Anna Aden Writes

Current novel-in-progress Still writing and not much progress to give but I hope things get quicker. I'm still in the first half of ACT TWO, which is the middle. So basically about 35% of the book is written, and I still have 65% to go. So I'm working steadily toward that.  Other hobbies  I've started doing graphics again and hopefully will be about to design my own covers. I went on a course a year ago but forgot everything since I didn't have time practice and was still writing the book, and you can see above the book is still only 35% into the next draft.  However I attended a few writerly conferences and was inspired about book covers and the amount of effort that when into them. I've always wanted my covers to look attractive and show what the books were about but I realised they also needed to be a marketing tool. I mean I knew that but hearing it said over and over again by different publishing industry people made it drive home.  I love courses and found ...

Dear Everyone, So what first? I hope everyone is well and keeping safe and healthy. We are entering a new lockdown but since working from home, life has been restrictive so it doesn't have much of an impact apart from the clothes shops and non-essential shops have closed. However business owners have been more innovative this time.  So restaurants apart from the larger brands and chains have taken to stacking up chairs and tables giving a takeaway service. Some places like stationary shops are open - probably due to courier services etc. Like what is really unessential and who gets to define.  Konditor was open but seemed to be lots of business with pre-orders especially mince pies, they had stacks of orders on the counters.  However the streets are deserted but that could equally to do with the cold weather. It was freezing.  Current novel-in-progress in Focus I've written about five pages not sure how many words since I use long hand, that's right, I hand write som...

Hello everyone, I hope everyone is well and keeping safe and taking care in these times. I'm still working from home and it's been hard. But not as hard as things happening around the globe in terms of people losing their lives, families and livelihood. Then there has been all the civil unrest, protests and general mayhem.  It's been tough for everyone. It's been difficult to think about what to write about. For me' life has generally just being staying at home, working from home. There has been limited movements so that has been a huge adjustment. I've visited Big Momma, regularly. And seen Sis - great news on that side is that Sis now has Baby. Novels-in-progress update  I have ten novels in the pipeline, and I'm rather sheepish about it because I thought my current novel-in-progress would be published by now. It was supposed to be released in Feb 2019 and is nearly a year and a half ago. I'm still in the writing it, so not sure when. However I other b...

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a good time, I saw the 2020 watching the London Fireworks and digitally with family! With 2019 behind us and lessons learnt, we move forward to 2020 and a new decade unless you use another type of calendar and believe me there are loads around!  So with celebrations we move into the New Year. My 2020 Goals This time I'm just going to focus on three top goals though there is plenty I want to do. Normally I overwhelm myself with about ten but I think streamlining is the way forward for this year. 1. Complete my novel-in-progress fit for publication This is carried over from 2019, and I'm committed to finishing it in May but it's something I want to complete this year. If you have been following my blog, you'll also know I've done a few workshops and courses. The last one was the Faber Edit Your Course where I got a reader's report with some comments.  2. Fitness and Weight loss This comes up every s...

I'm reviewing goals posted on the blog nearly a year ago just to see how far I've come. I also did a quarter one review if you are interested see it here https://dabwrites.blogspot.com/2019/03/2019-goals-quarter-1-january-march.html But these were the goals I posted on the 6th of January. https://dabwrites.blogspot.com/2019/01/16-daily-writing-journal-short-2018.html 2019 GOALS 1. Get a new role - this is urgent and top priority  I got my role so that is one I cross off. 2. Publish Leyton and Angelica's story This is still outstanding and if you've followed my editing journey, you'll know it's been a very rocky road. 3. Do at least three CPD - for career development - I was a bit lax last year because my employer supplied them.  These are Continuous Professional Development which I need to keep up my skills. I probably have but not in formal way like going to for courses and things. 4. Romance? Maybe. We'll see. I had one in 2...

Goal:  Complete all 260 drawings in How to Draw Anything by Mark Linley Start date: 28th April 2019  Completion Date:  19th May 2019 Background:  This is just based on me always borrowing or buying drawing books and never actually going past a few pages. https://dabwrites.blogspot.com/2019/04/guilt-free-planning-finished-manga.html Reflection and review of goal What went well. I got over the boring bits, and I continued. I always focused on the end, and even though my own drawings never looked close to the one in the book, or Mark Linley's drawings, I just kept on! What didn't go well. Typically nothing changed from my last drawing project. I was very self-critical, even feeling guilty that I wasn't trying to make my drawings look like the ones in the book. I keep on having the nagging feeling to go back and redraw until I reached perfection, or at least near enough. It always felt it wasn't good enough but I had to push through this to complete t...

Goal: was to complete all the 131 drawings in this book, and I finally finished all the drawings in the  'How to Draw Manage in Simple Steps by Yishan Li. It got complicated towards the end, and I got a bit bored but I pushed through.  Below are my copies of the final illustrations. Start Date:  9th March 2019   Completion Date:  27 April 2019 Background: I love picking up instructional books, there is something empowering about them and I feel my life would change but more often than not it's just a 'pick me up' to be tossed in the corner and never used again (if I bought a copy), or returned to the library - unused. But having discovered an article called a guilt-free plan, I decided to start small and use this book to see.  https://dabwrites.blogspot.com/2019/03/daily-writing-journal-guilt-free.html  I put in all this post, including a plan. Reflect and review of goal What went well. Once I'd outline a plan I felt committed to doi...

Nothing interesting this week as work has been very busy and by the time I get back all I want to do is have dinner, unwind and then go to bed. Travel is back to normal I'm back on my normal bus route, so it's cheaper now and less eventful. I just posted Liverpool street as an image. Mastery by Robert Green This is another book,I picked up from Director Boss while he was sorting out his cupboard, and I borrowed it. So I'm going to work my way through it, to be honest I'm unconvinced. It gives the same old self-help power rhotic but hey, who am I to turn down an offer to be a MASTER? Apparently it gives all the secrets away and helps in the pursuit of mastery. That is a tall order for any book to offer. However since I'm not buying it and can borrow it for free, I'll read it. It only costs my time. However note I do have a health amount of scepticism reading these types of books.  However what really irritates me about these books is that everyone ...

This is a review of goals/resolutions I set in January in the below blog post.  t https://dabwrites.blogspot.com/2019/01/16-daily-writing-journal-short-2018.html  and basically I'm just going to write under my reviews under the headings. For some reason, I only listed 9. 2019 GOALS Quarter 1 January-March Review. 1. Get a new role - this is urgent and top priority Achieved  I was on a contract and it came to an end. It took me sometime because I was wrapping up in my old role, then I fell ill, (you can check out those blog posts). It was hectic but I had strong support around me so it worked out well. I was hoping my contract would be extended but it wasn't as I really liked where I worked so it was tough but I got there in the end. I was blessed to get a new role! 2 Publish Leyton and Angelica's story The editing is currently in process - check out my Sunday posts, I probably have to do a better schedule. I hope to publish in the late Summer, early fall. ...