Happy 2019!
Greetings,
I hope you guys have had as enjoyable a season as I have. A few years ago, my dad was given a Macbook and never used the PC laptop that my mom bought him. Knowing that I needed a new laptop, my mom had it checked and gave it to me. It's a decent temporary fix until I find the right computer. Especially with one of my Christmas gifts... a Wifi router. Finally, I can lounge on my couch and work! No longer will guests tease me for not having Wifi in my apartment...enough about me.
If you've been following Liz and my Medium page, We're Still Cool, you'll have noticed a change in layout and design there. That's just the first part in our plan to turn our publication into a more professional space. Our next step is two-fold:
1/ Increase subscribers/followers
2/ Begin recruiting people to write pieces for us.
Increasing followers is partially on me. I need to be a more active person on Medium, and by being more active I hope to draw more attention to our page. So far, most of the heavy lifting on Medium has been done by Liz. I doubt that I can commit to as much work on that end as Liz, but I can definitely narrow the gap a bit.
As far as recruiting writers, I could easily reach out to writers that I know, but I don't want our page to become packed with literary writing. That stuff gets boring. I want real people with real experiences to occasionally, or just once, share cool stories from their life, work, or something they just heard. I want opinions different than mine and Liz's that are well-thought and eye opening. I want everyone that I know who has something to say on lifestyle, entertainment and creative fields to at least send us something. It might get rejected, or edits may be requested, but so what? The pay on Medium is minuscule until you build a readership, if by banding together with others, We're Still Cool can help writers to build that base I will feel pretty happy about what we're doing.
Hopefully, then we can take the next step with the publication, allowing me to write less, primarily edit contributors, while fading a bit into the background and working towards some of our other goals, like producing a podcast and bigger publication/media dreams.
Our hope is for We're Still Cool to become a hub for creative non-fiction writers everywhere who have a slightly mature perspective of the world. That said, I want new voices. Voices that feel intimidated by traditional spaces to know that if it's good, we're willing to consider their writing. And if we don't see a fit, they at least discover Medium and publish their work on the platform.
As far as personal goals, By February, I hope to be offering editing services via Fiverr. I'll probably only offer to edit poetry, but eventually, I want to provide multiple services.
Allegedly, I have my own imprint with a very small press. However, we've never published anything. I want to begin working on our first project. The publisher and I still haven't agreed on the name of my imprint, but I'm pretty confident that we can start on my imprint's first project this Winter.
A goal for the imprint is to publish diverse books that have the potential to be best selling. Personally, I want to be on the path to becoming a best-selling publisher, editor and author by years' end. The last being the most difficult.
I haven't had the time to dedicate to my writing in over a year. My next poetry collection is completed, but I've only shared it with 3 or 4 publishers-- not enough to find a home for it. I've been shown interest by 2 publishers for young adult novels, but I haven't had the time to write a draft of a book that would be worth sharing to either-- despite having ideas for 2 YA novels. I have an in at a well respected medium size press that I believe would take my novel idea seriously, but I haven't had the time to start writing one of my two adult novels, or my next novella. Therefore, by Fall of 2019, I plan to create that time. Writing multiple books at the same time is horrible. I can only imagine how bad it's going to be editing and writing at the same time, but I feel like I have little choice.
By Spring, the anthology I'm editing for Guernica Editions will be delivered. Once that is completed, learning to balance editing, writing for our Medium page, and everything else is going to become more of a priority.
Wishing all of you the best,
Peace and respect
I hope you guys have had as enjoyable a season as I have. A few years ago, my dad was given a Macbook and never used the PC laptop that my mom bought him. Knowing that I needed a new laptop, my mom had it checked and gave it to me. It's a decent temporary fix until I find the right computer. Especially with one of my Christmas gifts... a Wifi router. Finally, I can lounge on my couch and work! No longer will guests tease me for not having Wifi in my apartment...enough about me.
If you've been following Liz and my Medium page, We're Still Cool, you'll have noticed a change in layout and design there. That's just the first part in our plan to turn our publication into a more professional space. Our next step is two-fold:
1/ Increase subscribers/followers
2/ Begin recruiting people to write pieces for us.
Increasing followers is partially on me. I need to be a more active person on Medium, and by being more active I hope to draw more attention to our page. So far, most of the heavy lifting on Medium has been done by Liz. I doubt that I can commit to as much work on that end as Liz, but I can definitely narrow the gap a bit.
As far as recruiting writers, I could easily reach out to writers that I know, but I don't want our page to become packed with literary writing. That stuff gets boring. I want real people with real experiences to occasionally, or just once, share cool stories from their life, work, or something they just heard. I want opinions different than mine and Liz's that are well-thought and eye opening. I want everyone that I know who has something to say on lifestyle, entertainment and creative fields to at least send us something. It might get rejected, or edits may be requested, but so what? The pay on Medium is minuscule until you build a readership, if by banding together with others, We're Still Cool can help writers to build that base I will feel pretty happy about what we're doing.
Hopefully, then we can take the next step with the publication, allowing me to write less, primarily edit contributors, while fading a bit into the background and working towards some of our other goals, like producing a podcast and bigger publication/media dreams.
Our hope is for We're Still Cool to become a hub for creative non-fiction writers everywhere who have a slightly mature perspective of the world. That said, I want new voices. Voices that feel intimidated by traditional spaces to know that if it's good, we're willing to consider their writing. And if we don't see a fit, they at least discover Medium and publish their work on the platform.
As far as personal goals, By February, I hope to be offering editing services via Fiverr. I'll probably only offer to edit poetry, but eventually, I want to provide multiple services.
Allegedly, I have my own imprint with a very small press. However, we've never published anything. I want to begin working on our first project. The publisher and I still haven't agreed on the name of my imprint, but I'm pretty confident that we can start on my imprint's first project this Winter.
A goal for the imprint is to publish diverse books that have the potential to be best selling. Personally, I want to be on the path to becoming a best-selling publisher, editor and author by years' end. The last being the most difficult.
I haven't had the time to dedicate to my writing in over a year. My next poetry collection is completed, but I've only shared it with 3 or 4 publishers-- not enough to find a home for it. I've been shown interest by 2 publishers for young adult novels, but I haven't had the time to write a draft of a book that would be worth sharing to either-- despite having ideas for 2 YA novels. I have an in at a well respected medium size press that I believe would take my novel idea seriously, but I haven't had the time to start writing one of my two adult novels, or my next novella. Therefore, by Fall of 2019, I plan to create that time. Writing multiple books at the same time is horrible. I can only imagine how bad it's going to be editing and writing at the same time, but I feel like I have little choice.
By Spring, the anthology I'm editing for Guernica Editions will be delivered. Once that is completed, learning to balance editing, writing for our Medium page, and everything else is going to become more of a priority.
Wishing all of you the best,
Peace and respect
