Is This Thing On???

I was planning on releasing Meant To Be in August. Somehow, I got moving on it and it came out in May. Way before I had originally planned.

Since then, things have been going very well. The readers have put the book in the Top 100 of Amazon Family Saga since about the third day it’s been out. I am so grateful and astonished that so many people have fallen in love with Heaven Hill Series. I know I love it, but you never know how others will react and I’m humbled by the outpouring of support I’ve received for it. Humbled and extremely excited!!

On the other side of that, there have been people who didn’t love it so much and I appreciate that too. I think it’s made my writing process better and I hope you see an improvement in the next story. Granted, there are going to be people that never like it, but I’m good with that. I don’t love or like everything I read either. I respect that maybe this just isn’t some people’s cup of tea.

Coming up, I’m hoping to do some local signings. Myself and another author are looking to do something in Nashville and hopefully in our hometown of Bowling Green. I hope that some people would be interested in that!

Looking ahead, I’m going to have Heaven Hill #2 out in August. Not sure of the exact date yet, but I’m shooting towards the beginning half of the month.

Other than that, I’m working hard on the 4th story and a new series that I’m calling Rockin’ Country. Take the lead singer of a Hard Rock Band and have him fall in love with the reigning Queen of Country Music. It’s been a thrill ride for that series too.

I’m interested to know what you thought of Meant To Be if you read it and I look forward to connecting with readers and fans alike. Thanks for accepting me into the circle and I’m hoping for a good ending to a pretty amazing year so far!

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Make the day count....

Things are moving along in the plan that I have for this year. My goal is to publish the first novel of the Heaven Hill series Meant to Be in August. I don’t want to give an exact date. I’ve read the horror stories of other self-pub authors who gave a date and then it uploaded late to Amazon or B&N or Smashwords. So for right now, I’m just planning on it being August.

I emailed a cover artist and am pretty sure that I’ll be working with her in the near future. I emailed a couple and she seemed to be the only one that got what I was going for. When it’s official, I’ll link her up and everything. 

Now all I’ve got to do is finish the re-write and edits…then it will be going to the editor. I’ve been working really hard lately, doing my best to do something every day and not to let anything get to me.

Recently I was called selfish. It hurt me at the time, but now I understand that I am selfish. I’m selfish with my time and I’m selfish with my stories. I’m that way because I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and because I want to accomplish more. It’s not about being a ‘celebrity’ or being ‘famous’ – whatever people want to call it and however they want to interpret it. It’s simply about me wanting to do something for myself. It’s about me wanting to be able to support myself doing what I love.

If writing seemed like work, then it wouldn’t be something that I love to do. So really, I do this because it makes me feel better about me. I don’t need other people to tell me I’m good or they like what I’ve created. Yes, it makes me feel accomplished and puts a smile on my face, but this is about what I want to do. This is about what I’m doing to make a difference with my own life.

If there was one thing my Dad taught me. It was to have a dream.

My Dad always had a dream and he died before he could make it a reality – at 39.  He only had 8 more years than me on this earth and he always talked about making his dreams come true. He worked toward it yes, but he was never able to make that happen. I want badly to make my dreams come true….not only for me, but for him too. If I have to be selfish to do that – then I’m okay with it and I would hope that people who truly believe in me would understand that.

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My Business Plan

This is rough, pretty rough actually. The thing is, you can never predict how others are going to interpret your work and if they are willing to pay their hard earned dollars to buy something that you created. I'm counting that some people will...so this is what I've made for myself. It's very simple, but my wants and needs are also very simple.

2013

1. February and March

•  Re-write and revise ‘Meant to Be’ 

2. April

•  Start the professional revision process

3. May & June

•  Begin the cover art process 

• Format all different files 

4. July

•  Market the hell out of it 

5. August

•  Release ‘Meant to Be’ 

6. Rest of the year

•  I want to try to sell 500 copies before the end of the year. There will be a time where it will be free, but I want to sell 500 copies for whatever price I set it for. 

•  Get the next story ‘Out of Darkness’ ready to go for the first of the year 2014. 

Once I see how this goes – I will make the rest of the plan. My overall plan is to be working for myself doing this in the next 3-5 years.

This is my tentative plan and like I said earlier - you never can predict how this is going to go.  You can only work hard, hope, pray and dream!

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Motivation!

I’m finally beginning to feel like a real author. In all the times I’ve thought about and kinda tried to do this, it’s always been so daunting.  I told myself that this time, I was going to make it easier on myself.  I was going to find like-minded people and try not to be such a loner.

In saying that, I was invited Saturday to a meeting of the KIW group here in Kentucky.  They are the Kentucky Independent Writers.  To say it was mind boggling is an understatement. It gave me the motivation and the hope I needed. It showed me that this can be done. This was a room of people who have done this their own way. Some are published by companies and some are completely self-pubbed. Either way, this was a group of successful people who are breaking down doors and doing things the way they want to.

I walked out of that meeting with a completely different mindset. Instead of thinking of everything that I don’t know. I now have an idea of what I have to do and how much work this is going to be. Is it going to be hard work?  Yes.  Am I willing to put in that work? Yes.

After this meeting and the self-pub class I took last week, I now have a business plan. After all, writing for yourself is a business and should be treated as such. I’ll share that in my next blog post.

I have never been more excited about what the future is going to bring me with this endeavor. I know it’s going to be hard and I might not be successful, but then again I could be. I could be a six-figure earner in three years. No matter what – I’m gonna be happy and this is what does it for me!

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Writing is so Easy...

Writing is so Easy…..

Whoever says that is lying….

When I first started my journey, I did think it would be easy.  I’m not gonna lie.  I thought it would be just as simple as writing my books and then they would find their way to wherever it was they needed to go.  I’ve learned in the last year that I was so, so, so wrong.

Like I said in an earlier post, I’ve signed up for a self-publishing class and read some editing articles that were in a previous class a friend of mine took.  They’ve changed my life as far as being a writer and getting my whole story together.

The self-publishing class is bringing to focus a lot of things that I had honestly no idea I would need to know. It’s good though. I have lists upon lists of things that I need to get done. This first time is going to take forever, it’s going to be a little haphazard, it’s going to be very frustrating. Until I get into a groove and this isn’t so much about learning as doing, this is going to be hard. Nothing ever comes easy that we appreciate, so I’m looking forward to working hard for this. It will make it that much sweeter when I do get my book out there for others to read.

Right now I’m doing a lot of, what I like to call, busy work. I was given some character sheets to help with setting the scene and keeping everything straight. I’ve been working on those for a couple of days and think I’ll be working on them for a couple more. In the long run it’s going to be very beneficial for me and looking back I should have done it this way to begin with. Would have made the writing so much easier…(hehe)

So my goals for this coming week.

- Finish my character sheets.

- Start on location sheets.

- Continuing writing 500 words a day.

I’m going to keep pushing forward, keep persevering every day, and just keep working towards my goal. I will get there and when I do….I’m gonna shout it from the rooftops!

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Checking In....

Checking In

I started off the year making a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish with my writing. My main goal was to make something happen. After the past year, I know that things don’t just happen out of the blue for anyone. You have to actively work at it and that’s what I’m doing – actively working to make my dreams come true. It’s different now because I now know what doesn’t work. I’m ready to try other things that might possibly work.

So far, in the first 7 days of 2013 I’ve done enough to feel accomplished....

1. I got an invite to the Kentucky Independent Writers group meeting in Lexington on the 19^th. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be able to make it. I’m excited about the prospects of going to this meeting.

2. I started a self-publishing class yesterday.  I’m hoping to learn a lot about the industry as a whole because I have a lot of questions about how to really go about doing this. And most importantly, doing it right the first time.

3. I’ve kept my resolution of writing 500 words a day so far!

I found some interesting articles that gave step-by-step instructions on how to self-edit and do a few other things for myself that traditionally others would do. Therefore, I’m going back and doing what I realize I should have done before. I’m going to learn the craft and what all I need to do in order to become successful.

I’ve had some missteps along the way and I’m learning as I go. It’s frustrating at times and I feel like I go around in circles sometimes, but there are moments when I do take large steps forward. I feel like I’m there at this point. I’m taking a large step forward and a huge leap of faith.

Nobody ever accomplished anything by staying complacent; dreams have always been achieved by doing.  That’s the phase I’m in right now…the doing phase. Everything else will fall into place. I just have to keep my head up and keep moving forward.

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am for this year!

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2013 Goals

2013 Goals

At the beginning of 2012 I had one goal as far as writing went – to just do it. To get words down on paper and to construct the world that would eventually become Heaven Hill. I had so many ideas that I just had to get out of my head. I wrote with no abandon and eventually had 3 full novels. It felt good to finally accomplish something that I set out to do. I’ve always been that person who talks about doing things, but never does them.  Last year that changed. In more ways than one.

So 2013…

1.    I am going to do something with the novels I wrote. I’m going to learn everything I can about self-publishing and make an endeavor. That is my major goal this year. To learn what I can about the business and then ‘start my own’ so to speak. I have plans and ideas about how I can accomplish this. But really, the first thing I need to do is to become a student. Learn from everyone else who has been through this already.

2.    I need to make my stories that I wrote so quickly last year the best that they can be. This will mean a bit more editing and some formatting issues, but I’m ready for the challenge. Last year was about being able to write. This year is about being able to share that with others.

3.    I also have a goal of writing 500 words a day. In between all the ‘starting my own business’ and making my writing the best it can be, I can’t lose my groove. Without words on paper, I have nothing to show. It’s also my stress relief. When I don’t write…I’m irritable and nobody in my family likes me irritable! 

It’s all a very delicate balancing act. One I hope to be able to accomplish and be successful at. With the support of everyone around me, I know that I can do it!  I’m excited for the year to come and all the new things I’m going to learn!

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Big Plans for 2013

In 2012 I did some amazing things.  I finished 3...you read that right 3 novels!  All for a series I have coined Heaven Hill.

It's about a MC (motorcycle club) located in Bowling Green, KY and the women who love those dangerous men.

For the first time in my life, I really do think I have something that other people would like to read..  It still needs a little bit of work, but I'm really proud of it.  I'm proud of what I've accomplished and hope to continue to accomplish throughout this coming year.

As I was writing, I hemmed and hawed over whether I had made the right decision in wanting to self-publish or not.  I went back and forth with it for a good portion of the year, especially after I finished my first novel.  I consulted with family and friends to see what everyone thought.  They were all kind of split down the middle, pretty much a 50/50.

Today though, it came to my attention about some of the internet publishing companies (some of them being ones I had looked at) haven't paid authors in a good long while.  Not to mention when authors signed those contracts to get their books published, they lost the rights to their books.  I don't ever want to lose the right to my words.  So....after much more thought than I imagined possible, I'm going with self-publishing.

That means I have a LOT of work to do in the New Year, but I'm ready for it. Hopefully this will be the year that you can get one of my books on your Kindle or Nook!

That's the goal...and I'll be blogging my way through it here...follow along if you're interested!

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