While I fell short on more than a few goals, 2018 was full of growth, progress, and more successes than I ever expected.
For this final #WIPWednesday of the year, a 2018 retrospective #YearInReview.
Books
I was not planning to write a children's book this year, but sometimes inspiration strikes and something unexpected is created. Once the vision came together for my words to become a beautifully illustrated children's book, I set to the task of researching publishers and drafting query letters. It has received seven rejections, so far, but it is still out for consideration with three publishers and I have a list of several others I am prepared to query in 2019.
I struggled a bit with the family history memoir I settled on writing back in February, getting just 4,744 words into the rough draft before officially putting it on hiatus to work on my novel idea in October. I still feel strongly that this is a story I want to tell and I intend to finish it, one day.
My fiction novel is my main project at the moment. I began in October and I have written 17,507 words of a very rough draft over the past couple months. I am well outside my comfort zone with the genre, but I am enthralled with the world I've imagined and I am determined to see this project through.
Essays, Articles & Short Stories
When this year started, I had only one published essay: my first piece from 2016 that went viral before I had any idea what was going on. After a year-long break from writing, I decided to get back into it at the start of 2018.
This year, I have been featured on KidTripster, Perfection Pending, TODAY Parents, Medium, That's Inappropriate, Organized Mom, The Good Men Project, Scary Mommy, Love What Matters, InspireMore, and The Mighty.
I've shared poetry, prose, and I even entered a short story in a flash fiction contest.
I've received recognition for being Top Writer in the Parenting category on Medium, for having the most pageviews in a month for my syndicated piece on That's Inappropriate, by winning a writing challenge on Hopes and Dreams for Our Future, by having my piece featured in the InspireMore newsletter, and by winning a writing prompt contest on InspireMore. All of this is more success than I ever imagined back in January.
My stories have been shared far and wide – and by some big pages – across social media.
I don't have access to pageview data for each of the sites that published my work (though that would be the best metric to measure each piece's success), but I can use MuckRack to calculate the social media reactions for each piece, which is the next best thing.
My Top 3 Essays To Date:
(based on social media reactions)
104,055 - 5 Reasons I'm Going To Continue To Be A SAHM Even After My Kids Are In School on Scary Mommy: 98,623 + syndicated on That's Inappropriate: 5,432
5,006 - I Don't Miss My Kids Being Little on That's Inappropriate: 1,699 + syndicated on Scary Mommy: 3,307
3,103 - You Don't Need To Do It All This Holiday Season on Medium: 14 + syndicated on Love What Matters: 93 + syndicated on TODAY: 2,800 + syndicated on InspireMore: 70 + syndicated on The Mighty: 122 + syndicated on The Good Men Project: 4
Online Presence
As you can see, social media is a huge part of what makes my personal essays and articles successful. Online presence is also extremely important as an author. Many (if not most) publishers will look at a writer's online audience and social media reach, factoring it into their decision making. And, should I decide to self-publish a book at some point, social media becomes even more important.
Social media is, by far, my biggest challenge as a writer. Personally, it overwhelms me; I hardly use it. But, professionally, I recognize its importance and have been making an effort to grow my audience.
I started this year with a few online goals, which I was able to keep:
• No cost. I was/am not prepared to pay for web hosting or other online services, at this point.
• Don't try to do them all. Focus on only a couple social media platforms.
• Stay active and schedule ahead to avoid overwhelm. One post a day on Facebook.
Going into 2019, my goals are pretty much the same and I'll add that I'd like to organically grow my Facebook page likes to 500 by my birthday in February.
I started this year with just Facebook and Twitter.
My Facebook page is growing slowing but is doing well. I am, unfortunately, stuck in a glitch with trying to change my Facebook page name and have had no luck with getting any actual page support since March.
I found Twitter to be a wonderful place for me as a writer looking for writing encouragement, commiseration, and tips. I have not, however, found it useful in promoting my work.
I also tried Pinterest and have failed pretty miserably there, as well.
While I am not going to delete any of these public profiles meant to promote myself as a writer, I know I can only happily manage a couple before it all seems like too much and I am overwhelmed. So, Pinterest and Twitter will likely get very little attention in 2019.
But, I just recently added Instagram to the mix. It is an active platform and one on which I can share the images I create with my words and quotes of others'. My goal there will be to post 3-5 times a week. We'll see if it translates into any meaningful following when it comes to promoting my work.
Looking to 2019
Looking back, 2018 was better than I dared to hope when I decided to pursue my writing aspirations. Looking forward to 2019, I can only hope for more of the same – and maybe to finish the first draft of this book.
26 December 2018
23 December 2018
InspireMore
At the end of November, I came across a site I hadn't heard of before (even though a couple of my Facebook friends followed their page): InspireMore.
I have been interested in finding new publishers to syndicate my work, so I checked out their submissions page and sent a query.
I received a reply informing me they were interested in republishing my story and also inviting me to become a featured creator for the site.
Over the past month, they have earned a top spot among my favorite sites to work with!
One of the prompts caught my attention: "Tell us a resolution you've made — and kept — and how it changed you." I immediately knew I could write a piece for this and set to it.
I was ecstatic when I received an email on the 21st saying my piece had been selected!
Not only that, the same day I received another email that was sent out to all featured creators who had published five or more pieces on InspireMore, gifting us each a t-shirt to thank us!
I couldn't be any more pleased with my experience as a featured creator for InspireMore and I am looking forward to publishing many more stories with them in 2019!
I have been interested in finding new publishers to syndicate my work, so I checked out their submissions page and sent a query.
I received a reply informing me they were interested in republishing my story and also inviting me to become a featured creator for the site.
Over the past month, they have earned a top spot among my favorite sites to work with!
"If you haven't heard of InspireMore, go check them out!I already had three stories syndicated on InspireMore. One was even featured in their newsletter, Morning Smile. Then, the editor let me know about a contest for their featured creators to write an original piece based off of one-of-three writing prompts – the winner to receive a $50 prize.
I just recently started collaborating with them and I am truly impressed.
They are all about spreading positive stories, they value and respect their creators, the editor has been lovely to work with, and they donate a portion of their ad revenues to a different charity each month – just by reading stories on their site, you are raising funds for a good cause!"
One of the prompts caught my attention: "Tell us a resolution you've made — and kept — and how it changed you." I immediately knew I could write a piece for this and set to it.
I was ecstatic when I received an email on the 21st saying my piece had been selected!
Not only that, the same day I received another email that was sent out to all featured creators who had published five or more pieces on InspireMore, gifting us each a t-shirt to thank us!
I couldn't be any more pleased with my experience as a featured creator for InspireMore and I am looking forward to publishing many more stories with them in 2019!
19 December 2018
#WIPWednesday
My holiday piece was picked up for one more syndication and I am now a contributor for The Mighty! This is the site I mentioned querying a couple weeks ago. I am thrilled to have been accepted there. I still have my initial submission pending review with them, as well.
I completed a new 1,000-word essay for an InspireMore writing prompt contest and submitted it on a deadline. It was accepted and published, and should be shared soon.
I also prepped a short piece for a SNAPSHOTS prompt but am holding it to submit next week.
A new start-up online magazine contacted me with interest in syndicating one of my pieces. It may run in the next week or two.
And I did manage to write a few hundred words on the novel, bringing the word count to 17,507.
This has been another fantastic week in an unexpectedly fabulous month for my writing career!
I completed a new 1,000-word essay for an InspireMore writing prompt contest and submitted it on a deadline. It was accepted and published, and should be shared soon.
I also prepped a short piece for a SNAPSHOTS prompt but am holding it to submit next week.
A new start-up online magazine contacted me with interest in syndicating one of my pieces. It may run in the next week or two.
And I did manage to write a few hundred words on the novel, bringing the word count to 17,507.
This has been another fantastic week in an unexpectedly fabulous month for my writing career!
12 December 2018
#WIPWednesday
Progress!
It isn't much, but I am delighted to have progress to show this week. The novel's word count is now up to 17,206.
My latest piece has continued to make the rounds. While it is still my third best performing piece (in terms of social media reactions), this is the first time since my very first essay in 2016 that I have felt this kind of excitement for a piece. It started on Medium, where it was featured in their Family section and received over 400 claps. Then, it was syndicated on Love What Matters. Then, it was picked up by TODAY Parents where it was shared on their facebook page two different times and the official TODAY Show page three different times and the Kathie Lee and Hoda page twice! Then, it was syndicated on InspireMore and, yesterday, it was featured in their email newsletter! The shelf-life of this holiday piece is just about up, but it has been a fun ride!
InspireMore was the site I mentioned last week which invited me to become a contributor. Besides featuring my latest piece, they also syndicated two other pieces of mine this week. I have really enjoyed working with them, so far.
I updated my blog to reflect the new collaboration. I also did a bit more updating of my online presence and decided that I should branch out and try something new as we head into 2019. More on that later.
I created another image for social media, as well. Those still do well for generating interaction and I enjoy putting them together.
No news on any of my other pending queries, for now.
While I'd like to continue to make progress on my novel, even if I accomplish nothing else for the rest of the year, I'd be quite happy with how I'm closing out 2018.
It isn't much, but I am delighted to have progress to show this week. The novel's word count is now up to 17,206.
My latest piece has continued to make the rounds. While it is still my third best performing piece (in terms of social media reactions), this is the first time since my very first essay in 2016 that I have felt this kind of excitement for a piece. It started on Medium, where it was featured in their Family section and received over 400 claps. Then, it was syndicated on Love What Matters. Then, it was picked up by TODAY Parents where it was shared on their facebook page two different times and the official TODAY Show page three different times and the Kathie Lee and Hoda page twice! Then, it was syndicated on InspireMore and, yesterday, it was featured in their email newsletter! The shelf-life of this holiday piece is just about up, but it has been a fun ride!
InspireMore was the site I mentioned last week which invited me to become a contributor. Besides featuring my latest piece, they also syndicated two other pieces of mine this week. I have really enjoyed working with them, so far.
I updated my blog to reflect the new collaboration. I also did a bit more updating of my online presence and decided that I should branch out and try something new as we head into 2019. More on that later.
I created another image for social media, as well. Those still do well for generating interaction and I enjoy putting them together.
No news on any of my other pending queries, for now.
While I'd like to continue to make progress on my novel, even if I accomplish nothing else for the rest of the year, I'd be quite happy with how I'm closing out 2018.
05 December 2018
#WIPWednesday
Words!
I wrote words this week! It was such relief to get my fingers moving on the keyboard again.
My latest essay saw some more success this week, too, which was a much needed boost to this writer's self-esteem.
The essay was featured on TODAY Parents on Thursday. Then, it was shared on the official TODAY Show page on Friday (and again on Monday) and also on the Kathie Lee and Hoda page on Sunday. Both of those were a first for me! Those shares (plus a lot of love from my family, friends, and Facebook page fans) launched this piece up to my top three, in terms of social media reach.
The other query I mentioned last week received a response, as well. The site is interested in featuring the piece. Plus, they invited me to become a contributor! I submitted my first post for review yesterday.
A few days ago, I also decided to submit a query to have a different piece syndicated on another site I have not yet worked with. It can take up to a month to get a response from them.
It was payday on Medium and I got paid a few more bucks for my member stories in November. I do not have a huge following over there, I write infrequently, and I prefer to unlock my stories after two months, so even earning just a few dollars is really quite exciting.
As an essay writer, I feel the year is ending with a bang!
The novel's word count is now at 16,349 and, you know, I'm good with that.
I am well off the mark for the goals I originally set for myself, but the important thing is that I just stick with it and keep making progress. I can re-adjust my word count goals as many times as I need to, the real goal is to see it through to completion.
The challenges of the past couple of weeks are calming down (thank goodness) but I am not going to set myself up for failure and disappointment by expecting to make-up any ground the rest of this month. Between the holiday festivities and the kids' upcoming winter break, I know I will continue to fall short when it comes to writing every day. I'd just like to continue to be able to show progress each week.
I wrote words this week! It was such relief to get my fingers moving on the keyboard again.
My latest essay saw some more success this week, too, which was a much needed boost to this writer's self-esteem.
The essay was featured on TODAY Parents on Thursday. Then, it was shared on the official TODAY Show page on Friday (and again on Monday) and also on the Kathie Lee and Hoda page on Sunday. Both of those were a first for me! Those shares (plus a lot of love from my family, friends, and Facebook page fans) launched this piece up to my top three, in terms of social media reach.
The other query I mentioned last week received a response, as well. The site is interested in featuring the piece. Plus, they invited me to become a contributor! I submitted my first post for review yesterday.
A few days ago, I also decided to submit a query to have a different piece syndicated on another site I have not yet worked with. It can take up to a month to get a response from them.
It was payday on Medium and I got paid a few more bucks for my member stories in November. I do not have a huge following over there, I write infrequently, and I prefer to unlock my stories after two months, so even earning just a few dollars is really quite exciting.
As an essay writer, I feel the year is ending with a bang!
The novel's word count is now at 16,349 and, you know, I'm good with that.
I am well off the mark for the goals I originally set for myself, but the important thing is that I just stick with it and keep making progress. I can re-adjust my word count goals as many times as I need to, the real goal is to see it through to completion.
The challenges of the past couple of weeks are calming down (thank goodness) but I am not going to set myself up for failure and disappointment by expecting to make-up any ground the rest of this month. Between the holiday festivities and the kids' upcoming winter break, I know I will continue to fall short when it comes to writing every day. I'd just like to continue to be able to show progress each week.