Competition Last 7 days!

There is a STORM coming, and nothing will be the same

Both volumes will also be available as ebooks.

Not a South African resident?

Don't despair, launch week will have loads of ebook

special deals!

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Tips, Tricks and Tales: What an Indie Writer Should Know

It is all good and well for me to have Time Management as a theme for my blog this year, but what do I actually want to accomplish? It took me a few moments, a writers’ group meeting and an email from Jeff Goins to realise that while I really do need to manage my time better, there was something else I needed first: goals.

Sure I can write 500 words everyday, in fact I can and often do write well over a thousand words everyday. But what do I want to do with all those words?

Not the fluffy kind that says - finish my next novel, or write five short stories. I work full time and have a hectic year ahead to get my vehicle through a complicated set of tests and firing trials. But those goals are work related.

How do I set personal goals that I can plan towards achieving them, even with a full time job and all its stress?

You might think that as a published author the answer would be more books, but to be honest it is not that simple for me. Yes, I do want to publish more short stories and my next novel this year, but that is not all that I want to do.

I have been threatening to develop an Indie Writer’s Course for the past year or so, and have made a good start on the “manual”. Then I asked myself: but what if my idea of the contents of the course is not what people actually want or need to know?

Should I continue to develop this course only to find out at the end I have wasted my time on insignificant things, or worse not teaching people things that they do need to know?

Should I include writing advice? Plotting and characterization? The answer there is a definite No. You don’t have to be an experienced writer, with loads of books to your name, to know that there are lots of books and courses on fiction and non-fiction writing available.

You have only to type in the words ‘writing tools’, or ‘plotting a book’ and thousands of hits appear on the Google page.

So if I have nothing to add to those good books, what does an indie writer need to know?

What frustrated you? What could have helped you when you started out and yet had to learn the hard way because no one told you about it.

Please leave a comment and help me develop a course that could be of real help to new, and maybe even published, indie authors to help make their lives easier.

February is Fantasy Fan Month

Tweet me (#FEBFANMONTH) or tell me on Facebook -

reserve your spot and share your thoughts, reviews and authors of your favourite genre

this February on the Broomstick.

♥

Tips, Tricks and Tales: Where to Find Advice

The easy answer toward the question of finding the answer is the internet. Yes, we all know that, but it is not an easy answer either. We are pressed for time, and as a writer I am constantly trying to improve my craft.

While I am a good beta reader, I am a terrible editor, and I know that. However,  the more I write I also learn to become better at spotting my mistakes. This kind of learning does not happen by itself and there are several resources available to help me, to become a better writer.
The vastness of the internet is overwhelming to many and while you might be adept at searching for just that fact, why not use what has already been identified as good resources?
I was browsing around on the website where I buy digital magazines and found the 2014 edition of the Writer's Yearbook from Writer's Digest. It was even available at a good price! ☺
Inside the magazine there is also a long list of websites and blogs that have been voted by writers as the best for the kind of information that we need.
Again the list may be a bit overwhelming, but pick three and check them out. Read the advice offered by the host and use that become a better writer/blogger.
Of course you can subscribe to them all, but again where to find the time! I made a copy of the list on my computer. While the host might appreciate it more if I subscribed, I simply don't have the time to read all that email. But keeping the list close, I have an invaluable resource at hand that I can use and share with my fellow writers.

How do you manage your online resources?

New Year's Resolutions and all that

I am not one for new year's resolutions, but for this year I have decided to make an exception to that. While it is not so much something new, or revolutionary in my life, I am resolved to take better care with my time.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
personal	work	work	work	work	work	write
FB/Twitter	FB/Twitter	FB/Twitter	FB/Twitter	FB/Twitter	FB/Twitter	FB/Twitter
write	write	Blog	write	write	personal	personal

As you can see, I do have a day job and it takes a lot of energy from me, but the time I do have control over, I feel needs to better taken care of.

I went so far as to make a list of the stories that I need to finish/write for 2014 for various projects and they will drive my daily activities list. For now I have to finish the editing on the 3rd book on the Third Gender series, and then I have to finish the second story for the Storm anthology of my writers' group.

Now there rests my problem: I am not writing as I should and the deadline is very close. So I joined the 31 day challenge of writing 500 words each day. It is an easy deadline to make and with the Facebook group support, it should be a snap. After all, I have completed three NaNoWriMo challenges, with a daily word count of three times that!

So if you feel the need to write, or finish your next book, why don't you take the 500 word challenge too and join today.

What are your challenges for 2014?

Competition Extended!