The Fabulist Flash

Number 13

Rainbow Glass Journal

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. Writer's Bookshelf
3. Feature Article
4. Tip of the Week
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

Welcome to Issue 13 of The Fabulist Flash.

It's been an event-filled week. You might remember that last week I visited my old home town as a tourist. Well, this week, I had friends visiting me and I got to experience my new home town as a tourist. It's wonderful to spend a few days visiting local attractions, restaurants, and seeing Las Vegas through fresh eyes. And, it's helped me to create a long list of article ideas.

I also had the honor of being a guest at a meeting of the Anthem Author's, a Henderson, Las Vegas, writer's group. How inspirational to spend an afternoon meeting writers and hearing them read from their works in progress. I'm grateful for having the experience and look forward to being a guest at one of their meetings again in the future.

Holiday Sale! Save $10 on purchases of $50 of Gregory's Cards and Gifts. Sale ends 12/20/2004. Coupon code: CPFESTIVE

This week's feature article, Get Up and Go: Four Steps to Achieving Your Goals by Beth Morrow, explains that goal-setting isn't just a year-end activity.

Until next week,

Gregory
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Gregory A. Kompes is a freelance writer and photographer. Learn more about Gregory and his work at www.Kompes.com

2. Writer's Bookshelf

How to Sell, Then Write Your Nonfiction Book by Blythe Camenson

A Review by Gregory A. Kompes

Is one of your goals for 2005 to write a nonfiction booK? If you answered yes, you'll be interested in How to Sell, Then Write Your Nonfiction Book by Blythe Camenson.

Ms. Camenson presents a terrific overview of the nonfiction publishing world. She outlines the necessary steps and explains how to sell your nonfiction book before you actually write it. This is one of the major keys to professional time utilization. Ms. Camenson points out that there's no point invenesting a lot of time writing a book that might never sell.

Included in the book are tips for researching ideas, preparing and presenting query letters and book proposals, information on "standard" contracts, and advice on writing your book once you sell it.

There are stronger books with advice for writing your book. But, the other sections offer an excellent and indepth understanding of the process of selling your book before you write it.

For this title and others of inspiration to writers visit The Writer's Bookshelf.

3. Feature Article

Get Up and Go: Four Steps to Achieving Your Goals
by Beth Morrow

For me, setting writing goals is an ongoing process not limited to the 'January-December' cycle. Sure, I set new goals for the upcoming year but goal-setting shouldn't be a one-time-only event. By learning the keys to effective goal setting, you'll be able to work toward your dreams at any point in your life. Four elements can help you set successful, lasting goals that get results any time of the year: write, revise, realize and reflect.

Write
Each December, Henriette Anne Klauser's book, "Write It Down, Make It Happen" inspires me to set new, lofty writing goals for the year ahead. Klauser's advice for creating new goals is simple yet effective: write down your goals and be specific. My goals, at this point, are usually broad-write the paranormal that's been on my mind, sell twenty magazine articles, write three short stories, etc. Start big-this is the road map for your writing journey.

Revise
What do I need to do to accomplish my new goals? I make notes and list steps I need to take for each goal. I tend to chunk goals together and work on more than one at a time to remain inspired. Often, the best ideas or breakthroughs on one writing project come when my mind is immersed in something completely different. However, multitasking in writing doesn't work for everyone. If you require focus to complete your goals, lay out your steps in logical progression.

Realize
One of the best motivators in working toward my goals has been the Serious Writers group. Four of us-all women writers-meet every three weeks to set new writing goals. The penalty for goal-slacking is five bucks-which we collectively use on a quarterly luncheon to reward our hard work. With the Serious Writers, I take the list of steps I created for my goals and break them into pieces I can complete in three weeks. Learning to realize what I could and could not reasonably accomplish in three weeks' time has been quite a learning curve, but it's made me aware that small steps soon add up.

Review
Being aware of what you've accomplished is critical to goal-setting success. After each Serious Writers meeting, I type my goals into a Word file. At the end of each month, I review to see what's worked and what has not. It provides solid evidence that I've been working toward my goals-even if I haven't accomplished all of them. It helps me see how well (or not) I've estimated the time needed to finish a particular goal which helps me set more successful goals in the future. If 'finish synopsis' appears for three months instead of two sessions, I might need to break it into smaller steps (or avoid it altogether.) in the future.

Goal-setting doesn't have to be just another holiday promise or point of procrastination. Start with the big, grand ideas then focus your work into reasonable and realistic steps for reaching those goals. Do one thing every day toward one goal and it will soon grow to the point where you aren't just meeting a goal-you're realizing your dreams.

About the Author
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Beth Morrow has been teaching English and writing for ten years and writing for thirteen. Most recently, her work has appeared in the Write From the Heart newsletter of the Central Ohio Fiction Writers and nationally in TWINS Magazine. She can be reached at beth@bethmorrow.com.

4. Tip of the Week

Visualize Your Life.

Do you want to be on the New York Times Bestseller List? Do you want Oprah to choose your book? Do you want to visit Greece and write travel articles about your experience?

Close your eyes and see yourself in your dream life. Got the picture in your mind? Now, write it down and include every detail. Every day, read what you've written out loud. Your life will become more focused and directed toward your dream.

5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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