Skip to main content

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!



Comments

  1. Sorry Jill never got to see the finished book, but somewhere out there, I'm sure she knows you did it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry she never got to witness you finishing your book. But at least her memory lives on. Heard of Sims, nearly forgotten about it too, but never got into it.

    I'm a turtle writer too so my biggest challenge is finishing and rewriting and editing My NaNo novel in 2020. And I also plan to write one or two novellas and/or three to six short stories in 2020 too. this also includes going into my old short stories I've filed away that's in dire need of rewrites and edits. Then submitting them to presses, magazines, journals, etc.

    Good luck with your 2020 goals and happy writing! :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I did dedicate to her so she won't be forgotten.

      My biggest challenge is finishing. LOL I mean I get there eventually, but it takes a while. You have some amazing plans for this year! Sending you all the good vibes for meeting all of them. The submitting process, that always remains scary.

      thanks for stopping by

      Delete
  3. It helps to have someone who looks at what you've done and encourages you to 'publish'. It is validating!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! It's nice to have people behind you supporting you.

      thanks for stopping by

      Delete
  4. I'm sorry for your loss, but glad she helped you on your way. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Come Find Me - #MFRWauthor

Another week. Another post for the #MFRWauthor blog hop. This week will be a short and sweet post. It's all about my social media hangouts.

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might - #MFRWauthor

Welcome to week 16 of the #MFRWauthor blog hop. We've covered an array of topics over the last few weeks, with many more to come. This week is all about our biggest dreams.

IWSG - 2021 Let's Do This

Happy New Year! Man 2020 is finally over. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday season. It’s January so that means new month new IWSG blog post. To finish off the year, last month I posted about how well I did or didn’t hit the goals I’d set for myself.