My Life – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Monthly Update – Is it February Already?

Published on February 1, 2016 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle12 Comments

New Logo – I’m in the process of rebranding Sydney Aaliyah Michelle and step one, a new logo. I love it. Thanks so much to Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Designs.

Quote of the Month: “As long as there’s light we got a chance.” -Poe (StarWars VII)

Movie’s Watched:

The Big Short – That whole real estate, financial debaucle, now I understand! And, some people made a lot of money off of it.

The Revenant – Is as brilliantly done as the hype. I loved it.

13 Hours: The Secret Soilders of Benghazi – Makes me want to dust off that military romance I’ve been working on for four years.

Concussion – They tried to balance it out, but it was scary but disconnected to what I know about the NFL.

StarWars: Episode VII Force Awakens – It was good, but not as good as Episode IV, V, VI. Oh, but I’m excited about the series continuing.

This post is my entry for the Lost & Found: Valentine’s Edition blog hop hosted by Guilie Castillo-Oriard, Alex J Cavanaugh, Denise Covey, Yolanda Renee, Elizabeth Seckman, and Arlee Bird. Be sure to visit all of the hosts for this event. To find the full list of participants visit the list on Tossing It Out or any of the host sites.

Lost & Found Love – I love these stories. My debut novel was a lost and found love story.

My lost and found love story would be about me finding my passion.

I had a good job. It paid well. I got to travel and meet interesting people.

BUT . . .

I wasn’t passionate about it. I didn’t love it. It didn’t inspire me. So I gave it all up and now am living the starving artist, working a part-time job and working 24/7.

I love every minute of it.

February News – It’s Release Day . . . tomorrow!

Candy and canines. Flowers and felines. Celebrate this Valentine’s Day with your sweethearts of the human and fuzzy varieties!

Nothing is more heart-warming than kisses from the pet who adores you and the man who loves you, so snuggle up with VALENTINE PETS & KISSES — an anthology of fourteen sweet romances from USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors — and strike the perfect mood for moonlit walks and candlelight dinners with your pet and sweetheart.

Goals for February 2016

Write:

Finish Genna’s Encore – 4,000 more words
Start New Project – So excited about this one. It’s going to be fun to write. Can’t tell you any more at the moment.

Edit:

Anxious Love
Genna’s Last Song
Genna’s Encore

What’s your Lost & Found story? What are your goals for February?

Insecure Writer’s Support Group – Try, Try, Again

Published on March 3, 2015March 6, 2015 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle14 Comments

I didn’t like the way I did it the first time, so I did it over again. – Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Another month, another insecurity and another IWSG post.

Our hosts this month Chemist Ken, Suzanne Sapseed, and Shannon Lawrence. If you get a chance, please show them some support along with all the other members of the support group who you can find, here.

I’m starting to feel like everything about this business is trial and error. I try something and if it doesn’t work, I try something else. What works for one author doesn’t necessarily work for me.

I’ve been a published author for ten months now and I have wasted a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of sleepless nights and while I have learned a lot. There is still so much I don’t know and it is frustrating.

Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of what I have accomplished and I am incredibly blessed to be a writer. It is my passion. No matter how frustrating it can get at times, I can’t imagine not doing it, but more often than not, I feel like I am just throwing darts at a board praying for something to stick.

Do you ever feel like this? Does this feeling every go away?

Look forward to hearing everyones thoughts.

Insecure Writer’s Support Group – New Year, New Things

Published on February 4, 2015February 3, 2015 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle9 Comments

Get the prelims out of the way, #IWSG is here to help! Check out our co-host, Gwen Gardner, Dolorah, Sarah Foster, and M. Pax! Visit and show some love to our fearless creator, Alex J. Cavanaugh. Check out some of the other group member’s post and help them out. As the new year starts, I find myself discovering new thing about writing.

I am doing a rewrite of a novel that I finished (67,000 words) back in 2013. Rewrites are hard.
My novel sales can go from a steady few books sold a day, to crickets in a matter of weeks. Selling books is hard.
I took the entire month of December off and getting back to work took longer than I imagined. Staying on task is hard.
I had two of my beta readers read the final book in my series, Hope for Us and they loved it. Finding people who support my writing is amazing and makes all the hard stuff worth it.

I welcome any and all advice on dealing with 1-3. For all those writers out there, if you have #4, cherish it. If you don’t, send me your MS. I’ll support you. 🙂

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Published on January 7, 2015January 7, 2015 by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle36 Comments

I took a few month’s off, but now I ‘m back and as insecure as ever. 🙂

My short bio: Sydney Aaliyah Michelle is a Contemporary Romance writer, a voracious reader and movie fanatic who hails from Texas. After surviving 5 1/2 years living in China, she had the courage to finally pursue her passion and become a writer.

Huge thank you to our awesome co-hosts for the January 7 posting of the IWSG, Elizabeth Seckman, Lisa Buie-Collard, Chrys Fey, and Michelle Wallace! I also wanted to say thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh for creating a safe place for those of us who need help.

I have a painful/agonizing/gut-wrenching/creativity-stifling case of ENVY! I know, it is so unhealthy, but I can’t help it. It started early last month when I punished myself by stalking some new releases, all who out performed my new release. Everywhere I turned, it seemed like people where hitting that top 100 list, author’s were releasing their 8th/12th/ 20th novel (I’m on my 3rd). Books in my genre where out selling me left and right. I even found a new adult sports romance debut novel that was blowing up the charts while my third new adult sports romance novel is basking in mediocrity.

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for each and every author who is successful doing what we do. I want all of us to be a success, but my mind hasn’t been in the right place lately. HELP!!!!

Am I a terrible person? How do you get over envying other people’s success?

Click here and visit the other blogs in the group.

My Monthly Update: 2015 Goals – Professional and Personal

Published on January 1, 2015January 1, 2015 by Sydney Aaliyah MichelleLeave a comment

I am fond of a saying in my family, “I don’t want to be praying about the same thing this year that I prayed about last year.” Meaning, we are always going to have stuff to pray for, things we want, hopes, dreams, issues, problems, but as long as it’s not the same pray, the same things, hopes, dreams, issues & problems over and over again, then hopefully we are learning, moving forward & growing. I feel so blessed to have a whole new list of goals for 2015.

Professional

Publish:

Hope for Us (Hope Series Book #3)
The Hope Series Box Set
Ambushed by Love – Contemporary Romance – love triangle
A New Season – Dark Romance – sports
Inked: Three Permanent Love Stories
- Emilynn & Leo
- Tommy & Cameron
- Sabastian & Gracie

*All are written except for the last two in the Inked series.

Write:

Inked Series Book #2 & #3
Two other original MS

Marketing:

Create & Implement a blog post schedule
- Tattoo Tuesday – features & stories
- Teaser Tuesday – post excerpts from WIP
- Personal Post
- Feature other Authors & Books
- Insecure Writer’s Support Group Post
- My Monthly Update – Update on previous month & goals for the next month
Create & Implement a social media post schedule
- Facebook Page & Tsu – 4x per week – 2 promos, 1 interactive & 1 personal/funny (connect to Twitter)
Send out Newsletter once per month (monthly winner of Amazon Gift Card)

Production:

Learn how to format my own books
Learn how to create teasers in photoshop

Personal

Read 50 books (5 books on writing craft)
Watch 50 movies
Sweat 30 mins a day, 4 times a week
Track my food daily
Stick to my budget and save money
Do something to feed my spirit at least once per month
Say yes to more social situations and look at those as opportunities
Write 1,000 words per day
Write a personal blog post once per month
Do something new every month

What are your goals for 2015?