My Plan

12/ 23/2014

I think I have a plan now.  I have been on-line for the past week "googling" up a storm.  When I want to do something new I tend to saturate myself in knowledge about whatever it is.  This might entail looking at a bunch of websites, buying books,etc.  My bookshelves tell the story of my interests over the years- I have sections (4-10 books) on photography, scrapbooking, homeschooling, weight lifting, survivalist training, dog training, writing children's books, memoirs, and dealing with anger:).   I've boxed the books on raising kids and marriage.  I know what I know about them.  So of course my planning started with researching the subject of writing.  I started with a few downloadable books that gave me the boast of confidence to really start pursuing my writing life.  I found this website, www.mybooktherapy.com - it is by a Christian author whose book I had just listened to.   I don't normally read Christian fiction- I just thought I wouldn't like it.  But I happen to listen to "The Wedding Dress"  and it was so good I wanted to know more about the author.  And that brought me to MBT.  I ordered a devotional book - Dare to Dream- A writer's journey by Reba J. Hoffman PhD.
It was just what I needed it.   Very encouraging & helped me put feet on a path.

So- my plan: It involves learning the craft and practicing the craft!  I spent quite a bit of time on-line just trying to grasp what it is I was needing to learn.  

After the devotional I ordered a course from MBT called: From the Inside-Out: Discover, Create and Publish the Novel in you -The Foundational writing worktext to teach novelists how to plot, write and publish a novel by Susan Warren and Rachel Hauck.   This was great & I started on it right away, however after meeting with my friend Brenda V.  I began to think about Non-Fiction writing. That lead me to pull a book from my own shelves about how to write Non-fiction books.  At this point I decided I need a real plan!

This is what I came up with:

1) I want to write Fiction & Non-fiction.
 I will start with Short Stories & Personal Essays.
 I want to ultimately write a fiction series (or series(s) )
 I want to write historical fiction based on my mom's life & times in Texas
 I want to write a book and articles about educating black boys
 I want to write about & from my own life as a military brat, as a middle class black, L&D nurse, Homeschooler, marriage, Christianity, parenting, etc.

2) I need to learn everything I can about writing Fiction & Non-fiction.
I will do this by:

a)  Reading Books-I have a list(s) of great books to read for Fiction & Non-Fiction writers.  I found it on-line- I will start with the list. 

b) Reading Articles- I have made notebooks of articles to read- one each for Fiction and Non-Fiction from some really great websites.

c) Taking Courses: I have 2 courses that are downloadable- From the Inside-Out & Series
 I have stopped them for now, until I get a grip on the basics first.

d) Workshops-  I will go to relevant ones 2-3 times a year.  The 1st one is March 2015 @ Beeson.

e) Writer Groups- I would like to join one on-line or in person.

f) Conferences-1 a year??

That's what I have to start- Gloria