Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Word Count            Submissions              Rejections        Acceptances  6,000                          1                           0                        0 Improve your focus. Commit to the creed .  Sometimes progress in writing has very little to do with word count or submissions. I haven't produced a lot of new material this month, but I was busy publishing a novella , so I'm not too concerned about my lack of production. The publishing side of things is so very different from the creative side. Since it was my first indie title, I had a learning curve to work through. Obviously, nothing insurmountable. My husband is fond of the saying, "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it." Well, ...

Word Count            Submissions              Rejections        Acceptances        15137                           1                               1                          0 I'm working hard on preparing for book releases! How exciting is that?  I'm currently running a PICK MY BLURB contest for my young adult contemporary romance novella, WORTH THE EFFORT: ELLA'S STORY, which releases next month. Please hop over and cast your vote for the blurb that makes you want to read my book. Then enter to win an eARC of the book. Be among the first to read it. I've been busy filming and editing YouTube videos for an interview series I have coming up for June's release of POLAR ...

Word Count            Submissions              Rejections        Acceptances        14188                           2                               2                          1 I've decided to move my monthly reporting to the middle-ish of the month, so this reporting period is only three weeks long. Even so, I'm pleased with the progress. Good word count (most of it last week!) An acceptance is always a nice thing. Like SUPER nice! If you missed that announcement, hop on over to read about it here . As I've mentioned before, I'm a mother of four. My husband and I like to take the kids out exploring. For a drive to a new destination, on a hike, geocaching, canoeing on a new...

Word Count            Submissions              Rejections        Acceptances   30,700+                          12                           6                        0 A number of years back, a friend of mine took up Irish Dance. I thought it was pretty ambitious for an adult, but she said if she wanted to lose weight, she'd have to significantly step up her activity. It really worked. So this year I realized if I want to see success in my writing career I was going to have to step it up. I'm a slow writer. But in the past I've spent a lot of time not writing. I've changed that and look at the results! Thirty thousands words is nothing to sneeze at. Granted, I won't always be able to lay down that many...

In general, writing is a singular activity. You sit alone in front of a laptop with your only companions being those inside your mind. Facebook calls your name, flashy blog posts draw your attention, next thing you know, the day is waning and you’re imaginary friends are heading out to dinner without you. How can you keep yourself focused? Commit to the  2014 Writers Rebel Creed By following the suggested idea to post a monthly blog update you keep your eye on your target of getting new words into a Word document – maybe even one with a shiny new book title. (Unlike mine that is usually the characters’ names until the fourth or fifth revision!) Stopping to review what you’ve accomplished in a month is a fantastic way to remind yourself that you ROCK at this writing thing. Taking another moment to look forward one month helps you to formulate a plan on how to stay on track. Goals can only be achieved by taking steps toward them, but if you aren’t watching where yo...