CAMP NANO PREP - #2 - The Plan

 Good morning, friends!

Bob's been gone a week and I've been trying to accomplish stuff but this icky wet/ cold weather is just not conducive to wanting to do anything but curl up under a blanket with the Hallmark Channel. I haven't but tempting.

Monday was the first day of Spring, and while you couldn't really tell by the weather,  I took my witchy self out for a day in Poplar Bluff. I spent two hours at Bluff Coffee & Mercantile enjoying a large coffee and mapping out the entire video series for Camp Nano prep.  I posted Part 2 this morning - The Plan - where I talk about forming a writing schedule based on whatever is going on in your life while still reaching your goal. You'll find several recipe links in the description box as well as a link to Sarra Cannon's Heartbreathings (author) channel where you'll find her video and links to freebies when you sign up for her email. 

I have an art video to do today then I can work on the next Camp Prep video.

Also, because I don't want this to get lost in this post, tomorrow I'm going to post info about a 24 hour write-a-thon taking place on YouTube. twenty-four hours of sprints to help you reach your writing goal! I hope you'll come back for that tomorrow.

In the mean time, here is today's Camp Nano video:

All my best!

~ Angela

MONDAY MOTIVATION

 

Good afternoon, everyone!

I got home last night around 8 p.m. and I was exhausted. Why is it the drive home always seems longer than the drive to the destination?

I visited with Kassie and the grandbabies Tuesday night and Wednesday morning before heading back to Muscatine IA as my stopping point for a couple of days to write. A couple turned into four! I just knew I needed the time and as Bob said, I was already there and set up so I just ran with it. 

I'm a mixture of planner/ pantster/ quilter. From a planner perspective I know what needs to happen and a geneeral idea of where in the story. For the actual writing process I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants writing out things that come to my brain. I may write on one scene til I hit a block, close it out then jump to another. When all is said and done, I figure out how all the pieces need to fit together, then start the quilting process of putting things in order, filling in the bridges between scenes as I go. 

I didn't accomplish much Wednesday night except to finish a book I had started the night before - review coming tomorrow. Thursday after I breakfast I jumped right in putting a filing system in place on the computer to fit all the pieces in to then started writing. I did a lot of 20 minute sprints. Some were really productive. By Saturday night I'd written over 4,000 words on this story in three days. 

I'm home now and focusing on the blog posts as well as spending time with Bob. He leaves out on the 11th. I'm taking tonight off to just chill with him but starting tomorrow night I want to spend a couple hours every night working on the story. I don't want to lose momentum. 

Goals for this week:

1 - 2000 words. More would be great

2 - get a couple things done in the office I need his help with while he's home

3 - blog posts for this week and part of next. I'll worry about catching up the rest of the month next Tuesday after he leaves.

Remember,beginning this week I'll be combining Author Spotlight and Review on Tuesdays. Wednesdays will be posts that correlate to the book I am writng. 

All my best

~Angela

NEW YEAR - NEW PLAN!

Happy New Year, dear readers!

I know I've been promising this remodel for almost a year. Between job changes for my husband and for myself in 2016, some things just had to take a backseat. Sadly, decisions about my writing were buckled safely in the back for the ride through this crazy time in our life. 

I began seeing road signs more clear in October when I attended the Ozark Creative Writers conference. I formally met Casey Cowan of Oghma Creative Media. While a book I pitched to Casey ultimately did not make the cut, we found another common ground we could work together on.  By late November I became Marketing Director for Oghma Creative Media AND Saddlebag Disptaches magazine. I also became a regular feature columnist for Saddlebag Dispatches. My first article on the Arizona Cowboy - Rex Allen, appeared in the Winter 2016 issue (pg 120). You can read the magazine free on-line or subscribe to the quarterly print copy. I'm turning in my first cover story and another history non-fiction piece this weekend.

I also began selling Stampin' Up! scrapbooking/ cardmaking/ paper crafting products back in May 2016. I've been a customer for almost twenty years and decided the time had come to have the discount and early preview of new products. 

With the fireworks of 2017 came new decisions for me. Some things probably won't make my publisher happy but I've come to the awakening of what is going to work for me. What is going to make me happy? What is going to propel my publication dream closer to a full-fledged reality? 

Over the coming weeks, I hope to share some of the plans to make those dreams come true. In the mean time, help yourself to chocolates and wine. 

Thank you for stopping in.

Angela