Goal-setting: When You Don't Succeed #ChaBooCha

Goal-Setting: What Happens When You Don't Succeed at your Goals

First off, for those of you who have succeeded at the ChaBooCha challenge this month, congratulations! I know it wasn't easy to set aside time for writing, but you did it! Let me know if you wrote your book start to finish during the challenge, and if you succeeded, I will send you a winner's badge for your blog or website within the week.

But for those of you who didn't succeed, I have a bit of advice. (Chapter Book Challenge member Melissa Gijsbers has mentioned that she is giving some tips for this over on her blog too, so feel free to go have a look.)

You've already done something great just by participating, just by putting words down on paper, even if you didn't reach your goal. Did you read one of the guest posts during the challenge? Then you learned something. Did you write down an outline, a page or an idea for your story? Then you are already further along than you were at the beginning of the challenge. Succeeding at a challenge or achieving your goal is a great thing to strive for, but don't forget all of the smaller achievements along the way that move you closer to your larger goal.

Not all deadlines you give yourself will be met. Trying is what is the important part. Putting in the effort to do achieve something, even if that effort is only the effort for one small step in the journey, is worth the time spent on it.

Achieving a writing goal is a journey, and part of that journey is to learn and grow while you get there. There is no set time for each person to reach their goals. Yes, this is a challenge with a set time for reaching your goal, BUT its main purpose is to give you some impetus towards writing your book.  If you are even just a tiny bit further along, even if the distance further you have travelled is only in your head and not written down yet, that means the challenge has done its job, and you ave benefited from it.

You don't have to take my word for it though. There are a lot of people who have mentioned the journey towards success. I thought it would be fun to use Google to find some image quotes that would help give some perspective on our successes, failures and efforts. (After the images, keep reading and find out about a different writing challenge and the Teapot Tales anthologies.)

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Blog Your Book in 30 Days

For those of you who want to continue to challenge yourself to write in the month of April, I am running a Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge. There are a lot of helpful writing posts on the blog from last year, and even more fitting, April is National Book Blogging Month. The challenge can be participated in concurrently with Camp NaNoWriMo too. You don't need to actually blog your book. For those of you who want to keep your writing more private, there are some alternate routes to participating in the Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge.

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Teapot Tales anthology submissions

Do you like to write fairy tales? In addition to the "donate" button that can be found on the right sidebar of this site, there is another way to donate to keeping the challenge running. Every year we bring out a new volume of our Teapot Tales anthologies. This will be the third volume and the theme is returning to fairy tales. you can find out more about previous anthologies at Melusine Muse Press as well as more about the submissions process. the stories are flash fiction and are to either be a new take on an old fairy tale (sometimes called twisted fairy tales or fractured fairy tales) or completely new fairy tales. Submissions are only open to Chapter Book Challenge members, Previous Teapot Tales anthologies are "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales" (Teapot Tales: Volume 1) and "Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea" (Teapot Tales: Volume 2). The anthologies are sold through Amazon, but will be expanding to other retail outlets. All authors get to retain the copyrights to their stories to publish in their own collections or on their own websites. Up to three stories may be submitted. Artwork (line drawings) is also accepted. (Deadline is not definite yet, but will most likely be in June or July.)

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Winners!

And here's the fun part of today. I get to announce the prize winners for all of the prizes during the challenge!

The winner of Girl Incredible by Patti Larsen is:

Robyn Campbell

Congratulations, Robyn!

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The winner of Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Beginning Readers and Chapter Books by Nancy I. Sanders is: 

Sydney O'Neill

Congratulations, Sydney!

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The winner of Writing the Paranormal Novel by Steven Harper is:

Kelly McDonald

Congratulations, Kelly!

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The winner of Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Stories by Terry Pratchett is:

Priya

Congratulations, Priya!

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The winner of the e-book copy of  Swallow Me, NOW! by Melissa Gijsbers is:

saputnam

Congratulations, Sharon! 

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The winner of Writing Irresistable Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers by Mary Kole is:

Anita Banks

Congratulations, Anita!

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The winner of Writing Plots with Drama, Depth and Heart: Nail Your Novel (Volume 3) by Roz Morris is:

Joanne Roberts

Congratulations, Joanne!

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The winner of The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowden is:

McMarshall

Congratulations, Maria!

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The winner of You Can Write Children's Books Workbook by Tracey E. Dils is:

Kathy Phillips

Congratulations, Kathy!

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The winner of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Children's Book Publishing by Harold Underdown is:

Kelly Vavala

Congratulations, Kelly!

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The winner of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is:

Nancy Kotkin

Congratulations, Nancy!

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The winner of A Rat and a Ransom by Y. I Lee is:

Manju Howard

Congratulations, Manju!

Everyone has two weeks to notify me of your mailing address and/or the e-mail address you like e-books sent to (and which format). If we don't hear from you by April 14th, the prize will be donated to a local library instead.

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And that concludes the prizes for this year's ChaBooCha! Thank you so much for participating, and a big thank you to the authors who guest posted during this year's challenge!