Well done you have finished writing your manuscript. You have worked through the edits and you are now ready to release it into the world. For the last year, you have been at the computer every available minute. You have successfully balanced a family, your job and writing. Sleep was the thing you surrendered, but it has all been worth it.
How to use criticism to enhance your writing. Last week one of my pieces was rejected from a publication, that I love. Unlike previously, I agreed with the editor. I needed a kick up the arse to up my game. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. I wrote about this, in a previous post. This, however, is the first time I agreed with the reasons for rejection.
I was tagged on this post on Medium so I thought it would be fun to share it with you guys. The biggest New Years Resolution I made was to keep better track of my goals. Somehow it helps to accomplish your goals if you remember what they were. This tag was at the right time to sit down and see where I am with my goals. You can see a full list of my goals here
When I started on my journey, to be published, I discovered a package called Scrivener. This is not a sponsored post, I get nothing from recommending Scrivener. I recommend it because it has been the single program which has launched my writing career. Many blogs talk about Scrivener and how it takes the stress out of organisation your writing. I have to agree. The package is not cheap, so it was a bit of a commitment for me to pay out the money. Occasionally, the company will offer free trials, I went straight into purchasing it.
Having set the challenge to increase my followers by 1000. I have become obsessed with checking my stats. Today I noticed that in two hours I had lost one follower. Just one follower, but to me this one follower became the most important person to my blog. Before you all worry about the level of my sanity I went from 941 to 940 it was very noticeable. If only I could ask that 1 follower why they had unfollowed? What post made them unfollow?
At the start of 2018, I completed and published a post on my goals. I thought I had done well until I looked back and saw how little I had accomplished. Although, this is the first time I looked at the post since I published it, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. The lesson in this, if you want to work towards yearly goals it is an advantage to have the goals close by to refer to.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin Are you a meticulous planner, or do you let your ideas and characters drive your novel? I have written posts in the past about the perfect structure for a post. Although I follow this, I don’t always plan my posts. In the beginning, I have a headline in place. Later I will refine this into a killer headline. I also have a rough idea about where the post is going and the information I want to include. For some posts, I will plan this in detail. Most, however, I let my author’s voice guide the writing.
