Year 2020 In Review Author Update #NewRelease #amwriting

I've been taking some time to look back at the year 2020, searching for some good things that happened this year. While it's been an extremely trying year, I am happy to see that I succeeded many of the goals that I'd given myself.

This year, I pushed myself like no other. It's been challenging, but I made it! This year, I took my first step into self-publishing. While I've been traditionally published with small presses for ten years, I knew this was the next step in my journey as an author.

Loving Boone was my debut self-published novel. I'm incredibly proud of all the work I put into it. I'm also very grateful for those who helped me make it a reality! Self-publishing is not a solo path! I have a team of people who help me and I never would have made it without them. I am incredibly grateful to Ash Krafton for all of her help and encouragement along the way. I never would have taken this step without her guidance.

I've also discovered I have a slight addiction for multi-author projects. I enjoy writing stories for calls for submissions that I might not otherwise write. These projects push me in new directions and keep my writing fresh and exciting. 

New projects, new directions, new challenges. It's been an exciting year in regards to my writing.

At times, I didn't think I'd be able to do it. No one planned for a global pandemic when we were writing our New Year's goals and resolutions last January. Somehow, through sheer force of will I think, I managed to keep writing despite the depression and anxiety that came along with learning about Covid-19. Add to that the struggle of being a single mom of four children. Homeschooling (which I freely admit, I did not go to school to become a teacher and there is a reason for that!) as well as self-isolating and taking every precaution and more to keep my children safe, educated and entertained. It was a lot to take this year.

Taking my writing to that next level is both exhilarating and frightening. But, I would never be able to do it without readers. I've been shown such kindness and encouragement from readers that it truly brings tears to my eyes. For every email, comment and review I've received this year, I am so grateful for everyone who has turned a page in one of my books and read those words that I worked countless hours on.

Thank you! Seriously, I cannot thank you enough! I appreciate every one of you!

For more about my books and writing, check out http://www.TriciaSchneider.com.

New Year, New Goals #writinggoals

Happy New Year, dear readers!

It's that time of year again. Time to look back at the old year to see what worked and what didn’t and re-evaluate for the new year. I'm the type of person who likes to set goals, but often things run amok and sometimes I don't complete them. Not all the time, but I'll admit to some time.

This is sort of what happened in 2015.

I had a list of goals and I did well during the first few months. Then my son was born in April and my life again turned upside down. This time with the added stress of some health issues that sprang up over the summer. My mind was not on writing. Also, I had some technical difficulty with my blog. So much so, that I was prepared to close this one and open a new one since I couldn't figure out why it wasn't posting. That, hopefully, has been resolved.

Not only that, but my social calendar quickly filled with events for my children in 2015. They are very sociable and eager to join groups and events, so as their mother I'm obliged to encourage and assist them. Plus, I have to drive them!

I'm hoping this year will turn out differently. I'm keeping a positive mindset. I'm all about juggling my family and my life and making things work, but I'm eager to jump back into my writing world. Writing is my passion. I love it! And I want to make a prosperous career out of it. As in, I'd like to be able to promise my husband that I'll contribute to paying some of the bills for the house and our family so he doesn't have to keep working overtime just to make ends meet.

Even though I had some major life events occurring this year, I did manage to get two stories written and sent to my editor and publisher. I'm working on re-writes for one and waiting to see if they'd like to contract for the other. And I have additions to the lists of possible future books. My idea file is overflowing!

Also, February marked the release of my 4th Merriweather Witches book, The Witch's Kiss. This one

is my favorite so far and I was excited to share it with my readers!

• With that said, I'm not going to give myself a list of projects to complete as I did last year. I'm just going to focus on writing every day, whether it's for a story, an article or blog post, or even an entry in my personal journal. As long as I'm writing, getting words down on paper or text, I'm using my brain and exercising those creative muscles. I'll be happy with that. My goal is a page a day. I'm going easy on myself since some of my health issues are not yet resolved and my son is still waking up multiple times during the night, so there are days when I feel like a zombie. I usually write 1,000-2,000 words a day, on those days that I'm writing. I'd like to see 100,000 words by the end of the year. I even downloaded a beautiful word tracker program to keep count.

• I want to complete the many unfinished projects I have hanging around the house. Such as scanning in the family photos into the computer and labeling them, finishing the baby records and journals I have for my kids, and working on the genealogy projects that I do in my spare time. And maybe some of those unfinished craft projects. I have a doll house that needs decorating, too.

• My husband bought an electric guitar for me as a gift this year. I used to play guitar many years ago. This year, I want to relearn those songs I've forgotten and teach myself some new songs as well. I have a very musical family with both musicians and singers. My grandmother sang on the radio back in the day and always lamented over not pursuing her music career. My great-grandfather and my uncle played the guitar in different bands. My brother plays guitar, too. I even married into music. My husband is a bass player and singer with an album to his name. And now my eldest son is learning to play the trombone. So, I feel compelled to plunge myself back into the music world. And as I'm always practicing singing, my husband and I are talking about recording a duet. That is exciting!
  

• Last, but not least, I want to become more fluent in the German language. I've become rusty over the years of disuse, so I want to practice reading and speaking it daily. I have a few novels written in German that I've been putting aside thinking it too complicated for me, but why should I not challenge myself? I'm not going to become fluent waiting to save up money to buy the Rosetta Stone (although that would be a nice addition to my language collection). Others have learned without the benefit of such programs and I have many books on the subject. I have no excuse. So, I'll practice a new word a day to ease myself back into the language. Over the next few weeks, I'd like to intensify that, but I'm starting out slow.

So there's my list of goals. What about you? Do you have any resolutions that you'd like to share?

Tricia

1500 Words a Day

I'm always on the look-out for writing methods. It fascinates me to learn about the way others write. No two are the same. What works for one writer, doesn't always work for another. But, that doesn't mean a writer shouldn't try new methods, just to see if maybe it might work for them.

© Zt0 | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

I read recently that Stephen King writes between 5-10 pages a day, everyday. If I calculate 250 words per page, that’s between 1250-2500 words a day. Doesn't seem like a lot. (HA!) Many days I average about 2000 words. Then on some days whatever talent I possess has been drained from me and I'm lucky to have 400 shoddy words to prove it. I don't write every single day either. I tend to work on my project and obsessively finish it, or sometimes get stumped and set it aside for a bit (I hate doing that) and find something else to work on. But I take breaks in between. I work on editing. I read a lot. Many articles about the writing craft and the business side of writing. I also do research for my stories. So, even when I'm not producing word counts, I'm still working on my writing, just from a different angle. 

At times it seems a bit difficult to get back into the writing part of it if I linger away for too long. I often hear writers preach that you must write every day to keep the writing muscle strong. For writing is like working a muscle, isn't it? If you don't exercise, it gets a little sloppy until you get back into the swing of things again.

Since I do a lot of research into the way other writers work, I thought I'd try an experiment. My method of writing seems a little laid back. I have three young children between the ages of 22 months and 6 years. They take up a lot of my day. I have a flexible writing schedule, doing most of my writing in the early morning hours and at naptime. I don't like to stress myself, but I do like to push myself to try harder, so that's what I'm going to do now. I'm challenging myself.

I going to write 1500 words. Every. Day. 

Starting today, I'm going to strive to reach a word count of 1500 (or more!) every day until school starts at the end of August. Then I'll re-evaluate my writing schedule and see how well I've done.

Am I insane? I'm not sure yet. I've never given myself such a challenge before, but I do enjoy challenges. However, because I hate to stress myself, I have given myself an easy way to out. No, I'm not going to quit.

I'm going to write 1500 words every day, but they don't necessarily need to be part of a manuscript. Aha! No one said my writing muscle needed to be a fiction writing muscle. So, if I feel stumped with my characters for the day, I might give them some breathing room. Sometimes I need a day or two to figure out a solution to whatever has stumped me. So on those days (hopefully there will be very few!) I'll write a blog post or two. I'll look up writing prompts and try those for some exercise. I'll write about my day in a diary-like fashion. Or I'll write about my kids. I do have their journals I need to catch up on. I'll write about any little thing, as long as I get 1500 words (or more!) a day.

Look here! I'm counting this blog post as part of my word count for today! See, it's working!

When I look at it this way, it seems completely do-able. After all, there are 24 hours in a day. I can certainly sneak an hour or two away for solely myself and my writing. I've done more in the past, I can do this, too.

I'll check back in near September with my results. Hopefully, I'll have some positive things to say about my experience. Wish me luck!

November Writing

And so another year of NaNoWriMo begins! If you're a writer, you most likely have heard of National Novel Writing Month that takes place every November since 1999. The goal is to write 50,000 words from scratch within 30 days. That breaks down to about 1666 words a day. It's a great challenge to undertake with thousands of other supportive writers to help see you through to the end.

I've known of this challenge since around 2004 or so. I didn't join in until 3 years ago. I doubted my ability to focus on such a large word count within one month, especially while working retail during one of the busiest times of the year. Remember, Black Friday occurs in November!! I really wish they would have picked another month...maybe April. Really what else happens in April? Other than April showers, keeping us indoors anyway?

But three years ago, I joined with 2 other co-workers who were taking up the challenge, too. I figured, if they thought they could do it, so could I! And you know what? I did it!! I finished that 50,000 word novel. And this year, I plan to do it again.

And if I can do it, so can you! If anyone would like to become my writing buddy, my name is listed as Tricia Schneider. I welcome you to join me in this challenge. And though I've had a slow start to it yesterday, I'm determined to reach that word count goal. Good luck!