2016 - Planning for the year ahead

On New Year's Day, I like to create a long list of things I want to achieve for the year ahead. Although this is a writing-themed blog, not all of these goals will be writing related.

Here is my list of goals:

1 - Finish my novel "Ink" and complete several rounds of editing and revising on it. It needs to be ready for publication sometime within 2016, and that includes having an ISBN, a cover and formatting for it, whether the extra stuff is done by me or I pay to have someone else do it.

2 - Complete, edit and publish at least two of the novellas I began during this year's NaNoWriMo - the ones that are set in the same world as "Ink."

3 - Begin the sequel to "Ink." Write at least 3 chapters of the novel before 2016 ends.

4 - Begin writing the first of the series of nine novels for the Daughters of Poseidon series. Maybe use this book as my NaNoWriMo novel to write this year.

5 - Do some more work on my middle grade book "The Day My Shadow Tried to Kill Me." I need to make some changes to the plot and get writing on it again. I wrote the original draft for a ChaBooCha challenge, but I'm beginning it almost from scratch this time because of the changes that need to be made, so maybe use it as the book to write during this year's Chapter Book Challenge.

6 - Spend more time writing. Don't let a day slip by without spending at least 30 minutes writing. On most days during the work week, spend more time though. Although a large part of my day is taken up transporting the kids to and from school and making meals, etc, I can still manage to treat my writing as a part time job by committing at least 10 hours a week to writing and 5 hours a week to promoting/marketing/networking.

7 - Finish preparing my collection "Mermaid's Muse" for publication. Make sure it is ready and published in early 2016.

8 - Work on perfecting "The 28 Day Fitness Challenge" so I can get it published. Finish creating the accompanying Food and Fitness Journal. Things I still need to do before finalizing the book: Alter some of the steps in the challenge and rearrange the formatting. Take photos of the different exercises being performed for instructional purposes.

9 - Work on my own health this year. Steps to take: Step up my exercise routine. Try not to do as much as I used to do, but don't do as little as I am currently doing. Find a middle ground. Eat healthier. Lose the pounds I put back on this year. Visit the doctor and find out what other tests can be done to find the reason for my health issues. Keep trying to find a way to cure my chronic pain caused by plantar fasciitis.

10 - Spend more time doing silly and fun stuff with the kids. These are the kinds of activities that will build memories for them.

11 - Start swimming again. And while I'm at it, teach my kids to swim. I can teach them more than they are learning in the few classes they get every other year at school anyway. Help Isabella get to a skill level that will make it possible for me to then teach her how to swim in a monofin (which will help her on her way to her goal of becoming a professional mermaid someday).

12 - Perfect my picture book, the one that came to me while I grieved over the loss of my cat Pagan. I love this book, and I think it needs to be out in the world for others to read. Perfect it and either send it out to get an agent/publisher or find an amazing illustrator willing to illustrate it and save up to pay for it to get done well.

13 - Publish more books through Melusine Muse Press, not just anthologies and not just my own books. Get more editing jobs, more book cover jobs and formatting jobs to help pay for publication of books. Publish another Teapot Tales anthology and another SuperHERo tales anthology. Likewise, publish another anthology in the Kids' Chronicles series of anthologies through Your Kids' Creations.

14 - Increase promotion for the Fae World anthology series and take in more submissions for it. this will be an amazing anthology series when it is completed, but it will never be completed without word getting out about it. It needs submissions to make it spectacular, especially as this is one anthology series that will be choosier about what gets chosen to publish.

15 - Write more on my blogs. Spend time writing a post on at least one of your blog's every week.

 
16 - Work more on creating book covers and improving your skill at doing so. Have more sales on Fairy Magic Photos in order to get more practice at photo-manipulating by creating fairy photo images for customers.

17 - Find out everything you need to know to get your Kickstarter campaign for the resin toy figures of the SuperHERp Tales' superheroes off the ground. Find a 3D artist, find a manufacturer, get the total cost worked out, find someone to design the video and get this campaign going! Children NEED these female superhero toys! So get to it!






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Daughters of Poseidon series - the mythology

This is a new series that I am currently plotting. Below is the mythology for the series, as I have come up with so far. The series is still a long way from being ready for publication, but I thought it might be fun to share the mythology created for it. There will be nine books in the series, one for each "daughter."

*****

Daughters of Poseidon

by Rebecca Fyfe

Poseidon, the god of the sea, had nine daughters. His daughters were allowed to marry anyone they chose, and eight of the nine chose human men to marry, shucking their mermaid forms and taking on human forms so that they could assimilate into the human world.

As the centuries passed, their children had children and much of their sea magic was diluted through the generations. A legend foretold that each of the eight who had entered the human world would someday have an heir, many generations removed from them, with the genes for sea magic, even stronger than the sea magic that the original daughters possessed. Their powers would be asleep until Poseidon chose to awaken them when he had need of them.

Their powers are awakened when the ocean was in great need. The ocean is dying, and if the ocean dies, the world will die with it. Each of these new daughters of Poseidon are gifted with different powers and reside in different parts of the world. They will each face different trials, but after each one has passed her trial, they will all be brought together for a much more dangerous mission.

The ninth original daughter, the one who stayed in mermaid form, became resentful of her sisters once they had left for the human world and she instills this resentment in each of the generations after her. No one knows if the most recent descendant of of the ninth daughter of Poseidon will help or hinder the eight in their quest to save the world.

The fate of the world rests on these nine daughters of Poseidon.

*****

So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the mythology created for the series. The Daughters of Poseidon series has a Facebook page, where you can find updates and excerpts from the series as it is created. If you are interested in learning more about the series, please go and "like" the Daughters of Poseidon Facebook page.

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Ever Lost by Melissa MacVicar - Review and Exerpt #Giveaway

I had the pleasure of getting to read Melissa MacVicar's book, "Ever Lost" in order to review it. It's book to in the "Secret Affinity" series, and I haven't read book one, but the book did well as a stand-alone book anyway.

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

"New town, new school, new ghost. 

Jade has a dedicated boyfriend, an overprotective mom, and a full scholarship. Uprooted from Nantucket, Jade is installed off-island at her dad’s new house so she can attend snobby Layton Academy. Leaving Charlie behind is sheer torment, but living with her father has plenty of dangerous distraction—in the form of a terrifying spirit haunting her new school. Hottie classmate Mateo Fernandez can’t see the ghost, but he knows its story. He’d like to know hers, too, but Jade still misses Charlie, even though distance seems to be changing him. 

With support from Mateo and the mysterious Noemie, Jade commits to helping the agonized spirit cross over. As she delves into the ghost’s past, the disturbing secrets Jade learns draw her into a deadly confrontation with a desperate man. If she can’t play his demented game, the spirit’s harrowing fate could become her own.

I really enjoyed the book. It's well-written and not full of distracting spelling or grammar errors. The story is gripping and intriguing and kept me reading it from start to finish in one sitting. I liked the newest romantic interest and the dynamics between the main character Jade, her boyfriend Charlie and the new boy Mateo were very realistic.

The only thing I didn't like was the sexual nature of her relationship with her boyfriend, being that she is a character of such a young age. I know, realistically, that these relationships do occur, but as a mother of pre-teen and teenage daughters, I just think they see enough of these dynamics in media today and they really don't need it in stories too. But that's a personal preference, and it didn't really detract from the story.

I also have to mention the cover. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Overall, I would give this book 4 1/2 stars, but since Amazon doesn't do half-stars, I'll have to give it five stars when I add my review there. It is a novel deserving of a positive ranking though, so I'm happy to do so.

Melissa MacVicar

Here are the links where the book is available:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ever-Lost-Secret-Affinity-Book-ebook/dp/B00L8G67D4/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ever-lost-melissa-macvicar/1119858494?ean=2940149780143
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/ever-lost
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id892559856
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Melissa_MacVicar_Ever_Lost?id=3DfhAwAAQBAJ Goodreads: http://redadeptpublishing.com/melissa-macvicar/
Author page on RAP: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22383818-ever-lost

Win prizes through the Rafflecopter give-away!

Click on the link: a Rafflecopter giveaway

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"Minstrel" by Marissa Ames

Marissa Ames is a friend of mine and a while back, she asked me to beta-read her book for her. I absolutely loved the book and read through the night so I wouldn't have to put it down and walk away from the fascinating world and characters that she had created. That book was "Minstrel." Minstrel was released in Kindle format last October and was soon followed by the release of its print edition in November.

I was relieved, if I'm honest, to find out that her book was so enjoyable and well-written. There have been times when I'm asked to beta read for someone and their book is far from ready for publication. It was a great pleasure to be able to tell Missy how much I adored her book.

Here's the official review I posted on Amazon:

"Minstrel is an epic story in a medieval setting from a world that exists only in the unlimited imagination of Marissa ames. Her world-weaving abilities are powerful. Liam is believable and likeable, and it is easy to find yourself rooting for him from early on in the story. This story is full of twists and turns and suspense that will have you biting your nails. So many times, the story finds Liam in situations that seem impossible to escape, and yet Marissa scribes the story in such a way that his survival is completely plausible and believable. Once I started reading Minstrel, I stayed up all night to finish it because I wasn't ready to leave the world that Marissa so expertly created."

Here's the official book description for Minstrel:

"Arriving in the royal city of Cynegil just after the good king’s death, Liam and his traveling troupe face arrest for entertaining during a time of mourning. The new king, Riordan, offers them a choice: play for the court as he demands or be punished for the crime. With little recourse, they acquiesce. While the troupe entertains within the hall, Liam witnesses the dissension between the king and his twin brother, Shamus. When Shamus enlists Liam to record the kingdom’s history from his own viewpoint, the king becomes suspicious. And when Liam becomes involved with Molly, the mysterious redheaded washerwoman, and Tristan, the royal soldier with a deadly secret and a skill for causing unfortunate accidents, his life becomes even more complicated. As the kingdom staggers beneath drought, famine, and conflict, Liam and Shamus must flee Cynegil with prices on their heads. Will they survive their journey or will they become just another ballad to be sung?"

And here's a bit about the author:

"Crossing genres, Marissa Ames writes fantasy fiction and blogs for multiple venues, including a national poultry magazine. Her debut novel, Minstrel, begins the medieval-based fantasy series of Tir Athair. She is currently working on Vassal, the second novel in the Tir Athair series, and collaborates with many worthy writers on diverse anthologies. Marissa has written stories since age 8, instilling her lifelong fascination with medieval history into her work. In her real life, she manages a day job, a husband and two teenage children, and an entire urban farm just a mile south of downtown Reno, Nevada, in the United States. You can follow her blog."

And the really great news is that Missy has penned a short story set in the same world as Minstrel. You can purchase Darrion today in Kindle format.


Even more good news is that Marissa Ames is one of the contributing authors to the anthology "Jingle Bells: Tales of Holiday Spirit from Around the World," contributing her short story "Thomas's New Coat." Proceeds from this anthology go towards funding the Chapter Book Challenge.


*****

The Grammarly link at the top of this post is a paid advertisement. I only allow advertising of things that I like or am interested in.

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Free ebook through the 18th!

In the spirit of Christmas, my friend Barbara Mack has made her historical romance ebook, Chasing the Sunset, free through the 18th of December. It's available on kindle through a free download, so go and get your copy today! Check out her other books while you're at it.


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"Dreaming Of You" by Barbara Mack (review)

Barbara Mack is not just a good friend of mine and she's not just my youngest son's godmother; she is also a very talented and gifted writer. I recently got the chance to read her new novelette Dreaming of You and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I don't often read historical romances anymore but I have read many in the past, so I can say that Barbara writes like a professional. Her heroine Kathleen is feisty, intelligent and proud, and the supporting characters are fully developed. You, as the reader, feel for Kathleen and for the handsome doctor Duncan who lusts after her.

If you like historical romances, I am happy to recommend Dreaming of You by Barbara Mack.





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Update On My Writing

Remember my post about committing to writing for at least an hour each week? Well, I have done 30 minutes this week so far and today is my last day of this first week to get the other 30 minutes done.

I don't count writing in my blogs as part of my time spent writing. If I did, I would have already surpassed my 60 minutes a week of writing.

One of my novels has taken a new twist (in my head), and I will have to write the idea I had for a new direction for it so that I don't forget.