It feels like it’s been about six months since my last post. Why? Because the past two months have not been kind to my household. My husband and I have been plagued with medical issues. First, it was him, then it was my turn. We’ve spent our holidays nursing each other back to health. Ironically, we’ve both kind of enjoyed doing it.
Anyway, I have no desire to dwell on the negative side of life. I’m looking to the future. Of course, I’m lost in space, but one step at a time. I’m trying to put together a game plan for the coming year. It’s one of the reasons why I’m trying to bring Graves Publications back to life. I want to take my writing career to the next level. I’m not ready to quit my job or anything like that, but the way my health has been lately, I want to have something to fall back on should I have to. So here’s a little look at what I’m currently working on.
Graves Publications Newsletter
I’m working on a bi-monthly newsletter that will coincide with everything I’m working on, (whatever that may be). It will have links to some of my posts, posts from other author’s I think others should see, calls for submissions, writing prompts, and whatever else my weird little brain can come up with. I’m still in the process of putting it together, but I’m hoping to send out the first official one on January 1st. My plan is to publish them on the first and fifteenth of each month. I’ll be honest and say that there will be ad space in the newsletter, but I promise not to get too crazy with it. At some point in the future, I’d like to offer ad space to some of my subscribers, but that’s not something I’m looking at just yet. One step at a time, Christine. One step at a time.
I was going to do this newsletter on Gumroad, but have decided to go back to Substack. I’ve already got an account there and have a newsletter started. There’s not much to it yet, but it’s there. I am going to keep my Gumroad space for any future books I may decide to publish. I have my latest prompt book there and will soon be adding the one I formerly had on Amazon. I don’t know why, but I just like Gumroad’s vibe more than Amazon’s.
All My Publications Under One Roof
A year ago, I was trying to run six blogs–not including my Medium.com space. Guess what. It didn’t work. Well, it kind of worked, but it was taking a lot out of me. In a fit of madness, (okay, I threw a temper tantrum), I took down all my sites at the same time. I was tired, nothing seemed to be working the way I’d hoped it would, and my hosting company at that time upped my rates from $79.00 a year to $199.00 a year. Yeah, no.
I found a better hosting option, then came up with a new idea. Rather than try to do six or seven separate blogs, just put them all together in a single space. It will make things go a lot smoother and I might actually show some productivity. Don’t laugh, it could happen. I’m sure of it…okay, pretty sure. In the coming months, I want to do a regular Call For Submissions post. I follow a lot of online literary magazines through Twitter and it’s nice to know when a few of them are accepting submissions. I’m also going to start looking into hosting some blog tours and finding some cool places for writers to hang out…or at least check out.
I don’t have a set goal in mind just yet. I only know that I have to make a conscious effort to move my writing career ahead. I have to stop being so scared to try things and remember to stop getting frustrated when something doesn’t work out the way I think it should. I have to keep reminding myself “One Step at a Time”.
So, stick around and see if this works. Who knows, it might be good for a laugh if nothing else. I know what I’m trying to do. I just don’t know if I can make it happen. I’m going to try.
Until next time,
Happy Writing!!!
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Featured image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay
