Because I am a teacher and I am married to a teacher and we have a school-aged daughter, I tend to think and plan in school years rather than calendar years.
And because the school year is over, I feel like rounding up what I accomplished this past year.
I dedicate all of my work to writers, especially to writers who juggle professional writing with family responsibilities, and even more especially to moms who hold play such a central role in families.
As I round up my work from the past year, I am acknowledging and celebrating all that I have done. This is something too few writers do, in my opinion. We get so busy chasing the next gig that we forget to look back and appreciate and learn from what we have already done.
Why not follow my lead and conduct an inventory of what you’ve accomplished this past year. Also make note of who you serve, and how well you are serving based on what you accomplished. You’ll get a snapshot of how committed and effective you were over the span of a year.
Here’s a review of what I worked on in the 2011-2012 academic year:
Classes Taught
I have been teaching year-round classes for eleven straight years. This year, I taught five rounds of classes from August 2011 – June 2012, including:
Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff
Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform
Pitching Practice: Write Six Queries In Six Weeks
Micro-Publishing For Mom Writers
60 Ways To Flex Your Content & Prosper In Your Niche
In the fall, I will add one new class, available only to my most advanced students. All of my current classes will also be updated and improved.
Dream Teams Coached
I have been coaching writers in coaching groups since I coached two rounds of three Dream Teams at three levels:
- Writing and Publishing First Articles
- Writing Articles, Querying & Platform Building
- Advanced Writing & Publishing Dream Team
All three levels of Dream Teams start back up on August 1st. They are filling up quickly.
Why do writers take my Dream Teams? Maybe you should ask this writer.
Class Scholarships Given
I awarded ten scholarships with a value of $275 each for a total value of: $2,750.00 to students who took and completed Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff and Discover Your Specialty & Launch Your Platform this past year.
Writing/Articles
- Build Your Author Platform Self-study Course for Writer’s Digest Books September & December Premium Collection
- “50 Simple Ways To Build Your Platform in Five Minutes A Day” for Writer’s Digest
- “The Tech-Savvy Writer: Embrace Technology, Establish Your Online Presence & Earn More, feature-length article for AWP’s Job List (coming in July)
- How To Write A How-To Article in Six Easy Steps for Writer’s Digest Magazine
- Twelve new columns for the Willamette Writer’s Newsletter (half-way done)
- 35+ parenting articles published all over the US and in Canada
Micro-publishing Coaching & Developmental E-book Editing
- What To Expect From Your Adoptive Teen by Judy M. Miller
- Ready, Set, Sleep by Malia Jacobson
- Late Onset Hearing Loss by Krysty Krywko
- Mother-Daughter Book Club Meeting Planner Guides by Cindy Hudson
- The New Nut-Free Mom by Jenny Kales
- Mama Insider by Abigail Green
- Captain of her Crew by Jennifer Schile (coming soon here)
- 31 Days To A More Creative You by Dylan Klempner (coming soon here)
Keynotes
I gave two keynotes this past year:
- Missouri Writers Guild
- Mad Anthony in Ohio
Presented For
I presented workshops and panel discussions for the following organizations:
- Willamette Writers Monthly Meeting in Portland, Oregon
- Willamette Writers Monthly Meeting in Salem, Oregon
- The Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City
- Writing In Tough Times Mini-Conference in Portland, Oregon
- The Associated Writing Program Conference in Chicago, Illinois
- Oregon Writer’s Colony Conference in Portland, Oregon
- Missouri Writers Guild in Chesterfield, Missouri
- Mad Anthony in Hamilton, Ohio
- The Chuckanut Writers Conference in Bellingham, Washington
- Coming up: The Pacific Northwest Writers Association in Seattle, WA
- Coming up: Willamette Writers, Portland, Oregon
- Coming up: Mid-Valley Willamette Writers, Eugene, Oregon
- Coming up: Wordstock Festival, Portland, Oregon
- Coming up: Tigard Library, Tigard, Oregon
The Northwest Author Series
I planned and hosted the fifth successful season of The Northwest Author Series with eight terrific writers including:
- Jeff Baker
- Emily Chenoweth
- Myself
- Karen Karbo
- Bill Johnson
- Pamela Hill Smith
- Kevin Sampsell
- Heather Vogel Frederick
It takes weeks each summer to plan the next Northwest Author Series. Each of the eight events takes about three-four hours on Sunday afternoons, requires several additional hours each month for administrative work.
I am Featured or Reviewed In
- Tweet Magazine Interview
- Quoted on the back of the 2012 Writer’s Market (last chance to get this edition before the new editions come out)
- Stop, Drop, and Micro-Publish guest post for the Amwriting blog
- A personal essay in Robert Lee Brewer’s blog, “When All Hell Broke Loose and I Got My Life Back“
- Writing & Motherhood in Christina Katz’ Writer Mama
The Writer’s Workout Is Featured Or Reviewed In
In December 2012, I launched The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques from Your Writing Career Coach. Here is where the book has been featured:
- About.com
- Hope Clark’s Blog
- Jungle Red Writers
- Treated & Released, Agent Robin Mizell’s Blog (part 1, part 2 & part 3)
- Jane Friedman’s blog: Platform & Social Media Must Not Be Your Center
- Alison Winn Scotch: Bouncing Back From Disappointment
- Red Sofa Literary: Dawn Frederick
- Mother-Daughter Bookclub: Read The Writer’s Workout Every Day
- Writer Unboxed: The Platform Workout
- The Writer’s Lens (with video)
- The ASJA newsletter
- The Oregon Writer’s Colony newsletter
- The PNWA website
- The Willamette Writers newsletter
- Dartmouth Alumni Magazine
- Nathalie’s Notes: The Writer’s Workout as Magic 8-Ball
- Writer’s In Business
- Dallas Woodburn’s Writing Life
Writer’s Digest Exclusives
The Writer’s Workout Poster Download
Three Chapters from The Writer’s Workout
Balancing Motherhood with Writing: The Benefits of Freelancing
How To Build An Author Platform & Begin Your Writing Career
Five Tips for Fearless Writing
Notes From My Talks
- Hannah Burke on my Northwest Author Series Preso on The Writer’s Workout
- William Hertling’s Notes from my Willamette Writers Preso on Flabby Habits Writers Can Lose
- How To Better Market Your Book on Writer’sDigest.com
Audio Readings
Online Events
The Writer Mama Every Day In May Book Giveaway
In May 2012, for the fifth time since 2007, I gave away 31+ books, this time for the second year in a row, all by mom authors.
You can view the complete list of authors and book winners here.
The Global Publication Party for The Writer’s Workout
On January 10th, I hosted an online party for The Writer’s Workout with three online teaching modules.
During the flash class, I coached writers in every genre on three topics related to writing success in 2012:
- How to Assess The Power of Your Writing Portfolio (audio coaching)
- How to Build Your Best Bio for 2012 (audio coaching)
- How to Discover Your Unique Platform Dynamic (audio coaching)
Leap Day Party
I kicked off a big one-day Leap Day celebration for The Writer’s Workout, offering ten great reasons to buy it now.
Extra-curricular
Beyond Busy Monthly Book Club
In March 2012, I started a book club. Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild had just come out and I knew I would never make time to read it even though I truly wanted to. I had a hunch, if I started a book club, I’d have to read it. So I did.
We are on our fourth book now. So far, everything we’ve read is nonfiction, but we have plans for fiction one of these months.
March: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
April: Some Assembly Required by Anne Lamott with Sam Lamott
May: Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
June: Imagine, How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer
Writers On The Move Facebook Group
A year ago, I start a Facebook group called Writers On The Move. Today the group has 191 members.
The group is place for sedentary writers to inspire each other to move and eat more healthily.
I used the group to help motivate me to run from May 2011-October 2011. I never would have imagined running again. I never even liked running. But now, after revisiting several sedentary months, I’m using the group to run again. I’m up to 2.8 miles so far and my intention is to run three times a week.
236 Movies About Writers and the Writing Life
I updated my list of 236 Movies About Writers and the Writing Life (and it’s time again in July, so please make additional suggestions here)
Books By Women Writers for High School Students
I also updated my list of Books By Women Writers for High School Students (and it’s time again in August, please make additional suggestions here)
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Wow Christina! What an incredible list of achievements! You deserve an award for the most prolific writer mama ever!!! Congrats, and here’s to another great 12 months!! 🙂
Wow!