Mah Goals – wc 16/12

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Ileandra Young

Raven is crazy. It makes sense – we do, after all, have the same views on these things :p – but explaining it to my family is taking some work.

hourglass image in black and whiteAnother week another dime. Yet again, it’s another of those weeks when, with a blink, all seven days are gone and I’m back to where I started. I feel like time is going quicker now. Do you feel that? Like we’re counting down to something big, but instead of time slowing, it’s going faster? I don’t mean Christmas, though that is nice of course. I’m not sure what it is.

I haven’t had the results from my blood tests yet, so I’m guessing they haven’t found anything major. I will need to give them a buzz at some point though; just to chase them up. I hate waiting, you see.

Last Week

Had a great feel to it. Got to see a friend I’ve not seen for a while as well as wrapping and buying more presents. I really shouldn’t go crazy, but I can’t help it. There are so many nice things out there I want to buy for people, I’m probably going to have another of those years where I buy myself one thing and that’s it! Not that such a thing is a problem; Dave is buying me a totally AWESOME present! ^_^

Complete my current transcript; it’s a good 40mins left of a three-voice interview, so it will be tough. But if I can get it done, I’ll be looking good.
Done! One more to go.

Try again with 1,000 words of ‘Bill.’
Heh, that’s more Raven than me. Maybe she should have her own set of goals. :p Yes, this has been done. By hand, since she freaked out in Caffe Nero, worried that everybody could see she was writing dirty things on the laptop screen. Funny really, since she doesn’t normally sweat that stuff.

Write up draft of ‘Just Desserts’ I wrote in Nero’s last week and complete it.
All done. Now it needs a real bashing to get it into a form suitable for submission.

Make final changes (based on feedback) for anthology offering and then put it to one side ready for exterior editing.
Sorted. At last. I’m not touching that again; it’s ready to be externally edited now. ^_^

Come up with backup plan for ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ cover art.
Another one for Raven. :p Done. Though the hard part is deciding whether the new plan is better than the original.

Leave SORB alone! Don’t change it, don’t mess with it, nothing!
Sorted. It’s getting easier to forget about it too; I have so much other stuff on to worry about. So that’s good. ^_^

It’s getting closer to Christmas too. Next week If I recall my calendar correctly. And also Dave’s birthday. MEEP! So… I guess what I should be doing is tying together the last few things I wanted to do before the three day hiatus next week. Hmm….

Goals For This Week

  • Get the last transcript done. Draw a line under it, baby!
  • Check daily for paid gubbins.
  • Finish draft of ‘Bill’ (I’m not far off, I should be able to do that).
  • Start re-reading Slippers & Chains to decide what needs to happen next.
  • Take a look at just desserts story (working title I Need A Break) and make general notes about editing plans.
  • Leave SORB alone! Don’t change it, don’t mess with it, nothing!

Sorted.

I hope you’re all working towards your goals. The end of the year is in sight, I would love you to be able to say, with pleasure and pride that you’ve achieved everything you set out to this year. And if not, well that gives you some quick goals to kick off the new year.

Laterz!
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I’ve Decided… Something Slightly Crazy

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Raven ShadowHawk

I’ve had a great week. Über productive and filled with fun things. Getting work done at a fantastic rate and seeing work progress on the Meeting Each Other series that gives me warm fuzzy feelings as time goes on. 2014 is going to be AWESOME!

But until then…

If you’re not sure what that has to do with anything, take a look at this post by Ileandra. Now… this video is Bo confirming that yes, his latest offering is out next week (SQUEE!) and yes, it’s free.

Yes. Free.

If I understand him right (I may  not, I have my moments, but I think I understand), Bo has financed his latest tour himself and, instead of making buckets of money off it, as he no doubt could, has decided to GIVE AWAY THE SPECIAL VERSION OF THE TOUR FOR FREE.

You’ll be able to find it on YouTube and Netflix for the round, beautiful price of CRAP ALL. Nothing. Nadda. Ziltch. FREE!

Yes, if you want, you can buy a recorded version from iTunes, that’s on pre-order now. But a lot of the what. tour is visual humour.  You NEED to see it. So this is… this is an incredible gift to his fans that they don’t even have to pay for. It’s a Christmas present, that’s what it is. I for one want to say:

Thank you note! openlcipartBut it made me think.

I don’t expect to make buckets of money from what I do. 1) I’m not as talented as Bo but 2) doing so from writing is so hit and miss. You can be epic and talented and totally deserve it (JK Rowling) or you can get freaking lucky in ways that not even the smartest of us can understand (E L James). But my luck doesn’t run that way. I’m middling. I’ll never get run over by a car or hit by train, but I won’t win the lottery either. That sort of thing.

Anyway, knowing that, I thought about what I’m actually trying to do with my books. What am I doing? I’m telling stories. I’m sharing. I just want people to read what I wrote and, hopefully enjoy it. So… this is what I’ve decided.

‘Vicki & Lara’ and subsequent stories from the ‘Meeting Each Other’ series released on Smashwords as ebooks are free. FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

This should go into effect as soon as Smashwords updates from my instructions on the dashboard. Free!

Use the coupon code MM79V at the checkout to get a 100% discount on ‘Vicki & Lara’!

Unfortunately I can’t do the same over at Amazon; I’m not allowed to list the ebook as free without enlisting it in the KDP Select programme. And since doing so means that I have to take the book off Smashwords (making in inaccessible to anyone without a Kindle!) I’ve listed it there as low as it can possibly go. That’s the best I can do (when I figure out how to do the same there I’ll do it too).

Besides, if you want to give me money, then by all means, buy the Amazon version. I certainly won’t complain. :p But free… if you want the gift of my ebook, then please, visit Smashwords. Get it from there. It’s available there in all formats (even .mobi for you Kindle lovers) meaning you can get it without giving Amazon any of your hard-earned pennies (they don’t deserve it – more than Kobo, perhaps, but not as much as you do).

Phew! Okay… now I feel festive. Have some snow, confetti, presents and other festive shit.

yellow smilie face in santa hat from openclipart.com

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Mah Goals – wc 09/12

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Ileandra Young

It’s Monday again! Blimey that went fast. I don’t even feel my week touch the sides any more (yes, that’s a jumbled metaphor) I just blink and all seven days have gone.

ill woman in bed with thermometer from open clipart.comIt’s been a bit of a weird week too. Two nights ago was *counts* the sixth time I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with a gurgling stomach, itching palms and a burning need to visit the loo (TMI?). My body is reacting to something I’m eating or drinking to the point that I can’t sleep and I’m really, really ill. And I just can’t figure out what it is.

Going to have to start keeping a food diary or something because I don’t know how much more of it I can take. My doctor took a tonne of blood tests last week so hopefully *fingers crossed* there will be some information in that I can use to help me out. All I need to know is what food/additive I need to stop eating. I promise, I’ll even do it! So long as I stop feeling like crap (seemingly) once a fortnight. *sigh*

Getting stuff done though, despite the cough and general ‘icky’ feeling, has been good.

Last Week

Clown juggling coloured balls from open clip art .comComplete at least half a transcript
Completed one, started another. Feeling good.

Finish editing ‘Send In The Clowns’ or whatever I chose to call it and enter it to a competition
I sent it to Flash500. Feels like a bit of a cop out, but I couldn’t really be bothered to find somewhere else. I know, I know, that will learn me, right? >.<

Finish final line edits on ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ ready to send for proofing
Done, but I need to make a final decision about title before I let it go.

Write another 1,000 (at least) of ‘Bill’
Yeeeeeeeeah… no. Got distracted. 😦

Check my usual sites (daily) for some paid work
Yep. Got an article down and set off. So that’s good news.

I have a lot to do this month. Looking back at last week’s post has just made me realise that. Ooops. So I need to step it up a notch in order to get everything done. Let’s see….

Goals For This Week

  • Complete my current transcript; it’s a good 40mins left of a three-voice interview, so it will be tough. But if I can get it done, I’ll be looking good.
  • Try again with 1,000 words of ‘Bill.’
  • Write up draft of ‘Just Desserts’ I wrote in Nero’s last week and complete it.
  • Make final changes (based on feedback) for anthology offering and then put it to one side ready for exterior editing.
  • Come up with backup plan for ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ cover art.
  • Leave SORB alone! Don’t change it, don’t mess with it, nothing!

There.

Now… you may remember at the beginning of November I was celebrating the incredible milestone of 500 posts to this blog. If not, see here. Well, the give-away I was running has had several extra days, however there hasn’t been as much interest as I was hoping for. So, unfortunately, I think, at this time I’ll hold onto those books and give them away at another time. Don’t worry though, as time progresses I’ll have more things to give away and fun events to be involved with, so keep an eye on this space.

Until then, have a great week and I’ll see you all at the other end of it. MWAH!
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What’s Next?

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Raven ShadowHawk

Good question. Ileandra finished her NaNoWriMo at a speed I envy greatly. Not that I couldn’t write that many words in so short a time, but mainly that my pieces tend to run shorter and therefore don’t give me the opportunity to try. At the moment, though I admit that might change, writing erotica, for me, doesn’t stretch much further beyond 40,000 words. That’s a little short of a NaNoWriMo novel, isn’t it?

Meh.

‘Vicki & Lara‘ is out and being enjoyed and ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ (yes, it’s still a working title until I decide between the three I’m playing with) is on it’s way to my proofreader and formatter. ‘Bill’ (another working title) is in first draft.

But 2013 is rapidly drawing to a close. 2014 is just around the corner. I need to decide what I want to do in the coming months to ensure that things keep rolling. Well….

Slippers & Chains… a project I was posting (as Ileandra, yes I’ll fix that; she can’t take the credit for my words!) to the blog as video readings. That’s the next project. I’m going to spend some time working through this tale of Karen and Daniel’s relationship to discover where it wants to take me. The piece is a novella, I don’t expect it to run beyond 40k, but there are three novellas brewing in my mind. ‘Put them all together and that’s a novel,’ you say. You’re right of course, but in my mind, each story is a separate section of their lives and needs it’s own love and care to be told correctly. Guess we’ll have to see how we go.

Basically, I’m saying that in the coming months you can (and should – poke me if they don’t materialise) updates and teasing snippets of what’s going on with that story as well as cover reveals and quote art.

In other news…

Vicki & Lara piece in Writing Magazine

Yes… it’s meeeeeee!

How awesome is that?! Opened up my copy of Writing Magazine on Monday and it fell open to this page. Admittedly I saw Lucy first, but then I saw me and did the mad-squee-dance of joy around the living room. Much to the amusement (sprog2) and distress (sprog1) of my boys. It’s not the best photo I could have taken – excuse my shadow – but it does show the detail.

And one more thing… Ileandra has goals every week which often includes what she’s planning to do to earn a bit of money for the month. That’s great if you ask me, that puts food in both of our mouths. But I also feel that I should be doing something to contribute too. My presence on this blog is becoming stronger all the time and I’m going to use that to help us both.

In the new year I should be able *fingers crossed* to announce my contribution to ‘feeding the household’ with a new project to run alongside Ileandra’s.

Yes it’s a tease. What can I say, it’s what I do. 😛

You want to know more? Stay tuned.

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Mah Goals – wc 02/12 and November Roundup

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Ileandra Young

blank calendar from OpenClipArtI love the feeling at the beginning of a new month. The feeling of promise and excitement. The feeling that the next batch of bills are far enough away that I don’t need to worry about them for a bit. :p

I’ve had a mad November. Quiet in terms of getting lots of different things done, but as far as achieving goals goes it’s been wonderful.

I don’t seem to have a clear list of what I wanted to achieve in November, so I can’t check back against it. But this is what I have done in the last 30 days:

  • Completed NaNoWriMo (in 11 days) and the completed ‘first’ draft of this latest version of Silk Over Razor Blades (SORB) in 22 days.
  • Maintained this blog with only one entry missed
  • Written a short story with intent to enter it to an anthology
  • Written two pieces of flash fiction with intent to enter them to competitions
  • Written two blog entries for the Phoenix Writers (one for main group, one for subs group)
  • Achieved more sales of ‘Vicki & Lara’ strangers as well as family and friends
  • Made a good start on the next ‘Meeting Each Other’ story (about 1,000 words in)
  • Completed half of fine line edits for ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ (it will have a better title) in preparation for Jan 31 release

Phew! Considering all I wanted to do was write a novel, that makes me very happy indeed! And that’s just writing stuff, it doesn’t include other things like making meetings, networking, skating and of course, caring for my two beautiful boys. I’m so thrilled with how much I’ve managed to do this much; I just hope it’s not leading me to burn out.

Last Week

Draft and post blog entry for Phoenix Writer’s Subs Club
Done. You can see it here if you’re so inclined.

Continue first draft of ‘Bill’ that I started on Saturday
Yep. Got another 500 words down.

Edit contribution to anthology and decide which direction to take the ending (darker? lighter?)
Yep. Sorted out the issue I was having with names as well. That make me feel better.

Double check edits for ‘Carol, Niall &1 Lin’ and prepare to for proofing and formatting
Half way there.

Leave SORB alone! Don’t change it, don’t mess with it, nothing!
I know it’s an odd goal, but if I don’t make a conscious effort I will start messing with it before it’s ready. So this will appear every week until editing time. And yes… successful. 🙂

Edit ‘Send In The Clowns’ – I’ve not even told you about that one, have I? – in preparation for submission to Flash 500.
Got it down to below 500 words, but still not totally happy with it. I need to read it at my group really.

This month I have a very clear idea of what I want to do. I know it’s not necessarily the right season to focus on earning money from writing (things tend to wind down a little at this time of year) but there is still some work I can do.

Goals For December

  • Complete my anthology offering to a level suitable for exterior editing
  • Complete my transcript project and get it out of the way
  • Enter at least one short story / flash competition
  • Reassess Slippers & Chains, figure out what comes next and start editing
  • Complete first draft of next ‘Meeting Each Other’ story
  • Leave SORB alone! Don’t change it, don’t mess with it, nothing!
  • Enjoy Christmas

That last one should, theoretically be nice and easy, though it will be an interesting one. The first Christmas where the boys will really understand that cool things are happening. And being able to participate in any sort of real way. Last year was lovely of course, but this will be something new altogether. Though I suppose that can be said about every Christmas for the rest of my life. Something will be different and new about each one.

Goals For This Week

  • Complete at least half a transcript
  • Finish editing ‘Send In The Clowns’ or whatever I chose to call it and enter it to a competition
  • Finish final line edits on ‘Carol, Niall & Lin’ ready to send for proofing
  • Write another 1,000 (at least) of ‘Bill’
  • Check my usual sites (daily) for some paid work

There. That should be enough to keep me busy this week.

What are your plans for December? Will you be at home for Christmas or jetting/driving/ambling off to see family? Whatever your choices I hope you have a good time in all of them and that planning is simple and easy for you.

Laterz!
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