Urban Fantasy. I only became a fan of urban fantasy books in the last few years. I’ve always loved vampire fiction, on screen and off. I like a bit of witchcraft thrown in. Add a bit of a love story, some crime and drama, and maybe there’s potential for a story.
My first project for 2020 is to finish the first book in my Mystic Creek/St Clair Sisters trilogy.
The first three books have been more or less drafted along with three novellas. I’m super excited.
So January is about finishing the first book and introducing my new set of characters.
Mystic Creek
A small town. A fifteen hundred year old witch. A fallen angel. A forbidden love.
Evil lurks in Mystic Creek, the little town forgotten by history and overshadowed by demons. The portals open and evils seeps through. Only an immortal witch can stop them. But something is coming and it’s much worse than just a demon from another realm. Someone wants power and they’re willing to go to incredible lengths to get it.
Rebecca St Clair isn’t going to let that happen. She is death’s worst nightmare.
But this time around she’s facing an enemy that she might not be able to destroy. An enemy too close to home.
Will she find the strength to save Mystic Creek even if it means destroying someone she loves?
I’m looking forward to sharing this story with you in 2020.
Australia is burning. Three different states are facing a natural disaster. Families have lost their homes, hundreds others are likely to lose theirs soon. Animals are dying. The land is arid, the winds are strong, and the fire spreads.
We need rain. Lots of rain.
Australia is a mostly dry country. A vast land of dessert, red soil, as well as rivers, lakes and the wild ocean. The rivers and dams are drying up.
The east coast of NSW burns. Victoria burns. South Australia burns. Take a look at the map and it appears that a quarter of Australia is in flames.
We’re surrounded by ocean and yet there is little we can do to stop it. Until the sky pours down with much needed rain, it’s a hopeless but necessary pursuit to stop the burning.
But it will stop.
Australia is strong. The people working together are stronger than ever. The firefighters and volunteers and every day Australian’s are doing their bit. They are the true heroes in this country.
It’s easy to sit in the comfort of your living room and comment on a disaster a few hundred kilometres away. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and suffering that so many families are going through right now. Their lives torn, their homes engulfed by flames, everything they’ve known burning before their eyes. Not knowing when they’ll go back or even if they’ll ever go back.
Australians are strong. They will come together, they will rebuild what is lost.
That stage is still so far away. The end of the fires is nowhere in sight as the summer heat and crazy winds continue.
There will be blame laid against our leaders. How much fault is there’s that the fires still burn is debatable. They didn’t start them. But they haven’t shown the greatest leadership skills throughout the ordeal. They failed to take the issue seriously from the onset.
Could things have ended up differently? Could the fires have been contained a few months ago? That’s anyone’s guess. The conditions haven’t been good and playing the blame game isn’t going to bring back the lives lost, the animals killed, the houses destroyed.
The fires are burning. They are destroying everything in their path. Reminding us that we are all in this together. We need to stick together. Look out for each other. Help one another in times of need.
Why is it that only when disaster strikes that we are willing to come together?
It’s times like these that we see the best and worst in people. Whether it’s a natural disaster or a war there will be those with open arms as well as those who take advantage of the situation.
Disaster can strike any one of us at any one time. Most of us live in the belief that it will never happen to us. Maybe it won’t. Chances are that something will. Whether it’s being caught up in a fire, an inconceivable illness, a job loss, death, or war, we will all be touched by a disaster at some point in time during our stay on this earth.
This is our home but we are only passing through. We borrow it from those that will come after. We have a leasehold on the earth and nothing more. We can make ourselves believe that we own it all but sooner or later it all becomes someone else’s.
It’s moments like these that remind us of what is truly important.
I like to believe that the majority of humans are good. That the pendulum swings towards the side of good not evil.
We are so busy with our lives that we start to believe that the world revolves around us. It doesn’t. Nor does it owe us anything.
It’s in the disasters that we see just how vulnerable and powerless we really are against mother nature. At the same time it provides an opportunity to test our strength, courage and ability to rebuild.
The fires continue burning. The Army Reserves are being called in. People are being evacuated by the Navy. Volunteers are risking their lives to put out the flames. Tears are falling, they will continue to fall, but in them there will be strength and dedication to start again, to start afresh.
Things will get better. The fires will stop. The damage has been done but Australians will come out stronger. United they will conquer whatever gets thrown at them.
I have hope. We need to have hope. Hope is what gets us through. We need to believe. But belief and hope on their own are worthless. Like dreams without a plan, hope and belief without action will result in nothing.
We must all help, no matter how small or how large, our contribution will be appreciated. It will make a difference. It’s starts with us. It starts with you. We are the difference makers.
Whether it’s $20 for the Rural Fire Brigade, a roof over a young family’s head for a few nights, donating clothes to a shelter, providing a hamper of food and water for those in need. It’s the little things when put together that make an incredible difference, and show just how fortunate we are to have each other.
Fiction is a mixture of truth and lies boiling in a cauldron of words, sentences and paragraphs.
I tell myself fallacies every day. Great ones, little ones, crazy ones.
Even when I’m not writing fiction.
The brain is an incredible organ. It’s capable of insane feats. We don’t even know the half of its capabilities. It controls us even when we try to control it.
The fallacies we tell ourselves often cause the greatest damage.
We assume the worst. Then we have conversations in our head that will never actually play out. We imagine things based on our preconceptions.
There are also the fallacies that are good for us. The optimism that the future is certainly bright – it is but we can’t guarantee it. Most people believe they are better than average. The truth is that most of us are just that – average. Did you know that you are the average of the five people you spend time with?
As writers we tell ourselves lies every day.
I will write 1000 words every day without fail.
I’ll send out 30 queries every week.
The book only needs a read through.
I’ll do a better design than the professional cover designer.
The blog will make $2000 a month within six months.
I’ve been eating super healthy the last few days.
I’ll exercise when I get home from work
Do any of them sound familiar?
Fallacies. Not all of the time but certainly a lot of the time.
A common fallacy, and I think this is prevalent in creatives, is that we are not good enough. Not good enough to be published, not good enough to be read, not good enough to be successful, not good enough to achieve our wildest dreams.
What sets us apart from the people going out and getting what they want?
It’s the fallacy we keep telling ourselves.
When does it start? How does it form? Why in the world do we let it take over our thoughts?
You are good enough. We are all good enough to follow our dreams and be successful. Not all of us will. That is life.
But it starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with us.
We decide when we no longer want to listen to the fallacies.
Only then can we start making positive changes. That’s when we can start moving forward believing that, yes, we are good enough, yes we too can be successful, yes, the road may be tough but we can get through it.
Why do we tell fallacies to ourselves?
Often we lie to make ourselves feel better. We search for reasons for our self imposed inadequacies or the feelings of gloom that at times possess us.
Sometimes we just feel bad because we feel bad.
There’s no reason for it.
I’ve gotten out of bed after a perfectly good night sleep and felt like crap. Like it was me against the world. I got over it after a run.
Still there was no reason for feeling bad. It was simply one of those days.
I could have delved deeper and came up with reasons for feeling like shit, maybe it was because someone said something that hurt last week, or I didn’t give the driver way the day before because I was in a hurry, or maybe I forgot to write the thank you note to a colleague for something they’d probably already forgotten about.
If I had more time in my day, I’d get that book finished.
BULLSHIT.
If you really want to do something, whether that’s write and publish a book, lose 50kg, get a six pack, start a business, travel the world, change your career, get a dog, learn a second language, be happy, you will find a way to do it.
The more time you have on your hands, the less likely you’re going to fill it with what you’re supposed to be doing.
We need to stop lying to ourselves by saying we need to wait for the right time, the right job, the right season, the right partner, the right day of the year. We don’t.
All you need is you, all you need is to start today.
The fallacies we tell ourselves are part of life. They aren’t going to stop. Some days they will be positive other days negative. As long as we can recognise them and not allow them to take over our lives then we’re all good. At least that’s what I like to tell myself.
What fallacies are you inclined to tell yourself? Does it help or hinder your writing?
100 days. That’s what it takes to create a life long habit. 100 days to achieve the incredible goals you set for yourself. Become your best self in 100 days.
Hell yeah.
In 100 days you could:
Write, edit and publish a book.
Become a better writer by working on your weaknesses
Build a blog to teach readers a skill or to learn about a topic of your choice
Start a business that brings in a side income
Learn the basics of a foreign language
Train to run a half marathon
Lose 10kg+ of fat and gain a kilo or two of muscle
Travel to multiple places
Learn to become a better communicator
Spend more quality time with friends
Increase your savings
Improve your daily eating habits
Learn a new skill
Train for a sprint triathlon
Be grateful for the little things and transform your perception of life
and so, so much more.
The first 100 days of any goal whether it starts on January 1 or August 11. The date is not what matters, just starting is the key.
Write a book in 100 days
If you want to write a book in 2020 and become a published author earning a living from your writing in this decade, you can start today. Write 700 words every day and you’ll have a 70,000 word book in 100 days.
Train for a marathon in 100 days
Do you want to run a marathon this year? The next 100 days are your foundation. Get your running shoes on and start today. Even if it means you’re walking for half the time. That’s okay. Each day you’ll run more, walk less, and before you know it you’ll be running 5km then 10km, then 20km and before you know it you’ll be ready for that marathon.
Learn a foreign language in 100 days
Maybe you want to learn a foreign language. Start today. Choose your language of choice. Spanish, Chinese, German or French. Learn a phrase every day. Repeat it. Write it. Say it. Listen to it. Practice it. Learn another tomorrow. And so forth. In 100 days you can be speaking the basics of a foreign language. How cool is that!?!
Transform your eating habits in 100 days
You can change your eating habits, your lifestyle, just by making small shifts in your daily habits. Wake up twenty minutes earlier. Start the day with some yoga or a run. Write in your journal. Do 1 thing that is important to you. Choose to start your day with a healthy breakfast. Finish it with a nutritious dinner.
It’s the little things that make big things grow.
You can do it. You are smart enough, strong enough, talented enough, to achieve your wildest dreams.
Feel the fear and do it anyway, is what Susan Jeffers said.
We all feel fear especially when we’re faced with the unknown. It’s good to feel fear. When we go for the things we want even when we fear the progress, that is when we grow.
What are you going to do over the next 100 days that will improve your life, help you grow as a writer, and allow you to feel successful?
I’ve always had the problem of trying to do too much at once. Then rushing through it. In 2020, I’m not rushing. I’m taking my time.
Sometimes slowing down means getting more done.
Over the next 100 days my aim is to become a better writer. I want to challenge my writing muscles. Focus on my weaknesses and ensure that I grow as a writer in 2020.
It’s about going back to basics and securing a strong foundation. Get the foundation right and the rest becomes a much easier process. Get it wrong and a lot of time and energy might be wasted.
I’m ready for a productive, fun and successful 2020. How about you?
What do you want out of your writing and life? Have you ever taken the time to ponder the possibilities? It’s your life, it’s your dreams on the line, and you’re the master of your destiny. What do you really want?
A new decade. Technically, it’s still another year away. Since when do we start at 0? So, really it’s 2021 that will be the start of a new decade. Does it really matter though? In the grand scheme of things probably not. For the detail-obsessed it will drive you crazy. Whichever view you take, it’s still the start of something new.
2020. How the hell did that happen?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been thinking about the New Year for a good month. What can you achieve? How can you improve on the year (or decade) that was? What are you going to different? How are you going to grow?
My 2020 plans are in flux. Do I want to set audacious goals and not reach them, again? Noooo, my brain is screaming. It’s not going to happen. This year will be different. But why? What makes this year so special?
The biggest difference is my change in thinking.
Something has clicked. The realisation dawned on me sometime in early December and became clearer as the month went on. If I don’t change, the world around me doesn’t stand a chance of changing.
We are the masters of our universe.
The tools we need are within our reach. We get given opportunities every day and it’s our responsibility to grasp them or let them go in writing and life.
The last few years I’ve been blinded by my own preconceptions, misconceptions, prejudices. I’ve missed so many opportunities by focusing on what I don’t have rather than what I do have. Often we try to look forward so much that we forget to smell the roses. We forget to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Life gets away from us and then we wake up one day ten years older stuck in the same spot we were in a decade ago.
That is exactly how I feel today. I do not want to feel that way at the end of 2020.
Change is coming.
In 2020, I’m focusing on two main things that will, hopefully, transform every facet of my writing and life, and ultimately making me feel more successful, happier, healthier, wealthier and wiser.
Create better habits.
Become a better writer
Let me explain.
Create Better Habits in Writing and Life
It’s easy to lie to ourselves and believe that we’re healthy, we’re looking after ourselves and there’s nothing to work on. While we shouldn’t become a pet project of our own, it’s important to continuously work on personal growth. Growth prevents stagnation. That’s the truth for every aspect of our lives whether it’s writing, fitness, finances, work, self-care, family or relationships. There’s always room for improvement.
Excuses are easy. But they make us feel like shit.
If one area of our lives is in conflict, the spillover effect to other areas can be enormous. Our health and fitness impacts our work and relationships. Finances impact our daily lives and the choices we make. Unfulfilled goals and dreams can lead to depression and issues in our personal and professional life.
Good habits are key.
Whilst it’s impossible to work on every single habit at the one time, it’s possible to develop 3-4 sustainable habits per year by focusing on one habit every three to four months. It’s fallacy that it takes only 21 days to form a habit. Twenty-one days is just the start, the foundation. The next twenty to thirty days form the habit. The final few weeks enforce it.
What are 3-4 habits that you’d like to form in 2020?
Take a moment to reflect on your current habits. Consider these areas:
Writing/Business
Health and fitness
Finances
Relationships
Work
Are you happy with your habits? What something that you could change?
For example, maybe you put writing or exercise as the last thing to do in the day, which more often than not means that you don’t do it. You could work on developing the habit of writing or exercising as the first thing you do when you get out of bed. Start with 10-15 minutes. At the start it’s not about the length of time, it’s about developing a habit.
Maybe you avoid talking to people and want to change that. We live in a world of over 7 billion people. Relationships are important. Social connection is vital to our health and wellbeing. Why not create a habit of talking to new people by smiling at someone, starting a conversation, inviting a colleague out for coffee?
Start small. Do one little thing each week, then each day. You’ll be amazed at the difference it will make to the quality of your life.
These are just some examples. Create habits that will work for you and your lifestyle. Figure out the habits that will evolve your writing and life.
3 Habits I’m Focusing On in 2020
I’d like to return to daily exercise. I feel better when I exercise for at least 30 minutes per day. That means running, cycling, swimming, weight training. It’s a habit that I need to return to. Regular training makes me a happier, healthier and saner person and it allows me to participate in triathlons and fun runs.
Writing. I want to write daily and focus on my writing business. Yes, I’d like to write full-time one day. The key word is one day. I actually do enjoy my day-job, I like the challenges. I like the people I work with. The social aspect is pretty good too when I actually participate. At this stage of my life I need it and want it. My job makes me feel successful and there are many opportunities that I want to take advantage of. Writing full time is a 10-year plan. Ten years to create a portfolio of quality work that I’m proud of. (That’s one of the ways my thinking has changed. It’s a big one.)
In 2020, I need to be more conscious about spending. My writing business, my work life, my spending. It all needs to go under the microscope. No more excuses. It’s about being responsible and creating a life of your dreams that doesn’t have to be supported by the day job.
Each of these areas will have spillover effects to other areas of my life. They will improve my relationships, my sanity, my life.
Assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups. Our brains are very good at making false assumptions.
10 Tips to Creating Better Habits in Writing and Life
Focus on 3-4 habits per year
Break down the habits to quarterly tasks
Focus on one habit at a time
Give yourself 90 days to enforce the habit
Go easy on yourself, just because you stuff up today, doesn’t mean you can’t restart tomorrow.
Quit comparing yourself to others.
The FOMO effect is real. Get over it.
Focus on what’s important to you. Who do you want to be? How do you want to live?
You are awesome, but there’s always room for improvement.
Remember to live your life and stop to smell the roses.
What habits are you planning to develop in writing and life for 2020?
The second thing I want to do in 2020 is become a better writer. I want each book to be better than its predecessor. Each blog post to be stronger than the one before it.
I’ve been writing for over 20 years. On and off. Mostly on. You’d think I’d have this writing thing down pat. I don’t. There’s so much to learn, so much practice to put in. There is still so much room for growth in writing and in life.
Writing is a habit. It’s a talent. It also requires practice. Lots of it, otherwise like muscles in your body, the writing muscles will grow stagnant and lazy.
I believe that writing is something that can be taught. Talent is not enough. Practice and perseverance are more important.
I’ve become a lazy writer, especially when it comes to my fiction. It’s taken a lot to actually admit this to myself.
It hurts. But sometimes we have to be real with ourselves and forget the fairytales.
The number one thing for me is to become a better writer. Whether that means I produce one book or four in 2020. The number is irrelevant. The key is to produce a body of work that I’m proud to market and hand out to family, friends, colleagues, and strangers to read.
How do you become a better writer?
Read a lot. Write a lot.
That’s the old age advice. But that’s not enough. I read fifty plus books per year. I write around 500,000 words per year between fiction, blogging and personal journaling.
It’s not enough.
The more important thing is to put in practice what we learn. Instead of doing the same thing over and over again, we need to find ways that work.
I’ve stumbled on a fantastic book about writing fantasy novels that can be used to write any other genre also. Step by step. I’m going to not just read it but follow the steps. I’m going to work on creating a book that I’ll happily broadcast to the world. I will also use it to edit/rewrite my current books.
Tricks to Becoming a Better Writer
Read lots of books. Good, bad, fiction and non-fiction. You can learn from them all.
Write a lot. Try out new genres, different techniques.
Analyse your own writing. Focus on dialogue, description, setting, showing vs telling.
Get someone to read your work and give you feedback. Singing praises isn’t going to improve your weaknesses.
Take time to work on your weaknesses. Put in 10-15 each day to practice showing vs telling or dialogue or blurb writing. Practice will make perfect, eventually.
These are just some of the things that will help improve your writing. They are some things that I will focus on this year.
It’s going to be a good year. A productive year.
2020 is setting the foundation for the next decade.
What are your goals for 2020 in writing and life? What steps are you going to take to achieve them?
Do you look back the books you read? Do you remember everything you read? 2019 in Books saw me read a variety of fiction and non-fiction, most of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I’ve always been a voracious reader. I remember days when I would read a book a day. I was young. Romantic. I didn’t yet realise that all the reading was setting me up to be a writer.
I’m not sure when I decided that my dream job would be to write for a living. It must have been when I was a teenager.
My first attempt at a book was in grade 4, I think I was 9 or 10. It was titled The Magic Tree. I remember illustrating it too. I wish I had it but it disappeared somewhere over the years and only remains alive in my memory.
I wrote some short stories for kids when I was twelve or thirteen. I recall typing them up on an electric typewriter at a friend’s house – this was before computers went mainstream.
In my teens it was writing romances and poetry about lost loves.
I wanted to work for secret organisation and be trained to save the world. I mean WTF? Does anyone else do this? LOL!
All these things and more led to me wanting to write books.
I enjoy writing as much as I enjoy reading.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget the books that you read over time. Last year, I got through 70+ books.
If you’re interested in what I thought of all those books, you can connect with me on Goodreads. I rate most of the books I read. I don’t, however, rate a book if I thought it was less than three stars, or a genre I wouldn’t normally read in.
Reviews are subjective and I don’t want to be an asshole.
I’d love to hear about the books you’re reading. Leave a comment below with any recommendations or join me on Goodreads!
2019 in Books
This year I read a lot of non fiction books. Some self help ones, some general ones, a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. The top three that stood out and I highly recommended are:
The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates Before reading this book I knew nothing about Melinda Gates besides the fact that she was the wife of one of the richest guys on the planet, you know the one that created Microsoft. Wink, wink. I did not expect to be blown away by her book. Was it going to be another rich lady pretending to save the world? Yeah, terrible thought I know. The book delves into her philanthropy and the small steps we can all take to empower women and how that empowerment can change the world. Wowsers.
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton This has to be the most amazing fiction book I have read in a long time. It grabbed you right from the start. Great characters and engaging story told from a perspective of a young boy in the 1980s. There’s love, magic and crime. A beautiful book I highly recommend.
In Extremis: The Life & Death of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum Using a combination of stories from friends, colleagues and emails, In Extremis tells the incredible story of Marie Colvin and how she sacrificed her life so she could be the voice of voiceless people. Brave, crazy, courageous, sad and inspiring.
My 2019 in Books
I have over 500 books in my ‘want to read’ pile on Goodreads. That’s a lot of books. It’s unlikely that I’ll get through all of them in a lifetime as I keep adding to the list quite regularly. But I’m going to give it my best shot.
Without further ado, here are the books I enjoyed in 2019.
What books did you read in 2019? Which were your favourite?
