Personal Tidbits – Page 2

My Goals for 2016

January 1, 2016February 22, 2016 K. J. Farnham

A-goal-without-a-plan-is-just-a-wish-Antoine-de-Saint-Exupery1

I had a lot of goals for 2015 and I worked my heinie off in an attempt achieve them. How did I do?

Goal #1 – Finish and Publish Don’t Call Me Kit Kat

Goal achieved! And as of today, Don’t Call Me Kit Kat has review averages on Goodreads (4.57) and Amazon (4.8) that make my heart swell with joy. This book is very near and dear to my heart, and based on the majority of responses from readers, it conveys the messages I was hoping it would.

Goal #2 – Stop Obsessing Over Click Date Repeat

Hmm. This one is iffy. While I managed to stop checking my sales stats every day, I faltered on resisting the urge to constantly check for new reviews after Don’t Call Me Kit Kat was published in May. Because I wanted to keep tabs on how Kit Kat was doing, I ended up checking in on CDR more than once a week as well. So this goal continues to be a work in progress.

Goal #3 – Finish the First Draft of Click Date Repeat 2

MAJOR fail. But, I have a really good excuse! During November, I participated in NaNoWriMo and completed a good chunk of a YA suspense novel.

Goal #4 – Stick to a Blog Schedule

Another iffy one here. For the most part, I managed to post one book review per week. But I kinda fell off the bandwagon as far as posting a personal/professional post every Wednesday. I won’t abandon this goal, but it definitely needs to be revised.

Goal #5 – Remember What’s Really Important

Goal achieved! Not only did I set time aside for hanging out with my family without writing, I took the entire summer off to do things with my kids. Honestly, this goal may have been overachieved. 😉

And now for my new and revised goals for 2016…

Goal #1 – Revise and Complete SPIN

SPIN is the YA suspense novel I worked on during NaNoWriMo. The manuscript has been through one round of developmental editing, and I can’t even describe how excited I am to see this one through to publication. My plan is to send it off for one more round of developmental edits some time in Feburary. Then, if I succeed at making this book into what I think it can be, I just might be querying agents come spring.

Goal #2 – Finish and Publish Click Date Repeat 2

As of right now, I have about a third of this book completed. However, the entire novel is outlined, so I know exactly what needs to be written. I plan to work on it intermittently for the next two months, but as soon as SPIN gets sent in for its second developmental edit in February, I’ll finish this one up. I’ll aim for sending it for it’s first developmental edit in March with the ultimate goal of publishing in late May.

Goal #3 – Stop Obsessing Over Book Stats

I will only check my sales stats and for new book reviews once a week. This might seem like an easy goal, but it’s not!

Goal #4 – Limit Social Media Time

Last year, this goal wasn’t necessary because all I had to maintain was Click Date Repeat’s Facebook page. Now I also have an author Facebook account, an author fan page on Facebook, a Twitter account, and an Instagram account. This is a lot to maintain and often turns into hours of wasted time each day that I should have spent writing. My plan is to limit my time on social media to one hour per day. (This does not include time posting book reviews and writing blog posts.)

Goal #5 – Post Regularly to My Blog

Instead of committing to personal/professional posts on Wednesdays and book reviews on Sundays, I’m only committing to posting something at least once a week and it could be any day of the week. In addition to personal/professional posts and book reviews, I’ve also started participating in cover reveals and blog tours.

Goal #6 – Write Every Day!

Even if I don’t feel like writing. Even if I’m busy with family commitments all day long and can’t write until after the kids are in bed. Even if I’m feeling under the weather. I will write at least one page of something every day. That something could be complete gibberish, but even gibberish can be turned into something meaningful. And baby steps are better than no steps at all.

Goal #7 – Remember What’s Really Important

I won’t be taking the summer off this year due to Goal #6, but I will continue unplugging every Friday night (and holidays) to spend quality time with my family.

What are your goals for 2016?

Personal Tidbits, Self Publishing

#AuthorParanoia

November 23, 2015April 30, 2019 K. J. Farnham

People often tell me when they purchase, read, or are in the process of reading one of my books. This includes family, friends, people who follow my blog, Facebook friends, etc. Even though I know these individuals are just trying to be nice, I have to be honest . . . it drives me nuts!

WAIT! Before you shake your head while mumbling “what a bitch” under your breath and unfollow me, please hear me out.

I know, I know. I should be appreciative that people even consider my books. I swear to you, I am. The problem is, when someone tells me they intend to read one of my books or have already done so but offer zero feedback, I can’t help but become paranoid.

Old Friend From High School: Hey, just bought a copy of your book! Can’t wait to read it.

What I Say: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. Can’t wait to hear what you think. 🙂

What I Think: Oh, my God. I wonder if she’s really going to read it or if she’s just making conversation . . . Oh, my God. If she does read it, what if she thinks that one part is about her?

Facebook Friend: Hey! Saw your book was on sale last week so I one-clicked it. Really enjoying it so far.

What I Say: Yay! Thank you so much! So happy to hear you’re enjoying it. 🙂

What I think: Please don’t hate my book. Please don’t hate my book. Is she still going to want to be friends if she hates my book? Please don’t hate my book. Please don’t hate my book.

Distant Relative I Met Once When I was 10: “Hey Kristie! Aunt Mary loaned me a copy of your book. I finished it last week. Wow, I can’t believe we have an author in the family!”

What I Say: “Thank you so much for reading, Distant Relative! I really appreciate your support. Are you an avid reader? If so, I’d love to be friends on Goodreads.”

What I Think: I’m not even sure I know who Aunt Mary is . . .Well, what did you think of it?? . . . Hmm. Maybe If I bring up Goodreads, she’ll rate it.

And when I don’t receive updates from people, that’s when the heavy paranoia sets in and my brain becomes overloaded with assumptions and whiny thoughts, many of which are verbally expressed ad nauseam to my poor husband.

“I know so-and-so read my book. Why didn’t she write a review?!”

“Why would he tell me he purchased a copy of my book only to never mention it again? I wonder if he even read it. Even worse, what if he read it and hated it?!”

“Well, I guess she hated it. Excuse me while I cry myself to sleep.”

Ugh. I’m lucky my husband is such a great listener, and I’m even luckier that he isn’t afraid to remind me that the paranoia has everything to do with me and nothing to do with them.

Even so, if you’re the friend or family member of an author, I propose the following order of operations if you are genuinely interested in reading her work:

Purchase–>Read–>Reveal

Or even better:

Purchase–>Read–>REVIEW

And if you’re an author, try to keep in mind that most people who mention they purchased, read, or are currently reading your work are truly trying to support you. It just might not occur to the majority of that lot that you’d appreciate feedback, and a good portion probably don’t understand how important reviews are to an author (indie or traditional). Plus, people are just plain busy!

I know I need to take my own advice. Trust me, I’m trying. 🙂

Personal Tidbits, Self Publishing

NaNoWriMo Newbie Here!

November 2, 2015November 2, 2015 K. J. Farnham

Today was a special day for me because I became a NaNoWriMoer!

I first heard about this event last year when I started learning the ins and outs of self-publishing. Of course, I had to look it up to find out what NaNoWriMo stands for. (Psst…It stands for National Novel Writing Month, for those of you who might be encountering the term for the first time right now!) After I found out what it means, I wondered two things: What’s the point? and Why do people participate?

The point of NaNoWriMo is simple. Write a 50,000-word novel in one month! If you’re like me, not only is writing that many words in one month not so simple, it’s downright scary. But wait, there’s more. According to NaNoWriMo.org, the process is supposed to be fun and approached by the seat of your pants. Okay, so maybe trying to have fun and not editing after writing every other sentence might make the task less laughable and more doable. It’s worth a try, right?

But can’t writers attempt to write a 50,000-word novel for fun and by the seat of their pants during any month of the year? Of course they can, but the majority don’t. And even those who say they’re going to (ME, for example) often end up falling short. So why make an attempt during NaNoWriMo?

First of all, there’s something magical about setting a goal like this along with hundreds of thousands of other people. Within minutes of creating my account, I looked up friends who were participating and added them to my list of writing buddies. I also joined an accountability group on Facebook. I can’t even begin to explain the camaraderie I feel with fellow nanowrimoers. So I won’t. 🙂 But trust me, it feels great to share a common goal with so many other writers.

Second, making such a huge commitment in front of the hundreds of thousands of participants I’ve already mentioned lit a fire under me. I want to succeed, not just for myself, but for the entire community. Does it have anything to do with saving face? Yeah, okay, maybe a little. But I also want to be an inspiration to my writing buddies. Today, when I noticed that one of my buddies wrote 3,000+ words, not only was I proud of her, but it got me moving!

Third, I have my very own dashboard on the NaNoWriMo site that includes nifty progress trackers, such as a graph that reports my daily average and fun little badges to keep me motivated. For someone like me who’s driven by data and reaching milestones, it’s just plain cool. Today I wrote 2,182 words, which puts my required daily average at 1,091. I hope to decrease that average as the month progresses.

My Dashboard