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I can hardly believe that I’ve been blogging for two years.

To celebrate, I’m sharing my knowledge about building your author platform over on Writer to Writers for the month of August. Go on, take the challenge and improve your author online presence. Check out the intro and the first task.

I’m also writing retellings of Grimm fairy tales and publishing them on INK (all stories are still in Afrikaans, but I have big plans for them) as part of a competition to win a publishing deal.

I’ve been playing around with a cover for the anthology (because it’s just another way to motivate myself) and came up with this:

With the blog’s first blogiversary last year, I went through everything I did in year one of blogging and all my achievements. I’m not sure I want to do that this year. I already did something like that as my writing update in May.

Two of my short stories were published earlier this year in the anthology “Inkspraak”.

Though I did only list my achievements from January onwards…

So, just in case I haven’t linked to this post enough and told you this enough:

In October last year I won the award of Fiction Writer of the Year 2016 on INK.

With Anzé, founder of INK.

A flash fiction piece of mine was featured on The Ink Owl. Go ahead and read Blood and Ice and leave your thoughts in the comments.

And I’ve also made a favourable impression on social media.

Just look at this nice mention on Pontius Paiva’s blog last month:

I only recently discovered Ronel Janse van Vuuren, but I’m already a huge fan. I’m still diving into all the wonderful articles and links she has to offer and feel I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Much like the other writers on this list, Ronel Janse van Vuuren offers a large range of valuable information for writers through her blog and from links on her Twitter timeline. Being a published author herself, her blog and twitter feed are a rich source of editing and publishing advice from both her and other traditionally and independently published authors.

She is a participant in Raimey Gallant’s Author toolbox Blog Hop and also judges stories submitted to Cracked Flash Fiction Competition.

If you’re a fan of folklore, you’re in for a treat. On her blog, she delves into folklore topics every second Thursday, sharing her research on creatures and places used in her writing. She also shares it on Twitter along with other folklore enthusiasts under #FolkloreThursday.

Readers can find her dark fantasy stories (filled with folklore and mythology) for free on Wattpad.

Her work is interesting and very well written, but don’t just take my word for it, follow Ronel Janse van Vuuren and see for yourself. You’ll be happy you did.

Louise Brady and Raimey Gallant were also part of this article 🙂

I did really well in my second year of blogging (and that’s without mentioning a couple of awesome things I’m not allowed to talk about yet).

Is this the part where I discuss my plans for the future?

Right now I can’t really see past the next two months. I have to polish the Grimm fairy tale retellings. I have to finish the Basics to Author Online Presence Challenge. I have to finish the second revision pass on my novel (oh, who’s keeping count?). I have to translate a couple of stories. I have to. I have to.

Looking at my calendar for this month, I already feel overwhelmed.

I know that I’ve only listed things that I am capable of doing. Still… Sometimes just listening to this song is all I need to get over the overwhelming anxiety that I cannot do this.

Having the Rocky theme song (Eye of the Tiger) on my playlist also works 😉

I know I’ve skimmed over a couple of things I’ve done (excellent things, mind you), but I’m sure as a regular reader you already know everything, and if you’re new you are already looking at the Accolades page and diving into my Sunday posts.

I really can’t believe I’ve been blogging for two years. It’s been quite a journey.

If you’d like to follow me on other social media platforms, check out the sidebar. (Look! Look! I’ve added Goodreads there too.)

Remember to check out the Basics to Author Online Presence Challenge to make sure your social media efforts are the best they can possibly be. I already looked at the basics of the author blog on Friday. Maybe there’s something new you can learn, or want to share with the group. And you can even make new friends 🙂

Any questions about my second year of blogging you’re burning to ask? Do you have a playlist to combat writerly anxiety?

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