Meridian Magazine reviewed my book today! *happy dance* The reviewer had a lot of good things to say like,
"The plot is full of action and keeps a fast pace. The author demonstrates a good understanding of police procedure and of world affairs in both the background and action of the story. The details are graphic in places, but put in a perspective that keeps them from being offensive. Bellon uses an interesting writing device in setting up the ending to almost mirror the beginning. Fans of action novels will enjoy reading Ashes Ashes."
So you can see why I'm so happy. She said a lot of other things, too, and you can go here to see the full review.
Yesterday we were talking about getting motivated to write in the summertime. The more I've thought about this, the more I think it's related to goals whether it's word count goals, chapter goals, scene goals, whatever. When I have a goal, I make plans to meet that goal and that's what I need right now--a little summertime structure if you will.
Since a goal is just a wish until it's written down, today I am writing down that I would like to finish drafting Bart's story by July 31st. That's a pretty big goal for me, but I know if I break it down into small pieces I can do it.
When I calculate everything, that means my daily goal is to write at least five pages per day. I'm really going to try to stay accountable and on top of this. Goals = Motivation = Accomplishment. I can do this.
I hope you'll join with me in making some goals for the summer. Write them in the comment section and we'll check in with each other, keep ourselves accountable.
What would you like to accomplish by the end of July?
I'm an award-winning romantic suspense novelist, but in my free time I love to review books and my fave TV shows, as well as pass along great book deals, and eat Canadian chocolate---not necessarily in that order.
7 comments:
Starting July 1st I've signed up for Brandon Sanderson's online summer creative writing class. I'll watch his BYU lectures on my computer, and participate in an online group where we will be expected to critique at least 4 other works per week plus put up a chapter a week, and by the end of the summer we are expected to have a 30,000 word novella. Me? I'm reworking/rewriting/overhauling an old book for the 5th time. Basically I'm using the old book as an outline, which was what I did the last 4 times. Oh, well. I'm sure I will get it right this time. I hope.
The only fun we will have this summer will be when we go to see our granddaughter. How can it get better than that?
Debra--I signed up for the class too. I'll have to watch for your submissions. Not to prod you (since I don't actually know you) but why not do something completely different? I got the impression that part of the class was trying something new/generating new ideas. Then again, maybe I'm interpreting it that way because I want an excuse to branch out :)
My goal is simply to write 10,000 words a month for the summer (or winter, since I live in the southern hemisphere). That's an average of about 340 words a day, which is very doable for me, even when I'm tired, and I often overshoot when I get into a scene. I love meeting goals, but very discouraging to not meet them and often quit entirely if I fall too far behind, which is why I'm shooting for such a modest goal. So, 20,000 words by the end of July, of which about 3000 are written...and I'm already behind. Okay, going to go write now.
Kristine--my goal for this summer is to rewrite this manuscript in order to self-publish it. I happen to stumble upon Sanderson's creative writing class by accident, and I thought why not combine the two? I don't want to postpone the reworking of this manuscript any longer, and really, I'm taking it in a whole new direction, so I am generating new ideas just with the same characters. It's a paranormal and fits in with his kind of writing.
Debra, that sounds like a ton of work!
Kristine, we'll have to hold each other to our goals, right?
It will be a lot of work, but it was on the advice of Angela Eschler's editorial services that I take a closer look at my audience and write to them, specifically, before I try to publish. She was right, and I can take the work.
Debra--I'll watch for Jaycie Allen, then! I'm under kristine N, I think. Good luck, especially with the self-publishing. That's a lot of work, and I hope it comes together well for you.
Julie--thanks for the kick in the pants. I've been bandying about my goal, but not putting it down anywhere. Now that I've thought about it and looked at where I am relative to accomplishing it, I'm working harder. Again, thanks!
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