I truly believe the world would be a better place if we all spoke only our truths. In fact, this concept plays a huge role in my Utopian novel – the novel I have such a strong desire to bring to life but haven't added any new words to in weeks.
I could list a plethora of excuses ranging from sick kids to self-doubt. I could beat myself up over it. But, instead, I am sitting comfortable in this honest truth: I have not written any new words lately but I am still writing this book.
And I have accomplished other things this week.
I took the feedback from my beta readers and completed the final draft of the short story I've been working on. It has been submitted for consideration in an anthology.
I wrote, submitted, and had a new poem published on Hopes and Dreams for Our Future. I submitted five other poems for consideration in a new literary magazine, as well.
I created some new Instagram images.
I heard back from a few old queries this week.
My submission to a poetry magazine was rejected; which I was a little bummed about. I was really hoping to be published there.
I also received an rejection for one of my essay syndication queries to a site I had not yet worked with.
Love What Matters picked up another of my essays for syndication. I am always grateful to have my work shared with their audience of over 7.9 million on Facebook and this time they also shared my piece with their 329K followers on Instagram where it actually performed better. This was the first piece I had run on LWM that did not result in a single new follow on my Facebook page. I could see in my stats that a handful of people had clicked through to check out my page, but none decided to hit the follow button. That was a bit disappointing since the main reason to syndicate my work on a non-paying site like Love What Matters is in hopes of building my own audience.
So, I spent a little time this week making some online updates. I unpinned my Facebook page post which promoted my page and newsletter and replaced it with a popular image of one of my poems. I added a "story" to my about page (which stays pinned to the sidebar or top, depending on device) in hopes of people finding it a more personable way to learn about the page and find my links. And I updated my "published" page here on the blog to include a complete listing by title of my published works.
I submitted another piece for syndication on InspireMore, which was accepted and published yesterday. InspireMore just launched a new feature on their site – hearts – and, announced a fun contest for us Featured Creators to help promote it! Every ❤️ on my stories thru the 15th gives me an entry for a giveaway. I announced that if I happen to win, I'll do a giveaway on my Facebook page, too, to spread the love!
I still have pending queries for everything: essay syndication, poetry, my children's book manuscript, and the short story mentioned above. *Fingers crossed* for more acceptances than rejections in the coming week!
