How I did with my 2024 goals

 My goals for 2024 were

• Write 80k words
• Finish writing 3 books
• Edit 1 book

I will admit I did not do well with my goals for this year. I only got about 60k words written and I only finished writing one book this year but I did manage to rewrite one of my old books in preparation for my contract with that book ending next year (Hinovel book) and the one book I finished which I wrote the most words on this year the first round of edits was completed. 

2024 was not the year I expected it to be but it has opened doors for 2025 which I am excited about but it does mean that I have set my goals a little too high for next year but we will see what that brings.

 

My 2025 writing goals are as follows. 

• Write 100k words
• Write three books
• Edit two books
• Publish two book 

How do I stay organised when developing a story

Staying organised can be pretty tough as a writer and while I have shown how I organise my files in the past a lot has changed since I moved away from google docs and drive when it comes to my writing. 

I now organise all my finished/ published books on my computer hard drive as well as future book plans on the notes on my phone but while I am still writing my book there can be a lot of files to sort though from my book bible, character development, research and more. 

I now use a writing app called scrivener; I have folders for each of my books. 

Within each of the folders I have research for my books in the research tab. 

I also have each chapter in its own document so that I can easily edit and switch between the different chapters without endless scrolling. 

I also have a document for book parts I have written and don’t know where the parts fit in as well as a document for my plan which also has all my information on my characters. 

My fears and anxieties about my writing career

 

Being a writer means a huge range of emotions but one of the ones that is the worst is fear and anxiety. 

I always ask myself questions like:

Is my writing good enough? 

Am I a fraud? 

Will I ever make it? 

Should I just give up?

Is my book good enough?

Do people even like my work?

And so much more but the real question is how do I manage these emotions?

I try and remind myself that people liked my wattpad books even unedited with many plot holes, I remind myself how much I have grown over the past few years with my writing and how I continue to grow and get better each day I write. 

My writing routine

 In todays blog I will be talking about My writing routine. I will be talking about if I follow a writing schedule or word count and what works and doesn’t for me personally. 

So I have done a lot of different routines over the years from writing every day, following a word count as well as writing once a week for twelve plus hours a day. 

Now that I am a mother I struggle to find time to work on my books so my writing routine looks a lot different nowadays but I find both a schedule and word goal is what makes me do well. 

I personally write Two nights a week both Wednesday and Thursday nights for a minimum of a half an hour. Now I can write pretty fast so I try and aim for over a thousand words a night. I will occasionally write on the weekends as well but I don’t set a goal for that it’s just whatever I can get done. 

I find this works well for me but I would love to know how you guys structure your writing schedules

How I stay on top of 3 blogs

 

Although in 2024 I am only updating two of my three blogs I still thought I would write this blog post as is. 

It’s no easy task running three blogs on totally different subjects while maintaining an upload schedule you can stick to but this is how I manage. 

I spend one week a year working on my blogs; that’s right only a week. Here is a breakdown so you can better understand how I do this. 

Day one: I will look all over the internet and my own brain coming up with ideas for my blog posts 

Day two: I chose twelve ideas for each blog and write down what I want to include in my post  

Day three: I will make blog graphics up for each post

Day four: I will write and edit my writing blog

Day five: write and edit main blog 

Day six: write and edit endometriosis blog 

Day seven: finish up any posts I didn’t get too. 

I spend maybe a total of ten hours in that week period working on my blog; I preschedule them so that I don’t have to even think about it and then every few months I will advertise my blogs on my social media so as to draw more people to my blog. 

While this routine isn’t perfect I find it works for me. 

the time i almost gave up on my writing career

 

Back in 2019 while I was working on a few of my now published books I was ready to give up, every rejection letter made me doubt myself and I was ready to give up; but what changed?

I got my first acceptance letter and then my second and my third and while I in the end decided to self publish wrongful love it gave me hope. Around the same time was also when HiNovel approached me and asked to sign me on for three of my books. 

I am now four years into that five year contract and while I don’t know what is around the corner for me with my journey I do know I still have doubts and feel like giving up some days but I remain strong and remind myself that it just takes one book and I could make it with my dream. 

My favourite books and who wrote them

 Stephen kings- pet sematary, Dr sleep, the shinning

Beautiful creatures series by Kali Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The Engelsfors trilogy (the circle, fire and the key). by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren

Why do i write?

 Todays blog post centres around why I write. 

I write because it helps me with anything I have struggling with; I actually have a bunch of mental illnesses and physical issues so writing has always been an escape for me; when I write I don’t feel pain nor any of my issues. I get transported into my books and can just escape everything that is going on. 

I also write because reading is another way I escape the real world and I want to help other people escape from their issues for a small amount of time to the best of my ability. 

My goals when writing isn’t to write a best seller or to earn a lot of money although I do hope to one day earn enough money to live off that isn’t my main goal I just want to get my books into peoples hands for whatever reason they like to read for. 

10 tips to treat your writing career as a business

Treating your writing career as a business can be difficult but with these ten tips you are such to be building towards  success

1. Set Clear Goals: Define your writing goals, whether it's completing a novel, publishing articles, or becoming a freelance writer. These goals will guide your business strategy.

2. Create a Business Plan: Develop a detailed plan outlining your writing niche, target audience, marketing strategy, and financial goals. Treat it like a business roadmap.

3. Invest in Education: Continuously improve your writing skills through courses, workshops, and reading. Invest in your knowledge as you would in any other business asset.

4. Build a Brand: Establish a unique author brand with a professional website, logo, and social media presence. Consistency in branding is key when it comes to social media and marketing.

5. Financial Management: Keep track of your income and expenses. Consider hiring an accountant or using accounting software to manage your finances efficiently maybe even consider opening a Business expense account to help you manage this.

6. Networking: Connect with fellow writers, editors, and publishers. Networking can lead to opportunities, collaborations, and valuable insights.

7. Marketing and Promotion: Develop a marketing strategy to reach your target audience. Utilize social media, email marketing, and book promotion techniques.

8. Time Management: Set a writing schedule and stick to it. Treat writing as your work hours, just like any other job. This can be difficult when writing isn’t your main job  but stick to writing for half an hour to a few hours after work or on weekends.

9. Legal Considerations: Understand copyright laws and contracts. Consider consulting a legal expert for advice on publishing agreements.

10. Adaptability: Stay updated with industry trends and be willing to adapt to changes in the writing landscape. A successful writing business requires flexibility.

Remember that building a writing career takes time and dedication. Treating it as a business helps you stay organised, focused, and increases your chances of long-term success.

The difference between my first book and my latest

 

Now you could think I maybe referring to the differences between wrongful love and an authors guide to writing but that just isn’t what I am going to be doing; it’s hard to compare the two when they are completely different genres with completely different goals in mind. Or you might even think I would be comparing the first book I ever published which is no longer available but I won’t be doing that either. 

No I will be comparing my first wattpad book secrets to the hybrid mate which I know isn’t even in the top four of my newest books but I do think it will be a good comparison. 

Secrets is still available on my wattpad and while it is not the same as it was when I first published it; it is still really bad. 

Now I think the most outstanding difference is the writing while I know I am still not prefect but who really is? I know I have come a long way with my writing and that is something I am proud of. 

The other key difference is I didn’t know a thing about editing when I wrote secrets where now I have learned a lot about editing. 

How I begin writing a new book

 

Starting to write a new book can be a difficult process but I like to think I have it pretty down packed now. 

Once I have an idea I like to start by writing a rough plan; now this isn’t by what I want to happen in a chapter nor is it an actual book plan but more an outline of the key points of the story. 

For example I’ll share with you the plan I had for one of my finished projects. 

The hybrid mate is about a young girl named () whose family was killed by vampires at her birthday party when she was () she spent many years training to kill vampires but sadly she was mated to a half vampire half werewolf called (). 

Throughout the book you watch as () grows to love her mate, and even falls pregnant although cursed by a witch in her pregnancy. 

As you can see it’s more a rough blurb and then I will come up with my characters and start writing; my first draft is never perfect but it is just getting my book idea good enough on paper that I can rewrite it and edit it to perfection.

How do you start writing your books? Are you a pantser? Plotter or something in between like me.