Did you read the title and wonder how Christmas and Word Power could be related? The Twelve Days of Christmas is a class for writers. At the end of the year, it asks us to look back for surprises, successes, and disappointments. Disappointments are the guide to the future, and I took the next three days to figure out which steps to take next. To grow as a writer, and as an entrepreneur. In 2023, I stopped on Day 3, and I let my writing guide me. This year I finished Day 11 and a new Word Power poster. This is the title I’ve used since 2018. Come along with me, and I’ll show you where I was in 2023 and where I’m heading now that it’s 2025. Part 1 – Things to Keep: Up first, the things I'm keeping, the programs and tools that work for me. Look down below to see three things that powered me through 2022-2023. Underneath, my new set. Did you notice I kept two things for 2025? The first, 12 x 12. It’s a community of writers, and I can take three video classes a month from the comfort of my living room in Wapakoneta, Ohio or Lafollette, Tennessee. The second, my website. I love putting up posts and book reviews for you! I’m planning on updating it this year and giving it a tweak. I haven’t done that since it debuted in 2016. Now that it’s 2025, the time feels right! Did you notice the last box changed? Writing Magic ended sometime in 2022 or 2023. I replaced it with the Courage to Create Community. I miss Writing Magic, but I found a new home at Courage to Create. Part 2 – Two More Things I’m Keeping: If you look at the first row below, those are the things I kept from the 12 Days of Christmas in 2022-2023. The second row, those are the things I kept from Christmas 2024. If you look at both rows, the pictures on the left are the same. They’re about marketing; about searching for new ideas to promote my three published books. That’s something I’ll do forever, for every single book I publish. I hope there are a few more in my future! One is about Neil Armstrong and his Wind Tunnel Dream. The other two are about my favorite place, the lake. Lake Fun is a picture book, and Zoe is a chapter book. Both of them have stories about the things my kids did on lake vacations. They both have journals that let readers draw and write about their own lake experiences. The paragraph I just wrote, and this one too, that’s marketing! It’s about getting your product or service in front of people. Then convincing them they HAVE to buy it. If you’re interested in checking out my books, just take a look at my book link on rindabeach.com. It has a drop-down menu with all three titles. The pictures on the right are about my search for an agent. In 2022-2024, I was querying agents with my zoo book. The main character, that blue poison dart frog. Would you believe he was playing hide and seek at the zoo? I stopped querying in 2024 because I’ve been super- focused on writing a middle grade novel about the founding fathers, the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. This is the third year I’ve been revising and editing it, but it’s still not done. It’s getting closer, and I hope to send it out to agents sometime this year. Here’s to hope . . . I hear it springs eternal 😊 Part 3 – The New Things I’m Writing: Look below, and you’ll see my new story ideas from Christmas 2022. Back then I had six ideas. Three new; three old. I fleshed out community helpers, but I got stuck; I planned to get back to it, but . . . the Founding Fathers took over. I spent the first three weeks trying to find my way into Chapter 1. I needed a ribbon, a thread that would weave its way through all 57 chapters. After three tries, I found it – in the last man standing, the last one to die. That man – Charles Carroll of Carrollton; Charley to me, has become a friend. By June of 2023, I’d written 38 chapters, and that’s when I hit another snag . . . I thought one founder signed the Declaration of Independence late – it turned out to be seven. Yikes! That’s when I changed my goal from writing all 57 chapters in one novel, to breaking it into a middle grade series. It will make it easier for kids to read, to wrap their minds around. The first ten chapters, the first book. The timeline – from the Declaration of Independence to Yorktown. The 12 Days of Christmas 2024 helped me put it on paper. Tomorrow – a new idea to try, and a few old ones I want to save, just in case. Part 4 – The New Things I’m Trying: Look below, and you’ll see a combination of something new, and three ideas I want to save. Leveling my blogs, a Teacher Pay Teacher account, and a private Facebook group are things I don’t want to lose track of. The time to implement them hasn’t come yet. So I’ll keep them on the back burner for another year. My newest idea – to read aloud on Fridays. I found a 4th grade teacher who’s willing to welcome me into her room, and I’m excited about the opportunity. Once a month I hope I find books that resonate with her, her curriculum, and her kids. I hope I can show them things about reading and writing that I’ve learned. I try my best on every sentence and paragraph I write, and so do teachers and kids. If opportunities arise, I’d love to expand this idea. But I’m going to take my time and let it develop. I’ll let this idea take me where it wants me to go. Thank you for the sixth time to Julie Hedlund. Each year her program helps me to see growth, especially when I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. But I also appreciate looking at why I’ve fallen short, and what I could do differently in the new year.
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AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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