AmCurrently 4.16

April 11, 2016

I’ve decided to occasionally do update posts that aren’t just for the entire year. I stole my #AmCurrently format from Cait at PaperFury because it’s so shiny and versatile. She has agreed to forgive me as long as I feed her lots of cake.

#AmCurrently Writing

Nothing! I almost feel horrible about it, but not quite. I’m supposed to be writing Arizona which is the book I intend to query with agents and traditional publishers. I worked through the landmarks a few weeks ago and have been meaning to sit down and start getting the draft I have into that shape I just… haven’t.

There are reasons I haven’t and they are even good reasons. But there’s a particular sort of accomplishment that comes from writing for a few hours and getting to whatever point I set for myself (finish this scene or get through that section or fix that dialog – I am terrible at word count). It’s like, if I hit whatever point I’ve set for that writing stint, everything else for the entire weekend are just bonus points. Because I’ve done what I wanted to do and the thing that mattered to me most.

So, while I’ve been productive… it hasn’t quite been the same.

#AmCurrently Doing

Lots of little things (my to do list has been looking pretty fantastic lately). You may have noticed March was a big month for me, though you don’t quite know the half of it. I spent 7 days in different hotels, it was supposed to be 11 days (which is like a third of the entire month) but one of my flights was cancelled. I published my second book and had the book launch with all the attempts at marketing that comes with both the book and the launch event. I finished editing the audiobook for Tattered Heart (official announcement coming soon once the last pieces are in place). I trained 3 new clients at work (hence all the hotel rooms) and I organized our big annual event at work.

So now that it’s all done… I’ve found myself the past few days or I guess really past few weeks working to get to a place of being actually done. Reaching out to friends about my newsletters and the Enchanted Storms release – tweaking my website just a little bit more to improve the marketing stuff and SEO (oh, SEO! keywords are both awesome and atrocious) – organizing the files on my computer so they’re archived well – finishing off the things I meant to do like restructuring my audiobook outtakes and writing the blog posts for these new things and all the little things around the big things that still need to get done.

And be finished.

To move onto the next thing.

#AmCurrently Blogging

I have plans to start a new series this year on DIY publishing. Last year, the Fairy Tale Legacy series was a great focus for me and helped me really enjoy blogging and be more consistent than I’d ever been. It was also a subject I really loved exploring.

After going back to improve Tattered Heart slightly (excerpts and new back matter!) and publishing Enchanted Storms I decided I wanted to both record for myself and share all the things I’d figured out about DIY publishing. I know there’s a lot of resources out there (I’ve used my fair share of them) and my voice will be one among many. But it’s still my voice. And I really like the idea of being able to help someone else figure out how to publish their own work the way so many people have helped me figure it out.

I realized while working on the Fairy Tale Legacy series that the easiest way to get blog posts done is if I hand write them in airports (because what else am I going to do sitting in an airport) and then type them up, polish them and schedule them once I’m home. With two trips coming up this month, I hope to have the first in the series ready for you in the next few weeks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDvNFdPvzYC/

#AmCurrently Reading

I’m reading! I posted all the books I got in 2015 that I hadn’t read yet and I’m working my way through them. I want to try to bookstagram each one as I read it, for fun.

So far I’ve read Six of Crows (so I can discuss it with everyone! because I’m almost the last person who hadn’t read it). I have a nifty bookstagram video but it’s 30 seconds long and while instagram says everyone will be able to upload 60 second videos in the coming months, I still only get 15 seconds so it’s on twitter which is not quite the same thing. Someday it will be properly bookstagram’d.

Next is Truthwitch by Susan Dennard so I can talk about it with Charlene at Bookish Whimsy.

And as soon as the library cooperates, I’ll be reading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson because I promised Terri at Reading by Starlight that it would be the first book I read after the audiobook was finished. She graciously accepted that it was the first book I requested at the library as fulfillment of that deal. I was 6th on the list but I’m excited to talk to both Terri and Amy (at Ode to Jo and Katniss) about that one.


What have you been up to? What’s the best book you read in March that I need to add to my list?

Posted in: Arizona, Blogging, Enchanted Storms, Life, Tattered Heart ~ ,

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4 responses to “#AmCurrently

  1. Yay Truthwitch! 😀 I need to read Mistborn too actually, been hearing so many good things about that series. You’ll probably get to it before I do, so I look forward to knowing your thoughts on it! And even though I’m not publishing anything, I find the whole process fascinating, so I’m eager to know more about it from your perspective.

    • Annie

      My library has fantastic check out times so being 5th (now) on the list means I may not get the book until sometime in May or later. So, you might not be that far behind me 🙂

  2. Yay, I can’t wait to talk Mistborn with you! And I actually just finished Truthwitch, so I can talk about it too! Though I will say that while I did like it, I don’t think I loved it quite like Charlene did! Also, I’d definitely be interested in hearing about your self-publishing journey. I don’t really know what the future holds for me, but I do find an appeal in being a hybrid author.

    • Annie

      I’m excited for both Mistborn and Truthwitch!
      If you want a head start on info on traditional and indie publishing, check out Kristine Rusch’s Business Rusch Publishing articles (http://kriswrites.com/business-rusch-publishing-articles/). I was at a job that didn’t require much effort from me and read through a lot of her articles which swayed me from traditional publishing to hybrid. She’s like a masters class on traditional publishing – contracts – agents – deals – the industry. It’s great info if you have the time.
      I want to pin some of my favorites to my DIY Publishing board but they aren’t really optimized for Pinterest so I don’t know what I’ll do 🙂