Books Read in 2018: A Review

image from openclipart.org by j4p4n

“Followed By Frost”  by Charlie N. Holmberg.  I had 20 pages left to this book when the calendar year changed.  It counts as 2018 but.  I enjoyed this book.  Unknown, I read “Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet” in late 2017 and was captivated by the same lyrical, fairy tale magic in her first story.  Both books link to traditional fairy tale lore while telling their own unique story.  Both stories incorporate romance without making the works feel like a traditional romance and both stories have action and stakes without gratuitous violence or action scenes.  Holmberg’s style and connection to “Deep Magic” got me interested in their publication, that I read this past summer.

Chris from writers’ group wrote an "The Works of the Apprentice" which features alchemy and is published here.  It inspired me to think of what kind of urban fantasy I could take with alchemy in the mix.  This prompted research, and that lead to reading many books on essential oils.  I thought, “if anything in this world could turn into gold if mixed, it would be these essential oils.”  

Essential oils, for those who don’t know, already make a TON of fantastic claims, and it seems one of the few “new agey” remedies that spark scientific interest. I delved into the lore and science of the oils.  Through this I read: 
“Essential Oils For Weightloss,” 
"Essential Oils Natural Remedies: The Complete A-Z Reference of Essential Oils for Health and Healing,” 
"Aromatherapy for Natural Living: The A-Z Reference of Essential Oils Remedies for Health, Beauty, and the Home,” 
"The Essential Oil Diffuser Recipes Book: Over 200 Diffuser Recipes for Health, Mood, and Home (Essential Oils Reference Book 1),”
 "Surviving When Modern Medicine Fails,”
 "Surviving When Modern Medicine Fails: A Definitive Guide to Essential Oils That Could Save Your Life During a Crisis,”
 "Winter Collection: Over 150 Lessons To Stay Warm, Happy & Healthy During The Cold Months,” 
"Baking Soda Power! Frugal and Natural: Health, Cleaning, and Hygiene Secrets of,” 
and 
"EPSOM SALT: 50 Miraculous Benefits, Uses & Natural Remedies for Your Health, Body & Home (Home Remedies, DIY Recipes, Pain Relief, Detox, Natural Beauty, Gardening, Weight Loss).”

My opinions on these books like my thoughts on essential oils is mixed.  Do I still think there’s a wonderful urban fantasy story involving aromatherapy?  Yes, but I need even more research to see where this kind of story would/should go.  Do I want to feature a botanist who grows the plants in just the right way or a distiller or a perfumist who has a natural talent that greater than she understands or an actual skilled alchemist potion expert whose main ingredients are these essential oils?  Who would the antagonist be?  What’s the goal?  

Rounding off my “researchy” 2018 book reads, I read plant based pagan books for the more straight magical system elements of plants.  I read "A Green Witch’s Cupboard” and Martin’s earlier book "Triple Duty Spice Rack.”  I enjoyed both reads.  They gave practical information on how to keep dried herbs and spices and they spoke towards the magic/healing that can come from cooking/eating the right foods at the right time.  This appeals spiritually and intellectually as we know the complex interplay of food we eat determines how we absorb vitamins and minerals and whether our body can use them.  I enjoy melding folklore and traditional uses of cooking ingredients with modern research on the two and these books were more about the folklore portion that inspires my creative cooking and storytelling perspective.  

 My reading also included diet and nutrition books.  This January my husband and I went on the Ketogenic diet.  After I’d looked through tons of internet sites for information and recipes, I turned to books.  Health related reads included: 
"The Keto Diet: The Complete Guide to a High-Fat Diet, with 
More Than 125 Delectable Recipes and 5 Meal Plans to Shed Weight, Heal Your Body, and Regain Confidence,” 
"Fruit Infused Water: 98 Delicious Recipes for Your Fruit Infuser Water Pitcher,” 
"The Wicked Good Ketogenic Diet Cookbook: Easy, Whole Food Keto Recipes for Any Budget,” 
"The Easy 5-Ingredient Ketogenic Diet Cookbook: Low-Carb, High-Fat Recipes for Busy People on the Keto Diet,” 
and
 "33 Easy DIY Deodorant Recipes: for Staying Dry, Feeling Cool and Smelling Fresh.” 

 My feeling on these readings were mixed.  Leanne Vogel‘s book changed everything I ate and how I considered eating.  While I haven‘t wholesale adopted every detail she recommends, I found her willingness to explore how a person feels and who that relates to a diet very impactful and created a more introspective look at my food choices.  The other recipe books provided inspiration and groundwork for me creating my own meals, but I still can‘t keep to a recipe for long.  

Fruit infused water was a fun, casual read.  I drink about 20-40oz of fruit infused water as part of my new year‘s resolution to drink more water.  The book was a passing curiosity.  

Using more natural products in my life and becoming more waste free was a 2018 goal.  I considered making natural deodorants, but this book combined with online research turned me off from that idea.  Instead, I buy Tom’s brand.

Health-wise I also read “Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World,” and I did the eight-week plan.  The book was a retread of known information but a wonderful refresh course.  I’m also reading “The Highly Sensitive Person.”  No way I will finish this book this year but it’s been a thought provoking and healing read so far.

Most of these books are chosen from the Kindle Unlimited selection.  Nonfiction Kindle books are a strange phenomena because they are often self published and it makes me wonder about the credentials of those who publish the information.  What doesn't help are the links to blogs and websites.  No matter how professional the blog: it's not a scientific study.  I did not care for how many of the same graphics these authors sourced.  On the other side, it did teach me about how a nonfiction book might be used to build a person's name recognition, "personal brand", and sense of authority.  Interesting and scary.

I read and enjoyed “The Book of the Unnamed Midwife” and “The Book of Etta.”  I prefer Etta to the unnamed midwife.  And I will go into further detail in my “Kindle Unlimited” series during 2019.

 “Dragon Ridden” is a wonderful series.  I wrote a post in my “Kindle Unlimited” series that details what I loved and I left detailed reviews for each book on Goodreads.  I’m looking forward to a 2019 release of a fourth book.  Also a cool thing to note: T.A. White writes three series at once and I love how she works multiple projects at the same time successfully.  Since I prefer to work this way, it gives me hope for victory in my writing practice.

I read Sarah Fine’s “Reliquary” series and while it was a wild addicting ride, I also found the books ridiculous and terrible.  My reviews go into further often spoiler-y detail.  That said, Sara Fine has such a great style in her writing and compelling book summaries I have two of her books in my queue to be read 2019.  At some point, I‘d like to do a deep dive into both what makes her work compelling and what turned me off so much in this series.

I love Annette Marie’s “Red Winter” trilogy I read last year.  This year I read her “Steel & Stone” series and her “Spell Weaver” series with a more mixed reception.  The first three Steel & Stones are great, but they fell apart after book 3.  There were occasional moments of “Hurrah!” and long patches of missed marks.  I read through “Spell Weaver” because I liked Lyre so much in “Steel & Stone” but this series is a weak step-child in an otherwise much loved universe.  

Marie re-introduced me to the split world urban fantasy.  While I‘ve no intention to write one of these soon, it was interesting to see her take, and it got me thinking about future possibilities.  I appreciate how Marie introduces her fantasy to the modern world across her three series and look forward to scenarios she writes.  

Next, we have “Traitorborn” a follow up read from 2017’s “Secondborn.”  Loved this series and think it may be one of the young adult works for adults to read this year (and next when the third comes out).  Check out my “Kindle Unlimited” write up.  

Continuing in the 2018 trend for series, I finished “The Tree of Ages” series I‘d started in 2017.  One thing I love about Kindle Unlimited is that many authors using this service turn our series books in a fast pace.  I’m never left waiting so long for the next installment so I don‘t have to reread the first book.  I covered this series through my “Kindle Unlimited” posts and it was a welcome addition to my 2018 reading list.  

“Cards of Chaos,” is the first book I read because someone recommended it via Twitter.  And it’s an amazing read.  I can not promote this work enough.  It has stunning cover art and complex, deep writing to match.  It’s a shame this work only have 12 ratings on Goodreads with four reviews.  If you like a fantasy with folklore elements please consider picking this one up.  

Jasmin Silvera wrote a sequel to “Death’s Dancer” called “Dancer’s Flame” and it was ok.  I loved “Death’s Dancer” and recommend urban fantasy writers and writers looking to combine magic and motion read the first book because Silvera executes these ideas almost perfectly.  “Dancer‘s Flame” isn‘t as strong as the first book, but it‘s still a good read.  I recommend both as wonderful fantasy escapes.

“Matchmaking for Beginners” was a book I read with my mom, and like most books she suggests, it‘s a funny light romp.  I’m surprised I enjoyed it (and I don’t know why since this always happens ^_^). I classify the work as an idea beach read and as a great introduction to fantastic elements seen in more hard fantasy works.

“The Last Necromancer” is a book with a lot of promise it doesn‘t deliver on.  I don’t want to go into too much detail here.  Check out my review on Goodreads, or most readers take on the work.

I raced through “Angelfall” and it‘s my favorite book series of 2018 hands down.  I’m looking forward to great things from Susan Ee.  

“Elf Killers” is the second book I chose based on a Twitter post and I did not care for it. There is a second book from this author in my queue and I plan to check it out to see if it‘s just the way she went about building a world in this book I didn’t care for or if this is an overall style skip for me.  I can‘t recommend this book, but it has an audience who will enjoy reading it.

I gave up on “Lost in Arcadia” this year and I don’t have a lot to say about that either.  As my review states there‘s too, many characters introduced in rapid succession that don’t seem to have defining traits.  Add to that a slow start, and I couldn‘t make myself care.  

That‘s it, my 2018 reading list.  What did you read this year?  Did you meet your reading goal?  Did you read more fiction or nonfiction this year?  Did you like most of what you read?  Do you have a favorite and a least favorite?  If you could suggest one book for me to read in 2019, what is it and why?

16 Week Update

image from openclipart.org by bocian

It’s been sixteen weeks since I started my: “Jess Donegan is Here” Campaign.  Time to see where I hit the mark and where I need to adjust.  Check out my weekly updates starting with 12/10 numbers, 12/3 numbers,  11/19 numbers, 11/12 numbers, 11/5 numbers, 10/22 numbers, 10/15 numbers, 10/9 numbers, 10/1 numbers,  9/24 numbers, 9/17 numbers, 9/10 numbers, 9/4 numbers/evaluation, 8/29 numbers/evaluation, and 8/21 numbers/evaluation.

I enjoy my Monday Metrics post.  The format is a copy/paste each week where I update numbers and the “featured posts."  One thing I have to do now that my day job is busier, is I will have to prepare “Monday Metrics” in advance.  The numbers won‘t be as accurate, but I won’t miss a week as I have in the past.  

This December I’m going to run a test on #TellAllTuesday.  This is a blog/twitter idea I had that fizzled early.  I want to bring back a featured post each Tuesday with this # that either shares an element of my plans in detail or reveals something I’m not moving on.

Overall growth on Twitter is good.  I wrote an updated 6 step plan that more aligns with my actions.  I’m experimenting with audience building through less intense work on the platform.  In October I had 358 Tweets with 70K views and 102 new follows.  In November I had 248 Tweets with 54.9K views, and 88 new follows.  While my views and follows dropped, it wasn‘t proportional.  For every October post I had 195 views and “earned” .28 of a follow.  In November each post recieved 221 views and “earned” .35 of a follower.  I’m spending less time on the platform and increasing views.  Now, I might have needed the rapid heavy involvement in the first two-and-a-half months to bring my “following” high enough I can step back.  Now my goal is to have 3-5 meaningful conversations in the Twitter world every two days (about 9-15 convos a week), to stick to my current post schedule and include one blog link a day, to follow about 5-15 new interesting people a week, and to earn about 20 new follows a week.  I want to do this while only putting in only 25min a day.

This Blog 

Wins:
1. Added a featured post to highlight what showcases the blog.  This way when people land on my blog during a Metrics Post or an experimental post, they can see other “guaranteed” quality content.
2. Added a “Best of” page at the top of the page and organized all my posts across the blogs into categories from the most interesting to least interesting and I keep it up to date.  This helps viewers find posts on topics that interest them but it also helps me find posts to retweet more.

3. Created an "Ongoing Submissions" page organized by the kind of submission the venue is looking for.

4. Created a "Resources" page it currently links to a list of other writing/publishing bloggers I follow.  In the future there will be more resources.

5. Started a few series in this blog and at NAWG that interest me and I feel will generate conversation long term.
6. I’m more curious and have more ideas than ever to explore and expand blog traffic.

7. I have consistent traffic and it’s a larger audience than I expected

Needs Improvement:
1. Traffic.  Seeing the increase in traffic lets me know I could further push my traffic.  I read an article that suggests “rapid growth” daily bloggers see comes from their ability to reach 100 posts quickly.  I can‘t increase my post rate and I can’t merge my two blogging homes to one, but I can know it will take at least 100 posts with sources, links, pics, and promotion before I see my full growth potential.  We are speaking of   another 60-ish posts to this blog and  60 to my other blog.  I have a year before I see true gains.
2. Self promotion.  I headed in the right direction by increasing links to Twitter, posting to Google+, and sharing on Facebook, but I need to do this more AND I need to interact on some Facebook Groups and Google+ groups.  This will be a slow process.  Twitter time has to come down and then I can explore one of these outlets.
3.  Actual writing.  I have a HUGE list of blog topics.  This update for example, is about 6 weeks overdue I wanted a 10 week update, but ideas and scheduling just keep getting the way.  On one side, it‘s comforting to know I have a mountain of content to cover.  On the other side, it‘s discouraging I have more stuff to pile on and write than I know what to do with.

What I’m Doing:
1. Going through my list of blogging topics and writing them. Special focus on keeping my series alive this includes “Best of Kindle Unlimited”, “Bells and Whistles”, “Be Bold”(only has three installments, two are written and scheduled), “Monday Metrics”, “Tell All Tuesday”,  and “Let’s Get Organized” (Series I haven‘t even started).  I’m looking to touch base with each of these projects once a month until the series reach their natural conclusion.  

2. I’m mapping a series called “Writing Cliches” or “Writing Sins” I want to look at it both from a writing and reading perspective.  Why do these things exist, when do they work, when they don’t work, and what to do instead?  The series would tie in with #writetip and #HorribleWriteTip on Twitter.  

3. Playing with a “Story Time” or “Reflections" style post where I write about different writing tools, phases, and so on I went through.  My Niche Blogging post falls into this category and I wrote a “what softwares I‘ve used to write a novel” that fits here too.  I’m just considering what else I‘d share in this series/title and if it has cross over potential to the NAWG blog.

3. Have shorter posts.  Blogs should be 300-1,000 words.  I fail at this and need to break posts up.  

The North Alabama Writer’s Group blog 

Wins:

1. Our October flashes were huge successes. please see "The Ghost Strikes at Midnight" and "Halloween Spirit"

2. Getting Chris to take part more on the blog is going well, and he‘s sharing our work. His audience appears more interactive than mine so we‘re gaining more views.

3. My goal with the blog this year was to post once a week.  I managed this goal for 8 of 12 months.  If I can post on my own through December (and I have posts stacked through the 22nd) then I can write all next year.

4. Our audience is more consistent.  Where we would go days without views, most days the blog gets 3ish views.  That’s huge from where it started.

Needs Improvement:

1. More group stories.  Oct’s flash success shows me we need more group writing exercises on our page.  Imagine what a bi-weekly group story could do for our traffic.  Or even imagine if I’d had one more Halloween Flash to share?

2. Group participation.  While I’ve got Chris on board, I want to reel in two more group members.  

3. Sharing, I want to see if I can get our members to send out our blog on their media and in real life when it applies.  I’ve taken first steps (which I am enhancing) but I need more group support/consistency.  

What I’m Doing: 

1. Nagging the group and doing my best to remember what they do is outside my immediate sphere of influence.

2. Posting more on social media

3. Continuing to pump out quality content.  A lot of it evergreen in nature. 

Creative Writing

 I am working on edits to my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”.  I am frustrated because I would like more feedback as I go through this process and no one seems to want to help me.  In pursuit of this feedback, I took a writing class, but it didn‘t work.  

At my writing group‘s request, I’ve posted Chapters 1-3 but only Ashley reads.  Ashley has been thoughtful and intentional in her feedback, but I am looking to poll the audience and there‘s no audience to poll.  Feeling a little jilted here both with where the editing process stands and with the response I’m getting from my writing resources.  I want to consider a beta reader, even if I have to pay for the service, but I’m not far enough along in edits for me to feel like I could produce as fast as they would read.

I’m discouarged because I feel more like a blogger than a creative writer right now.  The need to balance the two kinds of writing is strong, but I don’t see how I can stop writing the blogs and remain consistent.  Maybe as I write more posts, my speed will increase and I’ll be able to make room for both?


Talk to me.  Tell me about your own plans, how are they going?  Is there something key I’ve forgotten or HAVE to try?  What’s the most important part of your routine?  Do you have success on a social media platform I’m not using/considering right now?

6 Steps To a Twitter Success: Altered Plans

image from openclipart.org by Luen

After 15 weeks on Twitter, I thought I’d update my Twitter routine.  There are little tweaks here and there.  It turns out I only continue to use six of the eight original points in my plan and the steps I keep, I‘ve altered.  Want to compare? Check out the old 8 step plan

1. Create and Share Interesting and Unique Content

This is the foundation of my Twitter process.  In the past week, I‘ve done more straight Retweets because I haven‘t had time to share my own thoughts, but even then I share what I like.

2. Schedule Posts. 

Post scheduling makes everything else in my writing plan work.  Without Hootsuite, I wouldn’t be able to maintain a presence on Twitter.  My style of interacting is less constant than some of my more outgoing peers.  Post planning allows me to use that time and spread it out across the day so I can look outgoing while I’m sitting cozy with my dog or at work going through the motions.  Plus, when I have the “bright” idea to share blog content, I can spread it out across days instead of dropping too much self promotion all at once.  

3. Create More Personal Connections on the Medium

This happened/ is happening in unexpected ways, but yes.  I have a sense of “regulars” whom I Retweet or are most likely to respond to my posts/comments.  I’m getting more comfortable and can maintain a conversation for longer.  Sometimes I worry I talk about the same thing too much or my Tweets might bore, but then I remember that almost no one consumes my Twitter content all at once.  Their feed shows it intermittently and people go days without even seeing anything from me (when they have larger followings).

Building this Twitter empire has been eye opening.  No matter what a person does with the algorithms, nothing seems as important as connecting with other people. Granted, I got into this to find an audience so people would always be the focus, but somehow I thought I’d learn more about maneuvering around them and using software tools to get in front of the right eyes.  It’s far more organic than that, and I think with no other tools than these three, a person could find their audience on Twitter.


4. Use of Hashtags

While I’ve used hashtags to my benefit, I am a lot more relaxed about it than I expected.  Some Tweets blow up and others don’t.  Same hashtags, same time of day, but different results.  What’s more important is getting noticed and shared by someone with a large following that‘s different from yours.  

Hashtags help me find other people with like minds that I haven‘t seen yet.  They also help my posts get noticed by different but similar groups.  To that end, they are important, but again, it comes back to people taking the next step and sharing you with the audience they’ve built.  

I don’t hunt in the Hashtags as much as I should, but so many new people come to my attention in an organic method, it‘s hard to follow them and anything happening in the Hashtag game.  When I have to choose, I choose the people.

5. Check in 

So I try to “Check in” every three-ish days.  What this means is that I pick a few new followers profiles and a few profiles of people who liked or retweeted something and I look through their feed.  If I like their content or their bio, I friend them.  Doing this once a week was way too overwhelming.  Committing to look at everyone who had eyes on me was also overwhelming.  I’m sorry if I overlooked you through this process.  I can promise that if you continue to interact with me, I check out your profile and feed, eventually.  And I follow—it takes over one interaction to get my attention these days.

6.  Use Twitter Analytics:

Still do this weekly.  My updates lack my desired consistency.  I will rectify that by drafting on Sunday.  The metrics won‘t be as accurate but at least the blog will come out.  Knowing where you stand is the only way to know if what you are doing is helping or hurting your goals, but also, I love numbers.  It fascinates me.  I learn more about what is important on the platform every day.  What interests me most (that I don‘t share with you guys) is the “Audiences” tab.  The most common interest for my followers is dogs and science news.  The male to female split is 50/50.  Most of my audience is American and they prefer to use laptops/desktops.  What does this stuff tell me: I don’t know, but I like having this information.  It makes me feel closer to the random voices I stumble across on Twitter.

Talk to me.  Do you use Twitter and if so for what?  Are you building a following and if so how?  Do you have tips or tricks to help find others with shared interests?  Do you like Twitter or do you prefer a different social media?  

Looking for the numbers? Check out my Monday Metrics Posts on:  11/19, 11/12,  11/5, 10/22, 10/15 10/9, 10/1, 9/24,  9/17, and  9/10

Real World Obsessions that Make it Into my Writing: Faith and Religion

image from openclipart.org by GDJ

Confession time!  I am a religious zealot.  I mean all in, no turning back, if we ever speak about my beliefs, it is full in your face I am right.  And I have crazy rules/beliefs (all religions do).  My zealotry rarely comes up in conversation because part of my faith is that I believe proselytizing is one of the most heinous and immoral acts a person can perform.  It falls under an act of mental and spiritual violence and is an anathema.

My passion for faith structures and a more open religious community is more seen in my writing than in my conversations.  In my short stories.  Magic/divinity works in direct and obvious ways on my fictional worlds.

In “The Undertaking”, I have my main character, Nimgauna, go on a spirit quest to find her personal power.  This short story is a metaphor for what I think belief should be about: finding your personal truth.  Religion should be a personal journey based on your experiences that informs how your view the world and how you respond to challenges.  Ideally, you have a great guide advisor who has your best interests at heart.  They suggest, they don’t make demands on the outcome of the journey.

“The Undertaking” explores other religious elements.  It asks if the ends justify the means, and what kinds of ways can people be the change they want to see in the world.

Another short story I wrote, “Blood Moon”, introduces readers to what a real and working coven of witches might look like.  The people I introduce in this minority faith run the gambit.  Some of them are elderly, others work professional day jobs, and at least one of them struggles with their mental health/ability to function in a normal society.  The story descends into a horror/fantasy.  Someday, I’d like to write a follow up about all the different ways we as a society should have intervened so the conclusion of “Blood Moon” could have been cheery instead of dark and angry.

“Blood Moon” speaks to the frustration minority faiths have in a Christian-dominated society.  Pushed to fringes, questioned, always playing an ambassador of their faith, and forced to find fellowship in the “other”, even if it’s an imperfect union.


My novel, “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” has the most religious elements of all my stories.  If “Pagan Fiction” were a genre like “Christian Fiction”, that’s how I would describe the work.  It explores so many modern interpretations of paganism, follows a practicing pagan, and has the ‘fantasy’ element of a fae stalking and trying to capture Roxi.  Fantasy is in quotes because I am mirroring a lot of classic mythology in the book.

Supernaturalbeings at work in our universe fascinates me.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” offers one look at what life might be like if these beings were more interactive with humanity.  It’s thrilling and terrifying.

Collectively, I spent months in researching folklore and different pagan beliefs.  I created a personalized religion for my main character, Roxi.  Devotion is her defining characteristic, and it forces Roxi to stand apart from everyone else in her world.  What does a person do when the beliefs they hold most dear isolate them from others?  Is her religion hurting or helping her?  I hope readers are asking these questions about Roxi and themselves.

So how do I sell a “Pagan Fiction” book to a Christian market?  Will the religious questing and pursuit come across to readers?  And even if people get it, will the minority faith structures be compelling?  Is it too liturgical?  I was eager to get into beta readers and learn what landed.  It felt like a big risk for me to write this “urban fantasy” where so little of the elements were fantastic.  The rituals and spells are all real and I portray the results so one might experience them in the real world (i.e. is that underwhelming to the typical fantasy reader).  The Gods and fae I portray are “real” in the sense that I extended their mythology.  I didn‘t give them new powers or different personalities/motives.  Every herb, gesture, and symbol has a wealth of history behind its choice.

It relieved me when the feedback came in.  My beta readers said “this is a deeply religious and theological book.” In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been concerned.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” wasn’t too narrow for readers to relate, and I could use my book to have conversations with other people I’d never dreamed of expressing.  It was magical.

Were their issues in the first draft of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils”, you bet.  Pacing, pacing, pacing.  A lot of setup in the front and all rollercoaster drops in the back.  It also turns out people want a little more exposition, or they want it in different places than I’ve dumped it.  The whole front third needs to be re-written and the most liturgical part of the book, a pagan meet up where many practicing pagans share opposing views, needs to transform because it’s not doing what it needs to do and it introduces too much that doesn’t matter in my book.

Can you read this book and never think about religion?  Absolutely!  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” is currently 76,000 word book and explores a lot of themes where religion is just one, but you can read it as straight fantasy about a woman being stalked, abducted, and attempting to escape the clutches of a creepy obsessive fae creature.  What’s cool about Roxi being pagan: she’s an informed combatant.  She knows fae folklore, so she knows where to be wary and she has ideas of what’s waiting for her on the other side of the veil.

Talk to me.  What parts of your personality show in your writing?  Do you embrace those elements or try to downplay them?  Do readers notice themes and elements in your story, or is it a secret author Easter Egg?

6 Week Review

from openclipart.org by j4p4n

It’s been six weeks since I started my: “Jess Donegan is Here” Campaign.  Time to see where I hit the mark and were I need to adjust.  Check out my weekly updates starting most recently with 9/24 numbers, 9/17 numbers, 9/10 numbers, 9/4 numbers/evaluation, 8/29 numbers/evaluation, and 8/21 numbers/evaluation.

First thing I’ve changed is how I report.  I started by reporting numbers and making plane each week. Right away, I saw these reports were too long and very little changed.  Instead, I report my numbers once a week and will talk in depth about those results every other month or once a month.

Overall growth on Twitter is good.  Need to Maintain the course (check out my 8 steps here).  No course change needed.  The plan works for me because it’s flexible.  Some days I don’t even have to look at Twitter and other days I can swing by and make one on one mentions.  I am slipping out into political water, and I must watch out for that going forward in my campaign.  I’m undecided on if politics has a place in my Twitter persona.

This blog and the North Alabama Writer's Group blog exist.  Go me?

Wins:
1. Creating content
2. Posting across both blogs
3. Sticking to the niche identified
4. Our Writers’ Group is talking about self promotion and considering what we could do to reach out to other creators around us.  I’ve captured Chris and am recruiting Ashley.

Needs Improvement:
1. Traffic
2. Self promotion
3.  Time.  It’s only been six weeks since I’ve been pushing the blogs
4. Cross platform promotion

What I’m Doing:
1. Made a list of all the posts I have and the categories they fit in and I plan to schedule 1 Tweet a day to promote my writing.
2. I will suck it up and go to Facebook.  My original plan was to start that aft 30 days of blogging but I backed out because it overwhelmed me.  Then I thought “who needs Facebook” but the thing is I might.  So I will make a general “hello” post and from then on post when an article first drops.  
3. Going through older posts and creating back links.  I have a lot of series posts, and I’m not maximizing people’s love of crawling relevant threads.
4. I’ve had a lot of luck on Google+, maybe it’s time I pursued that again? Will test after Facebook campaign is part of the routine
5. Working on a guest blog post for @arimehglen. With luck this may lead to more guest posts? Will keep an eye out.
6. An Oct scary set of shorts
7.A “Creatives we are Thankful for” article for NAWG where ere acknowledge local talent and reconnect ourselves to local writers and publishers
8. Dec Merch launch.  Need to push this even if the audience is not there yet.

Creative Writing

My time management has been shitty.  I’ve needed to turn a lot of my resources inward because I need help with my day job.  Speaking of which: are you looking to hire a writer because I WANT to work with you!

I’ve been telling the writers’ group I’m not writing.  That’s not 100% honest.  I’ve written a couple of pieces about women choosing a brutal death over life.  Since I noticed the theme in my writing, I’ve stopped all new works until I’m in a better head space.

 I am also working on edits to my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” but the group doesn’t seem interested in reading it and I don’t want to talk with them about the same things repeatedly (which is the editing process, going over it until it’s memorized).

I am hoping I’ll have more time for my book now I have a resume out in the world and I’m hoping my writers’ workshop will take on beta-ing draft #2 of my novel.  We had our first meeting this past Sunday and the group leader, Megan Beam, seemed interested in the premise, so I hope she’ll have feedback for me.

I’ve been enviously reading other writers’ posts on creating a calendar for their projects.  I don’t have enough time to break it down the way they do.  But I am still reading different time management techniques.  I enjoy batching similar tasks.  In a world where I could find 3-5hrs a day, I’d enjoy blocking my time.  I’m still trying it on a small scale but results will be slow in coming.

Reviewing

In the next few months I plan to further integrate my reading/reviewing with my writing.  I have a few pieces coming out to link the two.  I think my GoodReads presence is a waste staying separate as it is now, bit I haven’t found the right plan to rope the two in....yet.

Talk to me.  Tell me about your own plans, how are they going?  Is there something key I’ve forgotten or HAVE to try?  What’s the most important part of your routine?  Do you have success on a social media platform I’m not using/considering right now?

Tell All Tuesdays!

image from openclipart.org by j4p4n

Looking for the proof?  Check out Metrics Monday to see my numbers.

Twitter Update: 
-My strategy is going well.  So well that my plans to expand my social media reach are on hold.  Twitter is taking up all my time/energy.  The husband laughed at me when I lamented over this.  He said this was a "sign of success" AND that the goal should be that the Twitter expansion is so vast, I can't maintain my job and building the account.  That blew my mind and now I'm evaluating what would be "enough" on this campaign.
-I've incorporated 2 main Twitter Groups the #sixwordstory folks and #themerrywriter group.  Both are good engagement/conversation starters.
- I want to keep #womenwriters on my radar, but I'm not as "engaged" there as I need to be.
-I want to make inroads to #amwritingfantasy this week

North Alabama Writers' Group Blog
Thought having conversation starters and helpful resources would be enough to drive this blog.  It is not.  I'm brainstorming what other forms of promotion I need.  What I have is:
-Harassing the group I'm working with to comment and share entries.  It would help if it wasn't just me and Chris building this community
-Reaching out to my mom for some ideas cause she is a savvy lady who's much better with the in person engagement than me
-Maybe hosting some Write Ins at the library?  Getting more local and thoughtful that way?
-Want to have a logo for our group along caricatures for our group members and some merch.  By Dec.

Writer's Ramblings Blog
-This is going great.
-Views exceed expectations
-I have recurring series, one plugs into the larger writers' community
-Would like more comments so it feels less like I'm working in solitude to an audience of search engine crawlers, but that will have to come with time.

Research-y Things
-Watching booktubers with an eye towards releasing a book review on YouTube.  I've got a great niche in mind and am three quarters done with the book.
-Considering what to do with my Goodreads account, I feel like it should be easy to incorporate, but it's proven to be difficult
-Trying to work up time and energy for a Facebook launch because that's a thing.  Maybe Oct?

Creative Works
-wrote about 500 words and completed some outlining.  Blogging is taking up a lot of time but I will get faster.

Progress Report: All the Good (and Bad) Numbers

image from open clipart.org by Firkin

Twitter Numbers 

Per Twitter Analytics: I've been active on Twitter 18 days and have 192 tweets.  I've had 483 profile visits, gained 97 new followers, and 36 mentions.

My engagement averages about 2% which is an increase from my 1.5% last week.  That engagement averages about 1 link click per day, 2 RT a day, 11 likes, and 1 reply per day.

What does this tell me?  First my follow increase seems strong.  20% of everyone who checks out my profile follows.  This suggests I'm doing well finding relevant quality content to retweet and I'm sorting it well with the Hashtag system to direct my Tweets to the right people at the right time.

I'm on track to gain 100 followers every month.  Remember my following count when I reactivated was 347.  My following has grown 22% in 18 days and that's a lot.

I'm midrange active on Twitter.  I have 5 planned posts a day and everything else is impulsive gravy.  What takes off is a mix of planned posts and impulsive ones.  It averages out to 10 ish posts a day.  They debate the life span of a Tweet but it seems to range between 8-30 minutes.  At the most generous range, I should post twice an hour.  I'd NEED to buy a subscription to a Tweet scheduler to achieve this without going crazy.  I'm looking different options, but I would like 30 days of Twitter before investing.  More details on schedulers I looked at coming.

As a writer and blogger, my link clicks are terrible.  If I can't entice people to check out the posts with interesting titles and snippets, then I need to post links more often to make up for the low conversation.  I'm not comfortable doing that just yet because I feel like my blogs need more evergreen content before I dive into more aggressive self promotion.

General Clean up notes: I've cleared all inactive accounts from my Twitter feed.  Will address again in thirty days.  My following to followers ratio improved, but not in an "ideal" range yet.  I keep telling myself it won't matter once I break 1k, but I've got months before that happens.

Blogs:

The North Alabama Writers' Group blog is drowning in spam.  It's made me rethink everything I thought about how to judge a blog's success.  There was a time where a lot of comments on a blog amazed me, now I know that comments =/= traffic.  Our all time highest view rate is still 19 views and we're not even averaging 3 people visiting a day.  

 It's frustrating because we helpful content like the recent release of Calls for Submission in September but we also have reflective pieces like "Creating Aliens" by Christopher M. Palmer.  We even have crossover pieces like "What's in a Name—A Name I stole from Another Blog!" where I discuss my personal struggle to name characters and places WHILE ALSO offering resources to help other's find good names for their characters/places.

This blog's early numbers success has slumped a little.  It tells me posting on Tell All Tuesday, is very important to driving my traffic.  Good news, there is traffic.  Bad news, it's not worth talking about.

Unlike The North Alabama Writers' Group Blog, I know this blog doesn't have a lot of added value yet or "evergreen" blog fodder.  I am working on adding more.  I have scheduled posts that should improve traffic.

Writing Projects 

I've written more of the second/third/final draft of my novel Follow Me: Tatter Veils.  All forward motion is exciting.  I love this book more than I can express.

I've continued rearranging "Comes in Threes" and when I'm done with this short, I'm moving on to "1000 Words" (which will be 1000 words), and then I want to write one more flash.  Zach challenged me to write 3 flash pieces this week, and I'd like to have three in hand.  I'm toying with a step counter story called "The Tracker" or a reverse mortgage story that doesn't have a name.  All the ideas are sad and bittersweet.

Random Notes: 

My Goodreads reviews are up to date.  I'm half way through the next book on the list and hoping to finish reading/reviewing this week.

I have plenty ideas for the blog and hope to batch those together with the research and link work on Wed.

Batching is helpful, but it doesn't maximize efficiency as well as I'd thought.  For example, to get a sense of accomplishment from the work I need to write, edit, add links, and schedule each post before moving on to the next "job".   In an ideal batching scenario, I'd write all the blog rough drafts, then edit several posts, then place all the links for these posts together, and then find all the pictures.  I can't group the tasks that well yet.  Besides, that much editing all at once is exhausting.  Still there are benefits.  Being in "blog" mode increases speed of writing multiple posts.

Thanks for reading my update, tell me about how your own campaigns are going!  Are you seeing the growth you'd like on social media or on your blog?  What are you doing to achieve that growth?  Talk to me.

Want to see more related to this post?  See how far I've come from Aug 29th or earlier on Aug 21st.  

What's my strategy on Twitter?  Here's a post on the 8 Step Twitter Plan

Looking for the Larger Picture Check out Why a Twitter Campaign and Why a Blog at All

Tuesday Tell All: A Day Late so Wednesday Writers? Analytics Deep Dive

image from open clipart.org provided by J4p4n

Blog Update:

NAWG member Christopher M. Palmer created a delightful post on "Creating Aliens" and comment wise it seems to be taking off.

Traffic wise our most trafficked day is still only 19 views, but we are getting steady 10-15 views a day and we are receiving many comments.  I don't know how it works that there doesn't seem to be page views but there are comments, I would think you couldn't comment without viewing.  *Shrug*.  

I haven't written anymore posts for the North Alabama Writers' Group but my post "What's in a Name?" dropped on Aug 26th.  All the credit for the idea and structure goes to Rick Polad.  This was a fun response/ add on post and I'd like to write more posts along these lines.

I added a little more content to my "September Call for Submissions Roundup" Post which will drop Sept first on North Alabama Writers' Group, so keep your eyes peeled!  I also added more content to another post regarding writers' tools.

On this blog, I posted my Twitter Plan (sitting at 5 views with no Twitter promotion).  It's worth reviewing because you can compare what I'm doing with the results I post each week.

I also posted a page on Bloggers and Groups I follow to stay up to date with calls for submission.  It should a a great resource for authors who want to keep update with the markets.

In the to be posted file:  I wrote a post on batching that will drop on Sunday.  Basic stuff, but it made me interested in exploring my process and increasing productivity.  I've started a post that's reviewing a book on publishing and promotion, but it's not finished.

I changed the layout, the book shelf look felt old, so I went pink watercolors.  What do you think?

Thank you all for viewing and Retweeting posts around this blog.  Last week's update got an impressive 57 views.  It's cool so many people stopped in to look at my projects and plans!  

Twitter Update: 

I've been active on Twitter for 12 days in in that time I've posted 120 times (10 times a day—too much to be sustainable long term), received 9,953 views, 377 profile views, 26 mentions, and I've gained 58 followers.   per Twitter Analytics.

That's 38 more followers than this time last week!  If I average 25 new followers a week (and can keep them), that's 100 new eyes every month.  Combined with my current following I could have 1k followers in 6 months.  That's steady growth I could sustain long term.

If I'd posted this update yesterday, my most popular tweet would have been my tweet with last weeks update.  467 views and 16 retweets!  You guys rock!  I hope you had fun/ could gather something from the number analysis.  However, as of this morning my most viewed tweet is a reply to @oceanviibes.  He/She has so many following, it shouldn't surprise me this of hand response to first place with 501 views and 8 engagements.

Using Hootsuite, I have posts scheduled until Monday.  It is becoming more difficult to find things to RT or tweet.  I think some of Twitter's repetition is hitting me.  To fight this, I'm playing more in Hashtag convos and hoping this will give me more fresh content to post.  

I've continued to delete inactive accounts from my following feed.  Brought the number of following to 653 and with a following of 406 I'm close to "reasonable" range, whatever that's worth.

Writing Updates: 

I completed editing all but two of my short stories, so I have 5 stories ready to go.  One of my stories is a "novella" length so I will wait until I'm back from Vegas to dive into that.  The other two will also need a lot of love, so I'm on hold in working them.

I wrote a new short story on the flight here.  Current title "Comes in Threes" and it's a horror fantasy genre.  This was a 100% original idea that wasn't on the list.

I've also gone back in through my novel.  Chapters 1-3 are complete.  Chapters 4 &5 need a complete rewrite but I have plans to work on that later today.  

Other projects are likely to be touched: the writer's group round robin.  I played with it in July and came across an editor's ethical quandary.  Since then I've decided I can do what I want to my part of the writing and I should create two separate endings for the work and post all up on North Alabama Writers' Group.  

I want to look at Cress Legacy because I think I could bring it to a close this week.  Also, I have a short story called "1000 Words" that I think I could cross off my list.

Got into the writing class and it starts Sept 3.  Blog posts on that are sure to follow.

Goodreads Update :

-All my reviews on Goodreads.com are up to date.  I was about 10 books behind and now I'm caught up.  Goodreads is part of my organic social media promotion campaign.  Since I already read a lot and often review, keeping up to date with it felt like a natural minimal effort add on.  More to come on the part Goodreads may play in my future social media chasing.

Two weeks away from trying to engage Facebook.  I don't want to, but I feel like it's the obvious next part establishing my blogs and writing in the larger world.  We'll see, maybe it won't be so bad or maybe it will drive traffic so wildly I'll wonder why I never bothered with it before.

Progress Update: Blogs, Twitter, and Creative Writing

image from optnclipart.org by liftarn

Blog Updates:

I created two more blog posts for North Alabama Writers' Group one will post on Aug 22th and the next will post Aug 26th.  I've also collated my September Call for Submissions Post and it's scheduled to drop September 1st.

Ran through my older posts in the Writers' Group and added pictures to them from openclipart.org so they will be more tweet-able.

The response is still underwhelming.  3-19 views a day with no comments from people I don't know or interact with.  I'm not discouraged, the blog has only been on the scene for under a year AND we engaged other writers less than a week ago. I expect low numbers.

Resurrected this blog with a primary post yesterday. They viewed the post four times, which is far more views than expected give my lack of promotion.

  I filled out a page of blogs/services I follow because they keep me up to date on calls for submission and open publishers.  Have four solid links and am hoping to expand to ten links before publishing.

Continue working on it with an update/analytics post today and have two other ideas I'm fine tuning and will schedule later today.

Twitter Updates:

Twitter is very early in the campaign, but so far it seems to go well.  Thanks to  Hootsuite, I've got posts scheduled through Saturday.  My free account will take me up to 30 posts, with 21 lined up.  19 will still be in the queue Wed morning.

Twitter Analytics look amazing, but that's no surprise.  Resurrecting at three year dead account always looks promising at the start.  Still, 74 profile visits in 4 days is nothing to sniff at.  Added 20 followers, so a third of the people who looked at me followed.  Feels like progress.

My top tweet is funny if generic. and my second most popular tweet is a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon tweet.  First day is the most successful with diminishing returns on subsequent days.  I got 109 impression on Aug 20th with a Hugo Award announcement.

So far important, new, and funny gets the most eyes.  Seems blog posts and funny gets the most engagement.

Commun.it ssuggested about 74 people not to follow and I went through to delete anyone how hasn't posted sometime this year.  Annoying, but healthy to purge inactive accounts.  My follow to follower ratio is off and may come off as "desperate" even with all the unused accounts gone.  The only downside is now commun.it wants me to unfollow 90 more people, like it was encouraged by me taking some of its advice.  Guess what, I follow people cause I like the posts not because they follow me.

Commun.it also points out the most popular posts trending within my feed.  When possible, I comment or RT.  Also, commun.it suggests thanking accounts with high engagement, it's something I'm considering doing once a week to the top five accounts?  I don't know, feels very hokey and a little obvious.  

Looked up a ton of writers' hashtags and picked out 14 I like and will try to dip into.  From there I picked up themed posting and want to make certain I'm using days of the week hashtags.  Wrote myself a schedule and created a timer so I don't fall into the twitter abyss.

Writing Updates:

I put together full list of completed, in need of review, in progress, and ideas for stories.  The plans don't include a lot of creative writing until my vacation starts this Friday.  While writers' goals feel in order, I don't know what of these projects will strike my fancy while on vacation, so it's hard to set up any metrics surrounding the process.

 The main thrust of my work this week is knocking out all the basic social media junk so it will run on auto pilot while I'm working the story side.  At some point, the process will need fine tuning so I can manage both but that's a week away.

Last, I tried to sign up for a creative writing course, but it won't let me right now because "PayPal checkout is down".  Will revisit that tomorrow.