March Drought, April Showers

So, I'm a nerd. I was trying to remember the opening line of The Caterbury Tales (in the original Middle English). I found it, and it wasn't as I remembered - "Whan that April with his showres soote

The droughte of March hath perced to the roote." But it actually works out better for what I want to say.

I didn't get a whole lot done in March. Again. More on that in a minute. But, as March draws to a close, I'm feeling a little trickle of inspiration coming back. I wrote a story last weekend. Not only that, I had initially sat down with the idea it was gonna be a 500-1000 word flash piece. It now stands at just over 3300 words. (Wanna read it? Contact me on social media, or through this website and ask to be part of my beta reader group. I'll be workshopping it soon.) I also submitted to two publications this month, which isn't a lot, but is more than I did in February.

So, how did I meet my goals?

Submissions:

My goal was to submit three pieces for publication. I almost did that. In fact, I kind of did that. I did actually submit to three different publications... but one of them I had to withdraw. They don't accept simultaneous submissions and after I submitted, I was informed by another publication that I had thought hadn’t accepted the same piece that they had extended their reading period and my story was still under consideration there. So... yay?

Social Media Following:

My goals for March were to bring the following platforms up to:

-Facebook - from 99 to 100 likes. (Oooh, aaah...)

-Actual increase: 101! Yay, I finally broke 100! (Increase of 2%.)

-LinkedIn - from 72 to 76 connections.

Actual increase: 77! (Increase of almost 7%)

-Twitter - from 36 to 50 followers.

Actual increase: 43. (Increase of 19%)

Goals for April:

Submission:

Ok, for real this time - three submissions. I mean it.

Platform:

-Facebook: My growth has slowed way down, so I will aim to continue a 1% increase each month, at least until I can figure out a better way to draw in more people there.

Goal: from 101 to 102.

-LinkedIn:

Goal: break 80, an increase of approximately 5%.

Twitter - My growth in February was huge, an increase of 57%. In March, while it wasn't that drastic, it was still hefty at almost 20%. Granted, I know I can't sustain that kind of growth, so I'm not going to set my goal so high as to be disappointed.

Goal: from 43 to 47-49, an increase of 10-15%

New goal!

As of April fourth I will be rejoining my writing critique group. I haven't been since Elianna was born - baby + pandemic = not the best time for writing groups.


Want to help me meet my goals? Here's how you can help! Make sure to like, share, and especially to follow me on social media! Comments are particularly helpful for feeding the algorithm gods.

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