author woes

WIP 2024 – May Results

| C.E. Flores

I finished the first draft of Herb Book 5 (title still pending)! I am working on the Appendix, Conclusion, and formatting this month. I hope to have it ready to launch by the end of the month, but we’ll see how that goes. I have a whole slew of Yacata well issues to contend with that cuts into my writing time. And it’s been so hot that I’ve taken to taking a dip in the pool every afternoon. Essential for my core body temperature, but not conducive to getting much writing done. That’s all I’m going to promise myself to get done this month–Herb Book 5. How’s your writing going?

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WIP 2024 – April Results

| C.E. Flores

I’m pretty psyched with my accomplishments for April. I did some plant studies and have whittled it down to 3 more herbs to finish book 5 in the Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico series. I’m aiming for a June publishing date. That means in May I’ll need to do those last three chapters, write the introduction and conclusion, format the appendix, design a cover, write the blurb, proofread, edit, proofread some more, edit some more, check the formatting, pull it all together, and do some more proofreading. Yikes. Well, if I plan for the end of June, maybe I’ll get it all done.

I also managed a small section in the Women’s Traditional Remedies book in April, but I’m not expecting to get that done before the end of the year. AND I got a bit sidetracked on a juice book and want to work on a gardening book too. All of these will be part of The Mexican Apothecary series, which only has one book in it right now. Maybe if I could just settle down and work on ONE of them, I’d be further along. Maybe. 

I also worked a bit on the sequel to La Yacata Revolution: How NOT to Buy a Piece of Heaven in Mexico. That one won’t be completed this year, or most likely even next, because there’s still so much to be done in La Yacata and I’m writing the draft as I go. You can see the latest accomplishments at Surviving Mexico.  

My fabulous illustrator, Claudia Guzes, said her schedule has freed up to begin book two in the Abuelita ¿Qué Vamos A Hacer Hoy? series. I need to check over my draft about la tamalada Lupita and her grandmother are planning and hand it over to the artist to start working on the illustrations in May as well. 

Oh, aaaaaaand I did the Amazon Ads 5-Day Challenge with Bryan Cohen to whip up some ads for El boticario mexicano: Remedios herbales tradicionales para el resfriado y la gripe because I gotta get those sales up in the Spanish-speaking community!

Whew! So, how’s your writing going?

WIP 2024 – February Results

| C.E. Flores

I’d like to say that February was at least better than January, but that’s stretching the truth a bit. I did get a few chapters done before I came down with COVID and spent weeks recuperating. 

Fortunately, I’m feeling better, and March seems like it’s off to a better start. I’ve decided that I’m not going to berate myself over much for another flop month and just start again fresh this month. 

How’s writing going for you?

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October 2023 Writing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Yippee kay-ya-eh. Move along, little bookies!!!

Writing Challenge Update October 2023

| C.E. Flores

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). 

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. 

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. 

I guess I’ll just take it one word at a time and see how it goes. What are you writing this month?

July 2023 Writing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

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. 

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). 

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.

April 2023 Writing Challenge Update

| C.E. Flores

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. 

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. 

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. 

Sigh–the challenges of getting these pesky little books birthed!!!