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Goal Setting

We're a family of setting goals and we know that our goals often change for a variety of reasons. My eldest son, who's taught eighth grade Language Arts for sixteen years, has decided his mountain of paperwork every night--correcting homework, reading and grading papers, recording the grades, filling our government forms--has taken the joy out of teaching. He's earned a second Masters, this one in school administration. His goals have changed, and he'll be an assistant principal next year.

I have a grandson who, on his own, sets goals every year before school starts. He had four this year: to earn all A's, to get college credit for his advanced calculus class, to get into a STEM camp this summer and to qualify for States in wrestling. So far, Ryan's on track for all four. In fact, he's a shade ahead. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. He's been accepted at the two-week camps at both the Naval Academy and the University of Maryland. Here he is at States, an accomplishment for a sophomore, getting some tips from his coach. As a show of solidarity, all the guys who qualified for States, from his school. dyed their hair blond. Hey, they're teenagers...go figure.

Sometimes our goals as writers change, too. Like my goals for my writing career. I wanted to write a book and, after completing that task, I wanted to see it published. Like most writers, my first one was terrible and my second, while an improvement, still stunk to high heaven. My third completed manuscript was the charm, making it through the publication process. Signing that first contract was a good moment. Then after several books and novellas published with the same small publisher, my goals changed again.

I wanted to aim for a larger publisher.

Setting a goal means working hard to achieve it. Ryan doesn't earn all A's by playing video games all evening; he has to study hard. Looked as if Grandma had to work hard too. For I had a lot of improvements to make--like strengthening my voice and overcoming some amateurish habits. I read books on the craft of writing and took online classes. The bad part of my goal meant I was spending a lot of time away from living life so I could learn to write stronger. Believe me, I often asked if the sacrifice was going to be worth it in the end.

Last year I signed contracts with two Big Five publishers, each for one book. This year I was offered two more.contracts with these same publishers, who I shall call Pub A and Pub B for this discussion. These contracts were both for a series of three books, not yet written. They'd been accepted on a blurb type proposal for each book. Folks, I was thrilled. Then the ugly slipped in.

Both contracts contained "non-competitive" clauses, which meant I could not publish with anyone else while I had a book releasing with them. But...but I had two contract offers. How could I only publish with one?

My agent spoke to the contract department of Pub A. Since my series with them was for a contemporary romantic series, set in Florida, revolving around a fire and marine rescue station, and the series with Pub B was a paranormal romantic series set in Scotland, they saw no potential competition between the series. Pub A simply inserted the phrase "except for the contracted paranormal series set in Scotland." With Pub A, I was home free.

The contract department of Pub B was of a different mindset.

Their contract stated I could not publish or self-publish for six months prior to six months after a book released with them. Since there were three books, they would own me exclusively for three years.

I am a full-time writer. I typically write three or more books a year. So, what was I to do with my time while I waited for this one book to release? And what of my contract with Pub A?

To say I cried over the disappointment of it all would be an understatement. I finally told my agent to refuse the contract offer with Pub B, even though their royalty rates were higher. I'll be 66 this month, people, I'm too old to be ordered about. Then the contract department decided to change the six-months prior and after to two-months before and after, but they wanted the books closer together, with a designated word count and a one-month window for Pub A to release their book between each of Pub B's "black-out periods."

Well, for heaven's sake!

So agent lady had to go back to Pub A to ask if they'd be agreeable with this rigid scheduling process and would they put it in writing. Because if Pub A released my book a day or two before or after that window of opportunity, then I could be in breach of contract, Well, if that's not an ugly side of publishing for an author, I don't know what is!

Had I, perhaps, set the wrong goal?

Contract departments aside, my editors at both houses have treated me very well. They tweet and post on facebook about me. They've set-up blog tours and reviewers. They're all about pushing my career, knowing full well I am also with the competition. My agent called me over a month ago. An editor at another one of the other Big Five wanted to see some of my work. Did I have anything I was working on that wasn't already contracted? We both laughed. We'd had enough ugly for a while.

Visit Vonnie at www.vonniedavis.com

It's the little things, the itty bitty things

It's the note that you leave on the breakfast table
With a list of things to help me plan my day

These are two lines from a Robert Earl Keen song that my husband likes to sing when I'm being overly organized with my lists. I can't repeat the ending lines, but it's obvious this guy is not pleased with his lady.

Brenda Whiteside

I'm a list maker. My life is a jumble, my plate is full, and if I didn't make lists, I'd probably forget to eat or sleep. Okay - a bit of an overstatement, but my husband says I don't know how to relax so that gives you some idea of my schedule. My calendar goes out several months and each day has its list. It's the only way I can keep track of when to write blogs, when to post ads, pay bills, call my mother, balance the budget, etc.

Some scheduled fun in an AZ ghost town.

The weekend has its own list. This is a tablet on the kitchen table of all the things I hope we can get done as a team on the weekend. Hubby isn't impressed. But I even list such activities as go to a movie or take a hike too! Shouldn't that satisfy him? Yes, I even list fun stuff or I might forget to have fun.

Hubby found my chocolate stash.

When it comes to my writing, I'm a totally different person. I'm what you call a pantser - no plotting or outlines for me. Structure doesn't work when I'm diving into a book. The story and the characters have free rein on me to go any direction they please. I can't subject my characters to the same rigidity I need to get through my days. They don't make lists or organize their stories - they just go for it. Once, I tried making a list of what would get written each day. But I found writing goals hampered my creativity, disrupted the flow. I know I need to finish my current manuscript by April, and that's as much as I can plan it out.One thing that is consistent when I write is my afternoon chocolate break. I don't even need to write that down to remember!

You can win a copy of Brenda's latest release, Honey On White Bread, at both of these sites:
Goodreads
Coffee Time Romance and More

Brenda and her husband are gypsies at heart having lived in six states and two countries. Recently, they moved to prairie country in Arizona and are enjoying the wide-open spaces while tending fruit trees and veggie gardens. They share their home with their dog, Rusty. When Brenda isn’t at her laptop writing, she enjoys hiking, motorcycle riding and the company of good friends.

Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com.

Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

She blogs on the 9^th and 24^th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com

She blogs occasionally on her personal blog http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/