Retreat This Week - Creativity Here I Come!

Seems I've had yet another week filling in forms for a number of up and coming trips to go to my writing retreat and Iceland!

My new fantasy epic is full of caves, volcanos and the majority of people are miners, so in addition to attending my writing retreat, I'm going to visit an ice cave, several volcanos and the biggest copper mine in the world!

Next week though, I'm going to a retreat to relax, meditate, do some yoga and work on my creativity so I'm looking forward to coming back energised and ready to complete my novel.

So far, I'm happy I'm slowly getting through all the items on my goal list and starting to make some progress on the harder to achieve goals.

5 Weeks In and Still Achieving

It's Chinese New Year tomorrow, and I don't have to make any new resolutions because I'm still on track with my 1st January commitments to see if Writing It Down Make It Happen really does help make your dreams come true.

So far I'm really pleased with my progress.  I completed StoryStorm last week, I'm booking my flights to attend FutureScape in April and as I have 3 days off work I'll be getting ready for #PitMad.

I've always been an organised person, but the main advantage of writing down all your wishes and doing the exercises in the book is that it keeps your wants in the front of your thoughts and therefore at all times your always working towards them, consciously and unconsciously.

At the week 5 mark, I've completed 5 goals and another 5 are work in progress.

Kung Hei Fat Choi 

One Month In - It's Tough

After getting off to a flying start, it's getting tough.  It doesn't help that I'm not at home, been fighting jetlag all week and it's cold (I'm a hot weather girl).  The good news is that I've been accepted onto the FutureScapes workshop in April, and in 2 weeks I'm off on a mini break with lots of yoga and exercises to awaken my creativity.  How can I not succeed with all that professional help!

Last week I also found two great agents which I've sent query letters too, and I've almost finished reading one of my books! More importantly I'm still on track to complete StoryStorm and just like the challenge promises I'm getting loads of new ideas and come up with some really great ideas for some short stories for my secondary characters.

I'm in love with the WriteItNow software, it does everything I need and it's so easy to use.  Now I can start getting all my notes, character profiles etc in one place and writing my series should then be a breeze.

When I write to you all next, I'll have completed another 2 goals and hopefully feeling pretty good with myself.

Hope you're all still on track to complete you goals and wishes.

Good luck

Forms, Forms and more Forms!

3 weeks in and it all feels like I'm doing is filling in forms, then again, I'm trying to finalize trips, writing retreats, holidays and what my marketing goals are, all of which require lots and lots of form filling in.

It doesn't feel I've made a whole lot of progress in the last week, then again, I'm still on track with StoryStorm, although I'm not as far ahead with my reading goals as I'd like, given I've just completed a 15 hour flight!

Trying to work juggle two full time careers is tough but not impossible, it just takes some organisation and the occasional reality check that you're not going to go great guns every week.  There are 52 of them in the year, so you can afford the occasional off week.

On the positive side I'm really excited about the writing retreats I've found that both specialize in horror/fantasy/sf, and now I'm almost over my jetlag I should be able to complete my forms and get my submissions off for consideration.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

How am I doing 2 weeks in?

It's been tough.  I'm not going to lie, but I'm still on track and made some progress on my tougher goals of visiting an ice cave and seeing a volcano!  I’ve also completed my research on writing retreats I want to attend and completed first draft of my applications which was no small feat.

StoryStorm by far has been the most challenging goal to date, as I have to come up with a new story idea every day.  I find myself doing this at the end of the day and I’m best in the morning.  It is a lot of fun and it’s a great community, but like NaNoWriMo it requires dedication and planning.

Next week, I need to get my applications off and book my trip to Iceland where I’m planning to see the inside of a dead volcano and see my ice cave.  It looks amazing and I’m super excited about attending and showing you the photos, I take!

More about my writing retreats next week, for now Iceland is my focus!

Write It Down Make It Happen is definitely working for me so far, hope you’re all doing as well with your 2019 commitments.

Kathy

So how am I doing, one week in?

It's easy at the beginning right?  Easy is not the way I'd describe week 1. I've been struggling to get everything done, because I've got to schedule where and when I'm going on these writing courses and to grow my web presence means reading lots of books on marketing and design.

StoryStorm is also very time consuming, its a lot of fun and I'm getting some great stories down and there's the fact I'm getting very competent with the WriteItDown software.

So one week in I've reached out Henriette Anne Klauser to tell her about my challenge, and I'm on track with StoryStorm, #PitMad and I've narrowed by choice of writing retreats down to two.

I've got a long plane flight coming up in a week so should be able to get my reading challenges down.

How can you describe a 92,000 word novel in 2 sentences?

Lord of the Rings (The trilogy) comprises of 455,125 words.  I can describe it in 3 words "Destroy the Ring." So why am I struggling to come up with a 35 word pitch for my novel which is a 5th of the size?

I've brainstormed on the train, whilst getting a very painful foot massage and in the bath. So far I've not come up with anything game changing with a wow factor, but I've got another month to come up with one.

Wish me luck!