Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: January - New Beginnings

Hello and welcome back to the Merry-Go-Round Blog tour. I hope you're as excited about the New Year as I am.

I have a number of new projects planned for 2015.

First, I'm finalizing my story, Lost Rainbows. I received the prompt for this last January and a few of my fellow Forward Motion authors took the prompt too. Every story is different though a few of us went with the obvious, a story about leprechauns. While I generally wanted the story to be short, it turned into a novelette, 16,000 + words! I'm in the final stages of editing then I'll self publish by the end of this month. Oh, I'd better hurry. It's halfway through January already! 

Read more here. 

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara

What to do in 2015?

I suspect this is a sign of how 2015 is going to go in general, because I am late with the first post to this round of the tour. Dare I even make plans for a year where I am already falling behind?

Might as well live dangerously.

(Read more here!)

New Beginnings: 2015 Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

The topic for January is somewhat ironically New Beginnings. I promise I did not know that when I decided to join the tour. This is something I've thought about since it started some two years ago, and this seems the right year to jump in with both feet.

My life has been full of new beginnings recently in pretty much every aspect.

On the professional side, starting in October of 2013, I decided to take the leap of faith and put out my novels for the public's reading pleasure. You won't see my name on the television any time soon, but I've entertained and inspired some readers, which is a heck of a lot more than my stories were doing as they took up space on my hard drive.

Like any new beginning, this endeavor provoked both joy and terror. I've fumbled about a little, made some mistakes, and gloried in the ability to correct those errors rather than living with them.

Read more on Tales to Tide You Over.

Beginning of 2015, and what am I doing?

I don't have resolutions so much as I have projects I want to work on this year. I don't discuss the projects themselves as much as I do how I'm breaking up my time to tackle them. Stop by my blog if you want to see how I use my whiteboard in planning.

MGR Tour: Conclusions

Come on over to Rantings and Ravings of an Insane Writer and see how I did in accomplishing my plans for 2014.

Merry Go Round Blog Tour: December and Where Are My Goals for 2014?

My list of goals for 2014, by the month, was extensive. Last year this time I went through the list as though I were reporting accomplishments to my commanding officer. This year, I'm going to be a little less obsessive-compulsive.

What's been most important? I put six books up for sale. One every other month. This is the 2nd year in a row I've done that. Pretty good stat considering I just started writing in 2011.

I've been studying the craft. I have a world building class, still in progress and a class on how to write a series, extended version that I have been taking from Holly Lisle. https://howtothinksideways.com/login/  I signed up to take the World Building class then the Series Extended class opened.

Click Here for the Rest of the Story.

What I've done with my year . . .

I never did post goals in January, but I still can talk about what I got done with 2014. If you're interested in the pluses and minuses, swing by my blog.

November MGR Tour: My Piece of Advice

New writers get a lot of advice sometimes. This month's task it to limit my recommendation to one thing, and I think my "one thing" encompassed more than that by implication.  Come see what I'd recommend to a new writer.

Your Writer's Platform

Here I shall stand upon my Writing Platform, doing…er, writing platform-y things…Vote for me based on my platform, and I'll give you four years of awesome.

Or not.

VOTE FOR ME by clicking the link. 

MGR: Writer Platform?

We're talking about platform this month on the MGR Tour.  Come see what I have to say about it.

Writing Platform? Do I have One?

When I saw this month's topic, to be honest, I was baffled. I didn't know what that meant. So, being a modern woman I went to the internet to get some help. I stumbled on http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/writing-platform.html and checked out the definition there. Here's the first paragraph on their page.

"Having a writing platform means that you have an audience, and that you have some vehicle in place to reach that audience when you have books to sell. This platform is as important to those not yet published as it is to established writers."

Oh! Yeah, how am I contacting people, selling books, putting my name out there? Good question. The site offers thirteen things you should or could do to create a rounded "platform". If you're interested in what they suggest, check out the site. However, we get all of this same information right here on Forward Motion. Here are a few of the things I do.  Click here to see the whole post.

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!

MGR: Publication Fears

I had to chuckle when I saw this month's topic.  Find out more here.

Dawn's Publication Fears: Unleashed

 When it comes to writing, I perceive there to be two kinds of fears: the first being that voice in my head that throws the meanest what-if’s at me to keep you from getting stuff done. There’s also the stuff that truly is scary. It’s as real for writing as it is for publication.

Keep reading here.

MGR August: Protagonists.

This month, I talk about a few of my protagonists.  Come meet them.

Merry Go Round Blog Tour: August - Protagonists

Protagonist: The story's main character. The protagonist can be anything, think of Steven King's Christine, for example. But we generally think of the protagonist as a person, one that you, the reader, can relate to. A character that you're willing to spend some time with and makes you want to read the book or story you've just picked up.

Most of my protagonists have been women. It makes sense. I'm a woman and not surprisingly, I'm kind of familiar with being a woman. 

See more of this post here.

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com! Up next: Jean Schara!

MGR Tour: Mid-Year Check-In

This month we're checking on our progress toward achieving our January goals for the year.   How am I doing?  Come see.

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour July: Mid-Year Goals Check-In

Six months worth of goals. Ack! It has been a whirlwind year for me in my writing world, to be sure.  I completed all of the goals for January, February and March which to be honest, was a struggle. I just felt behind the whole time. April was tough, though I did get the cover for Hard Choices done and revealed in April. Hard Choices finalized in May right on schedule and was published. It's always pretty exciting to send another book out into the world. Read more here.

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!