Autumnal Light

It seems to be during the autumn every year that I seriously kickstart back into gear. I don’t know what it is, or why this happens. But I guess that in my view, autumn marks the period of time that I settle down into hibernation mode and knuckle down for the long winter.

Our summer has been a long one, and we have only just come out of a drought. It’s been tough going on the land, and for the farmers, but it has also meant that we have enjoyed some pretty spectacular weather. Today is a perfect Autumnal day… With hazy light, it’s refreshingly cool when the sun is behind the clouds, and yet when the sun shows its face, it’s rather hot and humid. Unusual variations for our autumn. This has also meant that in terms of writing work, I have been rather slack. I’m currently waiting for my Cherry Blossom to turn from its brilliant green to its beautifully rich crimson, which usually really marks the starting period of productivity and writing that I usually launch into over the colder months.

This past week has been seriously testing my ability to multitask and focus. My grandmother ended up in hospital with respiratory and heart problems. My daughter (who took her very first step today) ended up having a serious throat infection, a middle ear infection, painful teething, and to top it all off – chicken pox. I was in the middle of trying to critique a manuscript, work, as well as all the other every other normal life tasks. Needless to say, everything was put on hold, and I endured sleepless nights, long hours of driving to and from hospital, and dealing with a sick, feverish, clingy baby. Sometimes life is very testing.

Things are getting better though. Abby only really has her chicken pox to get through now. She even took her first steps today by herself, thus marking her big Toddler Milestone. Gran is out of hospital… although she still needs a bit of love and care. Hopefully things will improve… and I’m back trying to critique a manuscript for a friend (although now I’m behind my deadline), and get through my own work.

Changing of the seasons means productivity for me. Here’s hoping I can stay on track and meet my own goals I have set for the year. I’ve got a load to try and get through this year.

One place that I always love to work and write is on the train – so I’ll leave you with two photos of the view from my gorgeous mobile office on the way home tonight – sorry it’s a bit blurry!

 

Where in the world do you want to be?

I know that I haven’t blogged in ages here at Parchment Place – but believe me – it hasn’t been without lack of trying. There have been numerous posts that were drafted and never finalised sitting on my laptop. One day I will go through them and set them up to post…

However, that all aside – I thought that I would give you all a little update on me. Life has been busy. Really busy. This year I set 13 goals to get through, and so far, I have managed to get through a few of them. This is how I’m going with my goals so far:

1. Write Venetian Nights. Currently 5k into it, and I can’t wait to get this highly charged thriller out to readers. (Still 5k into it! Argh!)
2. Renew my commitment to Parchment Place. Everything lapsed in 2012 due to the arrival of Abigail, but 2013 is the year to re-establish my blogging drive. (As you can tell, I haven’t been too diligent about this!)
3. Read a minimum of 50 25 books (Adjusted this figure down considering how busy I have been lately! So far I have read about 10 books this year, plus a couple of critiques for friends)
4. Buy a new car
   (Complete! Got a new car in Jan)
   
5. Read, review, and make a few decisions about the Talent Trilogy, and decide what work takes priority.
6. Pull together my graphic design portfolio, and do the odd piece of work for people in that field. (Work on this has begun! The portfolio has been partially pulled together, my Interior Design Portfolio is being worked on, and work has been done for some people.)
7. Publish, or secure a contract to publish a piece of my longer work.
8. Clean up my email accounts, and unsubscribe me from stuff I never read. All it does is clog up my virtual world. (Work on this has started too – however – it’s going to be a long road ahead to try and sort it all out!)
9. Take Abby overseas – preferably to Bali, but anywhere will do. (Not on the books yet – although we do talk about it a lot)
10. Make it through my best friend’s wedding in Jan with Abby in tow, and me as the best man. And also make it through my Mum’s wedding in March.
    (Done and dusted!)
11. Teach Abby all that I can possibly teach her, and have fun doing it. (This is awesome. I never knew being a mother could be so much fun! She changes and grows every day – and watching that makes me happy)
12. Let go of Mediterranean Dreams. Seriously. (Have sent this book to a friend to proof – partially let go!)
13. And lucky number 13 – Win the lottery. (You always have to chase after something a little unrealistic, but something that could potentially be real… right?)

So far, I think I’m going okay. But everything has been rather full on, not to mention working full time as well – which is going well, by the way. Naturally I would much rather retire on all my well-deserved lotto winnings, lol.

While I dream of disappearing to other places around the world all the time, at the moment I am so busy trying to do all these other things that I would much rather just focus on them and get through the goals I have set for this year than flit around the world. I have always written books to enable me to mentally escape.

There are many many books that I still want to write as well. Those of you who have read my work know that I based my books in areas that are either known to people as a luxury location, or they are based in a little known are… So here is a little poll for you all, dear readers… if you were to read a book – based on the below photos – where would you want to escape to?

 

Lucky Number ‘13

And so we see another year out, and welcome another year into our lives. Every New Year starts out with a wealth of positivity and dreams of good fortune. I am no different in the hopes and dreams of my endeavours. And so, I lay before you all – a list of thirteen goals and objectives that I hope to meet or obtain for this 2013^th year. No – these are not resolutions, because I am not one to make resolutions… but these are the things that I would like to accomplish this year.

Whether they happen or not is a different story, and you can be sure that it’s a story that I will one day tell.

Some of these objectives are biggish, and some are a lot smaller. But regardless of size, they are still progress.

So here are the Lucky Thirteen for the 13^th year:

1. Write Venetian Nights. Currently 5k into it, and I can’t wait to get this highly charged thriller out to readers.
   

   Draft working cover

2. Renew my commitment to Parchment Place. Everything lapsed in 2012 due to the arrival of Abigail, but 2013 is the year to re-establish my blogging drive.
3. Read a minimum of 50 books (I managed to get through 52 in 2012 – but I did read a big chunk of those while on maternity leave!)
4. Buy a new car (Somebody smashed into me in 2012, and wrote ours off…. Actually, my husband and I wrote both our cars off within three weeks of each other.)
5. Read, review, and make a few decisions about the Talent Trilogy, and decide what work takes priority.
6. Put together my graphic design portfolio, and do the odd piece of work for people in that field.  
7. Publish, or secure a contract to publish a piece of my longer work.
8. Clean up my email accounts, and unsubscribe me from stuff I never read. All it does is clog up my virtual world.
9. Take Abby overseas – preferably to Bali, but anywhere will do. (I’m feeling the need of a Balinese holiday this year)
10. Make it through my best friend’s wedding with Abby in tow, and me as the best man. (Yup – you did just read that correctly.) And also make it through my Mum’s wedding in April.
11. Teach Abby all that I can possibly teach her, and have fun doing it.
12. Let go of Mediterranean Dreams. Seriously.
13. And lucky number 13 – Win the lottery.  (You always have to chase after something a little unrealistic, but something that could potentially be real… right?)

So there you have it. That’s the 2013 list…

Now let’s see how much of that I can actually achieve. (I can’t believe that it has actually taken me 6 days to get this post up on my blog! – but at least it’s there.)

And to launch the year off – I thought that I would share Abby’s favourite new song with you all. Quite appropriate, I think! 

 

 

Once upon a time…

Once upon a time, a long time ago I had a dream – a desire – an inspiration to write a book about family bonds, adventure, friendship, a luxury yacht, and an evil doer. It didn’t take me long to write the book, but it has take taken me a long time to drag this book back into the light.

I know I haven’t been blogging recently – so consider this an update.

Mediterranean Dreams is just about complete. I have finished my final edit, and I’m currently doing my final read through. There are a few things I’m picking up on, and fixing in the process, but it’s just about there. Soon I will have to write the synopsis and cover letter, and let this manuscript go.

Is it scary? Definitely. I have only ever submitted short fiction before – never anything this ‘big’. Really the process shouldn’t be any different… but for some reason size matters to me this time round. I have a great team of people around me who are supporting me get through this – and I know that without them I probably would have taken forever to get this show on the road.

It’s funny, because I have read hundreds of blogs by different authors who all talk about their journey of the trials and tribulations of their road to publication, and I always thought that I wouldn’t blog about mine. But it’s taken so long to get where I am today due to other life commitments, and really – it’s this really huge thing that looms before me as a writer – just as it was a big thing for all those other authors before me.

I look at the past year, and wonder where it’s gone. I look at the past five years and wonder what on earth I was doing. But I know that I was writing and pumping out books. I just never prepped any of them like I have this one – for publishing.

This year I honestly thought that I would be able to get some serious writing work done while I was at home with Abby as a full time Mum for six months. Never did I expect her to not want to sleep for hours on end during the day. She is an active and engaging child, even when she was a newborn. Therefore I put all my 2012 writing aspirations on hold, without a moment of regret.

Now that I am back at work full time, life has become a journey into time management and coordination. I’m up at five am, Abby is up at six, I’m then on the train for an hour into the city, and writing my little heart out all the way. Then I walk a couple of kilometers to work, and start my day in the office. After work, I walk my way back to the train station, and head home – writing my way there, and once I finally get home at 6.15pm – I’m in the throws of sorting out dinner for us all, bathing, and bedtime. It’s insane. And then the very next day I get up and do it all over again. But I am getting results in terms of my writing. Some how, I can tune myself in and get work done while I’m on my way to and from work. At least it’s progress – even if it has been a bit slower than normal. It’s getting done.

I have also started writing something new. At the moment, I’m keeping it under my hat, but it is one of the ‘Night Series’ books. I can’t wait to get Mediterranean Dreams off my plate so I can turn my full focus to that project. I’m already four thousand words in – and I can’t wait to get to eighty thousand. At the moment it ‘feels’ good – probably because it’s all new and shiny. Good fun!

I’m going to get back into the blogging world just as soon as I can. I know that I have been slack on the blogging front – but I just don’t seem to have enough hours during the day to turn my attention and focus to it. Now that I have finished the major edit etc, I may be able to sort out my blog with a bit more coordination. In the mean time – you will all just have to bear with me.

This year is the first year in many that I am not participating in NaNoWriMo – but I will be cheering people on from the sidelines. Between working full time, Abby, my wifely duties, submitting Mediterranean Dreams, and writing my new book – I just don’t think I can juggle it. Those of you that know me, know that I am a huge and avid supporter of NaNoWriMo. I can’t wait to hear how everyone goes with it. It’s an awesome process, and you really can write a book in 30 days. Everyone knows that a first draft is crap, and usually it needs a thorough cleaning up job done on it – but its brilliant to be able to get down the foundations in 30 days.

And that is the end of my quick update.

For those of you who are unsure about whether to take the NaNoWriMo leap – here is a little image for you:

 

Up, up, and away!

Blimey the year is passing so quickly!

In two weeks I am back at work after being on maternity leave for six months. Can’t quite believe it myself.

When I first went on maternity leave I had all of these goals and plans that I would work towards achieving while Abby was still young and sleeping lots. Lets just say that didn’t quite work out!

I knew that it was going to be tough going having a wee baby – but I didn’t expect her to only sleep in 45 minute stretches during the day. Hence why I haven’t achieved many of my writing goals this year. However, having Abby around has been totally awesome, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Now she is starting to sleep for a couple of hours in the morning, so I’m getting much more done around the place!

Going back to work will be a shock to the system though! But it’s going to be great to see all the awesome people I work with again. My husband is now working in the area where we live, so that means that I’m going to be travelling in and out of town on the train, which I am really looking forward to. I used to travel on the train a few years ago, and the amount of writing and ideas that I generated was amazing. So I’m hoping to get back into that groove again. Fingers crossed.

So…. Abby is going into care when I go back to work, and this means that she’s in training at the moment. Going to sleep without a feed, and also taking a feed from the bottle. This has been a huge struggle so far, but we seem to be having little successes every now and then – so we’ll just keep on at it. That daughter of mine loves her cuddles and feeds with me… so I’m not surprised she’s being defiant about it!

I have been reading a crapload of books lately too. I think this will also slow down when I get back to work, but it’s been great. Since my writing outputs have been slow, it’s really given me some awesome ideas to work and play with for future books of mine. I’m looking forward to getting them out there!

And on that note… I should probably be off. Abby will wake again shortly, and I will once again be entertaining her. Having a daughter is a pleasure. Being a writer is awesome. I only wish that I could do both full time. Going back to work pays the mortgage. Here’s hoping I win Lotto on saturday!

What’s everyone else been up to lately?

 

2012 Visions of Writing

As I sit here on the 31st December 2011, I ponder my goals for 2012. I think that this is a perfectly normal thing for any human to do on the last day of the year. Reflection and planning.

Inspired by my dear friend, Kim Koning, I created myself a writing vision board for the year ahead, to help keep me focused. Kim uses hers as a desktop background on her computer, and I’m thinking that’s a pretty good move.

So here it is:

My 2012 Writer's Vision Board

My ‘Writing Vision Board’ for 2012 consists of the following three goals.

1. New Novel: Tijuana Nights (New thriller)
2. Personal Goal: Project 2012 – First Draft to Submission
3. Project Completion: Talent Revolution (Final Instalment of UF Trilogy)

Now is a good time to sort out what you would like to achieve in the year to come. I know what I want to achieve. I don’t know if it will happen, but at least I know I have the goals and plans set in place to assist me on my journey.

Besides, little Bumpkin will also take priority over these goals. But regardless of what happens, these goals will eventually happen – they just may take a little longer than anticipated.

This is not the busiest writing year I have ever planned, but it will certainly be a chaotic one with a new baby in tow.  I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

Bring it on. It’s going to be a hell of an adventure.

 

2011 – Over and Out

Goodbye 2011!!

A friend of mine wrote a ‘wrap up’ blog for the year, and I thought it was a great idea – so here is my wee wrap up blog post for 2011.

This has been an awfully big year. I started the year forming a new team at my work, to take over all of the contract management and technical responsibility at my Evil Day Job. While it’s been full of huge challenges, it’s been great. Our team is humming along, and standing strong.

My husband and I at my 30th birthday

Then I turned the big three-oh. This meant having my enormous immediate family staying with us for a week, drinking a heck of a lot of booze in the hot summer sunshine, and generally having a blast. To top it off, we had a big garden party that raged throughout the night and into the late hours of the morning. It was a hell of a bash, and an awesome way to end my irresponsible 20s, and enter the 30s.

Straight after my 30^th birthday, I thought that I better get a little more serious about building my authors platform online. So I started my Parchment Place blog.

The big Christchurch quake rocked our entire world in February. Many dead, many grieving, and many homeless – including my friends, and members of my family. Some of whom are still suffering, due to another series of quakes that hit again on the 23^rd December.

When the February quake struck, two very special people had a big idea. Cassie Hart and Anna Caro put the word out on Twitter to compile a charitable anthology for all proceeds to be donated to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal. So while our friends and family were trying to sort out their issues in a quake stricken zone, I put my hand up to help them find authors, rally support, and generally be supportive to them throughout this enormous task. And so – Tales for Canterbury was born. Eventually Cassie said that she expected me to submit a story into the Anthology as well… so before I knew it I was dragging an old story out of my dusty and very musty literary drawer, cleaning it off, and sending it through to her. And to my greatest surprise… they accepted it. So then I was officially published along with some pretty incredible writers.

The last time I had a hangover was in May, when I drank a little too much gin and tonic with my father when he was staying with me. Then I found out that I was pregnant, and so I stopped all intake of alcohol and nicotine immediately. Pregnancy wasn’t an accident… but I didn’t expect it to happen so damn quick either. I thought that it would at least take a few months… but I guess our little Bump was in a hurry to get the show on the road.

In the meantime on the writing front, I was busy trying to finishing off a novel, and start the editing of another one. But during this time, I was also quite unwell with the pregnancy, and that seriously hindered all writing ability… and eventually I stopped trying. They say that every single pregnancy is different – and no two are ever the same. It was a bad time for me. Emotionally, I was wreck… physically, everything was changing, and in the middle of all this I felt enormous pressure from my family. Each of them trying to give me advice… ringing/emailing me constantly… and with each passing day, I was becoming more and more reclusive.

Bumpkin's Big Foot

In the end, I didn’t want to talk to any of them at all. I just wanted to hide in my little hole, and wish like hell they would all piss off and go away. I just wanted them to let me be pregnant for a moment and get used to the whole idea that my life was irrevocably changing, and that both my husband and I had to get mentally used to it. But that’s not what families do. Apparently.

So you know what we did? Under the best advice given from friends, and our medical professionals – we ignored them. And this is the same advice I will give to all pregnant women who face the same issues in the future. While family is important… we are growing our own now, and it’s entirely up to us to walk our own pathway when raising a family, not the paths of those before us. I have learnt throughout this time that my wider family are never going to listen to me, since they will always know better (older and wiser, perhaps?), so I will just do my own thing, and learn from my own mistakes. This is the only way I’m only ever going to be fully satisfied as a parent, so this is how I’m going to do it. (Bugger the rest of the world. I no longer give a shit about their grand opinions and ways of how to do things. This is our family, and we will do it our way.)

When I finally realised this, my creative mind started to kick back into gear. I now know that it was the stress and pressure that stopped me from writing… and until I had actually dealt with that, I couldn’t release my mind from its little box and back into the creative world. But I eventually got there, and devised a NaNoWriMo plan to get an old manuscript – The Mediterranean Source edited into a more publishable state. (Don’t get me wrong, this book still needs further work, and hopefully over the next few days while it’s forecasted to rain, I’ll be able to do some work on it.) The point is… I managed to get there, and send it out to three amazing friends in early December for their final opinions on potential changes. It was a big goal, and while I ripped and shredded out more than twenty odd thousand words from this manuscript, I also rewrote just as many in some incredibly major plot alterations.

So here I am now, nearly 33 weeks pregnant, with not far to go. I have just managed to get through Christmas, which we were completely unprepared for… however, we managed to sort it out. Both Mike and I were totally distracted by the fact that Bumpkin will be born very shortly. We are mostly organised now and pretty much have everything that we need (if Bump comes early!). Bump’s room isn’t finished yet, but it’s not far off. Mike and his dad are currently building the wardrobe. The ceiling went up yesterday. And before long, it will be plastered, painted, and ready to rock and roll. Then I will have somewhere to put all of Bump’s stuff, which is currently stored in boxes all over the place. It will be good. A great start to the New Year, and new beginnings in 2012.

Here are some things that I learnt in 2011 that I never knew before:

• Turning 30 wasn’t actually a major. It was more of a great milestone, and one that I have great memories of.
• I never thought that my 30^th year would be such a rollercoaster of a ride.
• Getting pregnant was easy. Being pregnant is hard. Older people forget what pregnancy is like.
• Being published is not a life changing event… but it’s a pretty good one.
• The world is no longer an enormous place. Two of my best mates have also moved to Australia this year as well… and despite them now being in another country – I’m not sad! Well… not really. I’m so damn chuffed that they are living their own lives and dreams, and I’m even more chuffed that by having the internet… it’s almost as if they are sitting in the next room.
• I can do anything as long as I block out the bullshit and focus.
• Stress and pressure are only good in small amounts.
• I no longer have any tolerance for bad or rude behaviour. This is not a tolerance that I ever want to rebuild either.
• My job has been really good this year. I’ve really enjoyed the challenges, and the new team we have. I no longer tolerate the rubbish behaviour from my colleagues either, and they quickly know when they have overstepped the line.
• The hormone – Relaxin – is a total bitch to deal with.
• Taking everybody’s advice so you don’t offend people is impossible. Picking and choosing what advice you take is much more effective.
• It’s lovely getting to know your child as it grows inside of you.
• Three of my unborn child’s godparents now live overseas, and I’m okay with that. I know that this will be a good thing in the future, as the child will have supportive people in its life who live their own life, according to what they want to do.
• Pregnant women are hilarious. They no longer hold back, or have any qualms about saying it like it is. I’ve met some pretty neat people though our parenting class, who I never would have met if it wasn’t for Bump.
• Owning a Kindle has revolutionised the way I read.
• I have met writers who have deeply impacted my life in ways that I never could have imagined. By being with these amazing and incredible people, it has seriously helped solidify the fact that I am on the right career pathway in my life.

So… I think that’s probably it for this year. December has been a slow blogging month for me. I have no doubt that with the continuing distractions of the final stage of this pregnancy, etc, it could get even more sporadic. But I’ll try and keep it up.

In the meantime… I’m really looking forward to starting a new book in the New Year, editing another… and writing on. On the other side of life, I’m really looking forward to meeting our child.

Remember to set goals, not resolutions. J

2011 – Over and Out.

 

Monday Musings

Goals... not resolutions

There are some super duper exciting things going down for me on the writing front in the New Year. For the record, I don’t do New Year Resolutions. I don’t believe in them. Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. So, for the past few years I haven’t made any resolutions. I set goals instead. And no, they aren’t goals like ‘land a husband’, or ‘lose weight’, or ‘quit smoking’, or ‘give up drinking for 3 months’, or whatever. They are goals that I want to work towards. Goals that I have been working towards for years. These are goals that are ‘achievement’ goals towards my own hopes and dreams. Do I want to set myself resolutions to look like a magazine model? Oh yeah, sure, why not. But no matter what I look like, it’s not going to give me any life satisfaction if I can’t actually achieve what I have been working towards for years, now, can it?

So… as part of my goals to eventually become a full time writer – it means that I need to blow the dust off some of the old manuscripts and ideas that I have been hoarding around, and turn them into something useful. I did start doing this job this year, I must admit, but while I have the momentum going, I’m going to keep it up. I cannot become a full time writer if I don’t have books out on submission.

So for my 2012 writing goals – I would like to achieve the following:

Firstly, I’m going to write a new thriller. I know that I still haven’t finished off the urban fantasy trilogy, but I just feel like this is a book that I need to get off my chest, and so I am going to go whereever my Muse is directing me. I just feel as though I need to listen to the old Muse every once in a while. If I don’t, they’ll probably abandon me, and then I’d be really annoyed – because it’s just so hard to find good staff these days!

Secondly, there is going to be another round of fairly serious editing of another manuscript (thriller) that has been sitting in my literary drawer for years. This has all come to a head from Merrilee Faber and her brilliant idea of Project 2012: From first draft to submission.

Thirdly… if all goes well, I will have two completed and edited thrillers ready for submission by the end of next year. Hopefully – all going well that is!

In the meantime, this is what I’m thinking about:

• Juggling my writing year with Bumpkin on my hip who is meant to arrive in February. Obviously Bumpkin will always come first, but there are still goals that I would like to achieve along the way. However, I have made an agreement with myself not to be dissapointed or to beat myself up if my goal line has to move about a bit. That can’t be helped, so I’m not going to worry myself over it.
• 

  New pool to wallow in

  After last weekend’s success with the paddling pool, when I eagarly went to uncover it on weekend to dump myself in it, part of it had slowly deflated over the week, much to my disappointment. So, instead of using a pool that is going to deflate every week (and we will be going into water-restrictions for our area soon) my dear husband felt it best that we go and buy a new one, that won’t deflate as easily. Happy birthday to me. I can just tell this thing is going to be my saviour over the next couple of months.

• I’m still not ready for Christmas, but like it does every year – it will come, and it will go. This year I have been more than distracted by everything else going on in my life, and frankly, everything else is a hell of a lot more exciting. I would much rather nest, and get rid of junk in my house. I would also much rather potter about in my pool and cool down when I need to. It’s amazing how other priorities just take over. And Bumpkin is a pretty damn big priority right now, and one that I am more than happy to turn my attention and focus on, and get ready for at my own pace.

So…. on that note, there are some interesting things happening. I’m really really looking forward to them. In the past I have written a few books a year. Next year – I’m planning on writing just the one, and editing two. I think that’s pretty reasonable, bearing in mind that I’ll have a newborn Bumpkin on board as well. I’m looking forward to it.

Who else has goals lined up for next year?

 

Hopes and Dreams

I have been thinking a lot on hopes and dreams recently, and thought that I would have a wee chat about it.

Some of you know that I keep a ‘Hopes and Dreams’ book, where I write down all my hopes and dreams for my life. Not just my writing life, but also my life well outside of the writing world.

Some of the hopes and dreams written down in there are very specific to my writing goals, as one would expect. Most writers I know would like to quit the evil day job with the determination to become full-time writers, obtain publishing deals, and live the writers dream. The sad fact to this, is that many writers never actually get there.

And just to show how much like other writers I am… I pretty much have the same hopes and dreams as they do.

The difference I think though, is that I like to try to turn my ‘hopes and dreams’ into ‘goals and reality’. (Not that I’m saying they don’t or anything….)

Every six months I review where I am at, and I set new goals for the next six months. I was meant to do another review of these goals back in October, but I didn’t get round to it for a multitude of reasons.  I’m alright with that though, since I haven’t met many of the goals I set back in April, that I wished to achieve by September. I think that I’m going to review those goals in December, so that I can leap into some planning for 2012. By that time – I should have ticked a few things off the list, and have a clearer idea about where to from there.

If all goes well, I will be able to possibly plan a few writing endeavours for when I’m on Maternity leave between February and July. Oh, I am more than aware that I will be introducing a child to the big wide world during that time as well, but I would like to actually achieve a couple of other things while I’m doing that enormous task. And who knows – it may not pan out. This child could be more demanding that I expect, or it might be the easiest child in the world (one can only hope and dream )… or I might just be able to achieve a few things that I would like to get done.

My goals, are smaller steps within the bigger hopes/dreams scope. So, to become a full-time writer – I know that I need to have some of my bigger manuscripts published, and preferably more than once for me to justify quitting my evil day job. If I can’t do that, I do have the potential to work part-time, which would suit me just fine… however, this loss in money would have to be offset by royalties (pfft) etc. It would need to be worth my while to take that sort of risk… and all risks in my world at the moment are pretty damn calculated.

In the meantime – I need to keep building and maintaining my networks, reviewing (been a bit slack on that lately), and maintaining/developing my authors platform. On top of all that, and most importantly - I need to keep moving forward with my writing, by editing and writing my little heart out.

So… that’s the big scope of what I would like to achieve over the next couple of years. I always said that 2013 would be the year that I went into writing full-time. This may be blown out due to Bumpkin arriving in the world. But when you set goals, they should never be concrete, and they should always be living so that you can accommodate other wonderful things that happen in your life.

Remember – nothing is ever set in stone. Here are a few of writing goals of mine that I would like to achieve in 2012 (if I can):

1. I have three thrillers that are partially written that need to be finished off. Two of them are close to completion.
2. I have another thriller planned, which is based in Mexico that is begging me to write it. I’m pretty tempted to start in January on this, actually. This is the first book of a potential character based series that I would like to work on.
3. There is a dystopian novel sitting in my head that I would really love to plan out properly. I dreamt about it once… and it’s been bugging me ever since.
4. The third and final installment of the urban-fantasy Talent trilogy still needs to be written. Once this is done, the whole trilogy will undergo some pretty serious editing and revising, and then just perhaps – I might shop it around to publishers. Maybe. Will happily wait till 2013 to do this though.
5. I would like to get a publishing contract for The Mediterranean Source.

“If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place” ~ Nora Roberts

Here are a few other great posts that you may find interesting or helpful on the subject:

• Kathy Steffen: Creative Goal Setting for Writers
• Terry Odell: Resolutions, Dreams, and Goals
• Michelle Muto: Goals and Dreams
• Advanced Fiction Writing: Your Hopes and Dreams file

And as a parting note – I found a couple of quotes on goals that I would like to share. Who knows – they may inspire you:

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” ~ Albert Einstein

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” ~ C.S. Lewis

So now that you have read through this post, here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

• So where are you going with your goals?  
• What have you achieved this year so far that you are proud of?

 

How I motivate myself to write

I have been thinking a lot about what motivates us as writers, and how we maintain our constant dedication to a primarily solitary profession. Yes, I am saying it’s a profession, although I know many people who would disagree. Some people consider writing as a ‘hobby’, since you don’t make any money for it for a rather long period of time. (Well… you don’t unless you are JK Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, anyway….)

So how do we keep up the motivation to write, and continue writing?  Here are a few things that I do to help me out:

1. I surround myself with like-minded creative people. Creativity is catching. There is a small number of writers that I stay in constant contact with based in NZ, and we are all at the same stage of our writing careers. We are all aiming for publishing, and hopefully rather soon. I am also connected to hundreds of writers and creative people on Facebook and Twitter, and many other social networking sites for writers, and I chat to them. I want to know what they are up to, and where they are at with their latest work in progress. I browse through their updates and blogs, and by seeing and celebrating their success – whether it’s big or small, it empowers me to focus on my own.
2. I write stories that I love to live in. I write protagonists that I love, and antagonists that I love to hate. I’m on a 90,000 word journey with these characters, and that’s an awfully long way to travel with people. Just imagine how long the journey would feel if you didn’t like them! As a writer, I first and foremost write stories and novels for myself. If I don’t like the story or the characters in the world that I have created… it’s not going to hold my attention or focus, and I will definitely find the entire writing process torturous.
3. Wordwars, goals, and deadlines help. Some of you may have heard of something called NaNoWriMo? If you haven’t, it’s a writer’s annual challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days and nights of November. You would not believe how motivating this process is! Suddenly, you have banded together with 300,000 other writers around the world, all with the same incredible goal: To get that novel idea out. Even if you are not participating in Nano, just having word war challenges with your critique partners is totally invaluable. They usually happen on those night where its cold and wintry, and you are on Skype to them chattering about your book, and then the next thing you know – you’re in a word war, pounding out the next 1500 words of your novel within an hour.
4. Dedicate time for distractions. I’m talking about the world of Social Media that we all seem to immerse ourselves in. If you allocate half an hour first thing in the morning to checking through your updates and emails, then make sure you do at least an hours worth of solid writing work straight away afterwards. Do NOT get roped into the Social Media trap. The only person it will impact is you and your writing. Allocate time slots dependant on your goals and writing schedule. (I know how distracting this social media stuff is from experience. Trust me on this one… I was trying to build my authors platform, and then I suddenly realised that I had stopped writing because I was too busy with other ‘more important’ social media things.)
5. I scrapbook ideas. And this is how you do it: Find amazing images and pictures online for your scrapbook of ideas for your book. Collate them, and save them into something that you can look at… like in OneNote, or on Scrivener. Find ideal images of characters,  character profile, research amazing locations, dream up new scenarios and jot them down. This is what we call ‘world building’. And by having visual aids and notes, this only fortifies your world building even more. And it’s an awesome feeling to open those pages of research and characters and suddenly you feel yourself pulled within the pages of your book again.
6. From the images that I have found and scrapbooked, I create cover art for my draft manuscript. It doesn’t have to be good, but it has to be enough for to visualise a completed book in my hands. Work towards that goal, as there is nothing quite like that immense feeling of holding something you have created.
7. And finally… Music. I just adore music, and how creative that in itself is. I create soundtracks for characters, books, settings, and just the general feel of my book in terms of emotion. Some of the music is dark and gory, other times it is full of light and happiness. It all depends on how I want my writing to feel at the time.

There are other writers and bloggers out there that have a multitude of motivational tips as well… here are a couple of good little posts for you to peruse your way through:

• Nathan Bransford’s – Five ways to stay motivated while writing a novel
• Procrastinating Writers – 3 Easy Ways to Stay Motivated
• Grow Yourself’s – 12 and ½ Writing Rules