Deplorable; that’s what the January results were. I have a temporary gig that’s been eating away at my time, in addition to the mammoth task of trying to get La Yacata documents organized before the next community meeting in February, so I didn’t get nearly as much writing done as I had planned even with making space on my calendar for writing three times a week.
I managed two chapters for herb book #5 and two in La Yacata Insurrection book, which is not at all as many as I’d have liked.Â
Unfortunately, this month, it will also be tough to meet my goals as this temporary gig goes through March 2, and the next community meeting is on February 11. However, I figure progress is progress, right?Â
Although I’m pretty proud of my six books in 2023, I haven’t finished my WIP (works in progress) list. So, here I come, 2024 Writing Challenge!
My favorite topic to write about by far is herbs, so we’ll start the year off with that. I have three WIPs in this category right now: Herb Book #5, Wellness Garden, and Women’s Remedies.
In the Woman’s Survival Guide series, I have a Making the Moving to Rural Mexico Survival Guide in the works and want to revise the Healthcare book.Â
In the Yacata series, I’m living (and recording) the next book in La Yacata Revolution series, so that might not be done this year. However, I have drafts in various stages of completion related to employment, building a house, and homesteading life. I will probably need to revise the Revolution book depending on the outcome of my efforts this year.
In the Animal Antics series, there are two WIPs (Chicklets & Chogs and Battling Nature) that I bet I could finish up this year.
I also have two WIPs in the Women in the Bible series, one being an activity book and the other focused on Jacob’s family.
Finally, the Lupita series is intended to be 12 books in all, but I’ve only one out, so the next Lupita book focusing on a tamalada (tamal-making family gathering) is what I’d like to work on this year.Â
That makes 12 WIPs with two revisions and probably more than I can accomplish in a year. So, to be realistic, I’d like to do one book from each series. Thus, the ultimate goal is six books for 2024. Aim high, right?
Well, I didn’t get much writing done in November despite signing up for NaNoWriMo and even less done in December, so instead of a monthly recap, I’ll share what I accomplished during the year and what I hope to accomplish next year.Â
So, 6 books isn’t my entire WIP list, but it wasn’t too shabby for a year’s work. I think I need a little more accountability pressure (although, as I mentioned, NaNoWriMo didn’t work for me this year).Â
On that note, Stacy Jubba has a new offer, Vision Board Toolkit for Writers: Empower Your Future, that I’m looking into. In fact, it’s on sale this week with the code GOALS24. Access to the course opens on January 2, just in time for my New Year’s Writing Goals, and there’s an invitation to the Manifest and Mingle Vision Board Facebook Party for Writers.Â
Screaming into the void! That’s how the writing challenge went for me in October. I devoted so many hours to working my day jobs that NO writing got done.Â
Then, despite all the publicity (See YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR (ME) ARTICLE & PODCAST FEATURES), October was a dismal month for sales. I’m going to blame it on Amazon Prime days, but who knows? It could have been just a fluke.Â
On the last day of the month, I finally got the editing done for the revised version of The Mexican Apothecary. The internet hasn’t been very cooperative lately, so we’ll see when I can get the new edition uploaded.Â
In November, I signed up for Nanowrimo mostly for accountability purposes. I am DETERMINED to get some writing done this month. And just because I can, I’m choosing herbs as my focus once again. I’ve already started my research on wild roses in traditional Mexican remedies.
I’d hang my head in shame since I didn’t complete ANY of my proposed writing projects for the month, but I did get a roof put on and stopped an insurrection in La Yacata, so I’m going to be forgiving of myself this month. AND I get the added bonus of having had some juicy adventures, which I will undoubtedly feature in a future book (or two).Â
I have a lot of book marketing planned for this month. Or rather, marketing that I had planned previously has dogpiled during the month of October. I’ll be airing on a podcast, appearing in a print magazine, and in TWO online magazines. Thus, I’ll be tooting my own horn a lot in the next few weeks. Hope you can bear the trumpets!
I also signed up to do an October Reading challenge from bookstore.org and will be appearing every Sunday between teaching classes to Chinese students at the impromptu community meetings that are taking place in front of my house, which often devolve into angry mobs. To say I’ve got a lot going on at the moment is an understatement.Â
However, I’m going to see this writing challenge through. My goal for this month is to get that Mexican Apothecary book edited and republished. I also plan on working on books in the La Yacata series, although which book I focus on might vary from day to day. I’m desperate to get back to my herb studies, and I might be able to sneak in a plant or two, but I don’t think I’ll have anything publishable in that genre by the end of the month.Â
I guess I’ll just take it one word at a time and see how it goes. What are you writing this month?
Well, I’m not as impressed with my progress this month as I’d like to be, but progress is progress, right?
I had the intention of getting the shopping book launched and was well on the way to doing just that when I got what may have been sun poisoning during the mid-month heat wave. I spent entirely too much time sleeping and recuperating, which I suppose did me good because I’m up and about again anyway.Â
So I managed to get the draft of the shopping book edited but still need to do the formatting (which is my least favorite aspect of publishing and one I tend to procrastinate the most at).Â
My goal remains to get this shopping book done. I’m not going to set myself another task this month. If I finish early, then I can reward myself with some herb research.
So I have to admit, I got caught up in the herbs this month and would have kept going and adding to Herb book #4, except I ran out of days in the month. As it stands, I have 50+ herbs researched and added to the first draft, and I need to stop there, although my list of herbs to research is still a mile long.Â
In April, I’m going back to the shopping book. If you remember, I got hung up on taking new pictures to replace the poor-quality ones and didn’t get the draft edited. Since the rainy season is nigh, the added time crunch hopefully will be the incentive I need to get ‘er done this month.Â
If all goes according to plan, which it seldom does, I’ll have two books ready for publishing by June.
Meanwhile, I’ve been doing some marketing and have increased my royalties a bit. Of course, just like anything else, I tend to use marketing as a form of procrastination, and the writing part gets left by the wayside.Â
Sigh–the challenges of getting these pesky little books birthed!!!
C.E. Flores 