Share your writing resolutions!

All month we've discussed reaching our goals.

So tell us: what are your goals?

Did you set writing resolutions this year? Do you have a very specific overarching goal that you're working toward? 

Most people find that writing their goals down and sharing them publicly helps to make those goals more real, and adds a little more accountability. So tell us what you want to achieve!

Recipe

by Karen Dupaix

This recipe was submitted by Trina Boice, and was featured in the Worldwide Cookbook. Enjoy!

 COWBOY CAVIAR

2 TBL.	Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp.	Olive Oil
1 Clove	Garlic, mashed, pressed or chopped finely
1½ tsp.	Tabasco (or to taste)
	Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1	Avocado, ripe
1 can	15oz. black beans
1 can	Corn
2/3 cup	Sliced green onion
½ cup	Fresh Cilantro, chopped
½ lb.	Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 can	Salt to taste Pinto beans
	Tortilla Chips
	In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, garlic, Tabasco and pepper.  Peel, pit and cut the avocado into ½" cubes.  Add to vinegar mixture and toss lightly. Drain and rinse the beans & corn.  Mix all ingredients gently together to coat.   Add salt and pepper to taste. Best made 2-3 hours ahead.   Serve with tortilla chips or add lettuce to make a salad.   This is also great served as a relish with grilled chicken or steak!

Spotlight: Stephanie Nelson

When I was emailed and asked to write a short blurb about myself so that I could be spotlighted in this month’s AI newsletter, I seriously thought, Really? Did you run out of “somebodies” to spotlight? I’m not really anybody but a mom and a lurker yet. After some urging and convincing from my sister, here goes…

I’m a small town-girl from a TINY town of 500 in southwest Wyoming. I was born and raised in Wyoming and I love it here! I’m currently almost a stay-at-home mom with my five kids. I say almost a stay-at-home mom because I work between 4-10 hours as an accountant at the local truck stop. My husband and I have been married for sixteen years. We have four boys and one little girl. The boys are all tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes when they get together – but they are ALL amazing. My little girl’s personality is just beginning to emerge. She is so very sweet and has a smile ready for anyone.

One of my good friends recently published several novels that I dearly love and enjoy. I also watched my sister struggle through NaNoWriMo last year and I thought, I can write a book too. That book is still in progress, but I did manage to put together a 90k word novel in about six weeks. Currently, I’m in the process of reworking several spots to make it more … well… MORE. I have 20-or-so ideas, thoughts, outlines, and/or WIPs. I don’t typically stay in one genre as several of my ideas are historical, sci-fi, action, and romance. I have received a lot of feedback from you, my fellow authors. All I can say is you all are amazing and have set the bar quite high. I hope I can eventually perfect my craft and have at least one book published! Thank you all for being such a wonderful example to me!

You can keep up with Stephanie on her blog, Crops of Memories.

How to reach your goals without really trying

by Jordan McCollum
borrowed from here

Last year was my first Nano, and it went really well. Even cooler, I managed to do this without the world falling down around the ears. I'm the mom, of course, and I set the pace of the household. I do most of the housework (weeeell.... I'm supposed to). So how did I write 5000-6000 words a day (hours and hours of work) without running out of meals and clean underwear for the family?

Planning.

I was already used to one very useful phone alarm: a 15 minute warning to the time we need leave for school. So I decided to expand on that and use the phone alarm to remind me to do laundry (and switch it, fold it, and hand it off to the kids to put away), work with the kids to empty the dishwasher, read with the kids, start dinner and go to bed on time.

I planned dinners and even blog posts (on four blogs!) for the whole month in advance. Meals, topics and dates went on the calendar. I made up post drafts for each of those days with the topics all ready to go. I stockpiled topics and full posts. On weekends, I filled in the remaining posts and scheduled them to go.

It actually went really well—until I finished my novel and let a lot of it fall apart. But all that advanced planning helped me to maintain a good routine, be productive and run the house better than I usually did.

So how can that apply to other goals?

Schedule them now.

If you want to write 1000 words a day, pick a time and put it in your schedule. (Doing it at the same time each day can help, too.) Unplug from the Internet. Schedule a time with the fewest kids distractions around. I've used a handy plugin that would block certain time-wasting websites during certain times of the day—another helper.

If you want to read a certain number of books next year, start collecting recommendations. Figure out whether you prefer reading on an eReader/mobile device (if you have one) or paper book. I like library books since they come with built-in deadlines—and, oh yeah, they're free. Use good tracking software.

If you're trying to research a project, make a list of resources, get them and give yourself a timeline to read them.

If you want to lose weight, schedule your exercise sessions with yourself. Make up healthy meal plans in advance. Buy and prepare healthy snacks.

We all know that goals should to be broken down into steps to be achievable. But what it really comes down to is to just do it, to quote Nike. Little reminders and baby steps help me.

What does it take to help you just do it?

Photo by Kent Wein

Jordan McCollum is the Education Director of Authors Incognito. You can catch up with her at her blog.

Bye Bye, Resolutions—Make Life Changes that Last!

by Connie Sokol

Making a life change is more than saying, “I want to lose 20 pounds” or “Finish that novel!” The great news is that it’s easier than you think. It simply takes a subtle shift in mindset and a few keys to successful goal-setting.

Set goals from a Life Paragraph. Years ago friends gave us a plant for a hospitality gift. Determined to let this one live, I watered it diligently for two weeks until one day I looked at the plant closely and experienced an epiphany: it was a fake plant. Oh, yeah. Resolutions are like watering a fake plant—they aren’t real. Successful goals come from connection—choosing the ideal outcome you want first, then using goals as vehicles to get there. Try creating a Life Paragraph. It’s so easy, but powerful. Life coaching guru Brian Tracy has said, “The establishment of a clear, central purpose or goal in life is the starting point of all success.” Once you have a clear paragraph of what you want from life, goals are easier to choose and achieve.

            To create a Life Paragraph, brainstorm buzz words to describe your ideal life in three categories: Self, Relationships, and Life Skills. For example, in Self you might have, “positive, spiritually centered, emotionally healthy, fit,” etc. After brainstorming all three areas, combine and edit them to create one juicy paragraph about six to eight sentences long to describe your ideal life. Have fun with this! Tweak and change until you feel it best describes what you’ll be working toward.

Real goals for Real People. Good goals are specific and make you stretch, but not feel overwhelmed or like downing a cheesecake. I’ve coached women for ten years and my secret to their success is one goal a week. That’s it. Choose wisely and then go to it. And remember Hyrum Smith wisely says to include the following in writing your goal: make it realistic, timely, specific, measurable, and action-oriented. Translation: “I will write 3,000 words this week during (3) one-hour sessions from 9 to 10 p.m.” Or, “I will do a FUN workout three times this week for 20 minutes, varying cardio and weights.” Voila.

            As you set goals, be flexible for something better. My writing goal last year was to finish a novel I’d worked on for a year. But, another plot idea fell into my mind with accompanying whole scenes. I focused on and finished the new novel toot-sweet. And, I returned to the original novel refreshed and better prepared.

            You can’t believe what you can achieve by combining your Life Paragraph with a well-chosen goal—just one—each week. I’ve been able to write and publish books, be a public speaker, be a stellar mother to six children (that’s up for debate), teach my children life skills, and run our home generally well (except weeks before, during, or after holidays), and enjoy it all (most of the time). I’m not special or tremendously talented. It’s by small and simple things that great things come to pass, like keeping the kitchen counter clear. So give this a try. If you need a little boost consider my “Take the 8-week Challenge!” You can enter at www.8basics.com—it’s free with motivational blogs and podcasts to help you stay focused.

Reward Yourself and Keep Going. After setting a goal, choose a reward and use it! One woman paid herself five dollars for each work out then put that money toward a new outfit. Go girl! Rewards help change your neuroassociation to goal-setting—a fancy word for salivating Pavlovian style to set and achieve a goal, all because of the promise of an hour-long nap. That’s my kind of reward. Whatever you choose—attend a writing conference, buy a writing book—use it to keep yourself focused and committed.

            So create that Life Paragraph, choose a connected goal that makes you excited to start, and reward your efforts along the way. This is your year to create fabulous change, so go get it!

A member of Authors Incognito, Connie Sokol is a mother of six—expecting her seventh—and a presenter, former TV and radio host, and author of several books, including Faithful, Fit & Fabulous. For tips, columns, and books, visit www.8basics.com.

Good news minute!

Cathy Witbeck is excited to announce the "Totally Cliche" short story collection published by the Mormon Mommy Writers is now in softcover! Cathy's story is featured in the collection which can now be purchased at Amazon.

(Save up your good news! The next good news feature runs on February 1!)

I Am a Writer

by ali cross

The single most important way for you to stick with your writing goals is to change your perspective.

As long as you are playing at writing, it's going to continue to fall to the bottom of your to do list and be relegated to the land of the I Wish or the realm of Almost.

And hey, you're a mom/dad, employee/stay-at-home-parent, housekeeper, dog walker, homework helper . . . the list goes on and on. You've got perfectly good reasons for not putting your writing higher on your list. I'm just saying that as long as you do that, you have to be okay with not meeting your writing goals.

However, if you're serious about those goals in 2012, you must come to terms with being a writer. When I was first starting out, I took a class from the late Ken Rand, a prolific writer and writing instructor. He always said, "Anybody can say you can't write, but don't let anybody say you don't."



Call yourself a writer. Do it. Do it NOW. Put writing at the top (or near it!) of your to do list and then write, write, WRITE! Start with small goals, if you're hesitant to take this giant leap into real writerhood, but set them and meet them you must.

Otherwise, you'll forever live in Almost and you'll never know what it feels like to become a full-fledged citizen of I Did It.

ali cross is the author of Become. She is the Media Director of Authors Incognito. You can catch up with her and her ninja-writer friends at her blog.

Getting and Staying Motivated to Write

by Betsy Love

How in the world do you stay motivated when other activities beckon you, like work, kids, cooking, cleaning? It’s tough to be a writer and everything else. One of the secrets I learned in my goal to publish a book was to set aside time to write. Like all worthy activities, if you wait for the moment to arrive it will never appear. My dear friend Marsha Ward recently joined us in BIAM (Book in a Month—kind of like NaNoWriMo, but less stressful). Each participant sets a goal: X number of words per day and then we report at the end of the writing day what we accomplished, even if it was a big fat 0. Where was I? Oh, yes, Marsha—her goal was 25 words per day. That’s one really long sentence, two medium ones or 3 short ones. Definitely doable! Her philosophy is: “If I sit down and commit to 25 words per day chances are I’ll write much more” (or words to that effect). Call me an over-achiever, but I strive for 100 words per day when I’m not in the throes of editing.

Another trick I do to keep motivated is to have a writing buddy. If I know I’m going to have to report to her what I’ve written or worked on, I’m more likely to be writing. Belonging to a critique group is another way to stay motivated. Mine meets once a month—that allows me plenty of time to slack off and stress on the day we meet, that’s why I fall back on the other motivators.

One other trick is to hop on over to either http://sprintwriters.blogspot.com  or to http://iwritenetworkning.ning.com/ and do some sprint writing with other like-minded people. Now, mind you, most of the time it’s rather lonely there, but if I set my timer, report in the chat frames that I’m sprinting, I’m more likely to actually write and not get side-tracked with checking my email or updating my status on Facebook. Which leads me to my last tip—set a New Year’s Resolution to CREATE time to write. All it takes is one page per day and in a year you can have a finished manuscript. Who knows, it could happen quicker as you watch your one page quickly become two or three per day.

One last piece of sage advice and that has to do with writer’s block. We all get it once in a while. I heard this adage and find it very helpful. “When the muse strikes, let her find you hard at work.” As I tell my English students, “If you can’t think of anything to write, start with these words—I know I have something great to say and any second it will come.” Sometimes they have to write it over and over, but every time without fail, I watch this AHA! moment and soon their pens are flying (or keyboards). Try it!

Happy writing!

Betsy Love is the author of Identity and a member of Authors Incognito. You can keep up with her on her blog.

Adjusting our goals

by Lani Woodland

One of my favorite things about January is setting New Year’s resolutions. The end of one year and the beginning of another seems like the perfect time to see how well we did in our goals for the last year and what we should strive for in the next. For me, writing goals is very important. I get easily overwhelmed by projects and to do-list so I have to break them into lots of bite-sized pieces. I’ve found timed writing sprints are a less stressful way to reach my daily word count than sitting down and telling myself a number of words I have to meet. Using that process I somehow manage to limp myself through writing. Editing is harder though; my goal is always to edit a certain number of pages but that almost never works. Some scenes, like the action sequences, are a lot more time consuming to revise than say a dialogue heavy section.

One of my biggest goals was to get published. The road to publication finally came true for me, but it didn’t happen the way I thought it would. I think writers need to be incredibly strong people. We really take a beating to make our dreams come true. When I first started writing I thought I would be like Stephanie Meyer. I mean, I was like her. I was a Mormon, stay-at-home mom. Now granted I hadn’t had a dream about my book but still I had a fully formed idea. I wrote my book, edited it, and started sending it out. She sent out nine query letters. I figured I should probably query about eighteen people just to be safe. I look back at that naïve girl I was and kind of want to give her a hug and prepare her for the pot-holed, ego bruising, tear-filled road ahead of her. I never kept exact count of how many people I queried, but all but one of those ended in rejection. A solid two years of rejection. But at the same time, that painful process really helped me edit my book. I learned what wasn’t working. When I finally decided to submit to a small publisher, my book was strong enough that they believed in me and wanted to publish my book.

A small publisher wasn’t my original goal. But when I was shopping Intrinsical my goal changed. I thought I would get an agent, a huge advance, etc. But it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t how it was going to happen for me. At least not for this book. It isn’t that my goal didn’t come true, because it did. I wanted to be able to publish and share my stories with other people. It just happened in a way I hadn’t originally thought it would. I still have hope that maybe someday the original dream will happen for me. Maybe for a later series I write when I’m an even stronger writer.

Upcoming AI classes!

We're lining up classes for 2012! Whether you're recovering from NaNo or gearing up for the LDStorymakers contest, we've got a class coming up for you!

NaNo--Now what? Finding a Revision Method that Works for You
January 23-27
Group taught

Revision can mean just that: re-vision. Seeing your story again to make it better. But the process of revision is very personal (like most things in writing!). In this class, we'll have several published authors share the revision methods that work for them--and you can find the strategies that work for you to make your story stronger.


Woo an Agent, Wow an Editor: Refining Your Writing
February 6-10
Taught by editor Angela Eschler

We will be covering style and voice, how to streamline your manuscript (trimming the fat) or tighten your plot, and how to turn your prose into poetry (or something similar that your fans still want to read!)


Does that last one sound familiar? This is the expanded version of her one-hour class at Storymakers 2011!

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All classes are totally free for AI members. (Yes, we are that awesome!) To enroll, look for directions at the bottom of the email to the group about upcoming classes.

And more great classes to come all year! Come participate to make them even better!


Jordan McCollum
Education Director

Photos by Jean Burgess and Roxanne Cooke, respectively

Using Personal Experiences to Create Conflict

by Danyelle Ferguson

Writers often use conflict they are familiar with when they develop plot. “Familiar” is a subjective term. It can be something they read in a book, saw on a tv show, or a headline from the evening news. Or it could be a personal experience.

Last Thursday night, the water line to my house broke. The basement flooded. After a late night visit from the plumber, our family spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up and trying to manage the not-so-fun side of no running water. Not only has it been a stressful, demanding situation, but as the repair estimates have come in, I’ve realized it’s a major hit to the wallet too. I figured with all this upheaval, I would set my writing aside for the next week. After all, I’ll be running to the laundry mat and shuttling our family to a friend’s house each day for baths and showers. Yippee. 

But then last night, my head started to twist and turn the situation into . . . What if?

What if when my character’s bakery is vandalized, the water line was somehow broken? Is that possible? What would be the consequences?

Or what if the water line at her house broke? What kind of kink would that throw into her life? And how embarrassing to have Mr. Hunky Guy catch up with her after two days of no showers and in grungy yucky clothes. Would he wrinkle his nose and start breathing through his mouth to manage the stench? Or would he just jump in and start to help – beginning with an order for lunch to be delivered?

Hmm . . . possibilities, possibilities.

So, what kind of disasters or “uh-ohs” have you experienced that later inspired new conflict in your stories? I’m looking forward to some commiseration here, my friends. Bring it on!

Reaching Goals

by Tamara Passey

This is not a how-to. Volumes have been written with brilliant formulas for setting and reaching goals. This article is a true story about me and one experience with reaching a goal, and why I persevere.

My fourth year of Girls’ Camp, the leaders planned an overnight camping and canoe trip. We hiked into our campsite, set up our tents, and in the morning, set off to canoe down a beautiful river in Rhode Island. So far, so good. Our goal was to canoe until noon, load up the gear, have lunch, and be driven back to our various homes. Hard, but doable.

We finished closer to six p.m.

Around midday, we came to the place we thought was the finish line. I was tired, spent, cramped, and hungry. Ready to be done. But we weren’t. Our leaders had parked their vehicles many miles downstream, either from confusion or misjudging the river, I’m not sure.

So we paddled, and paddled some more.

During those hours, we encountered some of the more difficult parts of the trip. There was a place where the water level was low and we had to get out of the canoes and carry them over muddy riverbeds. Near sundown, we also saw a gorgeous sunset where the warm evening sunlight streamed through trees and across the water.  

Regardless of my physical exhaustion, I was glad I hadn’t missed that view.

For me, the finish line had been moved. But I was able to overcome the challenges, experience more beauty, and ultimately realize more of my potential. Potential I didn’t know I had until it had been put to the test.

I think of that river now when I face challenges to my writing goals.  And I persist. I write and I write some more. I’ve reached places where I wanted to be ‘done’ with a certain project only to learn I had miles to go. So I’ve kept going. Knowing what was waiting for me. Challenges? Yes. But beauty and realized potential, too.

Tamara Passey is a member of Authors Incognito. You can catch up with her on her blog, Why I Get Up.

Starting The Year With Good News!

Author’s Incognito Bulletin Board

(We heard it through the grape vine: A place to post warm-fuzzies on the cyber-fridge.)

~by Wendy Swore

Rashelle Workman reports that EXILED broke an Amazon bestsellers list: ( Books > Literature & Fiction > World  Literature > Mythology )

Exiled has won several Cover Wars (I believe 4)
And is on several top ten covers of 2011 lists .

Exiled has been nominated for a Whitney as well.

ALSO, RaShelle released an adult mystery/suspense with romance novel entitled SLEEPING ROSES through her publishing company, Polished Pen Press. It's been downloaded over 2500 times since it's release 12-21-11 and has hit a couple of bestseller's lists as well. (Kindle  Store > Kindle  eBooks > Fiction > Genre  Fiction > Romance > Romantic  SuspenseKindle  Store > Kindle  eBooks > Fiction > Genre  Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense)
And finally, Rashelle had a couple of WWW talk show interviews (blog talk radio) and (litpod) .

Wow, girl, you have been busy! Congratulations!

Heather Justesen just picked up copies of her book, Family by Design, this week!

They are already available for sale on Amazon, and she will be signing in Costcos and Seagulls in January and February and launching my book at Pioneer Book on January 21st with  Tristi, and two other authors (Tristi will be launching her latest, Targets and Ties that day as well.).

Also, Heather's spinoff novella, Shear Luck, will be out in a week or two (still waiting on cover art) and she will be giving it away FREE as an ebook to anyone who purchases Family by Design by midnight on February 4th.

Stay tuned for website links for that!

Way to go Heather! Good luck on those signings!

Robot Playground, the publisher of Transcendent, Tales of the Paranormal, (with short stories by Lani Woodland, Melonie Piper, Rita Webb, Wendy Swore, Melanie Marks, Heather McCubbin and Evan Joseph )

Has a very cool giveaway with over 25 books from many of our Authors Incognito authors including:

Lani Woodland
Melanie Marks
Elana Johnson
Karen Hoover
Heather Justesen
CK Bryant
Tristi Pinkston
Cindy Hogan

Laura Bingham
Cheri Chesley
RaShelle Workman
Ali Cross
Cathy Witbeck
Tori Scott
Elizabeth Mueller
KC Blake
& Wendy Swore

I mean really, can you get any cooler than that? With twenty five different prizes, your chances are really good.
Here's the link. It runs through the 15th of January.

Danyelle Ferguson and Lynn Parsons, shared an awesome review of their book, Disabilities and the Gospel, a book about how to teach and help people with special needs come closer to Christ.

Congratulations!

Okay Authors Incognito members! Your good news now runs twice a month (the 1st and 3rd Wednesday.) We want to hear from you! Be sure to send your good news, links and pictures to me, Wendy Swore, so I can get it in the next news post!

Resolutions, goals and failure

by Christine (C.K.) Bryant

I hope the new year finds you all healthy and happy. For me and my family, life has certainly thrown us a few curve balls, especially these past couple of weeks with my kidlet being out of school and my husband's mother moving in with us. But we're pressing forward and trying to remain positive. Which is the way it should be.

The theme for this month is setting goals for the new year. I know. I know. I hear you all groaning. I did the same thing, adding an over exaggerated eye roll to add emphasis. Not because it isn't a great subject to talk about, but because every year I set goals and then fail at achieving them. It doesn't matter if the goal has to do with my writing, my family life, my personal expectations or something totally off the wall, something always gets in the way and I feel horrible about losing my momentum and ultimately giving up. Each year I vow this year will be different. Ha!  NOT!

What I wanted to do was research goal setting and give you some great advice, but instead I stumbled upon THIS ARTICLE by Dean Wesley Smith . . . and I couldn't have said it better. So, instead of me making a mess of the subject, head on over to his website and read what he has to say. It's a little long, but well worth the read. Puts a whole new perspective on setting and achieving goals in our lives. Then let me know what you think.

Christine (C.K.) Bryant is the author of Bound, a paranormal romance. She serves as the Executive Director of Authors Incognito. Catch up with Christine at her blog.

A new year, a new format!

For 2012, we've decided to change up our format. Rather than one huge post a month, we'll spread the great content throughout the month. That means you'll never have to slog through an enormous newsletter in one sitting again (unless you really want to).

This also means that each contributor will have a chance to receive individual attention and comments. (Nudge nudge.)

So stay tuned tomorrow and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday thereafter for all the great writing tips, essays, tech corner, good news, recipes and spotlights!