Success

So cramming paid off! I have some better-than-I-hoped results to report today. I hope you are all finding success. Okay, here's the low down:

• Three of Ivory: I am unofficially done with world building. There is still more to do, but I am going to do it as I go. I have talked myself into this for two reasons. 1. The world building I have left is not important to the story line. 2. I need to keep moving and not get stuck. I have a good enough of a foundation to move forward.
• Shadowed Stones: I started feeling a little overwhelmed about getting ready to submit Shadowed Stones so I have been focusing on Three of Ivory. I did think of a great line for my query letter. I want to say: I am looking for a publisher for my fantasy novel, Shadowed Stones, and after reading X, Y, and Z I think your company would be a good fit. Or something like that. So I am reading a few books published by Shadow Mountain (more about that below). I do realize that this is a way to put of submitting Shadowed Stones but this is my first time and I am not ready to just jump in.
• Reading: Last month I read Tarranau by James Tallet. I reviewed it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads. Quick review: Wait for the next book to come out before reading it. This month I am reading Destruction from Twins by L. Carroll.
• Re-Reading: Last month I read The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander which I plan to review soon. (I will let you know when I do). This month I am going to read The Black Cauldron, which is the next book in the series.

I also have some additional reading that I mentioned above. I just finished reading The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters - I will let you know when I get a chance to review it. Right now I also have The Hourglass Door and Far World: Water Keepchecked out from the library. Fabelhaven is on hold. So, I have a lot of reading to do. It is a good thing it is a long weekend :)

What are your goals? How are they coming? What's on your list to read?

A Late Update

Sorry this post is so late. I have two very good reasons for the delay.

1. I was waiting to see if I won the short story contest I won over at Splintered Lands. The winners were supposed to be announced today.
2. I was having issues connecting to the internet with my laptop.

Here is a quick update on where I am with my goals.

I am about 80% finished with reading Tarranau

I wrote my first query letter for Shadowed Stones, discarded it a wrote a second. I am giving it time to simmer before I go back to it. I plan to work on the outline next. Check out the tab above "From Pen to Published" for updates on my journey toward publication.

I have started cracking down and working Three of Ivory. I downloaded a program that looks to be really cool for creating maps. If it turns out I like it I will post and let you know about it.

I finally decided which old favorite I want to read. I decided on The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. The first book is called The Book of Three. Now I just have to go dig it out of a box in the basement.

Stay tuned for tomorrow post where I will reveal the story behind getting engaged to my husband two weeks after our first date!

How about you? How are your goals going?

If Want Something Done...

You have to do it!

Confession: I totally tanked on my goals this week.

But I did realized something this week. I spend lots of time stressing about trying to get everything done. Work, chores, cooking, exercising, taking care of my dear husband, writing, and staying sane. One morning I woke up and realized something. If I took all that worry energy and put it into doing things - I would get a lot done!

I know you are think: Uh, Krista that is so obvious! Or maybe you are like me and this is a revelation. Either way - this is something that I struggle with every day.

So, although I did not do well on my goals this week - I am going to do better next week.

Here are some of the things I did get done this week.

I finished looking through WritersMarket.com for more publishers. I expected to find like 30-40 publishers. But I found considerably less than that. Probably because I am going the agent-less route. So my attempt to be published on my own may be short lived. However, I am not giving up hope.

I read 40% percent of Tarranau by James Tallett.

I played around with making a Google gadget that would like you use custom images for a status tracker. Like mine on the side bar but easier to manage. I am currently working on trying to test it and get it up where others can use it.

I would love to hear about your success! Even if it is small, like I cooked dinner for my husband tonight! Let me hear what you have done to succeed this week.

My Goals

As promised (although late - its a long story that involves a flat tire and waiting for a tow truck) here are my goals. I plan to put up meters on my blog to track my progress.

Because of the state my projects are in, these are going to be general deadline type goals until I can get to a point where I can set finer, weekly goals.

Writing: Three of Ivory, a fantasy series

• 1. Complete world building and overview series outline by end of August.
• 2. Complete character related pre-work (work sheets and so on) by end of September.
• 3. Complete detailed outline of the first book by the end of October.
• 4. Begin first draft in October.

Publishing: Shadowed Stones, a fantasy novel

• 1. Research 10 publishers a week.
• 2. Finish researching publishers by August 20th (no more research after this date!)
• 3. Have a detailed submission plan by the end of August.
• 4. Send out first submission by the end of September.
• 5. Keep up with beta reader edits - finish last round of edits by end of year.

Reading: I have two goals with my reading. First, re-read some of my all time favorites (and review them on good reads). Second, help support other authors that are either new and upcoming, indie or self published, or who I meet or hear about through the electronic grape vine.

• 1. Read one book from my to-re-read list every month.
• 2. Read one book from a new upcoming/indie/web sphere author every month.