What better way to kick off 2021 than to do some intensive planning for your life as an author? Goals are dreams with deadlines. But we must define those goals first.
Think about:
How much do you want to write?
What do you want to publish and how?
How will you grow your audience?
What will you do to nurture your creativity?
I used to be a hesitant writer, quietly producing work, waiting to “be discovered.”
Let’s face it, there are millions of writers out there. You can’t wait for it to happen, you have to make it happen.
Don’t let another year go by waiting for the right time. Conditions will never be perfect. The right time is now.
10 Writers read excerpts from their latest work for the Writers’ Mastermind Mash-up 2020! Sample a wide variety of new, groundbreaking fiction in a scope of genres from around the world.
Tia Wojciechowski/Bia Bella Baker 00:20 Hecctropssippy 2 – The Will of the Dark Creator (to be released)
Ross Jeffery 07:18 Tome – Amazon https://amzn.to/38M6FbS
Clennell Anthony 15:50 Fractured (novel, unpublished)
J.A. Cox 22:47 Fulfilling a Vow, Searching for Answers (novel, to be released)
Patty Lesser 29:02 The Devil, Angels, and Demons (novel, to be released)
Sara Cristia HJ 35:46 Witch’s Amulet (short story) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIjdyp_AihC/
Mollie McClure 42:02 Talking to the Moon (novel, unpublished)
Dan Markowski 50:42 The Last Ride (short story) https://www.wattpad.com/user/lefthandDan83
To join the meeting and get access to all of our write-ins, mastermind meetings, masterclasses, and community, sign up for your 30-day free trial at the Writers’ Mastermind.Click here to join us!
After you create your account, you will receive an email with the write-in details.
Have you ever asked yourself this question and truly answered it?
This is important to define for yourself, the quality of your work. The past few years have been filled with chaos, fear, and upheaval. As things normalize, it’s the perfect time to let the dust settle and get laser-like focus on why you write and how you’re going to get your words into the world.
It’s not easy to be an aspiring writer. Just tell someone you want to become a successful fiction author and their reaction will be something like:
Laughs awkwardly until they realize you’re serious.Shows concern about your mental healthSays, “Really? Uhhh… Good luck with that.”
It’s the same look adults gave you when you were six years old and you told them you wanted to grow up to be a pegasus.
That’s because writing fiction is a time and energy-intensive pursuit that never guarantees a big material reward.
As a marketing strategist for authors, I see many writers approaching their writing career with a “lottery mindset.” They scribble out a book, feverishly upload it to Amazon, and wait for overnight success.
When they don’t wake up on the bestsellers list, they give up.
This the paradox:
Only by NOT writing for money or fame will you possibly become a successful author because once you begin writing for sales, your words will lose their magic.
You must have a deeper reason than to become wealthy and famous. You need to think about who you’re writing for and how you want them to think and feel after reading your work. Either that, or writing must be so satisfying for you that it is its own reward.
Maybe you write because it’s therapeutic, allowing you to express yourself and make meaning of your experiences. Maybe you want to make people laugh and forget their worries. Maybe you just want to scare the hell out of them.
Whatever the reason, I suggest you create your own writing manifesto that states your big-picture reason for writing. Rewrite it till it’s powerful and succinct. Read it each day before you begin working on your stories. Click here for an example of how powerful a writing manifesto can be.
Not only will a writing manifesto help you on the hard days when nothing is working, keeping your mission in mind will inspire you to produce stories that will impact your readers and the world.
To say that 2020 has been a crazy year is an understatement. What we’ve experienced is stranger than fiction, and whatever plans we made for this year surely were disrupted in some way.
Now that we’re about to close out 2020, it’s important to process all that happened (or didn’t happen) for us as writers this year.
We need to find out what worked and what didn’t, so that we can double down on the things that brought us results and eliminate whatever is draining our time, energy, and creativity.
Author Year-End Review
What worked for you? What didn’t? Let’s analyze.
What reasons do you have to celebrate?
What helped or hindered your creativity?
How close were you to your writing, publishing, and sales goals?
What daily habits and mindsets are holding you back?
If you want to make 2021 your best year ever as a writer, then the Author’s Year-End Review will help you 100%.
