August Challenge

 

Hello,  new writers and authors. It's August first, and I'm thinking about doing a 30-day writing challenge. Just to see if I can do it.  It would be a 15-20k word e-book on a topic I have yet to pick. I want to challenge myself to see if I can write something in 30 days. Mind you, it probably won't be good, but at least I tried. Who's with me on this?

Day 1-2: You get the idea you want to write about

Day 3-4: You build the  characters 's profiles

Day 5- 6: You do your world-building where the story is taking place and things like that

Day 7-10: You outline your story- I'm a pantser I write all my stories by the seat of my pants

Day 11-17 Write the story

Day 18-20 Edit story  ; do this twice if you have time

Day 21-22 Format story

Day 23-24 Find a good cover  for your story

Day 25-30 Go over your story one last time and then publish it somewhere

Congrats, you've done it: a book in 30 days!! 

This is what I will do for August to push myself. On that note, have a great day and keep writing. I'll keep you posted on my progress with this challenge.  Now on to find an idea to write about.

                                                                  Goodie💋

Please Don't!!!

 Hello, new authors and writers. Happy July. I wanted to bring something to your attention. Something that I personally think is nice but not practical from a reader's standpoint. I read a lot of books, and I came across a book with black pages and white letters. It was nice because it was a dark romance book. But I couldn't read it. The lettering on the pages made my eyes hurt. If you have books that you are printing, do yourself a favor and stick to the basic white paper/black letters. Think about the readers and their eyes when you design your books.

I would have loved to read the author's dark romance book, but with black pages and tiny white letters. It was a no for me. Just something I thought you should think about. 

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Focus!!!

 Hello, my new authors and writers. Happy July. So what writing project are you working on this month? I'm still editing a few things. I'm on my second book of a series I wrote a while ago. But the series will be left on a cliffhanger because I want to see if there is any interest in the series per se. They are novellas, which are about 12k-40k words. I'm also editing some short stories I've written. My goal is to get to 30 short stories before 2027. Some of my work I'll put on my short story site or on Inkitt. I might even try putting some out on Kindle; I'll see. My problem is that I need to focus more on my editing and producing a backlog of written material instead of watching YouTube videos on writing and going to Reddit for answers I've already asked a thousand times. I tend to wonder instead of completing my writing task. Do you do this too?

I need to focus. I have a goal to finish at least 5 novellas before 2027, and I only have 3, possibly 4, ready. I just need one more...

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Are You Like Me??

 Hello, my writers and new authors. Are you like me? I am in the process of creating a series, plus writing short stories. Still, I get bogged down with watching YouTube videos on writing, formatting, amazon kindle, doing 30 day writing challenges. What I'm saying is that I get distracted so easily that I forget that I have about 3 projects that need to be edited, two that need to be finished, and two that I haven't even started yet, but I have the outline. Like I have no time to be distracted, but I am sometimes. All under the disguise of learning and not doing. Is this you? My goal for the next 6 months is to create a backlog of books so that I can put them out for people to read either for free or on Kindle to make at least coffee and book money. Which would be about $30 a month. Is that realistic when it comes to writing short stories for kindle short reads to make? Anyway, that's my goal and my crazy, distracted life. What about you?

                                                             Goodie💋      

What Happen!!!

                                                Hello, all my new authors and writers 

Happy Monday. What happen!! I mean one minute I was writing a short story to add to my collection of short stories that I write. Then all of a sudden, I ended up writing a novella with 14,688 words for one story. Has that ever happened to you? The short story seems to have run away with the words. The characters in the story wanted a longer version of themselves. I was just the instrument they needed to use to say what they wanted to say. And did they use me. So much that my short story which supposed to be under 2,000 words landed over 14,000. Now I have to separate it from my other short stories. Give it a title and make a book cover. And did I mention it needs more editing than my other short stories.

At least I'm on the editing stage to the story. Now if I could just get back to the other stories.  I have waited their turn to be edited. Did I mention I hate editing. I like writing the other stuff not so much. What about you?

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Confusing!!!

  Hello, My Authors, New Writers. It's confusing being a writer. especially if you have no real money to do it with. The writing part is kind of easy, but the rest of the stuff is crazy. There's the editing of the first draft you've written, and the editing part is like 5 steps, if not more, until your draft looks darn near perfect. Then, between all that, it's the social media thing where you put the announcement about your new book, and also let's not forget, do you need an author website, and at what cost?? You see so much stuff to learn about becoming a writer, and I'm only doing this for a hobby, and maybe down the line, make some coffee and book money from it. God willing. Anyway, I'm still in the process of editing my stories, but I'm looking into a free author website. I've started with Google Sites. It's free, and I'm debating whether to use their free domain name or get my own for $20 a year. Some people on Reddit swear by Carrd. It's free, and it's a basic landing page for new authors. Some go with Substack. There are so many. I look for free stuff to use for my writing because I'm working with like $50 buck for this hobby at most.

So, my question to you is, do you have or are you thinking about making an author's website?  If so, who are you using?

                                       

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More Time to Write

  Hello, my writers and new authors, Happy Memorial Day weekend. With the long weekend, this should give you more time to write that famous or maybe not-so-famous book you always wanted to write. I set a goal for myself since I'm in the drafting stages of my story. Did I mention I hate editing like to write the story, but dislike going over it to make it sound right. Anyway, the question is what you are: a Pantser like me who creates stories off the top of their head or a plotter who plans everything out to the last detail. I mean, what fun is that? I like to see where the story takes me as a pantser, but to be honest, it takes me nowhere at times. I do get stuck a lot without a solid plan in place. Which would make the story easier to write. What do you think, are you a pantser or plotter?

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AI BookCovers Maybe?

  Hello, all my new writers/authors. Happy May. So, two things. First, I was thinking about using A.I. and Canva to create my book covers. Not to list on Amazon KDP, but other places. Then I was thinking sometimes I need to have an incentive to write, so I found an A.I. program that creates my characters' picture that's in my stories. The picture above is one of my characters I'm writing about. A.I. Created it from my prompts.  So, have you used A.I. for your book covers? And how did it go?  You also could use Canva for the titles and author name, which I plan on doing. I just needed a picture to go with it. I was going to use Fiverr and get a book cover artist, but I see what some of these artists are producing, and in my opinion, its crap, and they're using AI pictures to. I'm trying to write my books as cheaply as possible. So, I'm utilizing all the free programs I can get. 

                                      So, how are you making your book covers?

                                                              Goodie💋

The Horrors Of Amazon Kindle

  Hello, my new writers/authors, I have not yet finished writing my backlog; that's what I'm working on for 2026. To get a backlog of written material so when I decide to publish it, I'll have more than just one book to put out there. Anyway, I've been reading about where to publish my books. When they are finished. Some people are praising Amazon Kindle. Since they have the market on books and e-books, and have a large readership. But then I hear how Amazon takes a big cut of your profits when you sell a book and pays you every three months or so. Then they will delete your accounts without giving you any reason. All of this is making me rethink publishing my e-books on Amazon. I think when I'm ready to publish, I will be looking into other avenues. You shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket anyway. The companies on the internet are too funny nowadays. Especially when it comes to self-publishing, since there aren't a lot of companies that allow new writers/authors like us. To publish our stuff cheaply and make a profit from it.

 So, have you started investigating where you will publish your books once you finish writing them?

                                                                      Goodie💋

A.I.

  Hello, my new Writers/Authors. Happy April.  So, how's the writing going? I know some people are against using AI to write their books. Me to for that matter. But you could use AI for other things, like brainstorming ideas. I use them for that. Also, giving you a basic book outline, or helping you to dive deeper into a concept for a book you're thinking about. I use it to develop my book characters. So  I can have a visual when I write. It helps me a lot. So, are you for or against using AI when it comes to your writing?  

                                                                   Goodie💋

Why So Long...

  Hello, my new authors, Happy April. Is it me, but I'm starting to hate editing. It takes so long to read through the first draft, then you put it down for a while. Then you go back to edit it after a few weeks through Grammarly. You then find yourself doing some rewriting besides the spelling and grammar checking. After you have finished all that, which is taking me forever. I found out that I have rewritten the whole story over, trying to make it better. Which editing in my book sucks. It takes too much time, and I refused to give my first draft over to an editor because no one knows my story but me and how I want to tell it.  So, self-editing is it for me. But to be honest, my mind wanders. So, while I'm editing, I'm thinking of trying to write short eBooks of 50-60 pages or less to put out on Amazon for 99 cents to see if I get any bites. But then I need story ideas, need to write the stories, and again edit them. Which will all take me away from editing the stories I really want to put out. So, what do you do?  

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Series Or Standalones

  Hello, my new authors. Here's the question: Are you writing a standalone story or a series? I keep reading where it's best to write a series. So that way, the readers keep coming back for more of your work. But what happens if you don't have a series in you to write and only a standalone? I personally started with writing short stories, then I branched out into stand-atones. Although I have a problem with writing too many words for my stories. One I'm working on now has 322,000 words in it. Which I'm attempting to cut down to at least under 100,00 words. I know I write a lot.  I have to learn to cut back and to cut out unnecessary words. But I'm just starting, and that will probably happen to you too. Anyway, I say start writing short stories, then graduate to a standalone book of say 50,000 words or less and see how you do. As long as you have written something.  That's all that matters. Writing is an ongoing learning process. It will take time to get good at it, so be patient and just enjoy the craft.

                                                                    Goodie💋

inspiration

  Hello, my new writers and authors. Happy March. Where do you get your inspiration for your stories? Don't judge me, but I'm a big fan of the series Love Kills. You know the show that has series like Southern Kills, My Crazy Ex-boyfriend, Who the heck did I marry, Scored Women, Wives with Knives, For My Man. Stories like that. Call me crazy, but people do some crazy stuff for money and just because. Which I find makes good short story ideas. You just don't realize all the things people do that can make a good story.  I'm not the kind of person who has good stories just come off the top of their head like some. So, I need a little help. Some people say to read the newspapers for inspiration. I tried that. The newspaper is too depressing for me, and the stories in the paper don't inspire me to write. But watching other people while I'm out doing stuff or watching a good series can inspire me. So, what inspires you to write?

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Is This You??

  Hello, my fellow writers. Happy March!  When you're writing, are you putting the cart before the horse? Meaning, do you do everything but write your stories? I'm guilty of that, instead of writing my stories or editing them once I have my first draft done. I'm to buzy finding out what I can put out on Kindle relating to e-books I can quickly write, or I'm trying to see what free writting classed I take on Reedsey, or I'm hunting writing groups and asking silly writing questions on Reddit that I'm not even ready for. Get the point. All this time wasted when   I should be using it to write the next story or editing more of the stories I have already written.  But instead, I wasted precious time doing stuff like I already have my book catalogue ready to go- Which I don't. I'm still editing a whole bunch of stuff and looking for new stories to write while doing stuff not related to writing, like life stuff. So, I ask you, as a new writer, do you do this?

                                                           Goddie💋

2026 Writing Year

       Hello new writers, this year 2026, I decided to devote most of my time to these things: either reviewing books for my podcast shows, writing books so that I can build a book catalogue, or learning how to be a better book writer. Yep, it's the year of books. I keep hearing and reading that you need to build a book catalogue before you publish your books.  What a book catalogue is to my understanding. Is you need to have at least 5-10 finished books ready to be published. We're talking written, edited, proofread, nice covers, all that stuff. so that when you do get a reader, and they want more of your books, they can get them because you have written them. I keep hearing that having only published one books you lose readers if they don't have other books from you that they might want to read. It makes sense to offer them a variety of your writing and keep the readers. So that's what I'm doing, writing a variety of at least 5 books If I'm lucky, for 2026, and some short stories to see what happens. Did I mention I'm a hobby writer, and if I make money from my stories, that would just be an added plus. So, what are you doing as far as your writing goes for 2026? 

                                                              Goodie💋                                   

I Read this Alot

  Hello all, Happy Feb 1st. I been reading on the craft of writing, really, people are calling it an art. There's a lot to learn. Who knew that just writing your story was the first part, then you got your editing, which is about 3-4 parts, depending on how long your story is. Then you have your beta readers, if you can find any. After your beta readers told you how much your story sucks(kidding) and how to improve it. Then you start your rewriting or improvement on your story, and then you're still not finish you run your story through the spelling and grammar checkers system(Grammarly). After all that, you might be finished then. And all it took you to finish was about one to two years of your free time. Some writers don't finish at all. 

What I'm getting at is that I always read where the writer needs a backlog of books, say 5 or more. Because once he puts his book out there to sell. The readers of his book might want to read some more of his books. If he's only written one, there is no more, and you might lose readers that way. So, I've read.  That's why you need a backlog of 5 or more books, short stories, or novellas included. So, you won't lose readers who like your stories. I'm at that stage now, building my backlog for 2026. Let me tell you it ain't easy. I have stuff that needs to be edited, and I have ideas that need to be written. To be honest, my editing process of a story, even if it's a short story under 2500 words, is pretty slow. So you can write stories is more of a hobby for me. What about you? 

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I Hate Editing!!

  Hello, my new writers/ authors, Ok, hate is not the right word, strongly dislike editing is better. I like the writing of the story, but going back to re-read what I have written after a couple of months of it sitting there. Is the pits. When I do start my editing process, I find that I tend to make so many changes to the original story that it's like I have rewritten the whole story all over again from the beginning.  Or I do other silly things in the middle of the story, or at the end of the story, while editing it. Which changes the whole concept of the story.  Do you do that too? So now, when I edit, I make the changes I need to make while still saving the original story that was first written. I block it out with XXX on top and say on the side, save for later. That way, I can rewrite the story if I have to without losing the original story I have written. Because to be honest, if I had to write some of my stories over again from the beginning, I couldn't because I wouldn't remember what I had written the first time. Sounds crazy, right? So, I take my editing process slowly and read line by line to make sure it makes sense, and the story flows right. What's your editing process?

P.S. Reedsey Learning Center offers great free classes in editing and other stuff to help writers like us learn the craft better. I use their free class all the time and learn a lot from them. Just saying....

                                                         Goodie💋

  

2026 Writing Goals

 Hello, all, happy 2026. Do you have any writing goals for 2026? I do. It's to finish my novella that I'm currently working on and start a series about demons that's stuck in my head. I want to write short stories and put them on Amazon for an experiment, but that might be too much. I need to concentrate on one thing at a time. Since I'm just learning the craft of writing, and I want to be good at it.  I am also learning a lot from the people at Redditt  in the self-publishing and beginning writers'  area. They share a lot of interesting stuff; you need to check it out.

So, let's see what 2026 will bring us in the writing realm. I wish you all the best, and be happy this year, and do write something. It could be anything, just write!  

                                                             Goodie💋

Yea I think.

 Hello, my writers. I got my first review for the story I put out on Inkitt. I was scared to read the review at first. Then I bit the bullet. It wasn't a bad review, more constructive, and I appreciated it. the person told me what I needed to correct and look at in my future written stories. Since this is my hobby, I took the person's advice to heart and will be longing for the things that were mentioned in my other stories that I will be publishing.

I'm the kind of person who always puts the cart before the horse in writing my stories. First, I write by the seat of my pants; I like it that way, and then I try to find out where to publish my stories before they are even written. Crazy right? So, all I'm saying is write the stories that you love and put them out there. what's the worst that could happen? You get constructive feedback, praise, or a silly comment. At least you know somebody pays attention to your story and you build from that.

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I Did It!!!!

  Hello, all I did it! I published my first book on Inkitt. Here's the link to it https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1596236. I'm so proud of myself. Even if I get one reader, I'm still good. I posted the story for feedback and to see if I could just do it. So, you know if I can do it, you can too. And I'm not that good a writer yet!  So, for 2026, start writing that story that's in your head already.  Because we want to read it.

                                                          Goodie 💋