Showing posts with label VJ Shultz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VJ Shultz. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2016

HOW TO EAT AN ELEPHANT - January



Last week, I introduced you to VJ Schultz's new book, How to Eat an Elephant - 2016 I also listed my 'writing' goals.

1 - Finish rough drafts of two manuscript series'
2 - Polish A Christmas to Remember
3 - Submit more freelance

Once you've determined your Elephant and carved him up into sections (my 1, 2, 3 above), it's time to cut him into even smaller pieces. This is done by determining what you will do each month.

For my JANUARY:
Write rough of Book 2 in the Branson series (JANO)
Query Writers Markets for potential freelance
List potential topics for Writers Digest articles

From there, we cut those marinated pieces up into 'bites' we can manage on a WEEKLY basis:
Week 1& 2 were a wash for me.
With Bob gone over the holidays, we have spent the first two weeks of the year celebrating Christmas and being together (thus the reason these blog posts on goals are a tad later than I'd have liked)

Week 3: I submitted 2 queries to the Songwriters Market (Writers Digest publication) and am waiting to hear if either have been accepted.
1 - Key ingredients to a hit song.
     With that topic in mind I've already contacted management for three artists and gotten approval
     for interviews
2 - Using Twitter for marketing

I still haven't started the JANO book. Yikes! There are only 14 days left!(I'm writing this on the 18th) I wrote the rough of Somewhere Down the Line in 18 days so I COULD do this but it's going to be tough. That said, nothing is more important than the time I spend with Bob. Even if it means not writing. He is only home one more week. Two nights of that he'll be gone and I can dive into writing the story swirling in my head. After he leaves, I'll have 5 days to write myself into a coma. :-)

Have you picked up your copy of How to Eat an Elephant? There's still time you jump in and set your goals to paper.

Monday, January 18, 2016

GOALS FOR 2016 - HOW TO EAT AN ELEPHANT


At our Sleuth's Ink Christmas party back in December, I sat next to a like-minded member of our group, V.J. Schultz. VJ had several copies of her new adult coloring book available and a sole copy of How to Eat an Elephant 2016 (available on Amazon). 

I love journals and I have been setting goals for years. I'm also a very visual person so having hard copies of things is mandatory for me.

The next day, I sat down with the journal and thought about what I want from 2016. Did you know the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time? I think deep inside we all know that smaller bites are easier to digest yet we still have a habit of biting off more than we can chew. 

In How to Eat an Elephant, VJ suggests focusing on no more than three goals. Well, I took slightly bigger bites and focused on THREE AREAS I want to work on this year.

My Elephants are:
1 - Author 
2 - Creative
3 - Health

Here's what My Elephant Goals for 2016 page looks like:


#1 - Author Goals
Finish rough drafts of two manuscript series'
Polish A Christmas to Remember
Submit more freelance

These are the goals I'll focus on for this blog

#2 - Creative Goals
Participate in more creative challenges
Keep up with All Occasion Card Challenge (I host this one)
Keep up with Christmas Card Challenge

#3 - Health
Get my health in check before serious issues arise
Build an exercise routine I can live with

Once you establish your Elephants, VJ walks you through Month by Month, Week by Week, Day by Day.

Next Monday, I'll show you what my January Goals have been and how I've broken them down into manageable bites.

In the mean time, please check out my review of How to Eat an Elephant on Amazon.

I hope you'll share your GOALS for 2016