Since February’s basically over, it’s time for another update on how my New Year’s Resolution for 2023 to do more self-promotion is going! (I’ll also provide some publishing updates + thoughts on reading in this post, too!)
New Year’s Resolution Accountability Check
Q: Have you promoted yourself in some way every day this month?
A: Yes! It required a lot less conscious effort this go-around. It’s probably too early to declare success, but I think self-promotion has become an automatic habit for me!
Q: Which self-promotion strategies from your New Year’s Resolution post worked for you this month?
- Submit your work for publication consideration! [As of this writing, I’ve made 16 submissions, 9 of which have already been rejected XD]
- Tell someone, somehow, about something you’ve created or been working on + Sharing your work + Tell someone about your accomplishments. [I do this regularly now — I’m far less shy about telling people in real life about my acceptances, editing projects, and published works! I’ve also started talking more about projects I need to go back and edit, which may be my brain’s way of starting to force myself to be accountable.]
- Make a social media post about yourself. [I did this more regularly this month. I’m @molo_writes on Twitter & Instagram, and I’ve got a Mastadon account now (it’s @molo_writes@wandering.shop), where I post things when I remember to.]
- Reach out to people who you want to be your new colleagues, collaborators, clients, or friends! [I reached out to a magazine, three new authors I’d like to translate, and sent encouraging feedback to some colleagues!]
- Turn projects in on time! [I did much better at prioritizing my time and hitting deadlines in February, despite medical setbacks.]
- Advocate for yourself professionally and pursue your professional bucketlist goals NOW! [Not sure if this counts, but I’ve created a new Discord for readers, writers, editors, and fans of poetry. People kept asking me if I knew of a non-paywalled community for poetry in general, not just literary or just speculative poetry, so I finally made one! If you’d like to join, let me know!]
- Do something that moves you one step closer (no matter how small!) to completing a bucket list item. [Accomplished! Adventure planning and professional self-advocacy continued this month!]
- Tell someone about your vision for your future. [Accomplished! Also, I know *exactly* which PhD programs I’d chase after if I had the time/money…]
- Draw a silly doodle and share it with someone. [Accomplished! One of my friends gave me a pad of scratch-away glittery paper, so I’ve been making silly or whimsical doodles and sharing them with colleagues.]
- Participate in a convention. [Not accomplished, but I’ve been researching for more to apply to and participate in!]
- Write a review for something you enjoyed! [Doing that later in this post!]
- On days you have braincells, draft at least 1 content idea for your self-promotion posts and schedule it. [Accomplished! That’s this blog post!]
News about My Words
February has been busy! In case you missed my previous posts, here’s some publishing-related news!
- My queer romance “Phoenix” (about two hotshot firefighters in the 1970s) was published by After the Storm! Read it here! –> https://medium.com/after-the-storm/phoenix-999d7bb461da
- My surreal science fiction story “9 Dystopias” (originally published by Paranoid Tree) has been selected as one of the best microfiction stories of 2022! It will be included in the anthology Best Microfiction 2023, which is coming soon to bookstores near you! You can read “9 Dystopias” here, and click here to see the full Best of Microfiction table of contents.
- My body horror microfiction “Cavities” is out now in Ooze: Little Bursts of Horror! If the idea of sacrificing your teeth to get into a safe sounds intriguing, pick up your copy of Ooze here: https://www.amazon.com/OOZE-Little-Bursts-Body-Horror/dp/B0BW23H12Z/
- My poem “picture this” will be coming out in Haven Speculative Magazine‘s March 2023 issue!
- My annual analysis of multi-author anthology campaigns on Kickstarter is live! Read it here: https://molo-writes.com/2023/02/20/kickstarter-anthologies-in-2022/
- My words are in my schools’ libraries! I donated some of my author copies to my undergraduate college and to my high school, and they’ve been processed!!! My high school’s librarian told me that one student recognized one of the books and was very excited to read it (!!!) and my college librarian sent me a picture of my books transformed into SMCM library books (that’s the featured image for this post)!
Reviews
Here are some things I’ve enjoyed this month:
Books / Stories / magazines
- I’ve been reading random back issues of Oh Reader magazine, and this month I decided to become a print subscriber. I read every issue cover to cover, and I love reading about other people’s experiences and interactions with the act of reading. Oh Reader is a meta, nerdy, cozy, and entirely delightful magazine!
- I randomly picked up Bestiarium Greenlandica (2022) at Barnes & Noble, and plowed through it in a weekend! This book was translated to English last year and draws only from monsters in Greenlandic tradition and oral history.
TV / Movies
- Last weekend, we rewatched Argo (2012) and Catch Me If You Can (2002)! Still as excellent as ever, and I highly recommend them if you’ve never watched.
- Sometime in the past month, we rewatched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I remember adoring the manga, then watching the film as a teen and being confused. I see why I enjoyed Princess Mononoke (1997) more, but Nausicaä is just excellent and so ’80s.
- Started watching the anime Spy x Family (2019 to present), and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
That’s all for now – maybe I’ll start a newsletter later this year!
MOLO WRITES 