Oh, really? Ha! I'm so not a techie. Yes, let's do that. Do you want to set it up since I'm such a newb? :D

Sandhya, I jsut saw that we can set up a virtual room with a password so we don't need emails. Why don't we do that to keep things easy?

Okay, I set up a room! Do you guys want to message me your email addresses so I can send you an invite?

Farzana, what kind of contract work do you do? And what's the YA series about (I looove YA fiction). I don't think She Writes has a private chat (at least I don't see that capability in the chat window). I just found this site: http://www.chatzy.com/ that comes recommended as a place to set up private chat. We'd just need one person to set up the room and send out invites via email.

Hi Farzana, I corrected my post - yes, I totally goofed! I meant April 5th. :D

I think it's very cool that you're trying to find your own niche. I have a friend who wrote flash fiction for years, and never realized that there was an actual genre called "flash fiction"! :) It's nice when you write the piece that satisfies you, and you know you've found your place (or places, as the case may be!). In my case, I know I'm definitely not a romance or sci-fi writer, and I'm awful at poetry!

I'm so interested to learn more about your ventures. Do you know what kind of children's book you want to write? I'm always looking for books for my two- and three-year-old, especially those by new authors.

I know what you guys mean about being busy... I'm married and have two toddlers of my own. But I'm lucky enough to have a nanny for three hours a day, and my husband takes the kids whenever I ask him to (and quite a few times when I don't!). I also go to a writing group, which is a great motivator because we meet every Wednesday evening and read something that we've written.

I don't have Skype, but I love the idea of a weekly chat set-up! I wonder if SheWrites has a private chat option... anyone know?

 

 

OOPS!!! I meant APRIL 5th. Thanks, Farzana! :)

Farzana, I know what you mean about not having the time to work on writing--I'm married with one toddler, a full time job, am studying for the GRE, writing a piece for grad school submissions and doing projects to help my family. Whew! Luckily, my little one goes to bed at 7, so I take the three hours between that and 10 to work on my stuff, plus my husband takes her Thursday night and Saturday all day. Is there any possibility of your spouse working something like that out?

 

What kind of fellowship are you getting? 

By the way, I found a great program that is going to help me organize my writing. Have you guys heard of Scrivener? Maybe I'm behind the curve here, but this program looks AMAZING. You can organize your plots, characters and actual manuscript all in one spot. You have a difference document for each story--and it has formats for short stories, novels, non fiction pieces...definitely check it out if you don't have it yet. 

 

I'm not sure on Skype either--I know you can have a gchat (through gmail) with multiple people. Would this be an option? Some kind of online meeting or phone call would be great.

Wow! Sandhya! i love your goals!  you mentioned two weeks for your goals and may 5th as the end date which is almost a month and a half away.  did you mean april 5th?

i love that you write different genres.  I am trying to find my own genre.  right now I a have chick lit type novel going, and I have several other story ideas that I have written down but need to flesh out.  i recently sent out two short stories and an essay.  My goals are to: continue working on my novel and finish the first draft before I start fellowship June 20th, finish my research and start writing my children's book, have an outline for a YA book/series that I had some ideas for,  and in the immediate two weeks, write a nonfiction article for submission to Prevention magazine. 

my biggest hurdles are my time management skills.  right now i am working as a contractor which means I work off and on, here and there.  I'm also married and have two kids.  sometimes I am haunted by the fears of starting fellowship in June and not being able to manage writing with everything and I am afraid I will not be able to continue while I am doing that. that's why having this group is so great - motivation is so key! 

what do you think about setting up a chat time or a weekly "check up" to see how the goals are going? i would suggest skype but don't know if you can call multiple people - sometimes talking in person is a better motivator than just an email even here.  i'd like to know more about the challenges others are facing writing and how they are overcoming them and what people are writing.

Michelle,

I'm writing in a variety of genres - don't know why, but I've always been like that, lol. Let's see... my novel is chick-lit, novel #2 for which I'm plotting out scenes is going to be a psychological thriller, my novella is horror, and the novella I'll send out this week is romance! :D My short stories are mainstream, but they tend towards the darker side - so, I guess mainstream with strong psychological elements. Thanks for asking!

What about you?

What a great idea.   What are you writing?