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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

My reading and writing goals for 2021

11/1/2021

12 Comments

 
Did you ever get the feeling 2021 might not happen? We’d somehow be stuck in a 2020 Groundhog Day? Or were you the opposite, confident a new diary would create this worn-out world anew? Well, here we are, with some things as bad as ever – or worse: in the UK, with the new variant, hospital admissions are higher than during the first lockdown – but with the promise of life edging towards normal sometime this year.
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Meanwhile, we plod on, making the best of what freedom we have. For those of us who live primarily in our heads, the pandemic is no excuse to shirk. So, on the reasonable assumption I’ll survive to implement them, here are my goals and plans for the coming year.
Reading
 
Although I read fewer pages than normal last year, I easily cleared my goal of 100 books. I’ll keep the same objective for 2021, but try harder to meet my target of 25% BAME authors. As usual, I’ll also make sure to read a fair number of female authors in translation, but won’t pin myself down to a specific number. But one new goal for this year is to reread at least one novel a month. Having got a lot of pleasure from reading The Corrections for the third time over Christmas – I’ve written the review but saving it for next December to chime with the (not) jolly Christmas theme – I decided to give myself permission to revisit well-loved books!


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Click the image for a review of 2020's reading and writing.
Blogging
 
I’ll continue to review most of the books I read and post them here, along with compilation posts elsewhere, such as Lockdown Literature at the Ranch, and a couple upcoming on my publisher’s blog. But I’ve noticed a decline in my blog engagement in the last few years, and I’ve steadily decreased my frequency of posting from an all-time high of 152 in 2015 to 102 in 2019 to 87 last year. But I want to reduce the time I commit to blogging even further, perhaps with around five posts a month. It will continue as a place for reviews, 99-word stories and, if I can’t rein myself in, rants about government incompetence.
 
Newsletter
 
I intend to transfer that time and effort from blogging into my newsletter. For the last few years, I’ve read several articles extolling the newsletter as the author’s prime promotion tool, but I haven’t always used mine to best effect. At the end of last year, partly inspired by an online course, I switched platforms to one that enables automations within the free account and changed the style from a bits-and-pieces magazine to a straightforward narrative (more like a blog post) with a single call, or at a pinch two, to action.
 
Although I was pleased to double my subscriber list last year, with the help of a giveaway e-book Somebody’s Daughter, the actual numbers remain small. I want to gain 100 new subscribers by April and keep them engaged at least until my next novel is published in May.
 
As part of my strategy to entice new readers, I’m offering my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, as a free download to newsletter subscribers during LGBT history month in February. If you haven’t yet done so, you can reserve your copy by clicking on the image. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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My next novel
 
My third novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, deserves to reach more readers than its predecessors managed and, with a small press with a miniscule publicity budget, I’ll be doing most of the legwork. Besides drumming up interest among my newsletter subscribers, I’m hoping for blogger support through guest posts and reviews. With some reluctance I’m resigned to my dependence on Amazon, and will actively encourage readers to leave a review there, aiming for 50 Amazon reviews within a month of publication. (That’s actually more than Sugar and Snails has on Amazon UK five and a half years since publication, although I hope the giveaway will bring a few more.)
 
Events
 
With the way this government is mismanaging the rollout of vaccinations, I can’t count on having a same-room launch party when my book comes out at the end of May. But even if it is safe to congregate indoors, I’ll probably do an online event as well. That’s one gift we’ve got from lockdown, as we’ve all adapted to Zoom. In fact, I have an event pencilled in already with fellow author Mia Farlane whom I met at one of those newfangled webinar thingies last summer.
 
It’s too early to decide whether it’s worth approaching bookshops for signings, but I reckon there’ll be opportunities to do outdoor bookstalls over the summer. I’ll grab every opportunity I can.
 
Other writing
 
I’m much happier writing fiction than publicity plans and newsletters. Unfortunately, I’ve neglected the former while prioritising the latter, and my brain doesn’t switch smoothly between the two. But I’m determined to get back in the groove and finish and edit 100 Candles, my follow-up to Matilda Windsor, by the end of June. Plus, with only five to go and two already in the pipeline, I really ought to reach my century of short story publications.
 
What are your plans and aspirations for 2021? Do you think I’ll meet mine?

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Of course, I’m not the only author blogging about what we are looking to achieve this year. One thing that struck me after reading Charli Mills’ post on visioning (click on the link to read it), is how easy it is to mismanage our pipedreams and highfalutin goals. We can lose the plot as easily from taking our ambitions too seriously as by not taking them seriously enough.
For example, Charli wanted to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, I had my heart set on Jenni Murray from Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio Four. Although I rarely tune in nowadays, I’ve listened to that programme since childhood, as does Diana in Sugar and Snails. Knowing I’d be a rubbish guest – I get ridiculously nervous – I could have stamped on that dream as soon as it raised its head. But I didn’t. But neither did I make the mistake of taking it so literally, no other achievement would do. If I had, I’d be devastated now it’s guaranteed not to happen: Jenni Murray has recently retired. (I am sad, however!)
 
I haven’t yet interrogated that dream to find out what lies behind it, but I suspect it boils down to that old chestnut of being properly seen and heard by my mother. That’s when I have to remind myself how hard I’ve worked to replace that with the aim of being properly seen and heard by myself. Which is about authenticity – almost impossible to measure, so these goals will have to suffice!
 
This leads so neatly into my 99-word story, you’d think I’d planned it! My response to the prompt “butterfly and stone” is about a character afraid of being properly seen and heard, based on Diana in my novel Sugar and Snails.
Petrified
 
At three she was a butterfly. At thirty, a stone. Prancing, dancing, in a stolen tutu, no-one warned her butterflies soon die.

At thirteen, she learnt of other insects, with other-coloured wings. At fifteen, she became one, but found the winds so fierce, she never learnt to fly.

By forty-three, she was settled, merged with solid rock. She recognised her former dreams for what they were: fairy tales, ephemera, lies.

Then came a lepidopterist, brandishing a chisel. When he chipped away her armour, it hurt. She feared it would kill her. Or could a butterfly emerge from a stone?
I’m so pleased with my publisher’s new trailer for Sugar and Snails, I can’t resist showing it off:

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
D. Avery link
11/1/2021 11:19:45 pm

One can only hope that 2021 is an improvement over 2020, but the turning of the calendar is not a magic wand. We are in for a wild ride yet I fear.
I have no doubt that you will meet your goals; you are relentlessly organized and professional with your writing work. If you would like to risk that professionalism, you can have a spot at the Saloon anytime; it can be tailored to meet your needs, ie, the pig can be penned, the goats tied, the characters restrained.
That's a great trailer and I would have recognized your Diana and that summary without the intro. A fine 99.
Find a graph that answers this: What percentage of your short stories grew from 99 word responses?
Take care.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
15/1/2021 03:25:43 pm

Indeed – if we used a different calendar we might not even be in the New Year right now. It is funny how we attribute magical qualities to such arbitrary things. Hopefully things will improve in the US after next week, at least in terms of tackling the virus. I've had a jab this morning – unfortunately it's just for flu and there are plenty of people ahead of me in the queue for the next one!

Thanks for the invitation. Kid and Pal treated Matty very kindly when she got lost at the Saloon last year, so she might be up for a return. Or maybe I should send Diana – she was meant to attend an American conference in 2005 and I don't know whether or not she got there.

No graph, but 5 of the 42 stories in my collection began as 99ers, but they haven't grown a great deal! Off the top of my head, I have a couple of longer stories that began as 99, but that's not so often. Most of my story ideas arrive attached to an approximate length.

Reply
Charli Mills
12/1/2021 05:07:18 am

Anne, your goals are thoughtful, and I appreciate how you understand that there is often a seed behind our biggest dreams that have to do with validation of who we are. I also, and have for many years now, appreciate your authenticity and your agility to change your expression of it over time.

In my MFA program, we've studied and built different platform components, and newsletters remain the top way to connect with readers. I like your format. Who do you imagine as your ideal reader?

Your 99-word story says it all in the two opening lines. A life altered in a few decades, not getting to express who one is.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
15/1/2021 03:40:38 pm

Thanks, Charli. I can lie when I need to but not in fiction!

I'm glad you feel the newsletter is working. It's still early days in this format and I realise I'm quite nervous about how it's received as much by people who know me in other contexts as by those who don't. I've read the stuff on pinning down your ideal reader but don't get very far in identifying mine! Especially as I'm sometimes surprised by people liking myself when I think they won't.

Yes, poor Diana, but she did get halfway towards her authentic self before the book opens and almost there by the end.

Reply
geoff le pard
12/1/2021 08:43:49 am

Of course you'll reach your goals. You're still my inspiration . I'd never have blogged and probably published without you giving me those first nudges. Looking forward to Matilda. I'll do my best to be one of those 50 reviewers.
Interesting about Dame Jenny. I preferred La Garvey, now also gone while Linda preferred The Dame. I wonder how Emma B will get on. I like her on Newsnight. And do you do podcasts and have you tried Fortunately with Garvey and Fi Glover? I think it's great.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
15/1/2021 03:49:17 pm

Thanks, Geoff, but you actually don't need me to inspire you. You remind me of when I was in a running club years ago – we were just fun runners, I must emphasise – and someone new joined who was nervous about whether she'd be able to keep up. I said all the right things about how we'd wait for her etc, and guess what, she soared ahead!

Having said that, you need another nudge about your newsletter, but I won't do that here.

I don't think my crush on Jenni Murray is a direct reflection of her interviewing skills but more that she's part of an institution. Or was. I hardly listen now so Jane Garvey still seems like the new girl and still haven't heard Emma. But I go back to the days of Sue MacGregor.

Reply
Norah Colvin
13/1/2021 10:25:51 am

Wonderful goals, Anne. I have no doubt you will achieve them. I haven't worked mine out yet. Went into the doldrums at the end of last year and haven't had time to look for a light and an exit yet.
Love your flash fiction. It's a wonderful way to tell Diana's (or near) story.
The trailer for Sugar and Snails is great too. Are we sharing it on our blogs on your tour?
I'm looking forward to Matilda and will be pleased to join in with the launch online. I wish you success.
I think you are doing well with your newsletter and other marketing strategies (e.g. popups on your blog).

Reply
Anne Goodwin
15/1/2021 03:59:35 pm

Thanks, Norah. Sorry you went into the doldrums but maybe you need a break. It's hard keeping a one-woman business bright and sparkly week after week.

Yes, please do use the trailer, I think I sent you the link. I'm childishly excited to have my first ever, but it's set the barrier high for Matty. I'm hoping there'll be a voice-over with that.

I was unsure about pop-ups at first. Sometimes they annoy me on sites I visit but I set this one so it doesn't show every time. But I wasted hours trying to figure out how to insert the code from MailerLite my newsletter provider, not realising I could do it really easily from Weebly. A lot of this tech stuff is trial and error – I do enjoy it when I crack it but it can eat a lot of time.

Reply
Norah Colvin
17/1/2021 10:18:17 am

You did send me the link, but I hadn't realised when commenting.
Tech does take time to learn, but once it's learned, it's learned.

Anne Goodwin
17/1/2021 11:00:21 am

That's okay.
And I know how well you've embraced tech.

Goldie link
15/1/2021 06:57:06 pm

<b>It's never to late to transform into something else. You illustrated that perfectly.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
16/1/2021 07:23:58 am

Thank you, Goldie.That's what I hoped.

Reply



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