IWSG: The Goal Achieving Edition (#20)

Insecure Writers' Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't they?  
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

That's right. I made a New Year's Resolution back in January and I just reached it! I set out to write 93,500 words of fiction for the year and reached 93,692 just last Saturday. I know it's not a lot of written words for the average writer who probably writes twice that in any given year, but it is a lot for me.

It honestly wasn't that hard to achieve, which is why I set it. I knew if I just wrote a few hundred words a day, I would make it, so that's what I did. I couldn't write every single solitary day, but most of the time I wrote more than just a few hundred words, so skipping some days was easy to do.

I also am finally writing a new original story that doesn't make me lose sleep at night. I find most of my manuscripts give me insomnia and make my life miserable for some reason, but my current work-in-progress is not provoking anxiety in me. All I can say is "YAY!" to that because this has been a problem for over a year now. I'm just so thrilled to be writing something I don't have to freak out over and can hope to actually finish and publish. (God-willing, right?)

It's nice to have some writing victories for a change! Onwards to 2016 and that '1 million words' lifetime word count! Are any of you finally conquering some of your writing demons for a change?

IWSG: The Sick Edition (#19)

Insecure Writers' Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't they?  
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

 

 

Sorry for the long absence from IWSG! It has been four months since my last confession post, but I'm trying to find reasons to join in on the blog hop again.

 

My insecurity comes from having spent the last two to three months being sick with everything you can think of, making writing a very difficult thing to do regularly. I haven't fallen behind on my word count goal for the year (thankfully), but it's discouraging feeling like I'm going to get better soon so I can write more regularly, and then discovering that I get sick with something else, again.

 

It does seem like my health is improving now, so I might truly be able to keep up with a regular writing schedule. It's Tuesday night as I write this, and I managed to write about 1,000 words on Monday and around 600 today, so far. Hopefully, this trend keeps up. As a writer, I need to be able to do what I'm supposed to be doing, which is to write. Being constantly ill and unable to get any writing done for a prolonged period is a surefire way to overcome writer apathy/evasion. ;)

 

Also, my writing partner Lan Chan just published her FIRST novel ever, Poison, only yesterday! She's really going places. Please go check it out if you at all love Young Adult dystopia fiction and the kind of gritty action from The Hunger Games. It won't disappoint!

 

Since the night her mother was murdered, sixteen-year-old Rory Gray has known one truth: There are no good Seeders. In post-apocalyptic Australia, the scientists known as Seeders have built a Citadel surrounded by food-producing regions and populated with refugees from the wars and famine. To maintain their control, the Seeders poisoned the land and outlawed the saving of seeds. It’s been six years since Rory graced the Seeders’ circus stage as the Wind Dancer and still the scars on her body haven’t healed. Even worse are the scars on her heart, left by a Seeder boy who promised to protect her. Now the Seeders are withholding supplies from Rory’s region for perceived disobedience. Utilizing the Wanderer knowledge she received from her mother, Rory must journey to the Citadel through uninhabitable terrain to plead for mercy. However, the Citadel isn’t as Rory remembered. The chief plant geneticist is dying and rumors fly that the store of viable seed is dwindling. The Seeders are desperate to find a seed bank they believe Rory can locate, and they will stop at nothing to get it. To defy the Seeders means death. But Rory has been close to death before--this time she’s learned the value of poison. 

Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, strong protagonists, circuses and nature!

 

Poison (Wind Dancer, #1) is only $3.99 at Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon AUS | Smashwords | Kobo

 

New Book Release! Poison by Lan Chan

Today, my writing partner, Lan Chan, is celebrating the release of her first novel, Poison (Wind Dancer, #1)! Yay! I'm so excited for her, as we have both been working on developing our writing craft and skills for years together. She is finally ready to plunge into the world of self-publishing and embark on a new chapter in her life as an author of fiction. (Also, isn't this cover gorgeous?)

Since the night her mother was murdered, sixteen-year-old Rory Gray has known one truth: There are no good Seeders. In post-apocalyptic Australia, the scientists known as Seeders have built a Citadel surrounded by food-producing regions and populated with refugees from the wars and famine. To maintain their control, the Seeders poisoned the land and outlawed the saving of seeds. It’s been six years since Rory graced the Seeders’ circus stage as the Wind Dancer and still the scars on her body haven’t healed. Even worse are the scars on her heart, left by a Seeder boy who promised to protect her. Now the Seeders are withholding supplies from Rory’s region for perceived disobedience. Utilizing the Wanderer knowledge she received from her mother, Rory must journey to the Citadel through uninhabitable terrain to plead for mercy. However, the Citadel isn’t as Rory remembered. The chief plant geneticist is dying and rumors fly that the store of viable seed is dwindling. The Seeders are desperate to find a seed bank they believe Rory can locate, and they will stop at nothing to get it. To defy the Seeders means death. But Rory has been close to death before--this time she’s learned the value of poison. 

Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, strong protagonists, circuses and nature!

*Pick up your copy at Smashwords / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon AUS
 

Happy 4th of July & Checking-in with Goals

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Besides acknowledging my country's day of declared independence, I figured it was also a great opportunity for me to check-in with myself to see how I'm doing on my New Year's writing resolution/goals. Now that the year is officially HALF over (that was fast!), I need to see how I'm doing on this front.

So far, I have written 55,287 words since January 1st, 2015. For me, and I stress the word "me," this is pretty amazing. I've never written so many words within the first six months of any year, so that is an accomplishment. My goal is to reach a minimum of 93,000 words by the end of the year, so I can see that I'm already slightly more than half-way to that goal at the half-way point of the year, so I'm on-track to meet it.

Although, I admit I've been slacking off on my writing as of late. June was a horrendous month for me and I was sick with strep throat. I'm still trying to completely get over that, but I think I can get some writing done now. Hopefully, I can at least do that for the remainder of the week and I'll just have to see how next week shapes up.

Perhaps I'll check in with myself again at the 3/4-mark of the year. I suppose there's nothing like checking in on yourself to motivate you to keep up with your yearly goals.


How is everyone else doing with their yearly writing goals?
 

Once Upon a Nightmare BLOG TOUR - Author Cherie Reich

An Excerpt from Cherie Reich’s Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection

“Are y’all really going?” Denise glanced from James to Cassie to Mary. How dare they consider leaving me in the truck alone! It was so unfair. All of her good spirit and fun for driving around evaporated like morning dew under a hot sun. She stomped her foot. Stupid, piece of shit truck had gotten them into this mess. She pounded her foot against the floor again for good measure. A huff of frustration burst from her lips. “I’m not going.”

“I definitely am.” James buttoned his coat. “Y’all shouldn’t come along.”

“I’m walking. There’s no way around it.” Cassie zipped up her winter coat.

“I’m coming too,” Mary said.

Denise stared at them. They’d lost their freakin’ minds. Mary didn’t have proper shoes to go hiking. Only Cassie was appropriately clothed for a December walk. “We’ll freeze to death out there!”

“We’ll freeze in here too.” Cassie sighed. “Walking will at least keep us warmer than sitting in the truck.”

“We could turn the heat on.” Denise pointed to the air vents.

“It’s almost on E.” James tapped the gas gauge. “Don’t know how much longer the engine’ll run. If somethin’ is seriously wrong with the truck, we shouldn’t start it up.”

“We can’t just sit here.” Mary bounced in the seat. “Denise, we all have to go. Please.”

“Let’s face the facts.” Cassie turned toward Denise and held up one finger. “No one knows where we are.” She added a second finger. “The cell phones don’t work here. We have to move and try them elsewhere.” She put up a third finger. “It’s cold out, and we’ll freeze just as much in the truck as we will outside. We have to go now.”

“Do you have reason number four and five too?” Denise couldn’t keep the snide tone from her voice. She knew she was outnumbered. Did she want to stay in the vehicle by herself? Hell no! She flung her hands up, almost smacking both James and Mary in the process. “Fine! Let’s leave, but this is a bad idea.” 

 A monster hunts us. After hibernating for a decade, it’s ravenous. We long to stop this nightmare, but the end of the road is far. There is no waking up once a legend sets its sights on you. 


Purchase Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection by Cherie Reich at Amazon. From June 22-28, the collection is only $0.99!

________________________

Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction author and library assistant living in Virginia. Visit her website and blog for more information.

Self-Publishing and Taxes

I've been thinking about taxes, still, even a month after the issue of taxes is sort of out of our collective minds. Since I have yet to publish any sort of fiction in any way, I was wondering how authors who self-publish have to declare their taxes.

From what I understand, but I'm really not sure, self-published authors are considered self-employed. This is what I can make of things from a little research I've done on the topic. Those of you with experience can tell me, so please do! When you self-publish, you really are expected to figure out and pay your own taxes, right?

It also make me wonder what traditionally published authors have to do with their royalty earnings. Are traditional authors self-employed, too? I'm thinking they're not, but that would be really cool to know, as well.

IWSG: New Pen Name Edition? (#18)

Insecure Writers' Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't they?  
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

I know it's been months since I've been regularly publishing blog posts, but I'm still alive! I've been writing, just like I said I was going to for my New Year's Resolution post. Since I made it a very easy-to-follow resolution, it's been 'cake' keeping up with it. I pretty much write everyday, although, because I get so far out ahead of my word count pace, I can afford to take some days off. It's pretty cool, and I've never been able to get myself to stick with a regular writing plan before, until now. So, I'm very happy with that. *silently celebrates* 

But, of course, I still have insecurities. Lots of them. Too many, like what do I blog about on a writing blog as an unpublished author? Since I can't ever come up with anything to blog about, hence my most recent post being published back in January, I just rarely do anymore. What is there to even say? "Hey guys, I'm writing.... Writing still.... Still writing.... Thought y'all might be dying to know I'm STILL WRITING." Uh... I just don't think anyone really wants to know about my boring life so badly.

Anyway, besides all this anxiety and angst over blog writing, I've been having serious issues with being able to fathom publishing my horrid stories. I typically never finish any of them, but that's sort of why I don't. Because I know they will be read by real super mean people one day, and because of how bad they are, those people will either lose all respect for me, or tear me a new one for deigning to make them waste a few hours of their life on my drivel.

On top of that, this anxiety is the kind that keeps me awake all night. I'm not exaggerating about that. When I write something I intend to publish one day, I get insomnia really bad. Like, REALLY BAD. The kind that will kill you if it even keeps up for a full week. The kind that makes you go insane for real. So, you can see how averse I am to finishing anything I write.

This, naturally, makes me ponder, "What is my life?" I can't be an author for a living as per my dream if this keeps up. Should I just quit? Probably. But, I thought about different scenarios of not quitting, and the only thing that seemed to greatly relieve my anxiety was the idea of publishing under a pen name. Yes. Because I can't put crap into this world with readers knowing it came from me (and, no, I don't write erotica, or anything like that. I just write crappy YA that embarrasses me). I do think I'll be able to do it so long as they believe me to be someone who doesn't actually exist.

I think one day, after years and years more of writing, I might be able to write books that don't make me or other people cringe, but, in the meantime, I can make a few bucks a month off some unsuspecting readers who either don't mind reading low-quality crap, or who just won't realize what they've gotten themselves into until it's too late. I'll keep the costs of producing the books very, very low and just see what happens. I know plenty of books have fared surprisingly well and are worse than mine. Might as well do it and see what it's like to be able to sleep at night, again.

So, assuming I actually do this in the future, I'll mention it, but won't let any of you know what the books' titles will be, nor the name I'll be using to publish them under. Unless you are going to be helping me edit the stories (although, they aren't going to be painstakingly edited), I need to keep everyone's awareness of my connection to them at a strict minimum.

Drastic times call for drastic measures. I'm sorry to those who will hate me for inflicting more crap onto the self-publishing world, but there's no law against doing it and sometimes, even those bad authors make a buck or two. That extra income will be very helpful as I've got credit card debt to get rid of. In a perfect world, I'd be writing at the level I want to be right now and publishing best sellers, but we all know that quantum reality is just too out-of-phase for me to reach. Someday, though. Maybe someday.

Have you ever published under a pen name? If so, why and how was your experience with it?

Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection on SALE!

A monster hunts us. After hibernating for a decade, it’s ravenous. We long to stop this nightmare, but the end of the road is far. There is no waking up once a legend sets its sights on you.

Disappearances every ten or so years make little impact on the small town of New Haven, Virginia. Hikers get lost. Hunters lose the trail. Even when a body is discovered, the inhabitants’ memories last about as long as the newspaper articles. No one connects the cases.

No one notices the disappearances go back beyond Civil War times. No one believes a legendary monster roams the forests in Southwestern Virginia.

I don’t either until the truck breaks down on an old mountain trail. Cell phones won’t work in this neck of the woods. It’s amazing how much a person can see by starlight alone. So what if we can’t feel our fingers or toes as we hike toward the main road. How many more miles left to go?

Crrraaack!

Hear that noise?

Purchase Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection by Cherie Reich at Amazon. The ebook is on sale for $0.99 until April 30th.

Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction author and library assistant living in Virginia. Visit her website and blog for more information.

New Year's Resolution

This award is so perfect for me! I didn't make this, but I decided to bestow it upon myself, nonetheless. I am definitely the type of writer inclined to be slow. So, with a new year and the tradition to start a new path that is better than the old one from last year, I've decided to set an intention to write everyday.

I realized that if I were to write at least 300 words a day for the entire year, I would have over 100,000 words completed by the end of the year. That's not hard! That's so doable, so this is what I'm intending to do for the year of 2015. 100,000 words written is great for one year, especially for a slowpoke like me. Maybe I'll be able to make this award not apply to me anymore.

The most important trick to making this work is to set a low word count that is so easy to meet everyday, there's no excuse not to do it. Like brushing your teeth twice a day, which takes so little time and reaps huge benefits compared to never doing it. Also, write any sort of fiction, even if it's just free-writing or fanfiction. It all counts toward your overall word count goal for the year, and you can worry about writing a best seller later. Most of what we write as fiction authors never sees the light of day, anyway, so just write!

Happy New Year to everyone! 

Any New Year's Resolutions for you writers out there?