Tags
#FolkloreThursday, #TwistedTaleTuesday, A-Z Blogging Challenge, behind the scenes of writing, blogging, Cracked Flash Fiction Competition, INK Skryf in Afrikaans, social media, twitter, Wattpad, writing, writing competitions, writing tips, writing.com
I’ve had some time to think after my IWSG post on the first Wednesday of 2017 and I think I know what I need to do.
Writing every day is just exhausting.
I know it did me a lot of good in 2016, but looking back on my calendar (yeah, I fill in everything I’ve done every day and month), I realise that I need more time to work on my novels.
Not that I think that I’m wasting time by publishing stories on INK, Wattpad and writing.com – it’s more a matter of having to prioritise. In other words: I can’t write and publish three short stories a week.
Which brings me to another tender point: I need to cut back on posts on the blog.
Yeah, I’m shuddering too. But looking back at the last couple of months, I’ve missed a few posts and weeks altogether (okay, so I can’t control the weather and whether or not there’s electricity). So for my own sanity – and not to disappoint my loyal readers – I’ve decided to alter the blog schedule.
New Blog Schedule for Ronel the Mythmaker:
- Every Tuesday is for #TwistedTaleTuesday (flash fiction pieces I wrote for Microcosms, Cracked Flash Fiction Competition [], and other places on the web I’d like to share here on the blog).
- The first Wednesday of the month is for #IWSG (the amazing blogging community of writers I’ve joined to share my writerly insecurities, triumphs and questions with like-minded people).
- Every second Thursday is for #FolkloreThursday (folklore creatures or elements are inspected, changed to fit my Faerie World and used in a short story published on Wattpad or writing.com).*
- Sundays are for my thoughts about writing, sharing interesting facts about writing, a short story, or giving you a peek into my life as a writer and Rottweiler mum.
*In 2016 every Thursday was dedicated to folklore and a short story.
I’m still going to do the A to Z Challenge this year – it did the blog a lot of good (me too 😉 ) in 2016.
As for writing competitions:
In 2016, the first competition I entered was in the middle of February. In 2017, I’ve already entered six and it’s only the middle of January… Seems like blogging less is already showing dividends.
Oh, you can enter one of these awesome competitions too! Check out Anne’s invitation and Theresa’s and share your Cinderella-inspired story. (You can read mine here.)
In 2016 I entered 44 competitions. Sadly, I only won 8 (still waiting to hear the results of 2). I learned something from each of those competitions. And it really does feel good when ones writing is validated by winning. I hope I can up the entries this year. (Psst! One of my flash fiction pieces already won Honourable Mention on Microcosms Fic this year 😉 )
And yes: I’m still a judge for Cracked Flash Fiction Competition which, as I’ve mention before, makes me a better writer.
As for getting published in 2017:
Last year I did a post about journals and other places to send ones writing to. I called it “Get Published in 2016”.
I even told you how to do it. Sadly, somewhere along the line I stopped following my own advice to send short stories to different ezines, etc. Time, you know?
So in 2017, I’m polishing a couple of stories hiding in the hard drive and sending them off to terrify, enchant and dazzle.
Oh, I found more ezines via Twitter to submit to. (Thanks, Carin for tweeting them and drawing my attention to them!)
What are we waiting for?
I have a lot of rewriting to do on several WIPs – including those I thought were finished. And no, I’m not trying to sabotage myself by doing the rewrites: I’ve thought long and hard about them and it’s the right thing to do.
Agents can take a breather for a couple of months before I start hunting submitting again.
Sjoe! That feels a lot better. Now that I’ve made my plans for the year, I actually feel relieved. During the IWSG hop earlier this month, someone said on their blog that we should stop wearing our million hours of work like a badge of honour and start looking after ourselves.
What do you think of the new plans for the blog? Are you going to take part in the Cinderella-competition? Are you going to submit stories to ezines? What are your plans for 2017? Look out for the first #FolkloreThursday post of 2017 on the last Thursday of January.
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homedreamer07 said:
Your plans are well thought out and varied-I like reading about them. They make me itch to jump back into writing! I’m starting this year slowly since we just welcomed our 4th child. Before I know it I’ll be doing more than short poems & scribbles, and I’ll keep this post with all its resources in mind. Good luck!
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miladyronel said:
Thank you 🙂 Good luck with the new adjustments on your home-life – I hope you get the time to write.
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TheresaBarker said:
Ronel, first, I so love your giving us a “window” on your thought processes on blogging. This is really helpful for someone like me, working out my own process. Second, kudos for stepping back from your daily frequency and finding a rhythm you prefer. I also used to blog every day, for several months, and while it was good practice for my writing, I think my readers enjoyed having a day or so in between blog posts to reflect on what I’d written, before a new post appeared. That’s great!
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TheresaBarker said:
And, about submitting, I’m just starting to submit some of my flash fiction. Have you heard about “The Submission Grinder”? Other SF/F writers have passed it on to me, it contains a searchable list of markets, by genre, etc., and you can optionally use it to track your own submissions if desired. There’s a couple of flash-fiction only market I’d be glad to share with you, if interested! And w email they are totally open to global submitters … Nice piece today, and thank you so much for the mention of our Cinderella project!
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miladyronel said:
Thanks, Theresa 🙂 I saw “The Submission Grinder” on the sidebars of ezines I’ve submitted to – I really have to try it out! Good luck with your writing.
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TheresaBarker said:
:)!! maybe I can list a couple of promising markets here to get you started, Flash Fiction Online takes flash fiction only of 500-1000 words (6-cents US per word), Freeze Frame Fiction takes flash fiction only ($25 US per story). Your stories are so good, you should give it a try! 🙂
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Anne J. said:
Wow! This is awesome, Ronel! It’s an invitation for me to do the same. I’m bad with follow-through and blogging is helping me taking an idea or a plan to its completion. Having a schedule is also great. I’m probably pushing myself to exhaustion by intending to blog everyday but I have “light blog days”. 🙂
I’m scared of competitions but you’re giving me the encouragement. If I don’t win anything, I’ll just tell myself I’m lucky I have a day job. Ha-ha. Writing insecurity surfacing, I know. I should really check out IWSG.
Polishing some stories hiding in the hard drive is a splendid idea. This might just be the road to publishing this year. All the very best to you!
Lastly but definitely not the least, thanks so much for mentioning our Cinderella Anthology Project. I am really excited to see the “final product”.
Indeed, 2017 is going to be an amazing year!
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miladyronel said:
Thanks, Anne 🙂 I think sometimes we just need that little push to finish a project – deadlines and goals are excellent motivators.
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Anne J. said:
Yes.. yes… that’s me convincing myself. Lol! I sure am gonna try. Let me click on those links of yours and commit. 🙂
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Misha said:
Your plan looks sensible. I won’t be entering much in the way of short story things, unless I write stories for my Patreon. At the moment, my priority is to finish and publish my WiP. It HAS to get done before I can even think about anything else.
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miladyronel said:
Thanks, Misha. All the best for your WIP – I know it’s going to be awesome 🙂
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Carin Marais said:
Thanks for the mention – glad I can help! 😀 I honestly still have to get into my proper writing routine for 2017, but I do plan on doing the Cinderella story and am also busy with some stories that will be published in an anthology in March. Then there is my WIP and my monthly Patreon fiction. I hope this is a great writing year for you! 😀
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miladyronel said:
Thanks, Carin 🙂 I think the Cinderella-story deadline is the end of February – I know that yours will be amazing. Here’s to an awesome writing year for both of us 😉
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Erika Beebe said:
I think your plans are great! It seems like you will still get some great blogging done. And thank you for being such an inspiration. I definitely need to enter more contests. This past week I started my own flash fiction free writing. I aim to do three pieces a week. I have really enjoyed it the ideas I come up with. I wish you much luck!
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miladyronel said:
Thanks, Erika 🙂 Your free writing sounds like a lot of fun. Happy writing 🙂
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