Tag: Writing

A Few Of My Favorite Things…When I Write

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

It is now firmly into 2020, almost the middle of January and you know what that means? It’s time to get some writing done!

As I gear up to start revisions again I thought you might like to see a list of the things I need to start writing.

☕️ Coffee – mmmm, coffee

📕 My beat-up project notebook (see image – this thing has been in numerous bags and flung all over my desk/office area)

🖊 Various blue pens – my pen color of choice for most things (like I’m lowkey upset that the emoji is a black pen)

☕️ Coffee – ok, I’m all set up, I’ll grab a 2nd cup

🎼 Music, I actually created a playlist specifically for this revision/draft to help get me into the mind of not one but two teenage girls

💻 Scrivener and GoogleDocs – I did a lot of my outlining and pre-writing for this draft over in GDocs so I could share with my Editor/Writing Coach but now I need to get those notes back into Scrivener where I do most of my actual writing

☕️ Coffee – can never have too much!

Are you a writer or creator of some kind, tell me in the comments below what you need to start working on your projects?

 

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My 2020 Vision – What’s Yours?

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Over the past few years, I have chosen 1-3 words to guide me along the path I want to take.  Last year was Joy – which to be honest, felt a bit flat – like I was playing a part, superficial…never fully integrating into my body and my heart.  The year before it was Courage and the one before that was Nourish – both felt so aligned for those years and allowed me to grow and show up in new and exciting ways.

That’s what I wanted for this year so I thought and journaled and took a workshop and came up with 3 words that feel so perfect for where I am and where I want to be at the end of 2020.

🌟 Shine – Be seen, be heard, give my ideas and my opinions a voice.  Use my light to help others (how? I have no idea yet!) and be the woman that fixes the crowns of others rather than diminish and cause pain.  Have confidence and do the scary things.

🔮 Intuition – I want to really connect with who I am and with the Universe, the source of all power.  I want to be the goddess that I know I can be.  I want to connect to my ancestors – especially my maternal Grandma who I think has been my guardian angel my whole life (she died the year before I was born).  I want to get quiet and listen to the answers that I know are already inside of me.

🖊 Create – Make stuff…for fun! Not worry so much about the business side, not worry about the marketing stuff as much.  Yes, yes…I will still be professional when need be with my writing and I will still be doing my newsletter and promotions BUT I want to do things MY WAY…have more fun connecting with others online, not worry about followers – have conversations.  Make messes in the kitchen, create with my kid more, basically do things that feel good.

Your turn!  What word (or words) are you using this year to guide you and help you win in 2020? Comment below and let me know!!  Let’s make this year amazing – together. 😊

Have a great day,
Jennifer

Change Is Inevitable

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
It’s been a while since I’ve written, I know. This is for a few reasons — 1) I thought I might have overloaded you guys when I was re-launching The Art of Lying and 2) I needed a little break from writing myself.
 
But…I’ve taken a little break, watched Gilmore Girls again on Netflix (still debating on rewatching that awful new year again), and started rereading my 2nd novel with my editor’s notes. Originally this story was called Etta in the Outfield, but I’m thinking that might need to change.
 
Which brings me to the topic at hand – change. As I’ve been reading and discussing things with my editor (the lovely Sarah Fox) it’s become clear that I need to add some things to this poor little book. For one, I need to bring in another point of view character – my first main character, Etta’s, best friend Gina! I’m actually excited about this, but since Gina will have 50% of the story, I can’t just call the thing Etta without putting in Gina so the title will most likely need to change.
 
Another thing, I’m aging my characters up a bit. I had them as Freshmen in High School, but we decided it might be better if they were a bit older – Sophomores or Juniors (haven’t decided yet). Finally, I have some things to think about surrounding the end of my novel – but I’m not going to talk about that right now – I might spoil things for when the book comes out.
 
BUT all these changes and the fact that my main characters go through quite a few things themselves that will be changing them and their opinions and thoughts and ideas, I realized that change is inevitable in both life and fiction. It’s how we handle those changes that make the difference.
 
I could have read my editor’s notes and gotten really upset, thrown my laptop against the wall (I mean, my bank account wouldn’t have been happy), and yelled and screamed, cried for days, etc. I didn’t do this, I wrote out some of my feelings, talked to my editor, voiced my worries and fears, and decided that together we can make this next draft amazing!
 
What’s changing in your world? How are you dealing with things? Are you having a temper tantrum that a four-year-old would envy or are you pulling your big girl panties on and acting like a grown-up? Side note: I’m not always a grown-up in these situations, trust me. HA

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Goal Setting For Dummies … Or Maybe Just For Me

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

I have written about my goal-setting process on here before, but as my life has changed and what I wanted out of my life changed, I knew I needed something different…but I wasn’t sure what.  So, when one of my favorite AuthorTubers, Sarra Cannon – a brilliant and successful indie author and lovely human being posted about her HB90 Goal Setting Course, I jumped right in.

She taught us how to take our vision for our life and turn that into 90-day goals.  Then we took those goals and turned them into little step by step tasks.  YES!  It felt exactly what I needed.  Her last step was to set up a Kanban Board (for more about hers – check out the YouTube video below). 

 

I grabbed baby post-it notes, color-coded my three goals and wrote all of my tasks on individual post-its and put them up on my board.  There is a section for To-Do’s, Doing (the tasks I’m focusing on for that day or week) and DONE!

The thrill when I get to move a sticky note down to Done is really amazing.  I’m a paper planner girl at heart so having this analog makes me happy, but you can also use digital tools like Trello or Asana or any project management app really.

The idea of only planning in 3-month chunks though was really fascinating.  Usually, I plan the whole year and then crash and burn sometime in March or April.  Here, you get a total reset every three months.  Every quarter you get to evaluate and replan.  Seriously, I’m kinda in love with this system.

So, what are my goals you ask?

Goal #1 is about writing my books and self-publishing.  So I’m working on Etta in the Outfield, brainstorming ideas for my next book project (which could turn into a trilogy with all the ideas I’m writing down!!), and researching how to take The Art of Lying wide (meaning into all online bookstores).

Goal #2 is about growing my Instagram following and being more engaged and present over there. Creating a real Author Persona and Brand and developing my style.  This will also bleed over into other aspects of my social media presence but for right now I’m concentrating on the gram.

Goal #3 is about growing my newsletter list and really forging a relationship with the people that are there — so, if you’re not already on that list, think about joining (you get a free Short Story Anthology when you do!).

Let me know — what goals are you working on?  How do you plan out your goals? How do you track them?  This fascinates me sooo much, so I would really love to hear from you and how you’re doing this year.  Are you planning a vacation? Writing a book yourself? Work-related goals?  Health and Fitness goals?  I have all of those too and at some point, I want to get a bigger Kanban board so I can have everything up in front of me.  For now – my board has my writing goals and my planner has my more personal goals – which is working…for now.

I hope you have an amazing day and don’t let the fact that it’s not January 1st stop you from starting something new, thinking about where you want to go and point yourself there – start today, start small but start now.  Think about your goals and pick one tiny thing and then plan when you’re going to do it and voila! You are well on your way!

 

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Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Baby New Year is about to make his appearance again as we say goodbye to 2018 and ring in 2019.  Every year around this time, as I’m scrambling to buy Christmas gifts (seriously, why do I always wait until the last flipping minute?) I’m also thinking, planning, and gearing up for new goals, new dreams, and new experiences.

Goodbye 2018

2018 saw so many of my big writing goals come true – I started a newsletter/mailing list (psst…if you haven’t signed up yet, you get a FREE short story anthology eBook and awesome notes from me twice a month – sign up here ) and I self-published my debut novel, The Art of Lying (available from Amazon), in April!  I started working on my 2nd novel and started outlining my 3rd novel. I took classes, started working with my writing coach, and wrote more words than I have in the past two or three years combined!

2018 also saw us taking a non-Disney vacation and having a great time – we went to Great Wolf Lodge and did all the big water slides and enjoyed the lazy river! We spent time with family, we hung out with friends, and my kid started second grade (how is that possible?!?!).  This past year I also quit working for the VA company I was working for and went out on my own – and immediately got two kick ass clients (swoon!).  It’s been a pretty good year, and next year looks to be just as amazing!

I always choose three words to help guide my year – this year it was Courage as my main word and Magic and Open as my support words.  I definitely called upon my inner courage to achieve my goals and to quit the VA company and have faith in myself to go out on my own.  I started reading and studying and practicing witchcraft and using magic to manifest my dreams and I was open to ideas, people, and things that came into my life – seemingly from nowhere – to help guide me toward my big goals.  So this year, I sat and I thought and I journaled and I came up with Joy as my main word and Sacred and Balance as my support words.

Joy 

The past few years have been filled with grief and sadness and I want to enjoy the little moments in every day, I want to write with joy every day, and I want to enjoy my time on Earth for as long as I’m gifted.  I want to enjoy hobbies, friends and family, and my day job.  I want to feel lighter, happier, and be more pleasant to be around.

Sacred

I want to treat my body and my apartment and the Earth as sacred places.  I want to treat myself with kindness, find movement that’s fun and helps me feel like my best self. I want to clean up and organize our apartment so I can have friends over and know where things are – not be so frazzled.  And I want to continue finding ways to treat our home planet with love and understanding and that includes the people that inhabit it as well.

Balance

I want to have time for everything, including myself, every week.  My son, my husband, my parents, my family, my friends, my hobbies, my writing, my day job, etc and so on and so forth.  We all wear so many hats and I want each hat to get its time during the day, week, or month.  I want to feel whole and centered throughout the day knowing that each thing will get its time.

Hello 2019

And with my words come my big goals…and this year I decided to be a little loose with things.  I want to have certain areas of the apartment “finished” by mid-year.  I want to have Etta (book #2) done and up on Amazon by the Fall. I want to have started Circus (book #3) by end of year – meaning, first draft done and to my editor and possibly starting the edits by this time next year so we can self-publish in early 2020.  I want to have a rotating list of fun movements that I can do every day depending on energy level and weather.  

I want to have a rotating list of activities that bring me joy that I can do at least once a day.  I also want to learn to play my guitar so I can actually play one song by this time next year.  I want to attend a real life NYC planner event and make some planner girl friends.  I want to be consistent with Instagram (I have a whole plan for how to do this – but I don’t want to bore you – just know I want to post every week day, do some stories and engage with other writers and YA readers online).  

I also want to take another vacation this year – most likely over the summer – with my husband and son.  We just need to see if we can swing Disney or if we need to branch out and try something else.  I have a ton of dreams, plans, and mini goals to help me with these steps – but I’m not being super rigid.  I mean, this past year I had to throw out 78K words of a first draft because my story idea completely changed and I need to make sure that I have space for those kinds of things, because life happens.

Now, it’s your time — do you choose a word for the year?  Do you big goals for the new year? Or do you do 90 Day or Quarterly goals?  Do you have a vacation or ideas already in the words for 2019?  I want to hear from you, so share in the comments below. And have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year’s Eve!!!  

See you next year!