Tag Archives: Alayne Kay Christian

Alayne Kay Christian: Goal-Buster Extraodinaire

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jeremys first day at soccer made a goal 9_7‑13

If you haven’t already done it, go and rip the month of January from your calendar!

That right…one month over and gone! Hard to believe…and January was one of the long ones.

Many of us make resolutions or do goal-setting at the beginning of every year – but often, after a couple of weeks, life gets in the way and those resolutions fall by the wayside and those goals remain unreached.

That’s why I’m so very excited to have Alayne Kay Christian here today as my guest for Goal Busters.

 ALAYNE headshot

I met Alayne through our common interest in writing for children – you will find her in just about every kid lit writing challenge out there – many times as an ‘expert witness’ so to speak. She’s an award-winning children’s author, life coach, founder of Sub Six, does awesome professional manuscript critiques (I can vouch for that) and so much more – scroll down to the end of the post to read her bio and find out how to connect with this amazing lady.

Welcome, Alayne! I’m thrilled to have you here today.

Thank you, Vivian, for inviting me to be a goal buster. I have decided to only share some of my bigger goals for 2014. If I shared all my goals, this post would become a total bore. I love goals that provide their own rewards. So, when it comes to rewards, you will notice that in most cases my rewards come from Continue reading →

Are You Taking Santa’s Advice? Time Management Tip #1

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Jeremy with santa

It’s the end of the year. So much to do and so little time to do it.

In the oft-heard jingle, ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, Santa is MAKING A LIST and CHECKING IT TWICE.

One of the most important time-management tools is a list. Every day. Of what you need to accomplish.

Without the list, you will probably waste a lot of TIME, trying to remember what needs to be done.

Without the list, you will surely get distracted by other tasks.

There are several types of lists you can use:

  1. Daily to-do
  2. Long-term projects
  3. Yearly or life-time goals

On my daily to-do list, I put an asterisk next to the items that are MOST IMPORTANT and I try to do these first. I also have a small section of the daily to-do list that itemizes what I need at the store…this part of the list can carry over to the next day. I try to go shopping only once or twice a week. That saves time and money!

jeremy in front of tree

What’s on my to-do list today?

  • Finish reading the entries to Susanna Leonard’s Holiday Writing Contest (over 100 submissions (you can read my entry here) – don’t forget to come back on Monday for the link to VOTE for the winner!crashing sleigh
  • Read Marcie Atkins post, We’re All In This Together (WAITT) – I’ve been participating in her blog feature this year and today’s post is a wrap-up of our 2013 accomplishments.
  • Send out Christmas cards and mail out a couple of copies of Show Me How…ON SALE for $24.99 on AMAZON.
  • Work on revising the manuscript I just got back from author and life coach Alayne Christian. I won a professional in-depth critique from her because of my participation in Sub Six and I know that with the suggestions she has made, this will be a powerful story to resubmit to a publishing house that was interested in it. I also gave it to both of my critique groups and will incorporate their feedback as well.
  • Straighten up the house – we had company yesterday – our son from Chicago had to be in Boston for business and come to spend the day – he got to play with his nephew, 5-year old Jeremy.Jeremy and Uncle Peter -bedtime story

What’s on your list today?

Monday Writing Magic – Building Relationships Within the Kid Lit Community

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Monday Writing Magic: Building Relationsips Within the Kid Lit Community

Writing can be one of the most solitary occupations. Many writers carve out time from busy schedules that often include family and job responsibilities. Setting the alarm early or staying up after everyone else is in dreamland are two ways to find ‘quiet’ time.

Even though most of us need to be ‘alone’ when we are creating, it is really important to be part of a community that can encourage, inspire and motivate…one that can provide needed resources and feedback. Two years ago, when I began blogging, I discovered a whole new world of incredible kid lit people like Continue reading →