NaNoWrMo Behind, New Year Ahead

This post by Gayle M. Irwin

I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrMo), which occurs annually in November, … and, I achieved my goal! At the end of the month, I had more than 57,000 words for my pet rescue romance. Granted, I started the project last year so I already had several thousand words, but my goal was to finish the first draft – and I did!

Now that NaNoWrMo is behind, a new year looms on the horizon. What are my writing goals for 2018?

• Edit he novel and publish it for the summer reading season (it’s a romance, so I believe a May/June release will be quite timely – romance and weddings seem to bloom during those months!)
• Market my writing better. I attended a writer’s workshop in Cheyenne the latter part of October, and was totally inspired by speakers who talked about social media marketing for writers and business strategic planning for authors. I’m already working on marketing my dog devotion books for the Lenten/Easter season.
• Write more magazine articles. I have a good relationship with a Wyoming magazine (that’s been through 3 editors in a year!) and I’ve asked for more assignments … and received them. There’s good pay in magazines.
• Guest blog on pet sites. I’ve reached out to a few and look forward to expanding my writing reach in my niche.
• Become an affiliate for pet products. I’m gearing up to become an Amazon affiliate, as well as an affiliate for a well-respected dog training program. Something new to me, but hopefully will expand my stream of online income.   

I’m excited to have completed the first draft of my first-time novel, and as I start the editing  process and learn more about marketing my work, I hope to not only increase book sales, but also educate people about pet rescue groups while simultaneously growing my writing income.

How about you? Did you take part in NaNoWrMo? What are your writing goals for 2018?

Whatever your hopes, plans, goals, and dreams, remember there are tales to be told! May you enjoy a blessed holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

Gayle M. Irwin is an award-winning author and freelance writer. She enjoys sharing lessons people can learn from pets as well as educating others on the importance and joy of pet adoption. In addition to her own inspirational pet books for children and adults, she is a contributor to seven Chicken Soup for the Soul books. One of her short stories appears in Sundown's Memories from Maple Street USA: Pawprints on My Heart. She regularly writes for WREN (Wyoming Rural Electric News) magazine and Colorado's Prairie Times. A portion of her book sales are donated to pet rescue organizations. Learn more about Gayle at her website and sign up for her free monthly pet newsletter. You can also follow her blog, also found on her website. www.gaylemirwin.com

Special Spaces

This post by Gayle M. Irwin

I’m a woodswoman. A few decades ago, I read a book by Anne LaBastille called Woodswoman, a memoir of her life in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. She sustained herself through freelance writing and conservation work. Inspired by Thoreau, she lived in a log cabin without modern conveniences, relying on a boat for transportation and neighbors to help with things she couldn’t do by herself. But, she did a lot alone. I admired Anne’s fortitude and independent spirit. I wanted to be her. But, alas my life differed from Anne’s but I’ve always enjoyed her writing and appreciated her life (my parents lived like that during my 20s and 30s, doing so for nearly 14 years, although neither were writers or professional conservationists). Anne had a special space, environmentally and emotionally – she lived in a beautiful place and she lived a life not many people, especially single women, would choose. I highly recommend her books, Woodswoman and Beyond Bear Lake, are the ones I’ve read; she also has written others before her passing in 2011.

There are many special spaces; each of us holds a “somewhere” dear in our hearts (maybe more than one place). It may be our childhood home, the community where we currently live, our own writing space, a place in which we’ve visited that made an emotional (even spiritual) impact. There are several special spaces for me, and most every one is an outdoor place. Here are a few of most favorite places:

1.  National Parks – America is blessed by the foresight and fortitude of people like Stephen Mather, John Muir, Presidents Ulysses Grant and Teddy Roosevelt, and many others who deemed places throughout our country worthy of protection, and therefore, created the world’s first national park. From Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite to Kenai Fjords, America’s national parks are treasures that not only Americans enjoy, but that also beckon people around the world who basically have nothing like U.S. parks and marvel at the majesty and wonderment. I’m privileged to have a story I wrote about our national parks in last year’s Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of America. I’ve visited several parks and plan to visit more – they inspire me, both as a writer and a human being. 
2. Ranch near Kaycee, Wyoming – I am fortunate to have friends who own a ranch about 70 miles northeast of Casper, where I live, and every few months I make a trip out there. I bask in the beauty of the landscape and the vast amount of animal life, a place where domestic sheep, cattle, and horses mingle with wildlife such as turkeys, deer, and sandhill cranes. Glorious sunrises greet me and the nearby Powder River lulls me to sleep at night. The quiet relaxes me, and the generosity of my friends brings me joy. I stay at the guesthouse with large windows that look upon the fields and woods nearby, and I write. I’ve composed many short stories, chapters of my book Walking in Trust: Lessons Learned with a Blind Dog, and developed a children’s book about to be released called A Town Dog Named Mary Visits a Ranch, in which I’ll teach children about the domestic and wild creatures living in harmony together at the ranch. 
3. Mountain Property and Cabin – this is truly my special space, for my husband and I own it. At 8,000 feet in elevation, the mountain property is a bit difficult to get to during the winter, but from May to October, I spend weekends and week nights at this place, only about 20 minutes from our home in town. We purchased the acreage nearly 14 years ago and found a Park Model mobile cabin in 2006; two years would pass before we could move the cabin to the property (lots of trees to cut for fire mitigation and lots of work to prepare the ground; thankfully our ranch friends had another small acreage close to Casper on which we parked the cabin as we prepared the land). A lot of writing occurs at the property, whether inside the 12x32 cabin (we had a tiny house before tiny houses became popular!) or outdoors beneath the coolness of the lodgepole pines. In fact, as I write this post, I’m at the cabin, soaking in the quiet on the 4^th of July! Songbirds of all sorts are our neighbors, and mule deer grace the landscape. Our three acres brings us great peace, and me much creativity. My children’s book Cody’s Cabin: Life in a Pine Forest takes children on a woodland adventure as Cody the cocker spaniel uses his senses to explore the forest; kids learn about the plants and animals found in a Rocky Mountain forest and are encouraged to go on their own woodland adventure with a variety of activities found in the book. 

 

As humans and writers, we all have special spaces. I recently returned from a trip to Alaska; my husband, father, and I drove through the state, experiencing mountains, oceans, rivers, tundra, and forests and the creatures that live within each ecosystem – not surprisingly, I came back with a book idea. The 49^th state is definitely a very special place!

My special spaces involve the outdoors. Although I may not be Anne LaBastille, she certainly influenced me for I find peace and creativity in the woods – I am a woodswoman!

Whether it’s a favorite coffee shop, our home office, a farm, field, or forest, perhaps even a city park, there are places and spaces people enjoy and at which we as writers re-discover our creativity. What are some of your special spaces? I hope you have time and opportunity to enjoy them this summer!

Gayle M. Irwin is an award-winning Wyoming author and freelance writer. Her inspirational pet books for children and adults teach valuable life lessons, such as courage, perseverance, and friendship. She is a contributing writer to magazines, newspapers, and compilation books, including last year’s Sundown Press release, Memories from Maple Street USA: Pawprints on My Heart. Her short story about a rescue dog, titled Jasmine’s Journey, will appear in the August Chicken Soup for the Soul release called The Dog Really Did That? This will be her seventh contribution to the Chicken Soup series; last year her story about America’s national parks was a feature in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of America. Learn more about Gayle and her work at www.gaylemirwin.com.

Children's Books and Animals - A Week to Celebrate!

This post by Gayle M. Irwin

This week, the first week of May, is special to me for two reasons, well maybe three: Spring should actually be here to stay in my area, especially have a several-inch dumping of snow late last week; May 1 to 7 is Children’s Book Week, and it’s also considered Be Kind to Animals Week. Although spring is very important, especially to those of us in the west who deal with spring snow storms, I want to focus on the other two reasons I like this week: kids and books, and kindness and animals.

Children’s Book Week began in 1919 and is promoted by the Children’s Book Council. It’s a week to celebrate children’s books, children’s authors, reading, and writing. I remember falling in love with reading thanks to authors like E.B. White and Laura Ingalls Wilder and books such as Black Beauty, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Follow My Leader. Little did I know then that I’d grow up to write my own children’s books, with animals as characters and life lessons woven into those stories.

Be Kind to Animals Week is celebrated this week as well. Started nearly 100 years ago by American Humane, the idea is to teach children kindness toward animals, in particular to companion animals, like dogs and cats. I’m grateful this special recognition overlaps with Children’s Book Week, for, as an author of children’s books with animals as characters, I can integrate my authorship with events celebrating books, children, animals, and kindness. In fact, this week I’m blessed to have three events: two out-of-town and one at my community’s library. I’m sharing these events with other children’s book authors I’ve met. We’re reaching kids with strong, positive messages, such as kindness, self-confidence, and friendship, as well as providing activities, including making their own books. And my dog, Mary, is part of the “cast” at these events as well!

Mary has her own book, released last month. Titled A Kind Dog Named Mary, this book teaches kids the importance of pet adoption and the importance of being kind. I use real photos of my real dog, and having the children meet her and hear her story makes those vital lessons all the more vivid and real to them.

As an author, sometimes it’s challenging to tie our works into special recognitions, but it can be done. There are special days, weeks, and months for nearly all occasions – for example, did you know there’s a National Artichoke Hearts Day? Yep, it’s in March, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Women’s History Month is also observed in March; for those who write historical fiction/romance, that might be a good time of year to tie in with your books. National History Day, a time of learning and competition for students, usually takes place in June; this, too, might be a good tie-in for those who write non-fiction or fiction books based in another time period.

Writing about animals, primarily dogs and cats, allows me to tie in with various observances, including Be Kind to Animals Week, but also Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month (June), Responsible Dog Ownership Days (September), Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month (October), and Adopt-A-Senior-Pet Month (November).  Last year, I conducted a few library programs and booksignings around Take Your Dog to Work Day, which happens the fourth Friday of June; my programs included information on the jobs that dogs do, including law enforcement, service to the disabled, and herding. I try to coordinate book events in October and November that will benefit my local animal shelter and hope to do so again this year.

As Children’s Book Week and Be Kind to Animals Week wrap up for this year, I’m working on my next children’s pet stories, to have available by the holiday season, maybe sooner since Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month occurs in October. Children and books, children and animals, and books about animals are all close to my heart, and it’s my desire to engage children with reading as well as writing and to remind them of the gifts of both literacy and pets.

What books intrigued you as a child? Were any of them, or the authors, reasons you became a writer? Do you have special times during the year that you tie your writings with? And, the biggest question of all – has anyone written a book about artichokes yet?! Have a great weekend everyone – Happy Writing!

Gayle M. Irwin is the author of several inspirational pet books for children and adults. She weaves life lessons into her works, including friendship, self-confidence, courage, and kindness. She is also a contributing writer to seven Chicken Soup for the Soul books and has a story in Sundown’s 2016 release Memories from Maple Street USA: Pawprints on My Heart. Learn more about Gayle at www.gaylemirwin.com. She also maintains a pet blog on her website, dispensing interesting and fun information about companion animals and volunteers for regional animal rescue organizations.