New Year, New Books, New Goals
Happy 2023, friends!
January always feels like a fresh start. It’s a time for planning, setting goals, and trying to live an overall happier life (even if in February we forget some of those goals…).
Last year, my goal was to finish my first book. Check. This year, my goal is to actually publish that book, which still feels like a dream if I am being honest. But we are one step closer, folks! And maybe it’s cheating to make publishing the book my goal for this year…but oh well.
When I was a middle school teacher, I often started the new year with an assignment called "One Word." My students picked out a word that would encapsulate their goal for the year, whatever they wanted to focus on for the year. I, of course, did not come up with this idea on my own, but I forgot about it until I saw a mutual on social media talking about their word for the year.
In the past, I've chosen words like patience or creativity. While both concepts are still very important to me, this year my word is confidence.
Confidence in my ability to publish. Confidence in my skill as a writer. Confidence in who I am as an individual.
Am I striving for perfection here? Definitely Not. Am I striving for being perceived as egotistical? Heck no. But I am trying to be more comfortable in being proud of how far I have come and the things I have accomplished. I've never been overtly confident in myself or my accomplishments. If you know me, I am a fairly private person and don't like to boast about myself. Sometimes I even feel like a background character in my own story. However, 2023 is about growing the confidence to become the main character—as cheesy as that may sound. Have you thought about what your one word would be for this year?
Updates for The King's Weapon
The past few weeks I've been very busy getting The King's Weapon prepped and ready to publish on April, 3rd. And so far, I've accomplished four major tasks:
Final edits are done!!! On January 8th, I finally finished going through and applying my final edits. So as long as I don’t find a typo somewhere (which I probably will once I print it *sigh*), it is DONE.
I submitted my cover design vision to my cover designer. So we shall see what comes out of that in February, but I am BEYOND excited.
I finalized TKW’s official blurb. You can read that here.
And I’ve been saying it for MONTHS now, but I finally finished the fantasy map!! I originally started this map sometime last spring using Procreate, and like the book itself, the map has undergone several revisions. But at last, you can see it on Instagram here in all of its glory.
So, now what?
While I play the waiting game until I receive my cover, I have a few things I need to accomplish within the next month: 1. Marketing! Now that TKW is in its final stages, it is time to hit the gas on marketing. As of right now, I plan to use TikTok and Instagram primarily to do just that. 2. Begin searching for ARC readers … (more on this in a moment). 3. And of course, continue working on book 2. As of right now, I am halfway done with the first draft. And oh boy, is this going to be a good one.
ARC Readers
First, what even is an ARC reader? An ARC reader is someone who receives an advanced reader copy of a book before it is published in exchange for an honest review. Reviews, for any author, are critical for a book’s success. Fun fact, Amazon doesn't actively push out a book until there are at least 50 reviews on it.
(edited from newsletter) Thank you to those of you who signed up to be an ARC reader. I did end up closing the form on Monday night, which was MUCH earlier than I thought I would. To those who didn't get a chance, I am sorry, I was not expecting so many people to be interested (at all). But stay tuned! More exciting things are in the works :)
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