Quarterly Goals - Where Am I Headed?


Oh look, a post almost 4 hours late. On brand.

We have reached another 5th Wednesday! These are the days in which I share my goals for the quarter and see how I fared with the ones from the previous quarter. It looks like in June, I mentioned that September of 2020 was also a quarterly goals post, and so I could see how I did after a year. Let's see:

My first major goal was to get back into the swing of things. Result: Eh.

Yeah, about that swing. On the bright side, I've been more active on social media to draw attention to Fractured Princess. Trying to do the whole brand thing is not really my thing, and the Instagram Promo Bots comment more than my actual followers, but I suppose it's a start. Writing-wise, I'm really excited about where The Shattered Chronicles is going, but I once again have to figure out all the letters between Point A and Point Z.

Reading-wise, I'm reading N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became right now, and I am loving it! I read "The City Born Great" when she put that out, and it starts off the book with a little twist to get the big story rolling. Here is the cool cover art and the blurb.


Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

This story is Nora's love letter to New York, and I wish I loved Dover that much. haha I can't wait to see what happens, and if I'm lucky, this will get me back into the reading habit! Monster Pulse, one of the web comics I've been reading for over 10 years just ended recently (sob), so I've started another one that I actually started reading years ago and forgot. So, I guess I can't say I haven't been reading; I've been consistent with the web comics. I'm actually reading 4 right now: The Undeath of MeWhite Noise, Love Not Found, and Sleepless Domain. Some others that I was reading have sadly fallen off due to either life happening or website issues, but I hope to see some of them return in the future.

My second major goal was to find a job I really want to do. Result: Eh??

So, as I was looking through LinkedIn daily and trying to sift through what were real job postings (we just can't get away from bots anywhere!), I thought to myself, "It would be nice if there was a website where we could post what we do, and people reach out to us instead of the other way around." Then, I remembered Fiverr. It was staring me in the face this whole time! I used Fiverr to get in touch with a cartographer for my book, and people post their "gigs" there to gain work. Whereas I've tried other places where you have to still look through jobs and present yourself over and over to clients, the clients come to you on Fiverr. So, I created a seller account there for proofreading and editing, which I love to do! Now, I just need clients. I also took a few weeks to proofread my Managing Editor's first book, and he said he would recommend me to the publisher for gigs. That would be a big step in the direction I want to go. I had a freelance proofreading job way back after I graduated college, and doing it again felt so good. I wish there were more jobs like that online.

All that said, I'm back in the office full-time, no telecommuting, although I probably could've asked to. I just thought if I don't have to be home, I shouldn't. Curse my work ethic (although I am posting this at work right now). Plus, there is a lot of archiving that I'm now responsible for, so I have to be here to work on filing. Blah.

My goals for the next three months are to just continue making progress on all I'm getting back into. I think starting vague can be helpful sometimes. Less chance of disappointment.

See you in October!

September Review

 

© Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

Oh, look, an on-time post!

September is almost over, and I can barely remember much of it! The WCP Edition of Fractured Princess is out now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and apparently where else books are sold! I have had 5 more interviews, 4 of which are live:


I've also been looking at my NA Fantasy. Probably more excited about that than ever. I still have a ways to go in the Shattered Chronicles, though, so I'm going to be patient. I plan to start an A-to-Z Series on Instagram discussing the Final Fantasy tropes I use in the Shattered Chronicles, so if you haven't followed me there yet, my IG link is to the right over there. I have nearly daily content there, mostly related to FP right now, but also some other fun stuff.

Being back in the office all 5 days is a bit nerve-wracking. A lot of people still don't believe the masks work, and having had to cover the front desk because of an outbreak in the office this past year, I wish they would shut up about it. Children are dying now. Someone has to care. Fortunately, I have an actual office, so I don't have to interact with too many people. I've also been keeping busy with an archiving project, so I'm super tired when I get home. I'll never get used to waking up before 7am. My mind doesn't work until about 9.

Speaking of work, I also started a gig on Fiverr for proofreading. Hopefully that takes off and can help me with some bills. I love to proofread, and I'd love to do work that I love. That's a lot of love. I'm also hoping this book takes off, but I know how publishing works.

 Anyway, wish me luck!

Fractured Princess (WCP Edition) Paperback Release Day!

 

I will catch up on all the missed Wednesday posts next week, but today marks the Paperback release of the new edition of Fractured Princess, available wherever books are sold! Visit my Facebook or Instagram pages to view live readings I did following the Kindle release. I plan to do a Q&A as well that may be up by the time this post goes live. We'll see.

I realized I didn't post the premise on the Kindle release post (I guess because I've posted it here so many times already), so here is the blurb!

Jonnie is the last princess of the Crystal Bearers, once a powerful people. When she was a baby, the metal army destroyed what was left of them, and now it is hunting her. Her watchmen keep her just out of the metal army’s reach, but she has spent her seventeen years running and hiding. Instead of standing by while her watchmen keep risking their lives for her, she decides to learn how to fight alongside them.

On the journey to hone her skills, long hidden secrets about her people reveal a connection between the Crystal Bearers and the metal army that only fuels Jonnie's will to defeat it. But the more she learns about her own powers, the more she realizes she may be responsible for the metal army – and the destruction of her people.

Black Author Spotlight Update

 


Happy September!

This is a just a quick update about the Black Author Spotlight. I'm not getting a lot of hits on it yet, so I'm going to spread the posts out. Hopefully in the in-between time, I can reach out to more authors who would like to be highlighted and get this up to a monthly post. So the next author will be highlighted in October!