July is here, and that means 2023 has passed the halfway mark. For many people, July marks the beginning of the fiscal year. It wasn’t until I began this article that I realized the federal government fiscal year begins October 1 and ends September 30. Maybe I did know this but never paid it any attention or gave it thought because I’m so used to working with how the state measures the fiscal year which is July 1 to June 30. In any case, despite when the fiscal year is acknowledged, July marks the beginning of the third quarter for many others (using January as the starting month). Thus, I thought goal-setting would be an appropriate topic.
Just because July has begun doesn’t mean goals can’t be set. It’s never too late to set goals.
Writing goals on paper, in an electronic document, and/or on a vision board helps to make them more “real” and easier to remember. However, documenting them isn’t enough. They need to be kept in a place that can be either easily seen, viewed daily, or both.
Clearly define what it is that you want to achieve. Having a goal to be happy is fine but often too vague to be achieved. What specifically would make you happy? Does that entail traveling, getting a new job, or both, or neither? Ambiguous goals should be specified in order to develop an effective plan of how to achieve them. Think of it this way. If a person is always disappointed at the birthday gifts he/she receives, how will he/she ever be given gifts he/she wants if she doesn’t tell others what he/she likes and desires?
Don’t be afraid to change, modify, or alter goals. Life is a series of ongoing events, and sometimes adjustments are needed. In her youth, an associate had dreams and a goal of having a large, fairytale wedding. As she aged and her loved ones passed away, her desire for an extravagant wedding dwindled. Her revised wedding goal is to have a pretty dress for an intimate or private ceremony and to have a fun honeymoon. She’s not to the point of eloping in Vegas, but she’s far removed from the 200+ guest list.
& 6. The next suggestion actually is in two parts or can be viewed in more than one way, and that is to set goals that are measurable and the goals need to be realistic. One reason why people fail to reach their goals is because they do not feel they are making any progress. Here’s an example.
I once worked with a young man (I’ll call him Eddie, but of course, that isn’t his real name) who engaged in self-injurious behavior in the form of striking his head with either his hands or nearby objects. The policy of the place where I was employed was that any incidences or forms of self-harm were unacceptable. That wasn’t an unreasonable policy to have. However, the method of measurement was one of the huge issues. As a result of this policy, Eddie had been written a behavior modification goal of having zero incidents of self-injury each month. Here’s the problem. Read the rest of this entry »
I pulled this card, and my stomach dropped. This does not augur well for me.
Just looking at the card, I can see danger. There’s Jason (you know, of Jason of the Argonauts fame) and his girlfriend, the sorceress, Medea. He’s facing the dragon that has captured the Golden Fleece, Jason’s goal in this particular trial. It does not look good for him. For me. To win his prize, he must be brave, be quick on his feet, and he MUST slay that damn dragon.
How does this relate to my situation? Well… I finished and published a book last week. During the days that followed, I had a very difficult time keeping my attention on my work plan/schedule. I wanted to piddle and rest. So, I’ve fallen behind on my editing schedule, and the only way to conquer “the beast” now, is to dedicate myself to the task, and power through. Whether I have the stamina is the real question.
Let me take a quick look at the book that goes with my cards, The Mythic Tarot…
Yup. This isn’t good. This next week will be a “time of struggle” where I have to “battle with the dragon” and push aside “mundane” activities as they begin to go wrong and “make compromises” to get the job done. F**k.
Now, I have to ignore the family and sequester myself in my “mole hole” to work. I probably will have to sacrifice some sleep. A lot of sleep.
Do you have any words of encouragement? When you find yourself in a deep, dark hole of your own making, how do you dig yourself out?
Today’s puzzle is a picture I took on a recent hike with my family. The trail is only a mile long, taking us from a street in town into the forest to a high bluff overlooking the Ouachita River. (Ouachita is pronounced WASH-it-tah around here. 🙂 ) That river is where our family loves to make our annual floating-the-river adventure.
The bluff is called the DeSoto Bluff, named after the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, who led an expedition through these parts in 1541-2. It’s our local claim to fame unless you count the 1997 F4 tornado that swept through Arkadelphia and flattened 60 city blocks.
Mostly, Arkadelphia is a quiet little town with a great high school football team and two universities. We have two rivers (the Ouachita and the Caddo), so this area is dubbed the Twin Rivers. And I don’t know why I’m giving you a mini-tour because all I wanted to do was share my photo.
So, here it is. Yes, you have to solve the puzzle to see it! Then, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC, tell me about some obscure claim-to-fame your area is known for!
Yes! It’s a holiday! Another of those weird ones I like to highlight because don’t we need more reasons to celebrate? It celebrates the mayhem and chaos in our everyday lives. Something we usually hate, but today, we can revel in it!
Looking around my life, I can find plenty of chaos. I could take a daily picture of my desk, but the pictures I’m sharing today are much more fun. Our family decided to take the dive into raising our own chickens for their eggs—and what an adventure that has been!
Of course, my daughter went shopping for cute little chicks and came home with ducks and guinea fowl, too! Since then, we’ve added geese.
The guinea fowl have proven to be our “chaos agents.” Here’s the “best” picture I have of the raucous pair. They were much younger. They don’t stand ever stand still (my dd says it’s like they have ADHD).
This is what they sound like! They are very loud.
We didn’t know it at the time, but they are excellent little guards for the chickens. They are very vocal and scare off hawks and snakes and anything else that might try to enter the chickens’ yard.
Here’s a recent picture.
And because we’re on the topic of our birds, here are some more adorable pics.
Can’t forget our geese and ducks.
Here’s our first egg!
Contest
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC, share about some chaos agent or chaotic event in your life.
SECRET IDENTITIES: A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY
Editor: Delilah Devlin
Deadline: November 15, 2023
SECRET IDENTITIES is open to all authors.
Editor/Author Delilah Devlin is looking for stories for a romantic erotica anthology tentatively entitled SECRET IDENTITIES: A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY.
Why write a short story for this collection? Well, it’s certainly not about making a lot of money, so why do it at all? I’ve said this before, many times, but here are my thoughts…
Writing a short story for a call for submissions is a chance to flex your writing muscle! It can be a chance to experiment with a genre you’ve never written. If you’ve never written a story in first person but don’t want to begin by writing an entire novel using it, start short! For myself, I’ve written stories in new genres or with fresh themes that ended up being so much fun to write they’ve spawned entire series.
You have a deadline! I don’t know about you, but I have trouble keeping my butt in the chair without one!
It’s a promotional opportunity! If selected, you’ll be joined by 12-15 other authors for the launch, sharing your audiences and, hopefully, picking up new readers along the way. Having your story in the collection is another chance to be “seen.”
And remember, you retain the rights to your story, so you can republish it for individual sale or give it away to attract subscribers to your newsletter. You might even decide there’s more story to tell and expand your short story into a novel.
Here’s what I’m looking for…
SECRET IDENTITIES: A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY will include stories that satisfy the reader who craves stories about mysterious, enigmatic men. Perhaps, they’re the new next-door neighbor with a mysterious past that finds him just as he’s meeting a woman he doesn’t want to leave. Maybe he’s an alien from a far-away galaxy looking for his fated mate. Could he be a spy setting up surveillance on another suspected spy? An assassin scouting his target who discovers his handlers lied about the reasons for targeting a particular individual he’s intrigued by? Is he a werewolf living in the human world? Yes! So many ways to go.
SECRET IDENTITIES will seek stories with varied settings here on earth—present, past, or future—or on another planet or moon in this solar system or in a galaxy far, far, away. Heroes and heroines might be more than human—supernatural creatures or even aliens and cyborgs.
I’m open to any subgenre of erotic romance you want to write. I’ll accept contemporary, historical, science fiction, or paranormal stories, and I won’t be picky about whether the stories are hetero, LGBT, ménage… Basically, you, the author, can go anywhere your imagination takes you so long as 1) the story is a romance, and 2) you have a bad boy somewhere on the pages!
The anthology will be sold at a low price—my intent is exposure for you and your writing. The more readers reached, the better! You will retain the rights to your story so that, at a later date, you can republish your stories individually.
I’m seeking hot and inventive stories from authors with unique voices, and above all, I’m looking to be seduced by tales filled with vivid imagery and passion.
Published authors with an established world may use that setting for their original short story.
This is erotic romance, so don’t hold back on the heat. Stories can be vanilla or filled with kink but don’t miss describing the romantic connection between strong-willed individuals learning to trust and love one another. A deep sensuality should linger in every word. Keep in mind that there must be a romantic element with a happy-for-now or happy-ever-after ending. Strong plots, engaging characters, and unique twists are the ultimate goal. Please, no reprints. I want original stories.
How to submit: Prepare your 2,500 to 5,500 words story in a double-spaced, Arial, 12-point, black font, Word document (.doc or .docx) OR rich text format (.rtf), with pages numbered. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing; do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). U.S. grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) is required.
In your document at the top left of the first page, include your legal name (and pseudonym, if applicable), mailing address, email address, and a 50-words or less biography, written in the third person, and send to bbbsecretidentities@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. Authors may submit up to 2 stories. I will try to respond no later than February 28, 2024, with decisions.
Payment will be USD 25.00 ninety days after publication at the end of that month.
Who is Delilah Devlin?
Delilah Devlin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romance and erotic romance. She has published over two hundred stories in multiple genres and lengths and has been published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Entangled, Grand Central, Harlequin Spice, HarperCollins: Mischief, Kensington, Kindle, Montlake, Penthouse, Running Press, and Samhain Publishing.
Her short stories have appeared in multiple Cleis Press collections, including Lesbian Cowboys, Girl Crush, Fairy Tale Lust, Lesbian Lust, Passion, Lesbian Cops, Dream Lover, Carnal Machines, Best Erotic Romance (2012), Suite Encounters, Girl Fever, Girls Who Score, Duty and Desire, Best Lesbian Romance of 2013, and On Fire. For Cleis Press, she edited Girls Who Bite, She Shifters, Cowboy Lust, Smokin’ Hot Firemen, High Octane Heroes, Cowboy Heat, Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors, and Sex Objects.
She has also edited Conquests: An Anthology of Smoldering Viking Romance, Rogues: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Blue Collar: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Pirates: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Stranded: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Cowboys: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, and Silver Soldiers: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology.
Direct any questions regarding your story or the submission process to Delilah at bbbsecretidentities@gmail.com.
How many of you have heard the terms “plotter” and “pantser” and have some idea of what they mean? For those of you who don’t here’s a quick summary. “Plotter and pantser” describe two different writing methods. Plotters plot everything out beforehand. They write detailed outlines and sometimes even outline each scene. Pantsers on the other hand, write “by the seat of their pants”—they make everything up as they go along, with no clear idea of where the story will take them.
Both types of writers can be successful. And many writers, myself included, use a kind of “hybrid” method, pantsing up to a certain point in a book then stopping to think through the rest of the story—plot it, as it were. That technique, of taking a short break at some point to consider the big picture can work for plotters too. Often as plotters write, even from very detailed outlines, they discover things they hadn’t expected that take the story in a new direction. For both plotters and pantsers an hour or two of big picture thinking can be really helpful in maintaining momentum.
Remember, there’s no need to enact any changes on the writing you’ve already done—that can be fixed in your next draft, but a better picture of your overall plot might get you back on the fast track for the remaining pages.
So how do you get your mind back on big picture when you’ve been working on fine details? There are a few cute little tricks you can try. Here are some ideas:
Work on your pitch. We used to call these “elevator pitches”, ie. the way you would pitch your book if you found yourself in an elevator with, say, Steven Spielberg. Now these are more simply described as “Twitter pitches”—140 (or 280) character blurbs summarizing what your book is about. Perfecting these in the middle of your writing process helps you to crystalize your premise, your themes and your characters and may give you a clearer idea of the path ahead.
As a fun side-quest to the above, try writing a Haiku book review or summary to your book. You get seventeen syllables only, in lines of five, seven and five syllables each. You’d be surprised how well this exercise gets your to the core of your story.
Write (or rewrite) the summary you would use in your query*. It is often said that if you can’t clearly summarize your book in 250 words then your plot has serious problems. I don’t think that’s true for all books, but writing your query halfway through the writing process will help you to check the overall health of your book. It may also help you see the path to your conclusion if that has been evading you.
Go old school and write out the beats of your existing and remaining plot on index cards. Use colored pens or tags keep track of multiple protagonists or subplots. Lay them out on the floor or a pin board. Once this is done you can literally step back and see the shape of your story. Is it weighted correctly? Is it balanced? Do subplots or characters disappear for long periods or dominate certain sections? Are there characters or subplots that aren’t pulling their weight and can be deleted? Where is it going?
Write discussion questions for your book. That’s right, discussion questions, the kind you can find on study guide websites or in the back of some “book club editions” of books. Dreaming up discussion questions will help you to think about what you are trying to say and how you might succeed in saying that in the remaining pages of your book.
One of the confounding things about novel writing is that doing it well ultimately involves more thinking than writing. If you feel like your writing is stalling or stumbling or meandering aimlessly in a forest of bad metaphors, taking a little time to think about the big picture might help. The above are just a few thinking exercises you can try.
*Out of interest the query summaries I wrote for most of my books ended up as the basis of the flap copy/marketing copy for those books!
About the Author
G.S. (Gabrielle) Prendergast is the bestselling author of numerous books for children and teens. She studied writing at the University of New South Wales in Australia, at San Francisco State University and the University of British Columbia. After years of working in the music industry, in social welfare, and the film industry, Gabrielle began writing books when she became a mother, so she could work from home. Her books have received nominations for the White Pine Award, the Canadian Library Association Award, the Vancouver Book Prize and several other honors. She won the BC Book Prize for her YA sci-fi Zero Repeat Forever and the Westchester Award for her YA novel in verse Audacious. Born in the UK and both an Australian and New Zealand citizen, Gabrielle now lives in East Vancouver in a permanent state of “under-construction”.
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I’m so excited! If you pre-ordered Jackson, you should already have it! It’s a fun, sexy read, and you’ll see the other hunters and folks from around Dead Horse “peopling” the story, too. I love writing in this world. I hope you enjoy their latest adventure. If you have the time and the inclination, please leave a review!
MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS:
DEAD HORSE, MT Authentic Men… Real Adventures…
The games begin when a bounty hunter, who likes working alone, clashes with a cable TV showrunner who’s determined to make him a part of her show…
Jackson Black’s life is just fine. He is free to work when he wants, as much as he wants. He has the freedom of the open road, nothing and nobody weighing him down—until he crosses paths with a group of bounty hunters deep in a national forest, who are trying to steal his skip from under him. Worse, the hunters have a film crew with them, led by a woman who won’t take no when he refuses to sign a contract for the use of the footage her crew has filmed. After giving her his firm no thank you, he loads his skip into his vehicle and drives away.
Rachel Cabot didn’t get where she is, the showrunner for her network’s two highest-rated cable shows, without being committed to her job. She’ll do whatever it takes. If it means following Jackson Brown then catching him on tape doing something sketchy to “convince” him to do what she wants, so be it. However, she suffers immediate remorse and decides to apologize to Jackson but can never find the right moment to do so. What she doesn’t know is that Jackson has turned the tables on her.
When Jackson is invited to join the hunters on a high-value takedown, with Rachel’s crew accompanying them, their personal stakes just get higher.
Both types of writers can be successful. And many writers, myself included, use a kind of “hybrid” method, pantsing up to a certain point in a book then stopping to think through the rest of the story—plot it, as it were. That technique, of taking a short break at some point to consider the big picture can work for plotters too. Often as plotters write, even from very detailed outlines, they discover things they hadn’t expected that take the story in a new direction. For both plotters and pantsers an hour or two of big picture thinking can be really helpful in maintaining momentum.
