IWSG - The Road Ahead

Happy New Year. Man can’t believe it’s 2020! As you can see it’s not the first Wednesday of the month, but the second, however it is IWSGposting day. Last week was New Year’s day…a week already.

So normally I try to prepare these posts the day before, but Santa gave me a nasty cold for Christmas that I’m still trying to return. LOL That means my time on my computer is limited on top of getting settled back in after the winter break so apologies for the delay. When I’ve done these first of the year posts before I’ve looked back at my goals from last year and then set new ones for the current year.

     

Let’s dig in.

I had four goals for last year and only managed to complete one. Publish one indie title. That’s it. I had three releases total for 2019, but two were with publishers and those books were written back in 2018 so I didn’t have a stellar writing year or anything. In fact I only completed the one indie title I published and it was a short novella at 20k. It’s a well-established fact that I am a #Turtlewriter, but even that was pretty bad for me.

As far as the marketing plan goes…I’m a pantser so planning is not my strong suit in any area. My marketing was to throw stuff out and see what stuck. I had nothing solid I did with each book. Though I did learn some things worked better than others and what NOT to try again, so maybe I can count that as a win.

Last point, the social media. Yeah. Some of my Squad gals and I had an idea for us each to take a platform and focus on that more to see if it had any impact. Made it about 2 months in before the idea was scrapped. But it could be something I revisit in the future.

That brings us to my plans for 2020

Yeah, yeah I know I just said I can’t plan, but I need to figure out a basic working model of some sort. That is starting with treating my writing like a business so I can hopefully start making a profit.

You’ll also see I basically want to complete THREE books this year. That is probably my most ambitious goal. Two indie, because that’s what I am at my core, but I like having a publisher in I get accepted to save me on editing and cover costs. Back to that treating it like a business thing, I need to not have as much going out if at all possible.

By trying to establish those writing days, I can hopefully get them done. We shall see.

So what are your goals for 2020? Let me know. And best of luck with them.

January 8 question - What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just "know" suddenly you wanted to write?

I’ve made no secret of my path to being an author was probably a little unconventional. I mean sure, as a kid I used to love making up stories and all that, but never thought about it being my “job” so to speak.

Nope, it wasn’t until I started playing The Sims and got involved with the SimLit community. You can learn more about that HERE. And while the community as a whole help foster my love, it was one person that really pushed me to go in this direction, Jill Zakrajsek.  My first book Fiendish is dedicated to her in memory because she sadly passed away before I completed the process. Without her die-hard support and cheering, I’m not sure I’d be here doing this today.

Happy New Year

Until next time

~Meka

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a home for writers in all stages; from unpublished to bestsellers. Our goal is to offer assistance and guidance. We want to help writers overcome their insecurities, and by offering encouragement we are creating a community of support.

The awesome co-hosts for the The awesome co-hosts for the January 8 posting of the IWSG are T. Powell Coltrin, Victoria Marie Lees, Stephen Tremp, Renee Scattergood, and J.H. Moncrieff!