Tag: goals

My Monthly Update

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

Latest News

I do apologize for the late post, I saved it for one reason and one reason only. Then, my reason lost by 35 points. I still love you, Peyton.

Congrats to Bruno Mars. Brilliant Halftime show.

I have a new author Facebook Page, Sydney Aaliyah Michelle, everyone, please like it.

January Update: 

SAM & Associates LLC has been created. I created an entity to run my self publishing empire. I figure if I am going to do this business, I need to treat it like a business. That includes creating a business plan, which I am working on now.

Editpalooza didn’t quite work out of for me because of the lack of feedback, but the Savvy Authors were amazing and I have listen to the Three Pass Editing Webinar and acquired a more systematic plan for self editing my books. This doesn’t eliminate hiring an editor before you publish. I am an staunch believer in if your going to invest in your book, do it with the editing process.

I have attended two of my Creative Writing Workshop and I am really enjoying it. I enjoy talking about writing more than I thought I would. I also read my first short story to the class, it was a character exercise, and everyone loved it. I could get used to that feeling.

I turned Another New Life over to more beta readers and received some positive feedback. I had one person offer some harsh feedback, but once I looked through her tone (:-) tone in writing) and read her notes, it was helpful. I am working on edits, now and have completed 7 our of 37 chapters.

Goals for February: 

SAM & Associates LLC – finish business plan.

Writing Workshop – continue participating and creating content for my workshop.

Editing – I gave myself until February 16th to finish edits on Another New Life and then I turn it over to my editor. :-0

Awesome Blogs – a couple of blogs I found this month. Check them out and follow them.

New Adult Rockstars – New Adult blog created by a New Adult author and content provided by the best in New Adult.

Savvy & Writers & e-Books online – helpful tips on all things Writing & Publishing.

Have you signed up for A to Z Challenge? If no, click the badge in the upper left hand corner. It’s a blast and a great way to meet new bloggers. This will be my third challenge. 

Last month I won a free blog button design from Arlee Bird Cheerfest and created by Jeremy Hawkins. I am proud to share it with you today.

SAM-006 small

Thanks so much Arlee & Jeremy.

My Monthly Update

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle12 Comments

2014 Writing/Reading/Watching Goals

Time for my annual goals post: 

  1. Self publish three novels: Another New Life & It’s About You and Me – Book #1 (Tentative Title) and TBD.
  2. Participate in JuNoWriMo – It’s About You and Me – Book #2
  3. Participate in NaNoWriMo – It’s About You and Me – Book #3
  4. Editpalooza – Inked: A Permanent Love Story
  5. Query – Inked: A Permanent Love Story
  6. Attend a Creative Writing Class or Workshop
  7. Join RWA.
  8. Read fifty (50) books – See the start of my To Read List.
  9. Watch fifty (50) movies
  10. Increase participation in social media: more interaction on Twitter, more group interaction on Facebook and more club interaction on Goodreads.
  11. Attend two conferences:  RT Booklovers Conference (New Orleans) & RWA Conference (San Antonio)
  12. Maintain my blog schedule:
  • My Monthly Update – monthly goals and news on bloghops, upcoming events and progress on my publishing/querying efforts.
  • New Adult Book Review – Do you have a New Adult Novel, any genre, coming out in 2014? Please let me know in the comments.
  • Tattoo Tuesday – Are you an Inked up Author? Please let me know in the comments.
  • Sydney Quotes the Movies – Quotes from the hottest movies in 2014.
  • What is New Adult? – My thoughts on the genre.
  • Blog Tour Post – Author Interviews, Character Interviews, Cover Reveals.

What are your writing goals for 2014? Do you have a new release in 2014? Are you an inked up author and would like to be featured on Tattoo Tuesday? 

I am so excited for the new year and look forward to featuring more authors, books, and movies in 2014!!!

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEAR!

lotus-image-2

Get Healthy Bloghop – How do you stay fit?

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle42 Comments

Get_Healthy_Post_GraphicStephen Tremp, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Michael Di Gesu, and L. Diane Wolfe have teamed up for a Blog Hop that focuses on health.

It is so nice of them to worry about our health. And, what better time of year then May-June to get refocused on our health goals.

Bloggers will be sharing their get healthy tips, so click on the lovely apple to find the list of participants and give them a visit for some get healthy tips.

My get healthy tip is simple, but it helps me stay accountable.  I set goals for myself and share them with people close to me.  I make a list of 5-10 goals that allow me to focus on what I hope to accomplish on a daily basis when I need to pay more attention to my health and fitness.

This month, I’ll share my June 2013 health and fitness goals with all of you:

  1. Four hours of cardio per week.
  2. One visit to the golf driving range per week.
  3. One long walk outside/get in touch with nature.
  4. Try a new fitness class at the gym.
  5. No eating after 7:00 pm on weekdays.
  6. Drink more tea then coffee.

I don’t always reach my goals, but I always take a moment to celebrate the good things and see what I need to focus on for the next month. Wish me luck!

As a writer, do you find it difficult to stay in shape?  What tip do you have to get healthy and stay in shape? 

2013 Goals – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle19 Comments

Happy New Year

READING

2013EbookChallengeA couple of months ago, I read a great post with a great title, The Best Ever Top 50 List in the World Ever by Michael J. Holley.  How could resist a great title like that?

Anyway, in the post, Michael includes the list of the top 50 most popular books and the top 50 most popular films.    I have a full length post planned for this topic, but needless to say, I need to read more.  So, in 2013, that is what I am going to do. I have signed up for the 2013 Ebook Challenge.  My plan is the read the following books over the course of 2013:

  1. The Hobbit
  2. A Tale of Two Cities
  3. Kane & Abel
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird
  5. The Lord of the Rings
  6. Anna Karenina
  7. The Great Gatsby
  8. The Sportswriter
  9. Tropic of Cancer
  10. Wuthering Heights
  11. To the Lighthouse
  12. The Eagle has Landed

I will be keeping track of my reads on the 2013 Reading Challenge tab. And you can see the current book I am reading in the side bar.  I figure once I finish my book each month, then I can return to reading my chick lit, horror and crime thrillers.

Have you read any of these books? Let me know, which one you enjoyed the most?  

WRITING

Blog – The blog schedule will change to 3 times a week at least. Now, this coming week, I will be posting 5 days a weeks, hence the, at least.

Sunday Post – My Weekly Update – Review of my week, Posts to Share, Recognition of New Followers and Special Features coming up such has blog hops or book tours for the following week.
Tuesday Post/Wednesday Post – I will alternate Tattoo Tuesday and Sydney Quotes the Movies (SQM) every other week.
Friday Post – Random Blog Post

Short Stories – I love a good, well written short story and have read many last year. Sevastian Winters has some amazing stories for sale on his site and they inspired me to give it a try.  I am committing to writing a short story a month. And, to add an extra incentive, I have joined, 2 short story contest. I figured why not.  They offer feedback whether you win or not. That can’t be a bad thing, can it?

WriMo – I will participate in JuNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo this year for the novel length fans in my life.  The ideas keep coming and it worked for me in the past. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Editing – I really enjoyed my WriMo Diaries (how is that for a great title, Uhmmm). My goal is to create a Editing Diary to correspond with the editing process of my three novels.  I will begin editing in  January and will continue, I guess, until . . . who knows. But, that’s ok.

Publishing – WriMo Diaries, Editing Diaries, Short Story Anthology, Novel #1, #2, #3 – I would be pleased with anyone of these happening this year. But, definitely, all three and more in my life time.

What are your writing goals this year? Do yo have a word count goal, books written goal or a just a goal to get published this year? 

ARITHMETIC

Ok, had the finish the saying with Arithmetic. This might be a stretch, but I need a goal relating to numbers.  Maybe I could work on sticking to my Amazon/iBook monthly budget.  Kind of disregarded that more times then I should in the past. Well, if my blog idols would stop publishing, I wouldn’t buy so many book; Emily, A.E., Becca, D.C., Karen,      Donna, and Chris. Yes, I’m talking to you.

I could focus on increasing my Social Media presence, but I my pleased with those numbers growing as they are.

There is always the views/clicks stats, but you can’t really control that, can you?

Ok, I have a good one, I will meet/connect/friend/read/follow/support more people on the web this year.

Also, a million dollar advance check would be nice. It could happen.

What numbers will you be focusing on this year? 

I wish everyone a Happy and Productive New Year. 

Related Post:

 

 

My Weekly Update – My Life is About to Change

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle21 Comments
Bigger then this climb.

I know that it a bit cryptic considering I am not going to go into to much detail. At least not yet.  All I will say is that my life is about to change dramatically. I have a climb ahead of me and I am excited and scared, but it all for the best.

I wanted to just take this time to say thank you to all the people online who have been so supportive since I started this blog.  Everyone has been overwhelmingly kind and I appreciate it more then you know.  It is because of this support I have decided to make this change.  Don’t worry, I am not going anywhere, just feeling the urge to show some love.

How’s that for a cliff hanger?  On to the update . . .

The Healthy Writers Club

Shallee McArthur started The Healthy Writers Club; How to Push Your Writing (and Exercise) to the Next Level. I am sure my butt has expanded since I’ve been spending so much additional time sitting in front of a computer this year.  And, given the option of writing early in the morning or exercising early in the morning, I have been picking sleep every time.  (Yeah, you knew that was coming)  I thought I was a great idea to  record my workouts and find some like minded bloggers as well.

October 1 – 7, 2012:

Cardio:  3x – 60 min sessions
Strength Training:  2x – 20 min sessions
Stretching:  3x – 15 min sessions
Not a bad week.  

 

Posts to View

Two weeks ago I wrote a post about using character profiles as a marketing tool.  Dan O’Brien takes this concept a step further with his guest post on  Armand Rosamilia’s site.   He conducts an interview of his characters and the exchange between the author and the characters in this setting is fascinating.  Now I can’t wait to read The Path of the Fallen.
I, along with 300,000 other people are in the midst of pre Nanowrimo anxiety and I hope everyone is preparing and ready to go on November 1st.  I have been back and forth about whether or not I was going to do Nano.  I love the concept, but not as happy with the quality of work I put out during these challenges.  I will write more about this later, but it was one of my goals at the beginning of the year to participate in Junowrimo, August Campnano and Nanowrimio.  So, I am going to do it because it has been a pretty awesome goal achieving year for me and I don’t want to stop now.
To assist my fellow writer, here are a few post that might help with your prep:
From one of my new followers, Kim Cox provided help on  Outlining: The beginning, middle and end.
Felicia at The Peasant Revolt shared how she is Armed for Wrimo by introducing @wrimo: A 30 day Survival Guide for Writers by Kevin S. Kaiser. I bought it and am reading it now.
And, Amanda Fanger penned a motivational post on how to maintain Writer’s Momentum.    It’s about pushing on towards your dreams.
New Followers
Brenden Dunne
Julie at Julieschicklit
CDworks
Javedbabar at A Story a Day
KC Storm
Citizen Plain
Chris Humpherys at My Mind on a Plate
Editor Etc LLC
J Spencer Goff
 
 Next Weeks Schedule
Tuesday – Tattoo Tuesday (I promise not to miss it this week)
Wednesday – Sydney Quotes the Movies – Ridley Scott Goes All In
Friday – Write Practice – “Kaboom” Onomonopedia 
Sunday – My Weekly Update