Wednesday, December 6, 2017

#IWSG-2017 Do over?

Welcome to another chapter of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! This is a monthly event where writers from all over join to scream our fears into the void—Join us!




This month the mothership had a great wrap up the year question:

As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

 2017 was an odd year, I did get two books out, The Sapphire Manticore and Victorious Dead. But I’d been aiming for 3. Life happens and this was definitely one of those years. I am proud of the two books I did get out, however.

As for what I would do differently? Get on board with a marketing plan. I was lucky enough to get a Book Bub feature, and the sales told me there’s a chance for my books—but you can’t count on an event like that. It’s akin to planning to pay your daily bills with your lottery winnings—that you haven’t won yet ;). So, I would have actually tried marketing instead of a “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach.

I would also remind myself how much I love telling stories. Part of only getting out two books when I’d planned for three, was because I kept stumbling—not on the writing directly  but on everything around the writing. I need to get back to what I love and do it in its time, and do the marketing in its time.

Taking better care of myself. Healthy writer is a strong writer and this year I wasn’t very healthy. I need to get healthier so I can write more books!

So what will I be doing next year? All of the above ;).

Happy IWSG Day!

17 comments:

  1. Hey, two books a year is great in my book. It's good to give yourself stretch goals to keep you motivated, but you have every reason to be proud about your progress this year.

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    1. Thank you! I am trying to remind myself that I'm still doing good on my forward momentum ;).

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  2. Congratulations on your two books and I hope you have a happy and healthy 2018!!!

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  3. Congratulations on your successes, and here's to an even better 2018!

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  4. Congrats on the BookBub feature. That's a tough one to land. And two books is a great accomplishment.

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  5. Congrats on the 2 books you published. That's super. Getting a BookBub feature is great. We are so hard on ourselves, aren't we? We have to celebrate our successes. Best wishes for a great holiday.

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    1. Thank you- and so true! Every step moving forward IS moving forward!

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  6. Congrats on meeting most of your year goal :)

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  7. Congrats on the two books, and the book bub feature. I'm kind of in the same boat with marketing. Need to do it more.

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    1. Marketing is a strange beast--hopefully we'll both get it down in 2018!

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  8. I found your books this year and eagerly devoured them all. I love your books and your writing. And while ,very selfishly, I would have loved to have the 3rd book, doing 2 books in a year is amazing and awesome (and they were both wonderful). I am looking forward, patiently, to your next book.

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