Review of my writing goals

As nearly a quarter of the year has gone already (where did that go?) I thought I'd post a review of how I'm getting on with my goals for this year. So, here we go:

1. Republish Billy. Yes, did that in January. You can find him here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Billy-Sparkling-Socks-Rainbow-School/dp/154264853X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492950556&sr=1-1&keywords=billy+and+the+sparkling+socks

2. Publish 'Birds Flock Together'. Hope to do this next week once I have finished self-editing Qessa's story.

3. Publish Charlie. Hope to do this in June. The cover is currently been designed by my illustrator.

4. Publish Susie. Want to do this near end of year.

5. Write more womag stories. Am doing that.

6. Get a story accepted by Woman's Weekly. This has now changed. I now want to focus on writing for one womag at a time until I get one story published. Have had 2 rejections from them this year.

7. Get a story accepted by The Weekly News. Same as above. I now want to focus on reading and writing for The People's Friend. They still have one of mine. I am currently working on another, then will change the ending of another to send to them too.

I am also going to try writing sci-fi to expand my areas of writing and targets. Now aim to get a story accepted by TPF and a sci-fi mag by end of year.

8. I am keeping my biz expenses up to date.

So, how are your goals for this year doing so far? Let me know.

My NaNoWriMo plan

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? It stands for 'National Novel Write a Month'. You have to write/draft 50K of a novel or just 50K words without editing it. I did my own version last year, writing as many short stories as I could, which weren't many at all. I plan to do the same this year. The best way forward for this is to plan what you want to write. Here is my plan: I am going to write a short story for the 5 women's magazines markets I know about ie Woman's Weekly, Take a Break's Fiction Feast, The People's Friend and The Weekly News and Yours. I have jotted down which story I want to write for them except for WW, as I haven't worked that one out yet, but I will in time. It won't reach 50K as most of them will be under 2000 words. I might also plot out chapter summaries for my next adult romance ebook, and I will be working on my Pocket Novel. Lots to write, so thank goodness I have only one appointment in November, as yet.

So, are you doing NaNoWriMo? Let me know if you are and what you plan to write.

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New writing goals

I have recently decided to have two different writing goals for next year: 1.Write serials for either Woman's Weekly and/or The People's Friend. 2. Write pocket novels for My Weekly. Here is why I have now chosen these goals, esp the latter one when I know I previously said I didn't want to write pocket novels.

I have been working on a first instalment of a serial for The People's Friend serial writing competition, and I really like doing it. You have to write the outline first to work out where the story goes, which I did for the competition. I have lots of ideas jotted down for novels, so next year I might go through them to see which ones, if any, can be used as a serial instead. I have found I really like writing romantic mystery stories, which is what the story I'm working on is about.

I have also been working on a novel, which I originally wrote in 2010, that I want to be a My Weekly pocket novel. I have submitted this already for the RNA's New Writing Scheme. I have a couple of chapters left to read through and possibly work on, then I will let it rest until I get my critique from the RNA. I have a few mss up in my bedroom wardrobe that I had sent to the RNA over the years and not done anything with, and I now think could be worked as pocket novels. So, my plan next year is to work on one of those alternately with an Aspiekid book. There are two reasons I now want to write pocket novels. They are: 1. If you get a pocket novel published, you can then later on get it published with a mainstream hardback publisher who sends it to the libraries. If this happens, you can then apply for PLR. Another opportunity to get money for your writing. 2. If you get a pocket novel published by My Weekly, there is a chance that you can get short stories accepted by them, too. This is the only way I know how to write for My Weekly, as they don't take stories otherwise, only from their established writers.

Along with these two goals, I am going to continue writing and sending short stories to womags. I have yet to get an acceptance this year so far, so my goal for this year possibly won't come to anything. Roll on next year.

Have an alternative plan

For what, you may ask? For whatever you're writing. I have an alternative plan for what I want to do with the entry for the People's Friend serial writing competition, if it doesn't win (which is likely because I know of a few others who are entering it). I really like this story I am writing; it's a romantic mystery. I have a Plan B and a Plan C for it. If it doesn't win, then I am going to try it with Woman's Weekly as a serial. If that doesn't work, Plan C is to put it on hold and write it later on as an ebook, which I will publish myself.

You can have alternative plans for most things you write. If you write short stories for women's magazines, then have an idea which other magazine you could send it to if it's rejected. This is a v good idea as there aren't many womags out there now that take stories.

Also, you can have a Plan B for the novel you are writing. I know most authors want to have their books accepted and published by a publisher, but in this day and age it is so hard to get that. You have to have an exceptional story to be taken on. So, the alternative is to self-publish it, and these days that is easy to do. It is also more mainstream and viable. So many authors are successful with their ebooks. And it's far quicker to get out to the readers.

The People's Friend Serial Writing Competition

After much thought I have decided I will be entering the above. I saw the competition in one of their magazines the other week and thought, no, I haven't got an idea for that to enter it, so decided to stick with short stories. But then I read an article in the latest issue of Writer's Forum magazine all about writing serials for People's Friend, and the fiction editor, Shirley Blair, said that she doesn't  mind mysteries. Aha. A light bulb moment. I had an idea written down for a possible serial for Woman's Weekly but might be OK for PF now. So, I changed my mind. I have begun an outline for the serial and know what is going to happen in the whole serial as I've already had a few ideas which I've jotted down.

The winner gets publication, the illustrations that go with it, £400 and a free entry to one of their workshops. They want an outline of 1500 words. Basically a synopsis detailing the characters, their ups and down, what happens and the end. They also want the first instalment of 6K words. But you have to send in the coupon that was in either the 15 or 22 August copies of the magazine, both of which I have.

I can't wait to get started properly, which will be after I've sent a short story to my editor, hopefully later this week.

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