Celebrating Survival, Crazy Goals & Joining The Association of #Ghostwriters #amwriting

Today’s post is a teeny catchup for two memes. One celebrates the small things every Friday with Lexa Cain and friends. The other lets us focus on crazy writing goals every third Friday of the month with Misha Gericke.

First, here are my crazy goals:

1. Ghostwrite more shorts/novella/ scenes, for cash.
2. Write more erotic romantic suspense to publish under a pseudonym. Choose a pseudonym.
3. Revisit Finding Luna during the Summer 2015 and see how I feel about it.
4. Be creative and see where it leads me.

Progress:

1. I’ve been accepted into The Association of Ghostwriters! Very proud and excited about where this might lead. I’ve also been supplying my regular client with a novella a month.  🙂
2. Having set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a blog for my romance author pseudonym, I’m preparing three stories to publish between September-December. If you enjoy erotic romance and would like to be my beta reader, please get in touch ASAP: shahwharton@gmail.com
3. Thinking about this still makes me squirm 🙁
4. Too much else going on right now. I think my working life requires all the creativity I have.

And what am I celebrating?

1. In spite of my social phobia, I survived my little sister’s HEN weekend in Portugal, where I’m the oldest by over a decade! Here are some of the pictures for those who didn’t see them on Facebook.

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Ignoring some drama I can’t go into, I can tell you that at the end of the first night (dressed as a Smurfette) my social phobia led me to have two panic attacks separated by around an hour. The last one, while trying to fight breathlessness, a very drunk man tried to help me, but ended up falling onto me and smacking me full in the face–knocking me out cold! I still have a scar on my inner lip and a very sore leg! The following day, my chin was black (you can just about see it on some photos). Thank heaven for makeup.

But, like I said, I survived. Hurrah!

It’s also The Hen’s birthday today, so happy birthday Laura! 🙂

1. As stated above, I’m also chuffed to be a member of the Association of Ghostwriters!

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The Association of Ghostwriters is the leading professional organization for ghostwriters of books, articles, speeches, blogs and social media content. Members are experienced ghostwriters dedicated to providing high-quality content.

The Association of Ghostwriters offers a wide range of benefits designed to help ghostwriters improve their craft and find profitable projects. These include monthly teleseminars with industry leaders, a job bank, networking opportunities, and timely market information (for a complete list of member benefits please visit our Why Join? page).

Founded by veteran ghostwriter Marcia Layton Turner, the association’s executive director, the Association of Ghostwriters leverages her years of experience and contacts in the industry to help other writers explore and add this niche to their repertoire. Turner has authored, co-authored or ghosted more than 20 non-fiction books in the last 15 years, earning between $20,000 and $100,000 for her services.

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1. A friend and I set up this brand new Facebook page and group/community, which represent a community of authors and artists interested in using their work to raise mental health awareness. Both complement the mental health meme I already run here on this blog – Mental Muse.

As both are new, I would REALLY appreciate it if you could share them around a bit, or introduce/mention them to anyone you feel might benefit. My hope is for both to be places where creative individuals work together to build resources and create a library of great books for all to share. And where readers can pick up a story which will also teach them about the realities of mental illness as well as entertain. Or where folks might learn about and pick up a non-fiction book about mental illness, written by an author who experiences them.

It’s also my brother’s birthday, who died by his own hand 2004; a reminder that mental illness untreated is potentially lethal.

How are you doing on your crazy goals? And what are you celebrating this week? Let us know, below!