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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Looking back at 2015

Sadly, all of my 2015 memories are overshadowed by the death of my cat Pagan in September. Pagan and I had a special relationship, and I miss him like crazy. It means that, for me, 2015 is a year I'd rather forget.

However, in my writing life, there were some good things that happened too, and so I am making an effort to remember the more positive things that occurred, at least in my writing life, in 2015.

1 - I created several new book covers this year, including some for me, some for others and some for sale, and I have been growing in confidence in my ability to create the kinds of book covers that will sell and also growing in my cover-creating skills.

2 - I came up with several picture book ideas, and some new drafts of picture books, but, more importantly, I wrote the first draft of a new picture book which I really, really love. It's become my new "baby." And I will do whatever it takes to bring this picture book into the world and to make it the best it possibly can be, because it means a lot to me.

3 - I, through my Your Kids' Creations imprint, published another anthology in the Kids' Chronicles series of anthologies - "The Superhero Chronicles: A Collection of Superhero Stories Written & Illustrated by Children" - and published three more books for children written by my children. "Dark Unicorn," written by my daughter Isabella, came out last year and has grown significantly in sales this year. "A Hero's Adventure, " written by my son Connor, came out in August. "Grabbed by the Shadows," written by my daughter Gabriella, came out in October. And "Tiger Boy," written by my youngest son Cameron, came out in November.

Children who contributed to the anthology have been very excited about it and very positive about the experience and are pushing me to start taking stories for another anthology. I only create these anthologies written and illustrated by kids FOR the kids, so the positive responses I am getting from them makes it worthwhile, even though it takes a lot more work than any of the other anthologies. The whole point of the Kids' Chronicles series of anthologies is to encourage children to write, and to build up their confidence in their story-telling abilities, so with these goals in mind, the anthologies have been a success.

Both Isabella and Cameron have had really wonderful responses to their books and both of them have gained some real fans of their books, kids who can't wait for them to write sequels to their stories.

4 - Through Melusine Muse Press, I published two anthologies this year - the third volume of Teapot Tales, "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unusual Fairy Tales" with proceeds that go towards the Chapter Book Challenge (ChaBooCha) and the second volume of "SuperHERo Tales: A Collection of Female Superhero Stories" with proceeds that go towards the charity Because I am a Girl (which helps girls in 3rd world countries).

5 - I started compiling all of my mermaid stories into one collection, and created the book cover for it. With some editing and formatting, and then sending out to beta readers, I might be able to get this collection, Mermaid's Muse, out in early 2016.

6 - While my novel "Ink" was set on the back burner for this year, I spent this year's NaNoWriMo working on a series of novellas that are set in the same world as "Ink." There were seven novels I worked on, in total. I think three of them will develop into full-length novels. None of them are complete yet, but I found myself getting wrapped up in this fictional world of my creation again, and I am really enjoying writing about characters who live in this world, these female heroes who are determined to do something good and worthwhile to make this crazy world they live in a better place.

7 - I did not send out any queries this year, which might sound like a failure rather than a success, except for the fact that I used this year to work on improving my writing and on improving the stories I have already written. I'm also not sure I want to send my stories off for someone else to judge and possibly publish, because I really like having the creative control over my books, the kind of creative control that one can only get through self-publishing. I have improved in every area of my formatting and publishing skills in the meantime. I just haven't fully decided yet which road I will take when it comes to publishing my novels. I may, in the end, decide to go the hybrid route, but that hasn't been decided yet.

8 - I managed to get some wonderful authors, many of them well-known, such as Tamora Pierce,  Darren Shan, Lee Wardlaw, Wendy Orr, Patti Larsen, Adam Wallace and Nancy I. Sanders to guest post on the Chapter Book Challenge last March. With only around 300 participants, it would have been a simple thing for these very busy authors to turn me down, but they didn't, and I'm such a fan-girl! The only problem with getting big-name authors to guest post during 2015 is figuring out HOW I am going to top it for 2016's challenge! (If any of my friends and followers happen to be friends with J. K. Rowling, Meg Cabot or Neil Gaiman, please put in a good word with them about the Chapter Book Challenge and get them in touch with me.)

9 - I started a group to discuss a plan for something I think would be really great. The whole point of the SuperHERo Tales anthologies is to increase the amount of female superheroes out there in media for little girls to look up to. It doesn't solve the problem of there not being enough merchandise featuring female superheroes though. An idea I had for something to crowdfund was to take the characters created by different authors within the anthologies and have them made into action figures and/or resin figurines - the kind kids can play with. The idea is there and, so far, I have permission to create about 13 of the characters. But, in order to get started, I need to find an artist skilled in creating 3D figures, a company that can create these figures in limited runs, and somehow get a really compelling video made that will encourage people to contribute to the campaign. I need to work out the costs, and and it all needs to be affordable so that people won't have to pay much more than what a collectible toy figure would normally cost. I have not managed to figure any of the details out yet, but the idea is there and I've done quite a lot of research on it so far. (I am open to suggestions.)


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"Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea" is available now!

A new anthology has just been published through Melusine Muse Press. It is a second volume of short stories in the Teapot Tales series. I'm the editor. My good friend Kelly McDonald is the cover designer, and we had several illustrator contributions within the book. I have three stories in the anthology. My husband Robert Fyfe has one story in it, and my grown daughter Angelica Fyfe has a story and a poem in the anthology. There are a lot of other really fantastic authors who contributed, and I know you will all love the stories within this book.

Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea

From the blurb:

In the spirit of “Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales” is this wonderful second volume of short stories to enjoy! With stories to enchant readers of all ages, this collection of pirate and mermaid stories will open your eyes to the magic that can be found under the sea. Let yourself be pulled into the magical worlds found within these stories. From pirates and sea monsters to kind-hearted mermaids and flesh-eating sirens, let these charming ocean tales sweep you away into the realm of fantasy. With twenty-six stories, including four poems, written by seventeen different authors from around the world, “Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea” is a wonderful collection of short stories, each story just long enough to enjoy with a cup of tea.

To buy in the US: 

Paperback

Kindle

*****

To buy in the UK: 

Paperback

Kindle

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Looking back at 2013 #NewYearsEve

I had so many goals that I wanted to achieve in 2013. I managed some of them. Some of them changed. And some of them are still waiting for me to complete them.

Here are the things that I DID achieve in 2013 (in no particular order).

1. I submitted two picture book manuscripts to agents. They were both rejected, but at least I am finally starting to submit to agents. (I need to work on writing better queries.) (Cover created by Kelly McDonald.)

2. I edited and put together the Teapot Tales anthology. (I contributed three stories to it.) (Proceeds go to the Chapter Book Challenge.)

3. I edited and put together the Jingle Bells anthology. (I contributed three stories to it and created the cover.) (Proceeds go to the Chapter Book Challenge.)

4. I edited and put together the SuperHERo Tales anthology. (I contributed two stories to it.) (Proceeds go to the Because I am a Girl charity.) (Cover created by Julia Lela Stilchen.)

5. I edited and put together The Talisman Chronicles anthology (for the kids). (My four youngest children wrote, in total, eleven of the stories in it.) (I created the cover for it with the help and artistic talents of my husband.)

6. I contributed three stories to the Tales by the Tree anthology. (Proceeds benefit a children's school.)

7. I contributed a story to the Dark Fairy Queen's Writerly Bridal Shower anthology. (Free on Smashwords.)

8. I contributed a story to the Charms anthologies, and it is included in the second volume of the three volume set. (If you would like to buy a copy, you can order it through me.)

9. I completed 50,000 words of this year's NaNoWriMo story.

10. I began a new chapter book that still has me very excited and full of ideas. ("The Day My Shadow Tried to Kill Me")

11. I created Melusine Muse Press. It's still in the development stages, but I have some exciting plans for it in 2014.

12. I have finished putting the details, which will be posted in January, on three new anthology projects that will be coming in 2014 and will be accepting submission very soon. (Think: "pirates, mermaids and monsters of the sea," "cats" and "fairies.")

13. I managed to have several prizes a week during the Chapter Book Challenge in 2013, and I enticed guest posts from published chapter book, middle grade and YA authors as well as agents during the challenge which covered two to three posts a week. We went from 23 signed-up members in 2012 to 89 signed up members in 2013, and we already have more than 115 members signed-up for the 2014 ChaBooCha. I'm hoping we can reach 200 members by March.

14. I have created the Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge, which will go live in April of 2014. Wish me luck!

15. I have outlined and written the first three chapters of THREE non-fiction books.

16. I have honed my craft and worked on becoming a better editor, proofreader and writer.

17. I completed 12 picture books for the 12 x 12 challenge and revised them too!

18. I created my doodle books, "Doodle Your Heart Out" and the smaller version "Little Book of Doodles."

19. I joined doodle Day May (which is now just called Doodle Day) and created 30 doodled pieces of art in the month of May (which is what inspired me to create my doodle books).

20. I contributed three stories to the Keepsakes anthology which will be out sometime in 2014.

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