Race to the Halfway Point

I have a few days left to finish up my Camp NaNoWriMo project, but my eyes are not on the 50k prize. I'm aiming to get a solid 25k out of this month. It's not a huge deal for me if I don't make it to 50k. I know that the story will get there, just not in this short of a time frame. Now if this was November, I might be a little upset that I didn't make it. After all, the bragging rights alone are something you can bring up year-round whenever people say to you, "So you're a writer? That must be a pretty easy job." Ugh. Go away, you people! (you know who you are)

I wanted to get everything straightened out writing-wise so that I could maybe, possibly find a way to get out of town for a few days in August. Then I laughed at myself for even having such a thought. But no vacation is good news for anyone following In Another Life. I posted a couple new chapters over the weekend, and I'm expecting to have the rest of it up over the next two weeks. I'm still not sure whether I want to hold back the ending or not, but it seems on WriteOn that fewer people read works in progress than those labeled completed. I get it--I was reading things on there, following along, and tons of writers only put up a couple of chapters then pull the whole thing. It can be frustrating.

Since I totally went bananas requesting titles through NetGalley and Penguin, I'm going to go read for awhile. One book down, only ten more to go. ;-)

What's Up for April

If you've been following the blog for awhile now, then you know what April means: National Poetry Month. Get excited! Okay, I know not all of you dig the free verse and iambic pentameter, so this year I'm not going to try and push any active participation. But I will be checking in often because I'm promising to do two things on my own to celebrate: read poetry and write poetry.

First, I'm going to make a point to read more poetry. Although I like it, I don't do it often enough. The titles I'm tackling in April include:

Quarter Life Poetry: Poems for the Young, Broke and Hangry by Samantha Jayne

The Scripture of the Golden Eternity by Jack Kerouac

Last Sext by Melissa Broder

Second, I'm going to make a point to write more poetry. I've set the goal of one poem per day for the month of April. I'm not going to restrict myself to certain forms or line counts, so whatever comes out--that's going to be considered a walk on the poetic wild side. Will I share any of them? I don't know. If they are really bad, I won't. If they are really good, I should probably save them for submission. The mediocre ones? We'll see. ;-)

By the end of the week I'll also have more chapters of In Another Life on WriteOn. I think there are two or three ready to go, so you have a few days to catch up before the new chapters are released. Luck you!

The Next Chapter is Live

For weeks I've been trying to get more chapters up of In Another Life. Yesterday I finally succeeded in getting one new chapter out there. But guess what? That was just the start. I spent Sunday evening going through all of the edits I did on paper months ago. I updated the chapters with the changes, changed some more things around after that and now they are ready for your eyes. I'll be uploading new chapters over the next couple of days. As always, feel free to let me know what works and what doesn't.

Cover Reveal: In Another Life

The first chapter for In Another Life will be uploaded to Write On next week, so I thought before I did that, I would give you the first sneak peek of the cover. This is a cover that I've been holding onto for a couple of years now, and I'm very glad that it's getting to see the light of day. 

What do you think? Does it make you want to pick it up and read a few chapters? If so, I can't wait to see you on Write On next week! Now I'm off to do more revisions and write the all-important blurb. 

2016: The Year of the Writer

I am not a person who thinks New Year's resolutions are a good idea. I've discussed this before--you may have motivation because it's a new calendar year, but by February there's nothing left to keep you going. Careers, however, need to have goals. And implementing goals at the beginning of the year can work if you plan well. I have a few goals so that 2016 will become the Year of the Writer in my book. Hopefully you'll come along with me on the journey.

In 2016 my goal is to...

Finally Publish In Another Life

I checked my keywords and I've been talking about this book on my blog since May 2013--at least with the title. I was probably talking about it long before that. The time has come to finally get the revisions into high gear and get it out there. I don't plan on rushing the process, but I think giving myself up to a year to get it out is more than enough time to make sure it's the best it can be.

And I'm going to need your help. I've used Amazon's Write On community to work on one book, and though that first experience was a little lacking, I want to try again with a different genre. When I start uploading the first few chapters, I will let you know and hopefully you'll check it out--and tell me exactly what you think is wrong with it! Criticism is  more than welcome. It's the only way any writer can get better and improve their craft.

Submit a Book to Kindle Scout

And my In Another Life goal leads to this one. I want to try my luck with Kindle Scout. I think that In Another Life could be a contender for a contract. But again, I'm going to have to call on my friends, fans and completely random readers to help.  I'm still studying the process and seeing what a book needs to win, but I'm finding out that a strong fan base is essential--so marketing is going to be a priority for me in 2016.

Resurrect My Neglected Blogs

I don't know if you know this, but I actually have five blogs. There's this one, Book Review Bin (book reviews), Ancestry Musings (genealogy), Showered in Beauty (wellness/beauty/fashion) and College Chronicles (my comic/graphic novel). All of them pertain to other creative outlets and interests of mine, but I haven't been updating them as often as I should. Some haven't been updated in months.

Not only will keeping these blogs a priority help me to keep writing every single day, these blogs could very well be another income stream. Although I haven't had any luck yet with my first Fiverr gig attached to Book Review Bin, I know that the only way I can make advertising, guest posting and other features lucrative is to provide useful information and be consistent to build an audience--and get that ever-important page rank up. Truths of a Shy Writer doesn't even earn income on a regular basis as a PR3 blog, but the occasional sponsored post does come up, along with getting free products in exchange for reviews (which significantly helps on the monthly budget). I realize that I need to offer much more to earn more, and that's just what I'm going to do.

Continue to Advocate for Better Treatment and Better Pay for Freelancers

This is a no-brainer. I don't make nearly enough money freelancing, even during the months when work is abundant. Publishing fiction independently doesn't bring in much more with a small reader base. I'm lucky enough to have help so I don't have to live in a cardboard box, but that help won't always be there. I want that feeling of true independence back--I miss having that.

It would shock most people to learn just how little writers make--even ones with name recognition.  So the only way to make sure that writers and other freelance creative services now and in the future get the pay they deserve is to keep speaking up about it. I'm also sticking to my vow to not take jobs that equal to well below minimum wage. It's been two years since I worked for anything less than $8/hr. It's not worth it to go below that with the skills and research I bring to the table, and it gives clients all over the world an easy excuse to continue mistreating freelancers.

I fully support the #FreelanceIsntFree movement that the Freelancers Union is working on. Even though most of the work the organization does typically benefits those in the New York City area directly, what's implemented there tends to sweep the country. So the sooner they get ahead, the better for everyone.

And speaking of support...

Along with the freelancer fight, I'm also going to promise to be a better reader. It takes a lot of courage to publish a book. And being on the receiving end of the occasional unhelpful review and ratings without a reason, I know that I need to be more active in leaving helpful reviews for authors, especially on Amazon. While Goodreads may help writers find a more niche audience to consider their work, Amazon is sort of the king for independent authors trying to make a sale. If I can help that with my review, I'll make a point to do that, and I won't hold back if the book simply isn't worth the time spent reading it.

This is just the start of making 2016 a great year to be a writer. There are so many other projects I have in the pipeline that I shouldn't have any excuse to slow down. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season and I'll see you again in 2016!

Scouting Kindle Scout, Phase 2: December is the Time to... Study?

While everyone may be getting time off from work and school in the last few weeks of 2015, I'll be diving into a bit of studying. It's all in the pursuit to examine the Kindle Scout process as thoroughly as I can. The best way I thought I could do that is to read one winner of a Kindle Scout contract and one that didn't win.

The Titles

The Standout by Laurel Osterkamp was the first nomination I made on Kindle Scout, and it was also the first one that received a contract. This one stood out to me because of its well-designed cover (it's hard to find those on Kindle Scout, unfortunately) and the synopsis seemed like an interesting plot. Who doesn't love a good psychological thriller? Though I did find out recently that it's not the first Robin Bricker novel (looks like the third, unless I missed one...) and getting into the middle of a series is not my favorite thing to do. However, if it's good, it will be able to stand on its own aside from the series.



My nomination for Autumn's End by Curtis Moser was submitted only a few weeks ago. While it didn't win a contract with Kindle Scout, I just couldn't resist seeing what happens to two teenage grave robbers and their quest to find a secret gold mine. What's misadventures will these two stir up?

What I'll Be Looking For

First and foremost, what I want to see from these titles is quality. I can excuse a typo here and there (trust me, plenty of traditionally published title have them too), but things like huge holes in the plot, too many static characters, or a really predictable ending are things that I can't always forgive.

I'll be posting my book reviews soon, and I hope that with this phase of my learning process, I'll be able to understand just what makes a book on this program stand out from the rest. Want to read along with me? If you find these books interesting and pick one (or both) up, I would love to hear your thoughts.

You can also check out my other Kindle Scout related posts, Kindle Scout and Write On -- Can These Programs Help Indie Authors? and Scouting Kindle Scout, Phase 1: The Nominations for more information on the program and my pursuit to understand it's intricacies.

Win a Copy of Melody of Love #bookgiveaway

This week's blog post will be short and simple. I'm hard at work on the second round of revisions for the novel, which up until now has been known as my 2014 NaNoWriMo project. Today I can start calling it by its official title: Seeing What Develops. Lots of little details are being worked on too, such as the blurb, the cover and getting it all ready to be uploaded to WriteOn.

While all that is going on, I thought I would treat everyone to a chance at winning their very own ebook copy of Melody of Love. You can enter below. Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway