The goals are achanging

In my last post about my writing goals this year I mentioned one goal I wanted to achieve, possibly, but if not do the alternative. The goal was to maybe submit more ideas to a certain magazine that published short stories that was suited to what I write. That goal has now completely changed, because the magazine has changed their rights policy. When I had my story published with them last year, I was given the rights back after publication. That magazine now has a contract (which I didn't get) asking for All Rights. You can read more about it at womagwriter.blogspot.com. You can also read more about it in the current issue of Writer's Forum magazine.

So what to do instead? Well, I am planning on getting all my magical and ghost stories together to put as a collection. I am also going to enter more competitions and write more fillers, starting this week. I will be entering a flash fiction competition this week, and have in mind to write a couple of bits for Writer's Forum magazine. Watch this space...

I am a hybrid author

Keep meaning to write this post but so busy with home things going on and writing my books. Am here now.

I believe now that I am a hybrid author. For those not in the know, a hybrid author is someone who writes for both mainstream/traditional publishers and is self-published. I always thought of myself as just an indie author until last year that is. I read a blog post by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (do read it if you are an author) last year, and she wrote that she is a hybrid author. She wrote that as well as self-publishing her books, she also writes short stories for magazines. It got me thinking - what have I had published in mainstream magazines? Fillers. Lots of them over the years. So I have been published traditionally too. This makes me a hybrid author. I am quite pleased with that title. I will be having a short story published in a magazine in July, so that definitely will make me a hybrid author.

So, if you think you are just an indie author, think about what else you might have published? Esp in magazines. You could be surprised like I was.

Writing goals for 2018

As I mentioned in my last post, my writing goals for this year have slightly changed. I shall tell you why below.

My main goal last year was to get short stories accepted by women's magazines such as Woman's Weekly or The People's Friend. Well, that never came to anything and I realise why now. The stories I wrote weren't suited for them. I liked writing the stories but I now realise that they weren't the ones I enjoyed writing the most. The one I enjoyed doing the most was the one that did get accepted and published by the overseas magazine eg it had the sense of a ghost in it. So, one of my goals this year is to try to get another story accepted by this magazine.  I also want to get a story accepted by Spirit & Destiny magazine, who publish stories about magical realism topics such as angels and crystals. Just my cup of tea.

So my main aim this year is to write the genre that I enjoy working on, and that is magical realism. I have been writing Book 3 of my Secrets of Singleton series, which has made me realise this is what I like doing. So I want to write Book 4 this year, and continue next year.

I am continuing writing and publishing my Rainbow School series this year. I want to publish Book 3 (Susie) and Book 4 (Qessa) this year.

Also, as I had a few successes again last year with fillers being published in magazines, I am going to work on more of these this year. I have already sent a few off already to magazines and papers. Because of these successes, I have begun work again on the ebook about writing fillers, to include different markets and what they award for them.

One other creative thing I have begun this year is to write poetry. Now that I am not writing stories for womags, it frees up my mind for poems. I have already sent a few to magazines that publish them, which are womags. So I might end up being published in a womag, after all. 

So, they are my main writing goals this year. I shall blog when I get any successes with these. Watch this space....

Writing diary - Weeks 5-6

So, what have I been writing these last two weeks, and how far have I got.

The pocket novel - I have been adding scenes throughout the novel where the heroine chats to her work colleague about her romance. Also the hero thinking about his past. Word count is now 49,306, so not far now to reach the 50K that My Weekly want for a pocket novel. I still have to revise the synopsis, but now that I know what is added to the story, I know what to add in that.

Short stories - I finished the edits of the Xmas short story according to the first lots of comments I got on the story blog. Put it on the blog again. I got more positive feedback this time, saying it read better. I still have a few things to add, mainly putting more of the senses in for the ghost, which I will do once I've finished revising the story I'm now working on. I am now revising the quirky short story I wrote in November. I put it on the blog and got lots of comments to make me think. One womag writer, Fran Tracey (Hiya, Fran) messaged me her notes on the story inc bullet points ones for me to read and think about. I have been editing the story according to those, and feel more confident about this story now and where it goes.

I have also started writing fillers or letters to magazines again. I emailed a letter to Healthy yesterday, so shall see what happens about that. Have another one in mind to send to another health magazine, which I might jot down later today.

I have also been updating my writing website www.julieaday.co.uk, as I am rebranding myself as a children's author.

And lastly, I have been emailing my lists about plot and what it isn't, along with exercises. This goes with the writing exercise ebook I have been working on for the last few months.

Next post will be something else about writing. Don't know what yet. Need to think about that one. Maybe about writing short stories for the womag market.

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.