Life of A Writer

I've been pretty busy the past few days. Actually, I've stayed busy since I completed a project I had on the back burner for a few months. That project was the launch of my new journey to weight loss blog. Since the launch of that blog, I've gained another new client and have been writing articles for that client as well as the clients I had before that one. But that's not all, within the next day or two I'll begin working on another project that's been on the back burner a while, and once I complete it, I'll only have three more projects to finish.

It's amazing how much motivation I gained once I finally completed a project I've been meaning to finish for a while! Marking that project of my back burner to-do list really motivated me to work on another project, so I can finally finish it too. My next project to finish will be the second edition of On the Net Resource Guide for Writers, which is a project I've had on my back burner to-do list the longest. Then, after that project has been completed and released in eBook format, I plan to finish another eBook, as well as my Christian romance novel entitled Fair Catch, and launch one more blog. My other blog will be an inspirational blog that I'm sure many of you Christians will truly enjoy.

Have you ever finished a project you put on hold and gained motivation to finish more? If you haven't, then I encourage you to try it. As I said, it's truly amazing just how much motivation one will gain.

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Because the holiday season is about giving and sharing, I would like to give all you bookworms a special holiday discount on my books. Help From Above is a Christian fiction similar to the well-loved television drama Touched by an Angel, and On the Net Resource Guide for Writers is just what the title says: a resource guide for writers. In fact, reviewers have compared it to Writers Market.

"This book mimics the classic Writer's Market format. Certain contacts are similar, but On the Net does cover a publicity-related niche not found in Writer's Market." — Amy Coffin, The Book Haven.

"Help From Above is powerfully written. This gripping, emotional story presents a realistic glimpse into the sufferings of drug and alcohol abuse. Readers will walk away feeling as though they witnessed a miracle as the ending dramatically closes." — Suzie Housley, MyShelf.

Order as many copies as you want of Help From Above for the special price of $11.65 each (normally $12.95). If you're looking for a great gift for your writer friend, you can order as many copies as you want of On the Net Resource Guide for Writers, also for $11.65 each (normally $12.95). These books make a wonderful holiday gift for adults as well as young adults.

Hurry, this special holiday discount for bookworms will expire on January 3, 2008!

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At the beginning of this week, Jennifer Mattern posted another weekly writing challenge on her blog, and I decided to take part in this one. After all, it's time I re-evaluate my writing goals anyway. With that said, I've been spending way too much time on writing articles and not enough time on the projects that I have had sitting on the back burner for a while now. The following is my new set of writing goals:

1. Write only two articles a night (I'm a night owl writer).
2. Once a week complete at least two chapters in the second edition of On the Net Resource Guide for Writers.
3. Each night write nonstop, for one hour, on the Creating a Successful E-zine e-book.
4. Every other night send two query letters for different articles to editors.
5. Every night check job boards for writing gigs, and reply to only the gigs I'm qualified for.

That should sum it up. However, if I have a client I'm doing a project for, I would have to get that job done first, and then I will go back to my list of writing goals. My clients ALWAYS come first.

At least once a month, I plan to let you know how far I've come with my writing goals. In fact, if I finish any of the books I'm writing, you'll be the first to know. Yes, you're that special to me.

Do you need to re-evaluate your writing goals? On the other hand, maybe you don't have a list of writing goals yet. Either way, I'd like to invite you to take part in Jennifer's writing challenge, and if you happen to post your goals on your blog, comment and let me know; I'd love to read your writing goals, too.

Remember, never give up on your dreams -- work toward them!

PS: For those of you waiting to read the article I mentioned last Monday -- the one for aspiring writers looking for ways to build their portfolio -- good news… it has been published. Therefore, you can read Tips to Jump-Start Your Writing Portfolio when you have a little extra time. Enjoy and don't forget to leave your comments! Oh yes, I sure would appreciate it if you could also rate it, which will only take a few seconds. And by all means, if you know of another writer who may also benefit from the article, feel free to e-mail it to them (click "Email to Friends" at the top of the article).

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I've been working on the second edition of "On the Net Resource Guide for Writers." I'm ready to get this done and published so I can get back to the true passion: romances and inspirational fictions. I'm now checking all the Web sites for dead links so I can remove those resources, if they're no longer on the Web. My next task to tackle will be the dreaded index. I can't express enough how much I despise creating the indexes. However, I am grateful that the biggest parts of the indexes have already been created and all I have to do now is update the page numbers. I believe Microsoft Word makes this process easier, but I'll have to read the help file to remember how it's done.

There's still quite a bit left to do, but if I set my mind to it, I can finish it and then start seeking out the publishers. Of course, once I get to this point, you can be sure I'll probably rant about any rejections that fill my inbox. ;)

In addition to working on "On the Net Resource Guide for Writers," I've also been writing queries for some article ideas. Once I write the query, I search for appropriate markets for that article and submit. I'll be sure to let you know when I get an acceptance, as well as where the article will be published. The articles are for writers and I'm sure many of you writers will find them helpful. Well, at least I hope you do. I can tell you one of them deals with understanding contracts. In fact, this one is educating me each time I do my research. So, not only am I going to teach you, but I'm teaching myself in the process. Yes, some things I already know, but when I do research for things I want to know more about I find new, helpful information. Who knows, I may even end up with more than one article by the time I'm through researching this one. How? Simple, the new information could spark more ideas and the more ideas the more money I earn. Unfortunately, though, most of what I earn goes towards bills. :(

I believe I'll let you get back to what you were doing while I go and curl up next to hubby in bed. Until next time, take care of yourself and God bless.

Never give up on your dreams -- work toward them,

Misti Sandefur

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For the past week, I have been pondering hard about my non-fiction book, "On the Net Resource Guide for Writers." I still plan to publish the second edition, but I am seriously thinking about stopping after this edition, and I'll explain why…

You see, I mainly write -- and enjoy writing -- romance and inspirational fiction. Back when I created and published the very first edition of "On the Net," I wanted to try my hand at something new, and I wanted to help writers by giving them a resource guide to the Internet. Don't get me wrong, I still want to help writers, and I do still help writers through my free e-zine for writers, answering their questions and etc., but I have found that I can't write all these other books I have started due to the amount of work involved in keeping "On the Net," updated. Since I enjoy writing romance and inspirational fiction more than anything, after the second edition of "On the Net," I will be selling all rights to the book. In fact, I'll probably sell all rights to the second edition. Yes, like everything I write, it is copyrighted, but if the right publisher, agent or etc. offers me a reasonable sum for all rights to the book, then I will sell it to them so I can get back to my true passions: romance and inspirational fiction. Not only will they be getting all rights to the book, but I will also hand over all the information I have that I use to create each edition (the resources, contact information, etc.). So, if you're reading this, and you think you would be -- or know someone who might be -- interested in purchasing all rights to this book, then don't hesitate to contact me for information. The first edition has done fairly well, and my e-mail box stays filled with requests from writers anxiously waiting for the arrival of the next, updated edition. Before all rights are sold, I will compose a contract that will have to be signed. This will be done to protect both the buyer and me.

I can hardly wait to get back to writing what I love and enjoy the most, and I'm sure all you writers out there understand where I'm coming from. When I started this project, I thought I could handle an edition every other year, but I soon discovered that between my freelance writing projects, and my other books-in-progress, I just couldn't handle it all. Therefore, I had to make some choices, and I chose the ones that I love best: writing romance, inspirational fiction and freelance writing (articles, television recaps and short fiction stories).

Well, now that I've gotten that off my chest I feel better. I just hope I don't regret it later, but I honestly don't think I will, because, as I have discovered, my forte isn't non-fiction. But hey, we don't know unless we give it a try, right? Happy Easter & God bless!

Never give up on your dreams -- work toward them,

Misti Sandefur
Enter to Win an Autographed Copy of "Help From Above"

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