Plans & Dreams
So you may be wondering where all of my daily fiction stories have disappeared to, or maybe where I have disappeared to. I've been horrible about keeping up with comments and even posting the last few weeks.
Maybe you haven't noticed at all. :)
At any rate, I have to say that I’ve missed spending what amounted to a full time job (plus some) on steemit! However, duty calls and it’s apparent that steemit isn’t going to be a quick payoff, but rather a long term game. I’m fine with that, but I can’t afford to treat it like a full-time job anymore, but rather as a long term investment.
This means I need to really start treating my writing/publishing outside of steemit as a more full time venture. I am determined to get some books published before the end of the year. HOPEFULLY before Christmas. I have set myself some goals and I'm working hard on editing and writing... behind the scenes.
My FIRST Goals:
Short Story Compilation I'm editing and fleshing out a bunch of my already posted short stories from my first months on steemit to make a book/collection of short stories. I am hoping to have those together and ready to publish by mid-September.
I've set my goal for August writing: To write a daily freewrite on the topic of the holidays. I want to gather together a month's worth of short stories all centered around the holidays and compile them into a book to release mid-October.
Secondary goals:
I am also challenging myself to finish ONE of my longer stories into a novel or even a novella to publish before Christmas as well, but I'm not sure if that is a viable goal as of yet. I'm trying to learn what I can about self publishing and I have to admit that I am a little nervous about putting myself 'out there' with my creations and my writing!
I'm working on building a website outside of steemit where I can organize my writing, gather an email list and hopefully a place where I can sell my upcoming books!
SO, That's where my brain (and my time) has been focused as of late. It is my goal to have three books of some sort published by the end of the year. I bought a domain name (bynalways.com) and I want to get a wordpress account to crosspost my fiction work that I am already used to posting here.
I am going to keep MOST, if not ALL of my holiday freewrites to myself until they are ready to publish in book form (and ebook form) and I will be selling those on amazon, my web site and maybe even here for SBD if I can figure out how to go about that without making myself crazy!!!
Thank you all for so much support and encouragement over the last 9 months. It has been incredible to find my passion for writing again. I love that there are so many options for self publishing now and I really want to take advantage of all that I can and really do it right.
If you have a favorite story/freewrite of mine that has stuck with your over the months, I'd love to hear about it or really about any of your favorites!
Wish me luck! I've actually purchased a couple of self publishing/marketing courses and am learning a lot already. If you've already done this yourself, I welcome your tips, tricks and links!
Here are a couple of things that I've found to be a GREAT help thus far:
Scrivener For organizing my stories/thoughts/chapters: Scrivener. I highly recommend trying out the free trial. It is only $45.00 to buy the program, but make sure it works for you first. I love it. It fits so well with my visual brain. I am so much more organized and am getting so much done. I've been trying to implement free programs, but this one is definitely worth the price to me. Plus, it helps format things for ebook/manuscript publishing and makes the end process smoother.
The Create If Writing facebook group This group has already taught me SO much. I've also picked up a couple of books for 99 cents and won a book about creating email lists for free from a contest in the group. It is a wonderful group of authors that are so helpful! I know they aren't always accepting new members, but it is worth the wait. You can also check out the founder's site Create If Writing for great information on writing/marketing, etc.
Short Stories
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Animation By @zord189
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
howdy there @byn! well I really like the sound of this plan of yours, you are really doing it! this is so exciting and many of us will be buying all your books. Getting on Amazon? too cool. But what about steemit? that part wasn't clear to me, you'll still be around but just part time?
Oh yeah, I will definitely be sticking with steemit as well. I just can't afford to spend all day every day on it like I was doing! :) I will be crossposting from wordpress at some point (once I get the wordpress part of that equation figured out) and still blogging here, doing the freewrites a few times a week, etc.
I just have to make sure that I get OFF-line and actually spend time working towards writing books, learning about all the marketing/publishing side of things and all that as well. I get far too distracted online!
oh yes Ma'am, steemit is so addicting, at least to some of us because of the social aspect.
even for miss introvert. huh?
Hey @byn ! Good on you, terrific that you're doing this and I wish you all the best <3 I really loved The faith of a child and the story about the girl in the basement (but I told you that before, I know) and I remember reading a lot more great stories from you. There was the one with some guy who was bringing a girl home and it turned out they were killers, that one was awesome (sorry for not remembering the name!!!)
As for selling for SBD, I'll be trying to sell Grimmest Things through steemshop and I'll tell you how it goes ;)
Congratulations on this decision!! I love your writing.
Oh yes, please do let me know how it goes with selling for SBD. I definitely want to support the platform that has inspired me :) I'd like to hear about your progress with your published book as well, if you decide to write more about the experience, please feel free to tag me so I don't miss it!
Thanks for the suggestions and don't feel bad for not remembering the name of the story. I find as I'm going back through that I have forgotten more stories than I remember and I wrote them!
Thank you so much for your support through this. It means a lot!
It's good to know what you are up to! I wish you the best when it comes to publishing a book. I've attended two programs on the topic at our local library, each one featuring a different local author. The entire process sounds rather daunting! I'm not actually planning to publish a book; I just went there because it was something to do in the winter while I was waiting for spring.
That is a fabulous reason to do something to educate yourself on something you find interesting! :) You've reminded me that I did find a local author's group, but I had JUST missed their monthly meeting! I need to go look it up again.
Thank you for the support!
I totally hear you about spending so much time here. I have been to busy, and I miss the daily interaction but I also cannot afford to go back to spending hours per day blogging, even when winter sets in. It is not so much about needing income as needing to get other things DONE, things that pay off in other ways around the homestead. Glad you have not disappeared altogether!
THAT I understand! We are hoping to sell our house (although now we will most likely wait for spring) but there is SO MUCH TO DO! I've been working on sorting through my MIL's estate and taking stuff to a vintage consignment place in addition to cleaning and minimizing all the stuff we've collected over the last 6 years. There is always something to do! :) Thank you for the support!