IWSG: The New Year's Resolution Edition (#21)

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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! It's a little late, but there it is. I suppose we're all still adjusting to the fact that it's already January 2016. Like, how are we supposed to digest that? It's as if time keeps chugging away and I'm still trying to get out of bed in the morning.

Anyway, I want to do another New Year's Resolution for 2016, like how I did for 2015. Again, I intend to set a general word count of 100,000 words for the year, but I really intend to add a couple more resolutions that are a bit more challenging than that. (Gotta keep upping the ante, right?)

First off, I'm resolving to finish a first draft of a new novel I have been planning out recently. I started my goal on January 1st, so I'm already going at now. It should only be about 60,000 words long, perhaps a bit longer. It is, thankfully, an intentionally short novel for the genre I'm writing (Adult contemporary Austen romance).

Then--and this is the hard part--I am resolving to publish the book myself this year! As in self-publish! I know, right? Me, actually publish a book for real? That's like, insanely something I've never managed to do ever before. How can I ever hope to pull this off? It's only a silly dream of mine, right?

Well, I intend to make the dream a reality. So, add to my list of resolutions to actually publish a novel before the year is over. I don't even care when I do it, as long as it is by the 31st of December 2016. It's technically still this year, so it'll do. Can't get too picky about hard goals, now. 

I don't have any high expectations for it, either. I hope to do most of the production myself, although I might need a cover artist. I don't expect anyone to read it or even like it (the genre has a small audience, anyway). I just want to finally publish a book and be a real author! Then, I can get on to writing and publishing my second book....

What's your New Year's Resolution, assuming you have one? You do have one, don't you?

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