Writer's block or something else?

 Now that I am back to writing short children's fiction again, I got thinking about the book I was trying to rewrite last year and got stuck on half way through. Was it writer's block or something else? I had plotted it out chapter by chapter but still got stuck. I decided to leave it and concentrate on another book I was writing because of my health issues back then. After reading lots of children's books (for research) I have come to the conclusion it wasn't writer's block that stopped me but maybe I had made the plot too long and complicated. I was adding different things to it about eating healthily and what food intolerances can do along with magic but maybe now I just need to think of simpler things to put in it. I will go back to working on that story again but probably not this year, maybe next year. I want to concentrate on the new series I am writing now, which I am enjoying doing. 

So, if you are getting stuck with your wip, then have a think about it? Is the plot too long? Too complicated? If you find it complicated, so will the reader. Can you make it simpler? I am going to try when I get back to it.

In the meantime, have fun writing whatever you are on.

How to create a business plan - Step 1

I got this idea from the current issue of Writer's News magazine, and thought it was a good idea so am using it to create my plan for next year's writing. The first step is to write down what you have achieved this year. So here I am doing this here.

1. Ebooks - I published three ebooks (2 short books and one story). They were 'Life in the Old Dog', 'The Vanity Quest' and 'The Leaping Angels'.

2. I wrote a children's book, the second in the series about Asperkids finding confidence via a magical world at school.

3. I had published several letters in magazines this year, and got more rewards than I've done before doing this.

4. I started to give more talks at a local library, helping new authors get on the path to indie writing.

5. I created a new marketing website, to help other authors get discovered. This goes with a blog.

6. Finally, I wrote and sent off a story to Woman's Weekly magazine, after attending their workshops and realising what sort of stories they publish.

Despite all that I have achieved this year, there are things I haven't, and I will be mentioning those in the next post, and why I think this is.

So, what have you achieved this year that you are proud to have done? Let me know.

Another goal for this year and an update on current ones

I have decided to have another goal for this year, but will give you an update on my current ones.

1. Still getting there with my 7+ children's book. Decided to change a scene and put in one that goes with the rest of the book.

2. Still getting there with my next Angel ebook, and should finish current draft by next goal-setting brunch end of this month.

3. Bird articles - have found a few children's magazines in the US that I can submit to. Have one already to post next week.  I have decided to expand my freelance writing and write about famous people with disabilities and submit to those magazines, too, and write about places in London as travel pieces. We shall see how it goes.

Now for my new goal. I was going to stay as an indie author, but after a friend of mine recently got her first book published by a publisher and going to the RNA workshop last weekend, I have now decided to be a hybrid author. I want to try and get published in adult romance with either a trad publisher (not one of the big 6) but a smaller one or a digital publisher like my friend. When I have finished Charlie, the 7+ book, I will then work on a story to send to Woman's Weekly, then I will start rewriting a novel I sent to the NWS a few years ago and make it more romantic, concentrating on the relationship between the girl and boy. I shall either send it to the NWS or straight to a publisher, depending on when I finish it as the NWS closes end of August. I still have lots of indie projects to work on. The rest of the Angel series, the last 2 Geraldine stories, 2 more mermaid stories, and the rest of the Secrets of Singleton village short stories, which should take me into next year.

So, there you have it. My goals and how they are doing, and my new one to work towards. How are you getting on?

If you want help with goal-setting and keeping them, I now have a template for goal-setting, much like the SCBWI Brunch one I get. Let me know if you want one in the comments below, and I can email it to you.

Writing goals for 2014 - an update

Last month I wrote about what I wanted to do in writing this year. Thought I'd give you an update on how it is going for me.

1. I said that I wanted to try to write poetry. I have so far written 1 1/2 poems about having Asperger's. I want to attempt to do more to make a whole book, which I might try to get published or self-publish.

2. I was going to pitch to US magazines about birds. I have queried one magazine and wait to hear from them. Have pitched another but got rejected as they have too many mss to put in their small magazine. I have found another magazine and will read their guidelines and pitch to them.

3. Want to get my 7+ children's books published. Waiting to hear from publisher. He has started to read my ms and working out how to turn it into a graphic novel.

4. My goals for this month were to finish current drafts of my 7+ book and my next Angel ebook. Getting there with the first - on the last chapters. Half way there with Angel ebook. Hope to finish both by end of the month or at least the next goal setting brunch in March.

So, how are your writing goals going? Let me know in the comments below. Also, would anyone of be interested in a free 'goal-setting' sheet to work on so you don't stray from your goals? Let me know below as I am planning to do one for my internet marketing blog followers who like my posts about planning and goals.

Me, Asperger's and Creativity

In my quest to write about and inform others about living with Asperger's Syndrome, I have discovered that people with AS come in two groups: arts and science.  I definitely fall into the former being a writer. Looking back over the years since I was a child, I was always interested in different arts. I remember when I was little, I used to love colouring in colouring books and making the pictures come alive with colour. As I got older, those books turned into pattern books with spirals and swirls, and I loved colouring them in too. In one of my last years of primary school, I got interested in tapestries, the cross stitch ones, and the first one I did was of a simple man and woman. Later on, they changed to more intricate ones of animals and cute characters. I still have a few I've finished in my mum's wardrobe to put up after my bedroom was redecorated. I also have a few that I've not done yet, and might in the later years of life.

But all through that, there was writing. I remember writing a true story in primary school which the teacher read out for me. My AS kicked in, and I was too shy to read it out myself. I also wrote short stories about different things, I can't remember what though. It has always been there, writing. When I started work, I wrote a short romance story about me having a crush on a man I once knew. Embarrassing. I don't have it anymore, thank goodness. Then way back in the 90s, when I ended up having to go to lunch on my own (one of the co-heads of dept, a nasty person) didn't like us all going together and said they had to go without me. I began writing then. That turned into my first romance novel, which is now in my wardrobe waiting to be rewritten. Since then I have written several novels, mainly romance for adults and  few for children. I can't think what to do if I didn't have my writing. It takes me out of my normal world and lets me forget about who I am and the hassles I have to live with.

So, that is how creativity has become part of my AS. Let me know if you have autism and are creative too. Be interested to know more people who are.