2015 Reading Challenge Blog Post
The books I read this year so far:
Category Archives: Local Authors
Author Goals and Accomplishments from 2016 and Future Goals for 2017
Goals list of 2016:
- At One’s Beast available in King County Libraries
- I didn’t submit this book to the library becuase I decided to revise and republish version 2!
- Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) published
- Yes!!! Check it out HERE
- Start my retirement fund
- Yes! I started an IRA and put money in it!
- Create a food/board game
- No, totally forgot about this one….
- Watch a roller derby
- Yess!! I even got to dress up, see it here
- Finish Flora’s Last Chance for Magic and submit to publishers
- Yes and no. I finished writing, editing, proofing, and getting a cover, but I’ve only submitted the book to one agent
- Re-revise My Dad the Prepper and send it out to new publishers
- Yes! I revised this book and sent it out to new publishers and I’ve already received several rejections (I’m up to 11 so far on this project)
- Make a box set case for upcoming series For the Love of Donuts using this website
- Forgot about this one too because I only have one book so far in the series!
- Publish the anthology “Stories from Seattle” with all proceeds to go to my favorite goat rescue PSGR
- Tabled this because nobody knew about submissions, but I did submit to a Hot MC biker chick anthology 😉
- Finish my brother’s recipe book so he can publish it
- Tabled this one as he lost interest in completing this project
- Publish Cafe Connections (Aster & Tilde book 1) on 10/31/16
- HA ha ha. I have so far to go on editing for this! I want Aster & Tilde books 1 and 2 (editing and rewrites) to be my project for Nano 2017
- Get professional author photos
- Nope. I have enough amateur photos for now…
- Learn a special dance or solo
- Sigh. Tabled. But I did choose the perfect song to learn once I get around to it!
- Bask in a sea of donuts
- No. Tabled this one as well because I haven’t sourced these donuts yet.
2017 Goals!!! Writing and Beyond:
Writing:
- Publish Seize the Donut (for the Love of Donuts Book 2) on National Donut Day – June 2nd, 2017
- Edit my short stories – Celebrity Dreamscapes, Smart Fraud, The Man Who Never Slept
- Send out my short stories for publication!
- Version 2 of At One’s Beast (edit, revise, re-release)
- Find an agent for Flora’s Last Chance for Magic
- Find a publisher or artist for my children’s picture book
- Write and art for children’s picture book about pole dance
- Write a children’s picture book about dad catch phrases or dad puns
- Revise Aster & Tilde
- Write Aster & Tilde book 2 and plan out the series
- Review 1 Indie book a week
- Go to Emerald City Writer’s Conference again
- Start editing Dollars to Donuts (for the Love of Donuts book 3)
- Publish Nichole’s Book of Awesome Things (for the Love of Donuts accompaniment 2) for release with Seize the Donut
- Create a coloring book of donuts (for the Love of Donuts accompaniment 3) for release in the winter
- Create an audio book of my poetry book
- YouTube video 1x/month
- Get 500 Instagram followers
- Reach 250 Facebook likes on author page
- Reach 250 Facebook friends
- Reach 250 Twitter followers
- Get to 2000 newsletter subscribers
Physical:
- Mile in 10 minutes
- 50 push-ups in one go
- Inversions other side solid
- Shoulder mount
- Level up inversions at Divine
- Dance performance
- 200 pole classes lifetime
- 10 pull ups
Small Business Saturday and a Bout of Food Poisoning at 5AM
I started the day strong at St. James Espresso in Kirkland with the Elsewhere NaNoWriMo meetup and had a pecan sticky bun (but don’t worry I didn’t eat the pecans, just the good part). I got a couple thousand words in!
Off to the Small Business Saturday event at the Neverending Bookshop in Bothell for a joint author event with debut author Lori Summerville and her debut fantasy novel, “Fall Through.”
Then Paul took us out to lunch across the street at the lovely Alexa’s Cafe! I’d never been and couldn’t help but get one of their peculiar looking cinnamon rolls and it was THE BEST EVER! My curry chicken sandwich on a croissant was also quite delicious.
On the way to Paul’s gig at Tab’s in Kenmore, I stopped in at my favorite local donut shop, Daddy’s and tried out one of the seasonal combos!
After eating leftover Thai food and two snacks and two drinks at Tab’s I finished the day with mild food poisoning at 5AM…
The Fun, the Weird, the Odd and Holiday Shopping – Oddmall
Once again we were at Oddmall! Combination of NIWA and FVP table, this time around was shopping for holidays! Remember last June? This time the venue was larger, the parking was grander, and the surroundings were just a tad bit more red and green…
My booth neighbor with her ‘sipping vinegar’ selling to the faeries.
The view from the second floor!
Requisite, this-is-my-booth photo!
Different angle of our booth!
Looking out from my space with my new book that I’m reading.
Upcoming Event Alert! WA – Everett – Oddmall Emporium of the Weird
FreeValley Publishing and NIWA will host a booth at the 2016 Holiday Odmall show in Everett from November 19-20, 2016. Come visit the FVP/NIWA booth (#151) and check out other really neat and perhaps wacky offerings.
NEW LOCATION
The Everett Community College
Walt Price Student Fitness Center
2206 Tower Street
Everett, WA
Show Hours
Saturday, November 19 – Doors open at 10am – Close at 6pm
Sunday, November 20 – Doors open at 11am – Close at 5pm
Oddmall Extra Event and Bard & Starlet Aftermath!
I had a booth on election day last Tuesday as an additional Oddmall opportunity. Check out my lovely little booth of FVP/NIWA authors!
And then Bard & Starlet with FVP at the Black Dog in Snoqualmie. I missed this event last year, but I thought it was such a wonderful event for all. It was highly entertaining and fun and involved the local authors for their screenplays and the local actors and the local community to come watch and the local cafe! You can check out my screenplay being performed on Youtube here!
Upcoming Event Alert! WA – Snoqualmie – Bard & Starlett
Monroe Main St. Books Author Signing Aftermath! Cats and Books and a Raffle
What a fun local bookstore in Monroe! I enjoyed talking with the customers and my fellow YA authors from the Writer’s Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest.
Author Events in the Seattle’s Eastside today! Neverending Bookshop and Monroe Books
Meet the authors at Main Street Books in Monroe today from 2pm-4pm! For more info, check out the Facebook event page here.
And don’t forget to support your other local bookstore in Bothell! The Nevending Bookshop is turning 1-year old!
Come help us celebrate one year at The Neverending Bookshop! We’ll have storytime, a literary costume contest (both adults and kids), a short story writing contest (both adults and kids), giveaways, mysterious books for sale, and so much more! For more information, visitwww.theneverendingbookshop.com/events We can’t wait to celebrate one year in the Bothell community!
The day’s schedule: 10:30 a.m.: storytime; 11 a.m.: coloring; 2 p.m.: the children’s literary costume contest; 2:30 p.m.: the adult’s costume contest. Throughout the day we’ll be collecting business cards and contact information for a super awesome giveaway!
For more info, check out the Facebook event page here.
Emerald City Writer’s Conference First Timer Experience – My Takeaways
Check out my YouTube video (please subscribe!) of my thoughts regarding my first time attending the Emerald City Writer’s Conference this weekend in Bellevue. And here’s the only picture of me I took during the whole weekend – me and one of the Wanderlust models.
My to read list from conference recommendations:
- Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
- Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (for pacing help) by Blake Snyder
- Silvia Day books because they’re angsty and have broken characters
- Nalini Singh for contemporary world building
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
- Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels (How to Write Kissing Books) (Volume 1) by Gwen Hayes
- Elizabeth Moon for sci-fi/fantasy
Rachel Author Barnard 