Tuesday, July 3, 2018

IWSG: Long-term Goals

It's a 4th of July IWSG! Posting a day early so we can all enjoy the holiday. If you don't live in the US, you can enjoy it anyway--just eat some hot dogs or burgers, and make a bunch of noise.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Be sure to link to the IWSG page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! If it links to Google+, be sure your blog is listed there. Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back.


Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
 The awesome co-hosts for the July 3 posting of the IWSG are Nicki Elson, Juneta Key, Tamara Narayan, and Patricia Lynne!



July 3 question - What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?


I like this month's question, because it reminds me to look beyond the disaster my writing life is right now, while we pack and fix up and clean and plan and have zero time for writing or even thinking about writing, and think about the bigger picture. I am almost able to imagine that I will be writing again soon.

My writing goals have remained pretty simple: I want to keep writing, and publishing, roughly one book a year (seems to be about what I can handle). That's been true since the start, though it took a few tries to figure out how to do the annual book. What has changed is that I want to add more short stories into the mix, and start getting those stories published rather than merely sharing them on this blog. To my surprise, I haven't changed from being pretty happy with being an author-publisher rather than being conventionally published (for my novels). I still toy with the idea of finding the right book to plug to the agents, but I find I'm also pretty committed to continuing the mystery series as is, and I recognize that my ventures into fantasy (see: Gorg the Troll, whose book is still in rough rough rough draft form) are probably not commercial. I *like* making money at the books, but it's not essential. Writing the stories and finding readers is the important thing for me at this stage of my life.

I do toy with moving a bit into non-fiction: some of our adventures in the next few years may be worthy of publication, even if we aren't young people doing over-the-top things. Maybe the AARP magazine would like to share how retirees can get out and explore the world, even afoot!

Your turn--how are your goals doing? Do you set them deliberately, or do you only know what they were in retrospect?

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P.S. Since sales of poor Halitor the Hero remained lack-luster during the month of special pricing, I think I'll leave those sale prices in effect--just 99 cents for the ebook, and $7.99 for the paperback. 
Note: My ability to fill orders for signed copies will be extremely limited for the next year. If you want books direct from me, now's the time to order!

15 comments:

  1. Happy 4th July!
    The stupid comments form is refusing to recognise me again.
    I wrote a nice reply on how I don't have any long-term goals but it swallowed that up. I'll be answering June's question tomorrow instead :)

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    1. Ugh! I hate that the blog is giving you trouble! I get you on the long-term goals. I'm still hanging onto mine, but I recognize that the big changes in our lives are going to make the book a year thing unlikely!

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  2. I bet there's lots of places, in addition to AARP magazine, that would be interested in your articles/columns. Your travel posts and pics here on the blog are always interesting! :)

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    1. Thank you! One of my missions this fall may be to research some of those venues and see if I can get any nibbles for a write-up of our family adventures in New Zealand.

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  3. I think writing articles sounds like a great idea. I echo what Madeline says above - your travel posts are quite interesting. Go for it :-)

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  4. I think all us authors toy with the idea of finding that dream agent and publisher. Even those of us who are happy being self published and doing it ourselves.

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    1. Exactly! There is a sort of validation you can only get from disinterested strangers, and if they are professionals, it feels all the more validating.

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  5. I find I do best when I set short-term goals. "I will submit this story by this date," or "I will write X number of words this month." Big picture stuff like "finding an agent" or "getting published" is just too nebulous to work. At least for me.

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    1. I think that makes sense. I know your life is far busier and more chaotic than mine, so I'm listening to your advice here on how to cope! I did manage to keep my "submit at least 3 stories a month" thing up for, ah, one month.

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  6. It sound like you’re going traveling for a year. Sounds fun, and I’ll bet there’s a niche for articles for retirees too. I’d be interested. Best of luck, Rebecca!

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  7. Hi Rebecca - good luck, as you've obviously lots going on - yet we know you won't ever stop writing ... and short stories are good ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Yes... this is sort of like when the boys were little... I can't write much or often, but the urge doesn't go away!

      And now I need to sneak some time to visit all of you!

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  8. I think AARP or even travel/flight magazines would be interested. Older people are staying "younger" longer now, and are interested in more adventurous travel.

    Judging only by my experience, I think you've made the right call re: agents. When you already have work out there, especially if it's successful, it's beyond frustrating to receive a bunch of vague rejections from agents because they don't like your character's name or some dialogue doesn't "resonate" with them.

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