January Just Hit Send

Finish chapter 4 on my current WIP
Send a query to one magazine
Update my blog once a week at least.

Yay! Glad to see a new thread for the New Year!

My immediate goal is to get a current mag. assignment done by the 4th, which is the deadline, and to get my ebook manuscript edited by the end of the week. Then it will be time to concentrate on magazine queries (I was terribly negligent about that last year) and to flesh out one of my various book proposals and get it out there.

Ok, I'll play. Writing goals for this month:

Finish scholarship proposal (it only needs a little editing)
Send scholarship proposal to 4 places
Get WWH, my christian fiction, in some kind of shape so I know where I'm at with it. (I've been writing it in bits and pieces with my main characters having about 3 names each, need to clean that up.)
Send out $100 worth of queries daily (Monday through Friday, going to coast on weekends)
Send press release for Devoted to Quilting to all newspapers I have any sort of connection with (family lives there or I grew up there, something. So far I've listed 10.
Send notices about book and offer to give presentation to every quilt group I can find in Oklahoma. Starting with 5 each week. Next month I'll move on to Arkansas.
Post on Devoted to Quilting blog once a week.

These last three are to help me reach my goal of selling 5,000 copies a month which will help me reach my goal of selling 50000 copies in a year. Lofty goal, but I think it can be attained. Heck, I've already had one foreign sale, Thanks to Rebecca (Laffer-smith). Anyone else need a devotional/inspirational book of quilt stories?

I know you all are probably tired of seeing me post a goal for the scholarship book every time I post goals, but this is the year I actually follow through and send the darn thing out. Keep checking on me about that, okay? Thanks

Ok, that's it for this month. Main goal is to get into a habit/routine of working towards one or more writing goal each day.

Happy New Year Everyone. May we all reach our goals.

Ritin,
I second your goal of working toward one or more writing goals each day. And we'll help you get that scholarship proposal done and out by the end of this month. I like that it's at the top of your list. If it only needs minor editing, I'd say just do it first.

January is starting off quite busy for me with a lot of assignments, which means I won't get to work on ongoing projects (such as eBooks, my writing course, or the website I had promoted here several months ago.) I have a series of 4 buyer's guides I'm working on, and just one guides makes up about half my needed income for the month (blogging is the other half), so it's going to be a great first quarter when I get all 4 finished!

I managed to finish all my radio show promos for January before the first of the month, so that's an ongoing project that I don't have to worry about this month. Here it is...

Week 1:
- Finish 2 trade magazine articles
- Work on product descriptions
- 5 All Reviews posts
- 2 FWJ Posts
- LIE Column
- 2 BOL Posts
- Finish Buyer's Guide #1 - WOOT! DONE
- Finish Editorial Calendar for first quarter

Week #2
- Finish product descriptions
- 5 All Reviews posts
- 2 FWJ Posts
- LIE Column
- Work on Buyer's Guide #2
- 2 BOL Posts
- 2 Queries to Parenting Magazines

Week 3
- 5 All Reviews posts
- 2 FWJ Posts
- LIE Column
- Finish Buyer's Guide #2
- 2 BOL Posts
- 2 Queries to Parenting Magazines

Week #4
- 5 All Reviews posts
- 2 FWJ Posts
- LIE Column
- Finish Buyer's Guide #3
- 2 BOL Posts
- Article for Experian

My New Year's Resolutions blog post is up. Doggies & Potties & Zombies, Oh My!

Gotta record 5 podcasts for The Mother Daughter Club. (Link on blog.) Hard to do when the flu has effectively wiped out my vocal chords with its nasty little cough. (Hmmm, why isn't Bill complaining that I can't talk?)

Happy New Year and New Month!

Okay, I think I'm ready to list this month's goals:

1. Sell at least ten copies of each of my books this month.
2. Find more reviewers, interview opportunities, and guest blog post opportunities to help promote each book.
3. Blog at least 3-5 times per week.
4. Write at least one Suite101.com article per week.
5. Write at least 7 blog posts for With the Grain each week.
6. Write at least 10 articles for With the Grain this month.
7. Write at least 7 articles for Maine Education Examiner.
8. Complete at least 8 DS articles per day.

I think that's everything. I'm sure I'll add more as it pops into my little mind.

LOL.... okay.. maybe by writing them down I can actually make a couple of them lol....
1-Make $3,500 a month freelance writing
2-Write the outline, character sketches and at least first half of new scifi fantasy book
3-Finish murder mystery book #2
4-Find agent/publisher for murder mystery book #1
5-Be happy (Right now this one looks impossible, lol)

Good luck with everyone's New Years resolutions.... Hope 2010 is a great year for all!

Scriptor,
That last one is easy. You can be as happy as you make up your mind to be. And I know you can do it.

My update for the day. It doesn't seem like a lot, but this was interspersed with moving forward on other work, too. I also made a decent chunk in my editorial calendar. I feel good about the day.

Week 1:
- Finish 2 trade magazine articles
- Work on product descriptions
- 5 All Reviews posts - 3/ 5 done. http://www.allreviews.com/car-seats/2010/01/04/is-a-used-car-seat-safe-for-your-baby/ ... that's (IMHO) the best of the three.
- 2 FWJ Posts
- LIE Column
- 2 BOL Posts - started
- Finish Buyer's Guide #1 - WOOT! DONE
- Finish Editorial Calendar for first quarter

I've been trying to come up with some reasonable goals for the month. Something to fill in the time between all the choas ... so here goes --

- send out five queries - at least two to new markets
- send out five short stories
- finish 2 on-spec articles
- get my office cleaned/organized /ready for 2010 (this is a biggie!)
- edit chapters 3-5 of Elementals
- send out Blood Sisters to 5-10 agents
- blog

I think that is all I can handle this month. Off to accomplish some of those goals. Office comes first.

Happy New Year to all!

Part of my JHS goals are to find places where I can be interviewed, supply guest posts, and things like that . . . anyone have some advice for me about how to this the best? A book series I'm really excited about became available today, so I'm working on this part of my JHS right now. Help?

Jen,
I'd approach it the same way you look for markets... (same type of places, Writer's Market, etc.) I'd start with the writer's blogs for interviews. Also, Google something like "maine bloggers" to find places you can guest post.

Jenn Escalona interviews writer at her blog, and so does Rebecca Laffar-Smith at Writer's Roundabout. In fact, I could interview you for that blog if you'd like! Do you want to do phone or email?

Dawn

An email interview would be great, if that's okay! Thank you for the advice - looks like it's time to put my Writer's Market to good use!

Thanks for the vote of confidence CatMuse33 .... you're right. Gonna make the best of what I have to work with as it were. Besides.. could be worse I guess ...lol I am gonna give a 175% effort in freelancing this year!!! And 100% into my other business.. to heck with being broke all the time.. poverty sucks lol...!!

Good luck jenngreenleaf, You are going to be great and it'll be a great year for ya .. you'll see!!

I do have a question, if you all had to name 5 "have to have" books on freelancing what would they be?

That's easy:

Writing Business:
The Renegade Writer
Jenna Glatzer's How to Make a Living as a Freelance Writer
The Renegade writer's Query Letters that Rock

Writing Craft
Strunk & White Elements of Style
William Zinnsner's On Writing Well

For Fun & Inspiration
Anne LaMott Bird by Bird
Stephen King's On Writing (even if you're not a fan, even if you write non-fiction)
The War of Art - Steven Pressfield

I know that's 8... but I guess the "fun and inspiration" ones could be considered optional. Even if you are an 'advanced' writer, I'd still recommend re-reading the ones on craft for some reminders of the basics... you'll take something different away from them each time you read them. And of course, Query Letters that Rock would only be if you're writing for magazines and sending queries. So it's 8 books, but a flexible list depending on your needs. LOL

Scriptor- I LOVE your attitude and have no doubts you can do it! Out of curiousity, what's your other business?

Well, I got my first rejection of the year. Hey, it beats hearing nothing...

Autodidact said:

Hey, it beats hearing nothing...

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While the rejection is not what you wanted to hear, of course, I do like your positive attitude. At least they sent you a rejection so now you know instead of wondering for months at a time.

Autodidact said:

Well, I got my first rejection of the year. Hey, it beats hearing nothing...

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I admire your positive attitude!!! Just think of all those acceptance letters that are just waiting out ther for ya!!

CatMuse33 said:

........

I know that's 8... but I guess the "fun and inspiration" ones could be considered optional...............

Scriptor- I LOVE your attitude and have no doubts you can do it! Out of curiousity, what's your other business?

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8 is better than none lol... I am going to re-invent myself as a writer... so I can use all the help I can get, lol. Knowledge is power and I need all the power I can get... well..k.. power and motivation.

Other business is woodworking. I make wooden garbage cans, signs, candle holders, etc... have my own website and trying to make a go of it.

Thanks for the book list.. I am going to start adding to my library asap.

scriptor said:

Good luck jenngreenleaf, You are going to be great and it'll be a great year for ya .. you'll see!!

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Thank you! That really means a lot to me!

I feel as though I am falling behind and yet I've accomplished a lot so far. I found three anthologies that I want to try for this month, so I am adding them to my list as well.

Tomorrow I get to go shopping for office supplies .. and yes I realize that there may be something wrong with me when that is the high point of my week.

new post up: resolutions or goals

ravenlea said:

.. and yes I realize that there may be something wrong with me when that is the high point of my week.

new post up: resolutions or goals

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HAHA.. hey Ravenlea, take the joys when and where ya can get 'em! Thats what I do.....
Like my wife says to me regularly... "you have to have a little joy in your life on a regular basis".... smart woman my wife.... even though she did marry me...lol

I just submitted a short story to a competition. I've updated my two blogs recently, written a couple of new eHow articles and now need to concentrate on Demand Studios articles in my queue!

Happy Writing and Happy New Year!