am writing

2025 WIP Challenge: End-of-Year Wrap-Up

| C.E. Flores

Well… here we are at the end of the 2025 WIP Challenge, and yes, I know that I haven’t posted an update since August. Oops. But in my defense, time is a weird soup, and somehow the last four months evaporated when I wasn’t looking.

Did I write?
A little! Here and there! Enough to feel smug for a moment and then promptly forget what I was working on.

Did I finish any new WIPs this year?
Absolutely not. Not a single one. Zip. Zero. A very symmetrical number, if nothing else.

But did I learn something?
Oh, definitely. I learned that if I ever expect to actually complete any of these WIPs, I need to carve out more consistent writing time instead of assuming Future Me will magically take care of it. (Future Me did not.)

Was it a wasted year?
If we’re talking strictly in terms of word count, maybe.
But in terms of life experience, growth, chaos, plot material, emotional arc-building, and general character development? A gold mine. I’ve been living the chapters I’ll write later. Transformation, baby. Sometimes that counts just as much as finishing a draft.

To anyone who made an honest attempt to write this year, whether you wrote a sentence, a page, or just opened the document and stared at it meaningfully, congratulations! You showed up. That’s the hardest part.

As for whether I’ll undertake another challenge next year, that remains to be seen. I might switch things up and track actual hours or word counts per month. I haven’t decided yet; I’m still in the “thinking about thinking about it” phase.

Here’s to the stories still simmering, the WIPs patiently waiting, and the small but mighty wins that carried us through 2025. Onward!

November 2025 Book Marketing Challenge

| C.E. Flores

The holidays are here, and that means one thing for us authors: it’s time to turn visibility into sales and ride the wave of end-of-year momentum. November’s theme is simple but powerful: “Make your books impossible to ignore.” Here’s how I’m tackling it this month (and maybe giving you a few ideas for your own strategy).

🛒 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Promotions

These shopping holidays are prime opportunities for indie authors to shine. This year, I’ll be:

It’s all about creating that “grab it now” energy!

📧 Email Marketing Push

This month, my subscribers at SurvivingMexico.com will be hearing from me with a three-part email sequence:

  1. Teaser: “Something exciting is coming…”
  2. Announcement: “Black Friday deals are here!”
  3. Final Call: “Sale ends tonight — don’t miss it!”

To keep it personal, I’ll also sprinkle in quick author updates, a peek behind the scenes, and hints at upcoming projects. My goal? To make readers feel like they’re part of this journey with me.

🎁 Tapping Into the Holiday Gifting Season

Books make the best gifts. They are absolutely thoughtful, personal, and lasting. This month, I’ll be framing my titles as perfect holiday presents by creating gift guide-style posts such as:

  • “Perfect Books for the Curious Soul”
  • “For the Herbalist on Your Holiday List”
  • “Holiday Reads That Inspire & Delight”

By highlighting how my books fit into the holiday spirit, I’m helping readers imagine them wrapped up and under the tree.

🚀 Wrapping It Up

November is all about momentum. With smart promos, engaging emails, and holiday positioning, the goal is clear: make my books impossible to scroll past, click past, or shop past. Now I’d love to hear from you: How are you planning to market your books this holiday season?

***

Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!

October 2025 Book Marketing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

So, how did I do updating my online presence?

Welp, I suppose it could have gone better. Let’s call this month’s challenge a work in progress.

I did manage to update a few things across the board, including some author bios, some book descriptions, and some keywords. Progress! I didn’t get around to adding more books to BookBub or Muted Muses (maybe next round), but I did run several free promotions this month, which gave some of my titles a nice little boost.

Then came the Amazon ads fiasco. My bank, the same one I’ve used for ten years,  decided to switch from Mastercard to Discover platform. No big deal, right? Wrong. Amazon Media Group doesn’t accept Discover as a valid payment method. Cue the sad trombone. 🎺

So, I had to turn off all my ads, and naturally, my sales nosedived at lightning speed. For now, I’m not running any Amazon ads until I figure out how to actually pay for them. Gotta love a good plot twist in marketing!

Book marketing is hard. Just when I think I’ve got a handle on it, something unexpected comes along to derail my momentum.

And that, friends, wraps up my October challenge. Onward to November! Let’s see what I can do next!

***

Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!

August 2025 Book Marketing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

Sales were… brutal. Like, curl-up-under-the-desk-and-question-everything brutal. 

Honestly, August hit me hard. I discovered halfway through the month that I’d completely forgotten to reset my Amazon ad end date. Yep… ads off, visibility tanked, sales plummeted. OMG! From now on, those ads are staying ON, no excuses.

I did decide to be a little more strategic, though, keeping active ads only on the Lupita book and my herb series. And once I fixed the end date, things picked up a tiny bit… but let’s be real: it was still one of the lowest months of my author career. That stings.

Now, here’s the small silver lining: I’ve been testing out some revamped social media content, and there’s been a noticeable bump in engagement, mostly on Bluesky and Instagram. More follows, more likes, more conversations. Will that translate into better book sales? Well… let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic, but not holding my breath.

I’ll be honest and let you know that the discouragement is real. I’ve been putting in extra hours this year, pushing harder than ever with marketing, and yet my royalties barely register anymore. And of course, the questions swirl:

  • Is it my material?
  • Has my work stopped resonating?
  • Or is it just… the economy?

My main market is still the U.S., where so many people are struggling just to survive. When disposable income disappears, books are often the first luxury to go. 

But here’s the thing, I’m not giving up. Writing is what I do, what I love. And even if the road feels bumpy right now, I have to believe this is just one rough chapter, not the whole book.

What keeps you going when you feel like you are screaming into the void as a writer?

***

Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!

August 2025 WIP Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

¡Híjole! Where did August go? Seriously, it flew by so fast I’m not even sure it actually happened! The whole month feels like a blur, a whirlwind of life, projects, and probably way too much coffee and chocolate.

I think I managed to sneak in a draft for the herb study, did a little tinkering on the healthcare book, and maybe even squeezed out a chapter or two for La Yacata Insurrection. But honestly? Don’t ask me for proof. August came, August went, and I’m still standing here wondering what just happened.

How did your writing go this month?

August 2025 Book Marketing Challenge

| C.E. Flores

Refresh Your Content Strategy: Make It Relevant, Real, and Rooted

When was the last time you took a step back and asked: Is my content still connecting? If it feels like you’re posting just to keep up, without sparking engagement or joy, it might be time to refresh your content strategy.

Refreshing doesn’t mean starting over. It means getting clear on what matters, aligning your message with your mission, and delivering content that’s both helpful and authentic. For those of us who work with traditional wisdom, like herbalism, it’s especially important that our content reflects the depth and richness of what we carry.

Audiences today crave depth over polish. They want connection, not perfection. And that means your content should teach, inspire, or transform. Whether it’s a story about your abuela’s remedy for a sore throat or a step-by-step guide to building your own herbal apothecary, each post is an opportunity to build trust and share something meaningful.

Here’s the key: don’t just create content for content’s sake. Create experiences. Give your audience something they can use, something they’ll remember, and something they’ll come back for.

How I’m Refreshing My Content Strategy This Month

This month, I’m anchoring my content around something practical, beautiful, and deeply rooted in Mexican tradition: Cold & Flu Herbal Medicine. Each week, I’ll explore one theme: immune boosters, cough & congestion soothers, herbal steams, etc., using native plants and traditional knowledge.

I’ll be sharing herbal profiles, recipes, and personal reflections across Threads, Bluesky, and Pinterest. By grounding this content in culture and care, I hope to offer not just information, but connection.

How are you going to freshen up your content this month?

***

Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!

July 2025 WIP Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

I wrote some chapters of La Yacata Insurrection, drafts, mind you, since things are moving so fast these days that I can barely get one event written when another has begun. I have notes for other sections of the book that I’ll need to wait to see the results before I can write those up. And of course, since things were so busy, I didn’t get much other writing done.

I did get some editing done at the beginning of July on the revised healthcare book. It would be nice if I could get that finished up to republish in September, but we shall see. Here it is already the 10th, and I’m just getting the WIP challenge update up. 

How have things been in your writing world?

June 2025 WIP Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

So I have to say that no progress was made in June on any of my WIPs. Let’s hope July is a little better????

How did your writing go?

May 2025 WIP Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

Where did May go?! Somehow, it’s already June 9, and I haven’t had a single moment to update my writing progress. But—today’s the day!

Lately, my progress has looked a lot like this: doing some tedious but necessary tasks (note-taking included), and then undertaking some courageous, albeit mildly terrifying, tasks (also involving note-taking), all in service of the next book in the La Yacata series.

So far, June is following the same pattern—equal parts boring and bold.

How’s your writing going?