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Archive for the ‘Time to write’ Category

 

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There’s a little bit of refocusing going on behind the scenes of our site. My three writing books will be available soon, the first which being our free gift to anyone subscribing to my podcast, Writer on the Road, where Cracker will be one of my first and ongoing (if he let’s me win) guests!!

This site will once again be about middle grade fiction as Cracker and I share our writing trials, tribulations and downright fun bits of collaborative writing and reliving our sibling squables, getting the better of each other, and me always winning writing journey.

You’ll all be excited to know Cracker and I have agreed to get cracking (sorry, couldn’t resist) on Book 4 of our Cracker & Gilly Mystery Series and it will be quickly followed by books 5, 6 & 7. Our aim is a baker’s dozen and Book 1, Forbidden, will be our gift for anyone signing up to our Growing Up Writing newsletter.

On the marketing front, I’ve been busy upskilling. My education has included the following courses:

  1.  Creative Freedom with Joanna Penn
  2. Your First 10,000 Customers with Nick Stephenson
  3. Facebook Advertising (new) with Mark Dawson
  4. ebook bestsellers audio course with Derek Doepker

So, to sum up, I can write, produce, market, sell foreign rights, record audio and write some more. Or I will be able to once my kids leave home😇😇

Wadaya reckon, Cracker, you ready?

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  1. Attitude matters
  2. Education is an investment
  3. Giving is better than receiving
  4. Values cultivate respect
  5. Word-count matters – without content you have no business – see  Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
  6. There is no such thing as perfection
  7. No one is laughing at you, in fact, most of us a rooting for you
  8. If at first you don’t succeed – see ‘The 1000 Day Rule: What Living the Dream Really Looks Like’ by Dan Andrews
  9. Surround yourself with experts (Jane Friedeman, Janna Penn and Dan Blank to name a few)
  10. Look back and see how far you’ve come – celebrate!!

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Every new year brings good intentions and great ambitions. This year, it’s eight novels, equalling 480,000 words, with the grand title of Project Romance: Around Australia in 8 Romances.

With such an ambitious project, I’ve invested in a few tools to help me. One is Joel Friedlander’s Book Planner which will help keep my book publishing schedule on track. The other is Joanna Penn’s Creative Freedom Course,

You can follow my progress and learn about my fun with Book Planner and Creative Freedom over at http://www.melhammomd.com. If you subscribe to my email list you will receive a weekly email with my tips and lessons learned as I try to meet my self-imposed challenge for 2016.

Here at Growing Up Writing we’ll be focusing on marketing, both my adult books, and our Cracker & Gilly series, as well as leaning the processes of creating audible books.

Oh, and I’ve just subscribed to Jason Kong’s newsletter, Storyrally, an online Marketing For Fiction Writers forum.

See you on the road.

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Historic Carcoar offers everything this writer could possibly want to inspire productivity – historic buildings, heritage rose gardens and solitude – so much so that I think this is the ideal location to hold a writer’s retreat during the cosy winter months that only the Bathurst/Orange area with its villages, fine food and wines, and romantic weather can offer (think log fires, foggy mornings and crisp, clear days).

Anyone interested in log fires, devonshire teas and uninterrupted time to write?

I’ve found the ideal location at an old nunnery attached to the local catholic church.

Stay tuned for details.

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It’s officially the end of Week 3 of our Book Tour and our time on the farm, and our retreat, is at an end.

Here’s what we learnt:

  1. Horses can eat water lilies out of their dam and survive
  2. 36 degrees is unpleasant no matter where you are
  3. taking time out is important, so important that I think this should be number 1
  4. Cleaning is a great way to get out of writing and our caravan is now spotless
  5. Christmas Book Tours are fun as long as you have a farm to come home to
  6. You can write wherever you are but sitting under a shady tree watching donkeys and goats increases productivity
  7. Being still increases productivity
  8. Taking time to look back is important…it shows you how far you’ve come
  9. taking time to look forward is important, too, and what better time is there to plan out the new year than when you’re feeling good about point number 8
  10. Taking time now to do nothing much except write (and clean and sell books and go for long walks in the bush and swim in the sea and watch horses eat grass and count the stars in the night sky) is the best time of all.

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It’s 9.00am and, as I wander around our borrowed farm, already the animals have retreated to the shade; horses under overhanging oaks, donkeys resting under river gums and the goat hiding in his shed. Only the whippets join me on my walk, determined not to miss an adventure, regardless of the heat.

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With only a couple of days left of our farm-sit, I’m contemplating the idea of hitting the highway to continue our journey south to join our family for Christmas. But part of me wants to stay here in my paddock, surrounded by nature, and only emerge when this crazy week is done.

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Dear Santa,

Please send our pressies to the shack at the bottom of the track in the paddock in the middle of forest out the back of the highway. There’s plenty of grass, waterways and companionship for your reindeer and your way will be lit by a million stars.

Love a romance writer in retreat

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Dancing in the rain

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