Hello 2016!

It's officially the New Year, so I'm excited about what's coming up in my writing career. A lot of it is still in the planning stages, but I'm trying to find a way to keep myself accountable for daily word counts and give myself reasonable deadlines to get things done. I need something between a day planner and a robot that smacks me when I stop writing. I'll keep working on that...

As usual, I take a little bit of time at the beginning of each year to reintroduce myself to any new readers of this blog that have jumped on this wild ride. I'm all over social media if you want the latest up-to-date information (last year's post is still relevant, so I won't repost all of that). I'm working hard on making my other blogs just as interesting and fun as this one, starting with Showered in Beauty. If you want to see the side of me that gets all nerdy about makeup, fashion and food (99% healthy, of course 😉), then please stop by regularly--or better yet, go ahead and follow the blog so you'll never miss a post.

And I've saved the best news for last: the haiku collection Unfolding Life has been officially uploaded and is available through the Kobo store. So if you own a Kobo and want some poetry to read, go for it. You'll be glad you did.

I hope 2016 is starting out on an amazing note for everyone. I know mine is!

Death to (Most) Deadlines

Deadlines are a great tool for getting things done. But do they really help when they are picked at random? I've been talking for a few weeks about the writing calendar I put together for the end of the year. I had scheduled work for five different writing projects on it. I set firm deadlines for revising and even releasing some of the projects. But what did these deadlines mean when it came to the day it was to be something great and it just wasn't there yet?

Arbitrary deadlines don't help writing. I know that traditionally published authors probably have firm deadlines that can't be changed, but these people have a team backing them up. Indie authors don't always have that kind of support for each project (but kudos to the ones who do!). I know that my team of people I lean on is quite small, and they are not always available for every project. That just means I have to work harder to survive in the indie landscape. And that's why I'm declaring death to those deadlines I set. My five projects are not to the point where I would want them to be, and I'm not going to rush the process.

I did promise a novella written, revised and published by the end of October. That's not happening. I tried my best, but now I realized every project has it's own growth and development. Melody of Love was my success story--a novella written, revised and published within three weeks. Looking at that pace now, it seems crazy. For this followup novella, that pace just couldn't be kept. And since it is Halloween-themed, this novella won't see the light of day for another year. And that's totally okay.

I'm all for putting the pressure on to get a good product, but if a deadline doesn't feel right, don't force yourself to release something that just isn't ready. It won't help your writing career or the reputation of indie authors.