Writing goals for 2015 - how I did.

So, 2015 is nearly at an end. Where did that time go? I can remember a few of the goals I set myself to do this year, and here is how I did.

1. Get 5 short stories accepted by women's magazines. Not done yet. I have three out there with two magazines, have completed another and about to finish another.

2. Publish the last in the 'Guardian Angels' series. Tick. I did that earlier this month. Out now on all platforms.

3. Publish the last in the Geraldine's series. Not yet. Plan to do that next year.

4. Publish the last of the mermaid stories. Not done yet either. Again, next year.

5. Become a full member of the RNA. Feel I'm on the way to it as I submitted an ms to the scheme this year, and am working on revising it now. Plan to get it edited next year and send to My Weekly Pocket Novel.

So, what goals did you manage to do this year? And what ones are still to be reached? Let me know.

My writing system

I thought it might be interesting to post about how I write on here. So, here it is: I know some authors type their ms straight on to their computer, but I can't do that. I tried once, and my brain went er. lol. So, I write long-hand with a pen.

1. Write the story or novel in longhand.
2. If I come up with ideas to improve a scene or add a scene to a chapter I've already written, then I will jot those down on a piece of paper and put them with the story.
3. Type up each day's writing.
4. Do the above until I have typed the ending.
5. Next draft - add notes.
6. When I have completed it all with no more notes to add in, then work on the second draft, which is
7. Using highlighters - highlight different aspects of the ms eg dialogue is highlighted pink. Do this until last page. marking any points where I need to add more of that aspect, with a blob in that colour. 8. Do this for all aspects until I have a whole ms with coloured pages.
9. Go through ms and add depth to the story where there are blobs. Print out.
10. Third draft - highlight all verbs for repetition, change any that are repeated.
11. Highlight any repeated words eg 'and' 'then'. Change or delete any repeated ones.
12. Type amendments up and print out.
13. Final edit is the read aloud or reading one (usually read silently as I am not alone that often).

So, there you have my writing system.

How do you write? Straight to a computer or with a pen like me?

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More filler successes

You might have seen on my Facebook posts recently that this past week I have had a couple of filler successes. The first one was a letter and photo of the yellow day lily Tigridia in Garden News. I didn't get any reward for that. The second success was that I won 'Prize Photo' in the December issue of Garden Answers (out now). I got an email from the magazine telling me this and asking me which pair of Felco secateurs I wanted - there was a choice of two. As my mum is the keen gardener out of us, I asked her. She chose the one with the rotating handle and shock absorber. Here is what they look like

I checked these out on the Felco website and they are worth £70. I am giving them to my mum for Xmas. Might not seem a nice present but it is an appropriate one as she loves her gardening, when she can get out there.

Next is to submit the letters to the ALCS.