The shootings this past week have saddened me. What is going on with our country? What happened to the country I remember after 9/11? We leaned on each other after nearly 3,000 of our fellow Americans died that day.
My bachelor’s degree is in criminal justice and journalism so before I make any kind of statements I read as much as I can about what is going on — although at times the media dwells on it too much. I only want the facts. I don’t need all of the other stuff.
With that said, I have no words for what has happened this week other than I feel like I am dreaming about the craziness that is happening.
I keep hoping I’ll wake up, and this won’t be happening.
But it is.
I’ve never had a gun of any kind in my house since I moved the kids and me back to my hometown in 2003, but with the ways things are going, I may not have a choice. I’ll have to learn to shoot some kind of handgun to protect myself.
Last week I updated and shared my new writing goals. It never fails. The minute I get excited about the way things are going something gets shot down.
Sure enough my one and only small freelance gig has been paused indefinitely. The client has no idea when or if it will start again.
Needless to say, I’m searching for new gigs as I have been, but harder than ever. I’m even going back to using Fiverr to help out, but who knows if anything will happen there.
I am that desperate. It’s no fun living paycheck to paycheck or sometimes barely covering your bills.
But I will survive somehow some way. I have not come the last 13 1/2 years for nothing. Someday my success will happen. Hopefully sooner, rather than later.
Top links of the week
1. 5 Steps for Setting Writing Goals You’ll Actually Keep
Last week I shared my updated writing goals with you. As I mentioned above, one of them has already changed again.
My writing goals are always changing it seems, and I don’t stick with them the way I should. So, this article caught my eye.
I don’t look at them enough. I don’t have them in a visible place either.
I need to set more specific goals as well by using the SMART goals method. I have read about this before, but seeing it again makes me realize how important this is.
2. 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t be Bashful About Selling Your Own Products
Michael Hyatt is someone I started following after I started learning from Jeff Goins. Jeff had mentioned Michael, and I agree that Michael has some good information, as this article does.
When Michael begins the article saying “Anyone interested?” it made me think of myself. I don’t always have the self-confidence I need because I’m so used to being told no or things failing and not going the way I had hoped.
Michael offers some great suggestions on how to not feel this way, and I hope to put them to good use.
3. These are the Reasons Most Authors Fail at Book Marketing
Marketing my books is something I struggle with, and part of my problem is making the time do it. It’s not my favorite part about publishing a book, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Back in February, Rachel Thompson did a 30-day Marketing Challenge. Each day she emailed us about a tip on how to market our books, and I think every day I learned at least one new thing.
I kept all of her emails because I had trouble keeping up each day. I made it through half of the month working on the daily challenges a couple of Sundays.
Rachel does a #bookmarketingchat on Twitter each Wednesday so I try to catch those. We have no reason to fail at this with all of this help she offers us.
How was your week? I’m hoping this next week will be a better one for me!