First off, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Unfortunately, due to some very recent and exciting events, I was caught completely unprepared for this year’s Halloween hotness, but next year? It’s gonna be on like candy corn!! In any case…
Sooo, it’s been a while. A looong while. I unfortunately missed out on BOTH of my blog tours (my September “Back-to-School” Bash AND my October “Horror Hop” (sorry)!
But in all fairness, I didn’t really receive any entries for those months, so I don’t feel super duper badly, lol! But the reason I’ve been so slow recently is because I’ve been totally SWAMPED with lots of “life” stuff, especially since…
ON OCTOBER 1st, 2014, MY LITTLE GIRL JOINED US IN THE WORLD!!
Among other things!
I’m super excited about being a mom, but I’m also psychotically committed to being an author-screenwriter-entrepreneur. So the following, very disorganized post is going to take a slightly different approach to summing up my creative achievements. You’ll notice that it might be a little crazily organized as well, lol!
It’s just a symptom of the major life change I’m going through, so no worries. November’s line up is DEFINITELY going to be a lot neater! In any case, here’s what’s been going on creatively for the months of September and October 2014!
September 2014 & October 2014
1. Participated in a GoodReads “Ask the Author” event for The Fantasy Portal Book Bundle, AND had yet ANOTHER giveaway! Yes, The Fantasy Portal is still out kicking ass in the digi-world, and my partners and I hosted some pretty awesome events around it. Not only did we do round-robin “Ask the Author” events, but there will be WAY more events, giveaways, and cool stuff going on until we retire the bundle in January 2015. So check out and JOIN The Fantasy Portal GoodReads Book Club to stay up on the free swag! And of course, stay tuned on my blog for other giveaways. 😉
2. Entered the Writers of the Future (WoF) Contest! Because hey, it’s worth a shot, right? Be sure to check out the WoF website for chances to enter your sci-fi story and win prize money and worldwide fame (well, sort of ;-))!
3. Redefined and refocused on… well, pretty much on everything having to do with my career plan, genre, brand, and creative life as a whole. Becoming a mom has really forced me into a time crunch, and as such, I’ve had to realign my priorities and choose my projects and collaborations more carefully. So I’ve decided that I’m going to give a solid FIVE endeavors my all from here on in:
- WRITING, WRITING, WRITING: focusing on growing my novel backlist over the next 2-3 years as well
as developing my script portfolio.
- READING: I try to read as much as possible, but sometimes find it hard to squeeze time in. Sitting around and breastfeeding though has really forced me to sit around for quite a few hours a day, and recently, I’ve been able to read a lot more. So I’m deciding to focus specifically to catch up on my genres of interest (i.e. sci-fi, fantasy, horror, thriller, and crime drama) with a special eye towards stuff that’s written by women.
- WATCHING: similar to my comments on reading, I have more than enough time to do film & tv research on my genres of interest. And I’ve also realized that I need WAY more knowledge on the Hollywood industry. So I’m going to watch as much as I can to learn the history and the craft of the field that I’m in, so that I can come into the game way more prepared.
- LISTENING: there are those days when taking a shower, brushing your teeth, and eating a bagel is all your going to accomplish outside of taking care of your newborn, lol. So, on those days, when all else fails, I’ll have my informational & inspirational podcasts to fall back on. Nothing burdens my ears (except when my baby’s crying), so I can still learn by listening to professionals in the industries that I want to be successful in.
- APPRENTICESHIP: I started my interning with the Scriptwriters’ Network when I got here, and it’s gone beautifully. I’m learning so much and meeting some really great people. So next year, I will be searching for a prodco, studio, agency, or management company so that I can become an intern and learn as much about the industry as possible. My dream is to work at a company like Circle of Confusion… wish me luck! 🙂
4. WROTE AS MUCH AS I COULD! That ain’t sayin’ much, but hey, it is what it is! I have a lot of projects on my slate and huge plans for my second year of being a full-time author-entrepreneur, so I gotta hustle. 😉 As a part of this writing push, I also…
5. Participated in the Scriptwriters’ Network’s 2-Day Writing Challenge! This was pretty cool, and the best part is that I got to attend the event as an attendee! So I was able to fully enjoy a day of writing! This is where I set down the final pieces of my TV pilot for “The Books of Ezekiel”. I also met up with an awesome friend of mine who’s doing some kick ass creative stuff while here in Hollywood. Check out her YouTube channel HERE!
6. Finished the hard outline for my TV pilot!! I’m writing a TV pilot (the first of many) that’s based on my “Books of Ezekiel” series, and a week or two after the 2-Day Writing Challenge, I finally FINALLY finished the outline! It’s been super hard juggling the novel writing, blogging, volunteering, and life stuff with screenwriting, but I’ve finally reached an important milestone with one of my projects, and that’s really exhilarating. (Really, once you’ve gotten a solid outline and beat sheet, writing the script from there is WORLDS easier. It’s pretty much half the work!) Now to finish the script! 😉
7. Got my first BAD review for Ghosts of Koa! Oh boy, and is it a doozy! Thankfully, though, the reviewer didn’t post it anywhere else except for on his blog, lol. In any case, a brief overview: I submitted GHOSTS OF KOA to Creativity Hacker’s “Immerse or Die”, to see how it would fare amongst all the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books out there. (Check here to check out the rules of Immerse or Die and to submit YOUR sci-fi / fantasy book!)
Needless to say, GOK died rather than immersed, lol! Rather than give commentary on what *I* think of the review, though, I’m just going to post a link to it HERE and let you make up your own mind. I have to say that I took the review better than I thought, and it’s actually inspired me to do a podcast on how to handle negative reviews! So stay tuned for that!
8. Created a FAT MASTER LIST of all the production companies that take scripts and queries from unrepresented and un-produced screenwriters! And guess what? IT’LL BE AVAILABLE IN MY STORE (FOR FREE) AT THE END OF THE MONTH! The list is a very preliminary listing of production companies, and includes prodcos that take material in the media of TV, feature film, theatre, and video games AND in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime, thriller, detective, action, and drama. Phew! As I said, it’s just a listing, but a more in-depth and detailed version will be coming out later in the form of a new, personally-branded non-fiction series that I’m creating that I call…
9. The Indie Diaries. So even though non-fiction isn’t evergreen like fiction is, I’ve decided to create an experience-based creator’s tutorial series called “the Indie Diaries”. This isn’t so that I can pretend to be an authority on the subject of being an indie author-preneur, but to bring together all the knowledge I’ve acquired in my own personal journey as a creator.
Each “diary” is going to delve into a specific chapter of my journey as well as provide information and tutorials on certain aspects of that journey. Right now, I have a bunch of tentative titles that I’d love to write, two titles that I’m actively working on, and they’ll all be available for super cheap. Once I get a bunch of titles out there, I’ll also be offering bundles (but obviously, that’s later on)!
In any case, here’s a preliminary listing:
- Book Bundle Creation for the Indie Author (in progress)
- Breaking into Hollywood, Part I (in progress)
- Planning My Creative Career
- Building Fantasy & Sci-fi Worlds
- Honing My Brand & My Genre
- Building My Business
- Journey’s and Lessons Learned as an Indie Creator
- and more!
10. Welcomed my little girl into the world as of October 1, 2014! This has by far been the most major change and the hugest accomplishment of September and October, and I’ll post my brief story at some point during November. But after 14 hours of labor, excruciating pain (for only half of it, thank goodness), an unplanned emergency C-section, and then a grueling 3 weeks of recovery (with at least 3 more weeks ahead of me), I can still say that my baby girl is the greatest gift that I’ve ever been given. Even through the emotional ups and down and through the former-career-woman-turned-stay-at-home-mom-author/entrepreneur identity crisis, spending time with my daughter brings me the greatest joy in the world. I love taking this journey with her and her dad!
The next challenge? Balancing being a mom with being the thriving bad ass novelist-screenwriter-blogger-creative producer-business owner I want to be and documenting it all every step of the way!
So what about you? How’d your September and October months go creatively? How are you enjoying the crisp and amazing fall weather? Post your comments below, and of course, in the meantime…
Keep it indie!
<3 Colby