What a year 2022 has been. It was this time last year that I spent an incredible evening catching up with my brother, chatting about where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life, and for the first memorable time, I was able to fully visualise my dreams and verbalise them. The further the discussion went, the smaller it was broken down into achievable goals and possibilities and at one point he simply stated, “If you are serious about this writing thing, you need to have an online presence” (he was more thinking TikTok, but hey, baby steps.)
At first the concept seemed daunting, however, as I broke the steps down, it became easier. I can proudly tick this box for 2022, my online presence isn’t perfect, but I did it, I put myself out there as a writer, for all the world to see at Lifestyle Blog | Shelbysbrandoflife | Esperance. I also pushed myself a little further and created an Instagram account to accompany my writing journey and lifestyle adventures, Shelby (@shelbysbrandoflife) • Instagram photos and videos. So now, my goal for 2023 is to grow both creations and have my audience engage and interact with both my blog posts and Instagram uploads, help a girl out and show some love 😊. The Facebook side of it, yeah, I’m not so crash hot at that, it’s one thing to have your normal Facebook, it’s a whole other ball game trying to create a stand-alone author page, but this can be found at (1) Shelby Brand - Author | Facebook (but be patient, there’s not much here yet as I am learning as I go.)
I’ve been brave enough to submit to both a competition and a publishing house, I’ve written two novels this year, I’ve almost finished editing the second novel and plan on submitting it by the end of January. I know not everyone will like my books, and that’s okay, but I know the ‘right’ publishing house will pick my work up, I just have to keep putting myself out there until it happens. And you know what, it’s an exciting game of roulette each time I press send on the email, will this be the one that helps me achieve my life goal?
It hasn’t all been about writing this year, I’ve stepped fully back into my passion for reading and have smashed out an uncounted number of books this year, I consider this ‘research’ for my writing. I do have to be careful though, that when writing, I stay true to my style, I find I am easily influenced by what I am reading at the time, thank goodness for the editing process. I catch myself out a lot. I have my favourites but through the power of the internet, I stumbled across two new authors whom I have a great amount of respect for, (1) Rachael Johns’ Online Book Club | Facebook – which I am excited to be attending her retreat in Hahndorf this May, there is also (1) Todd Alexander | Facebook whom I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his tree change adventures through 30 000 bottles of wine and a pig called Helga, followed by You’ve got to be kidding : A shedload of wine and a farm full of goats. Both of these incredible authors have helped to answer questions along the way and continue to be an inspiration with each book of theirs that I read. However, there is a world of incredible authors out there, who I can only hope to one day be as worthy of the title, published author.
2022 saw me establish personal daily routines to help me achieve my goals, I fully intend to fine tune these throughout 2023 to allow for greater accomplishments across all aspects of my life, watch this space for the 2023 wrap – I see big things heading Shelby Brand’s way.
My new writing space :)
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