My creative roadmap for 2016: a year of building the dream

In my last post, I reflected on the surprises and successes of 2015 for me as an author.

Today, I'm excited to look forward into 2016 and see what the year will bring! I have some great plans for my author career.

First and foremost aim is to become a full time author and illustrator this year. I have another 361 days to achieve this! (Pretty glad it's a leap year so I have a whole extra day to work.)

Ideally that means earning £1000 a month from my books & any related activities, because that's the point at which it becomes financially viable. I've worked out roughly that I need to sell about 20 colouring books a day to achieve this. This isn't unrealistic, as in the Christmas period I was selling up to 100 copies a day, but it will require some work to make sure that income is sustainable.

I'm counting fiction sales as a bonus to this, because it doesn't make any money - about £1 a month if I'm lucky - and I am still making a loss on my fiction due to editing fees. I do hope that in 2016 I can see success with my fiction sales. In part, that's my own fault for being so terrible at marketing!

Publish at least 12 projects in 2016.

That's an average one one a month. Initially, I thought this would be quite steep, but I am including my main projects (colouring books, fiction) as well as my additional income streams (like companion books for my colouring books).

It already looks like I'll have published almost 20 projects by the summer, including 2 new colouring books (lots of companion books to go with them), some more children's fiction, and if I can squeeze it in, some more young adult fiction which I am dying to write!

Improve my marketing skills.

This goes hand in hand with publishing more and creating sustainable income. I need to get my books before the eyes of voracious readers and colourists! If I can crack marketing in 2016, I'm sure I can pave the way to a sustainable writing and illustrating career.

This means I need to become more confident at using paid marketing (facebook ads, twitter ads and the like), plus begin to approach local press for publicity (which is especially important for my charity colouring project because it's supporting such a good cause).

I also want to branch into videos this year, including vlogging, video marketing and video trailers. This may also include some audio work because I am quite camera shy and am probably going to be more confident in front of a microphone than a camera!

Focus on my health.

As you know, I spent a lot of 2015 ill. As a result, I am really out of shape (that's an understatement!), and writing is not complimentary to a healthy lifestyle. So, it's important for my long term health and also my productivity (short and long term) to have a sound body and mind.

I'm focusing on healthy eating at the moment, and when the weather picks up, I can get back into my favourite outdoor hobbies/exercise; walking and archery.

This year will be about facing my fears of new things and failure, and grasping the opportunities that appear. As usual, I'll continue to push my comfort zone - even further than before - and hopefully reap the rewards.

I hope in 12 months time, when I reflect on 2016 and plan for 2017, that I can write to you as a full time creative! :-)

Reflections on a successful and surprising 2015!

A year ago, I sat down to reflect on 2014, after publishing my first book that July. I couldn't have imagined then the amazing opportunities that would come in 2015!

It has been a year filled with surprises and success, and I've enjoyed every minute of it!

I have continued on my independent author journey this year and published a further 7 titles (after only hoping to publish 1!).

• 1 YA fiction (the sequel to my first)
• 2 illustrated children's fictions
• 2 adult colouring books
• 2 companion books for the adult colouring books.

I have so many ideas that I haven't had chance to pen yet too. Right now, I have I think about 30 books plotted or planned that I need to schedule to time to actually write/draw!

Of my 8 books, all are top 100 bestsellers or better on Amazon. All are positively reviewed and it's so wonderful hearing that readers have enjoyed my work. I write because I love to, but I publish because I want my books to be enjoyed.

In the case of my colouring books, I'm touched and honoured to hear from those with health problems that colouring my books has helped them cope and recover. You may recall I've had my own health problems this year - so drawing and writing has helped get me through the tougher parts of 2015 too.

A year ago, I was on the cusp of selling my 100th book. Now I'm on the cusp of selling my 4,000th! I know that's not a huge number to some, but it's much more than I was expecting or hoping for - and I'm so grateful to everyone who chose to read one of my titles. This for me, is just the beginning.

It means that I am so so close to what I would deem financial success from writing and illustrating. I have a number in my mind that I'd like to make each month from creating, to justify and enable me to go full time without needing a part time job. So to exceed that number greatly for several months of this year is fantastic. It shows me it's possible, with hard work and time - and luck!

In my personal life, there's been a lot of changes, so 2015 has been quite tumultuous! I finished my 4 year teaching degree in May and recently graduated as the only woman in my year with 1st class honours. I am so very glad to be free of teaching. It was clearly the wrong career for me.

I also changed job/working hours a few times at my part time job and am now (as of December) working a new stable pattern that allows me to have a large chunk of defined writing/creating time each week. Not being at university has certainly freed up lots of time!

My fiance and I (and of course our beloved cats Jet and Pixie) moved house this Autumn too. This is one of the biggest changes of the year, because it totally alters our lifestyle. We have upsized to a good-sized family house further into the countryside that we can grow into in the coming years.

It's in a lovely location and I have a beautiful office space to call my very own, that looks out over my favourite moors. It is a wholesome and uplifting place to be that is very good for my ongoing productivity and mental/physical health (which is really important as sitting/writing is so bad for your health!). I look forward to lots of happy years living and working here. :-)

So 2015 has been a year of transition, from university student to actively planning to become a full time author. This year my eyes have been opened to what I really want to pursue with my life, and that it's possible. I've changed from being quite naive and pottering about publishing, to wanting to make a serious go at it.

It's been exciting to stumble upon and take advantage of the unforeseen opportunities that have arisen. I am so excited to share my 2016 goals with you to illustrate exactly how I plan to achieve that, so stay tuned! :D

Have an awesome New Year's Eve, and let me know how you got on in 2015/what your 2016 goals are!

Career decision made. I'm going to be a full time author.

Hi all, hope you're well.

Today is the day that I admit to the world that as of this May, the very moment when I finish my degree, turn in my dissertation and sit my exams, I'll no longer be a student teacher, I'll be a full time writer. It fills me with joy to say that!

The decision has been a long time in the making. I started writing seriously in late 2011/early 2012 and made the decision to publish in 2013. Since then, I've not looked back. The world of writing and publishing has sucked me in.

The online community of writers - both indie and traditional - has welcomed and inspired me to pursue the impossible, the improbable and the original. It has truly been a beacon of hope to me in dark times and a chain reaction of inspiration in good times. It's helped me overcome my own fears about writing, acceptance and pursuing my dreams.


It is regrettable that I've done a four year degree in teaching and no longer intend to pursue it as a career. But then, the career is in no way related to what I thought it would be and doesn't fulfil me as I'd expected it to either.

I try not to regret the decision to study it, because it's led me to where I am today. I try not to think about other paths I could or should have taken, too, like Illustration or Graphic Design or Creative Writing. A degree is still a degree - a valuable asset, though perhaps not right now.

It's not to say that teaching won't ever be the right thing for me - who knows - but for now, it's certainly not and I'm lucky enough to be able to walk away from it to pursue writing. It's a really hard job - at times impossible - and I genuinely respect anyone that can do it and do it well.

We need outstanding educators in our societies to have any hope of furthering ourselves as a race, especially in an ever changing society. Educators also need to be totally committed to all that teaching entails to have any hope of doing their pupils justice - a reason why I *should* not be a teacher at this current time. I cannot fulfil that.

So instead, I get to focus on doing what I do love, which is a position I feel extremely fortunate - no, the luckiest person alive - to be able to say and do. Writing consumes me and almost every waking moment is devoted to thoughts of writing, publishing, improving and sharing my work with the world. Now I get to do that full time (well, soon, anyway).

Of course I still have bills to pay! I'll be keeping my part time job indefinitely to meet those. I'm blessed with an incredibly supportive partner who encourages me in this venture too, whilst we have the opportunity for me to pursue this. I hope that I can repay his confidence in me by making a success of this.

For many months, toying with the decision of what job to choose and feeling like I had no choice by to pursue my degree as a career... the thought of letting down those I love by walking away from a 'proper' job, a respectable profession and secure income indefinitely was the greatest weight upon my shoulders.

I do intend, though I'm not sure how long it will take, to make a full time income from doing what I love - writing - so that I can support my family as a responsible member of society and also be able to continue to do what I love the most; more writing! I will succeed. There is no question or doubt in that. I will make it happen. No one is going to hand this to me on a plate - I have to go and earn it and I will.

So. Over and out for now. Can't wait to finish my university commitments (dissertation and various essays), so that I can concentrate on my many exciting projects for 2015.

Just as a final thought - it really is important to do what you love in life. I wish I had been braver and pursued my true interests earlier in life. You only get one go: make the most of it. And whatever you think, however hard it may seem: there is always a way.

Bye for now,

Meg, the (soon to be) full time writer.

Perils of writing in the digital age: back everything up, everywhere!

Writing digitally is great!

For the purpose of writing, I couldn't go back to the days of hand cramp and blotting paper. (Yes, I used to write in fountain pen and have blotting paper; a quaint and terribly ink-stained situation.)

Yet there's perils lurking here too.

Guess who typed out all smart and neat the plot for books 2 and 3 of Caledan a few months ago? Yes, me!

....Guess who now can't find the files anywhere. Yep. Me.

I could have sworn they'd be on my usual hard drive, or the myriad of USBs I keep for backups and working files, or even on the cloud (that darn awesome thing), given that I always back up stuff to at least two places. Apparently not! 

Guess who wants to kick herself really hard right about now, because she knows better than to not back up files or to delete them like a complete idiot. Yep, me. What. An. Idiot.

*     *     *

Guess what I just found in the deleted files on my cloud? ... Yep, the file I was looking for. What on earth possessed me to delete it? Heaven knows. Am I glad I found it? You have no idea!

So unlike an essay a few months back (deleted by mistake and as it turns out, unrecoverable... oh the pain!), this tale has a happy ending.

The moral of the story?

Back stuff up EVERYWHERE!

And then some other places!

Chances are you'll get immensely annoyed about tripping over the same files over and over again, but goodness it's worth it just not to lose anything.

Phew.

Off to make a celebratory cup of tea...

Ciao for now,

Meg

Following Your Dreams: How To!

I thought a good first post for an aspiring writer’s blog would be to look back to what I see as the beginning of the journey.

This is the most important lesson I’ve learnt about achieving my dreams.

Creativity has always been an integral part of me. I’d love to be able to say that being creative was my life; writing and drawing all day long sounds brilliant. Yet, I’d never taken it seriously, because everyone knows that all artists are starving and all writers are broke and that’s no way to earn a living or be respectable!*

(*Factually untrue, of course. You’ve all heard of the big guns JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien, but there are plenty of others making a name for themselves in the creative world – JF Penn, Rachel Aaron to name a couple of my inspirations.)

I found myself at the end of secondary school with lots of Necessary Qualifications desired by Society and not a clue what to do with them to become a functioning adult.

I’ve ended up in various roles/careers/positions since, but the most valuable thing I have learnt in my zigzagging endeavours was this:

You can be whatever you want to be – it just takes time.

I’m not living my dream. Yes, it’s a long way off. However, if I work every day, doing whatever I can to make being a writer a reality, that’s as good as it gets. I am fulfilling my potential. If standing at work to pay the bills means I have the tools to write with in my free time, then that’s enabling my dreams! If I can enjoy life in the meantime too, then even better!

If you don’t try, you will never achieve your dreams. If you try... well, you just might!

I hope that this will help you too. So don’t feel disheartened if you think to yourself, “I’m not achieving my goals NOW,” because no one ever achieved their dreams overnight. It requires lots of time and effort.

Take small steps to meet your goals, keep your eyes on the prize and enjoy the ride as much as possible; it’s working for me, and I hope it works for you too.

Putting down the pen for now,

Meg