2014 Goals: March/April Status Report

When I sat down to reflect on my goals for April, I realized I totally forgot to post a status report for March! I guess all the excitement of the April Poem a Day Challenge caused it to slip my mind. It’s been a rather quiet couple of months, but I’ve still kept much of my focus on my writing.

1) Pitch The Muse.

While I took the plunge and submitted The Muse in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition, I didn’t made it to the next round. Regardless, I’m proud of myself for doing something so scary. If anything, the rejection has made me even more determined get my novel out there. I’m in the process of compiling a list of possible agents that will be targeted in my next round of submissions.

As luck would have it, the May/June edition of Writer’s Digest is featuring a section of articles on the YA genre. As always, I’m finding the information very useful in my quest.

2) Outline and start writing The Muse: Lineage

Shelved until the school year is over. Never let anyone tell you teaching is an easy job. I’ve got about three weeks remaining until the last day of school and I am literally counting down the days to freedom. So is my muse.

3) Submit writing.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on my blog, you know I was an active participant in the April Poem A Day Challenge as presented on writersdigest.com via Poetic Asides. I wrote 30 poems in 30 days and I submitted each and every one.  Some of those poems were terrible and others turned out pretty good. All in all it was a great experience and a lot of fun.

Over the next couple of months, the editor of Poetic Asides and guest judges will be selecting the best poem from each day of the challenge. The selected poems will then be published in an anthology. Perhaps, if the stars align, I’ll find my name on that list, (one can never be too optimistic).

4) Continue to build author platform.

Admittedly, I haven’t been very active on Twitter or Facebook. I must have been too busy poeming or wrapped up in my day job. Or knitting. Truth be told, I’m busy brainstorming ways to make my feeds on these platforms a little more interesting. I’m in the process of researching what other writers tweet and post on their Facebook pages. I don’t want to be like everyone else, but I think somewhere in between what I’m doing and what they’re doing I’ll find my groove.

Facebook likes grew from 363 to 365

Twitter followers held steady at 549

While social network growth is a little sluggish, my blog is gaining momentum. Over the last couple of months, I’ve gained more than 40 new followers. Considering I’ve been writing more creative pieces of late, this is very exciting and encouraging.

Thanks so much to everyone for clicking those follow and like buttons! Your support is greatly appreciated.

5) Inspire others.

As always, I hope I am a positive presence.

The invisible goal:

6) Be flexible.

Aside from a great array of articles on the YA genre, the current edition of Writer’s Digest included a great writing prompt in conjunction with the Your Story Competition. My muse is already buzzing …

– – –

c.b.w. 2014