Accountability is a huge factor in success. As someone who dreams of living a location independent lifestyle I need to start being more accountable for my goals. My dream has always been to be an author who can make a comfortable living from writing novels. But unless you’re Stephen King or Nora Roberts or even Joanna Penn or Nick Stephenson, well, it’s not as simple as just writing a book and putting it out on Amazon. A writing business, is a business, and like any business it takes time, energy, perseverance and dedication to get off the ground. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it will happen.

The online world is quite transparent. Writers, especially indies, bloggers and freelancers, often share details of their progress with income and sales. I plan on doing the same. Although I’ve been writing for two decades, I am only beginning to treat writing as a career. I want to share my progress with those who are interested. I will be posting monthly updates on my progress including goals, achievements, and income.

I’ve been working up to this post for the week. It’s not because I’ve failed to achieve the goals I set for myself, it’s that I did in fact achieve 95% of them. The only one I stumbled on was contacting 15 book reviewers, I only contacted five. Now I’m worried that I’ve set the bar too high for myself and September will become a let down. Fingers crossed I can continue with my output.

I’m giving myself a pat on the back for August. I set high goals so that even if I don’t tick them all off, there’s quite a bit that I get done. Here’s a quick August recap:

• Regular coaching with Gina – done!
• Apply for 20 freelance jobs – done!
• Complete draft of book 2 – done!
• Interview 5 authors – done!
• Read 5 books – done! (all fiction and I read 6 – reviews to come soon)
• Contact 15 book reviewers – I contacted 5 and 1 got in contact with me.
• Run a Goodreads Giveaway – over 400 people added my book to their ‘to read’ shelf and over 900 entered the giveaway.
• Run a free promotion on Amazon – 2 days and 180 books downloaded. I only advertised on my personal Facebook page and Twitter account. Next time I’m going all out.

CHEERS TO SEPTEMBER!

So what’s up with September. It’s a busy month for me. It’s Father’s Day here in Australia, then it’s my husband and mine first wedding anniversary and eight years together to the day, hubby’s birthday and our lease expires so we’re moving back in with the parents while we start building our new home. It’s going to an interesting time that’s for sure.

September Goals

• Send 100 pitches. That’s five times the amount as last month. I like a challenge. It’s definitely doable. Three and a bit a day, although I’m going to aim for more on the weekends.
• Connect with people I know and ask them if they need a writer/blogger/va for their business or website/blog
• Contact 15 reviewers
• Finish writing draft of book 3 (yes, I’m giving myself a huge challenge), it’s day 5 and I’m 15% into it already.
• Interview two authors
• Improve my websites home page
• Start a series of blog posts on novel writing 
• Read 2 non-fiction books (research!) and 3 fiction books (I’m currently reading The Girl in the Spider’s Web).

How are you going with your goals?

Does your business or website need a writer? Check out my Hire Me page for more information or contact me at kasiajradzka@gmail.com.

Have you read Lethal Disposal yet? It’s currently available on Kindle for only 99cents (US$).