My 2014 Intentions (No Resolutions)

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Hey Peeps,

It's the new year and we are all gun ho about starting fresh and new!

Everyone is making new year's resolutions, writing down their goals and plans for 2014, and promising to do better, be better and have better.

I plan to begin transforming into the person that I know I was PURPOSED to BE. (click to tweet)

2014 is all about living life on PURPOSE! (click to tweet)

I won't call what I want to do or plan to do, be , have or change resolutions...I will call them my intentions. If I intend on doing something I think that it gives me more motivation to accomplish those things.

I don't want to just focus on goals...I set a lot of goals for 2013 that I didn't reach just like years before that. I need to also focus on the system that needs to go in place that will make achieving those specific goals more effective.

ACTION (i.e. Process/System) + GOALS = SUCCESS

2014 CAREER GOALS

• 12 new titles for my publishing company Rome Gibson Publishing (I'll have 2-3 new storylines & they will equal to 12 or more books but they are going to be in serial format not necessarily 12 new standalone titles)
• Excel spreadsheet tracking royalties, sales, and expenses for tax purposes
• 14 new short stories (won't be doing this)
• Work from home full-time
• 1,000 new subscribers to my mailing list
• Become a highly read and recommended author in my genre

*this list may change as the year progresses but for right now this is what I've come up with so far!


ACTION STEPS TO REACH CAREER GOALS

My main focus is to create the habits of a successful author, how do I plan to do that:

1. put my career first, treat writing as my business and SHOW UP DAILY to perform (just like I do for my 9-5 job on a daily basis)
2. write five days a week, minimum 1,000 words per day which is 1 hour for me (Weekends are optional writing days)
3. publish a new title once per 30 days minimum (short story, novella and/or novel)
4. read fiction and watch movies to refill the creativity well on weekends
5. cut back on TV and other distractions on writing days especially if I have not met my quota for the day
6. get as much writing done during the 8 hours on my 9-5 job during slow time (sometimes I'm too mentally drained to just focus in the evenings)

MY INTENTIONS

--I intend to write 6k words per day (Mon-Fri) in order to achieve my goal of 12 new titles (minimum for 2014, either novella or novel) and 14 new short stories (free and paid, 8-10K stories on all publishing platforms).
Writing 6k words per day equals to 6 hours of writing time for me. I find that I write better when my mind is clear which is typically during my work day, by the time I get home in the evenings I'm tired from doing the mundane office work, answering phones, commuting and running errands, that all I want to do is eat and go to bed. So if I can fit in as much writing as I can at work during those 8 hours I will have more flexibility in the evenings just in case I get home late one night and really just need to crash.

--I have to start keeping track of my expenses and royalties on a monthly basis starting this month for tax purposes. I'm also going to take a Taxes for Authors class with Diane Kelly on savvyauthors.com starting Jan 20, 2014. I'm new at the self-employed thing and need to learn all I can because I intend to do this full-time in the near present.

--Participating in giveaways and cross promotional efforts with other authors, as well as some guest blogging, will get my name out there which will in turn help me to become a highly read and recommended author in my genre.

--Putting a link to my mailing list in my emails, website, blog, and in my books, will help to increase my subscribers.

ALL OF THIS.....(plus the sales of my books) will help me to get to the point that I can do this full-time by the end of 2014.

*I can't control the sales aspect but I can control my production level and with more books to buy I increase my chances of more sales. It only takes 1 book to take off guys....out of the 12 that I intend to write....I increase my chances of producing that one! :-D

OPPORTUNITY + PREPAREDNESS = SUCCESS *there is no luck (click to tweet)


Happy 2014 Everyone!
I wish you nothing but the best!

Until Next Time...
Stay Blessed....Stay Tuned!


**updated: 4/19/14

My Year In Review 2013 (And 2012)

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Hey Peeps,

So I wanted to take the time to reflect on my last two years to see what went right and what went wrong. This will give me an idea of what I want and need to focus on in 2014 which I will do another post about my plans for 2014.

I'm sure I've stated this before, the last two years have been extremely challenging for me. Let's take a look at 2012.

What went right in 2012:

• I got out of a toxic relationship....best decision ever!
• I saved more money in that one year (by moving into a much cheaper apartment) than I had saved in all the years since moving to NY (in 2003)
• I flew for first time SOLO....I realized that I hate airports and I know that I will need to have a private jet ha! I can never get comfortable on planes.
• I was able to go home to ATL to visit my family
• I finally went to the Taste of Chicago! I'd been wanting to go there for two years.
  
• I finally went to Vegas! That was amazing...definitely need another trip there!
  
• I spent New Year's Eve with some of my great friends from Astoria!
  
• I had a fun summer for the most part going to day parties, meeting new friends, etc.
• I published my two books on Amazon (under a pen name which I have since unpublished)! The beginning of my career!

What went wrong in 2012:

• I left my apartment after living alone for 5 years and ended up in a much smaller cramped basement apartment that I ended up hating. I cried a lot missing my apartment in Astoria.
• I didn't save my target savings goal
• My book didn't sell millions so it created a lot of self doubt (I wanted an instant rise to stardom I suppose LOL)
• I got extra unwanted roommates in the apartment that I was renting and they made my stay miserable as hell
• I started my emotional roller-coaster feeling that I had completely lost myself.

Now let's look at 2013...

What went right in 2013:

• I moved from that basement apartment into an apartment that was more spacious and with a close friend of mine (it's in Brooklyn and I still miss Astoria....badly ha! I think I always will miss living there; its the best place to live in NY in my opinion.)
• I published two new books!
  
  
  
  
• I'm actually building a career and making money from it while I'm learning! ha!
• I went on my first cruise!! Amazing experience! Will definitely have to do it again....every year if possible!
  
• I cut my hair and love my new style....it totally fits my personality and I can always change it up! Loving it!
  
• I got a new laptop specifically for writing! (Don't sleep on QVC...I just learned about them this year and took advantage ha!)
• My ex finally stopped contacting me...geez!
• And...I met a guy that I really like hehehehe.....

Okay...what went wrong in 2013:

• I didn't stick to my publication plans for this year. I only published 2 books and my goal was 12. I wanted to publish something new once a month (minimum). But I was battling extreme self doubt after my first two books flopped and so it took me a few months to get my writing mojo back. I slowed down but I didn't quit!!!
• I encountered some major financial responsibilities that were both expected and unexpected which pretty much depleted the savings that I'd accumulated in 2012 and kept me from saving more this year.
• I haven't gotten back to doing some of the things that I did back in 2011 that kept me spiritually nourished and emotionally and mentally healthy.
• Still on an emotional roller-coaster......

What have I learned from these last two years?

I've learned that we all go through seasons and not every season is about us. My intention for moving out of my apartment and go back to having roommates was to save money so that I can travel more and eventually move from NY. Well it seems as if this season wasn't about me after all. But I believe everything happens for a reason. If I had not moved out of my apartment, I wouldn't have been in a financial position to help those that really needed me. Yes, it puts my goals and dream on hold a bit and yes, it has made me upset because the sole reason for me moving was not accomplished. But I have to remind myself that God trusts me to be in this position for a reason and the things that I'm going through, have gone through, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and financially are not in vain.

I've learned that the one thing that God is trying to work with me on is PATIENCE. This is my test which will eventually turn into my testimony. I'm grateful for these experiences. I'm learning what I don't like, what I don't want, what I'm willing to tolerate, how I prefer to be treated, how I prefer to live, what type of lifestyle I prefer to have, what career I want and what I need to improve on.

Everything is constantly and consistently working together for my good.

Stay Tuned to find out what I plan to do in 2014 to position myself for greater success and prosperity!

Stay Blessed!

New Home for Author Yolanda Allen!

Hey Peeps Happy Christmas Eve!

Just wanted to let you know what I spent my weekend doing...learning how to use Wordpress! ha!

I spent HOURS Saturday night buying a web hosting plan, redirecting nameservers, finding a suitable theme (for free ha!) and setting up the new home for all things related to my writing career. I've wanted to do this for awhile now after reading so much advice from other online entrepreneurs about the importance of having your own self hosted website. 

So my plan was to switch both my personal blog and my author site over to Wordpress.org.....ummmm after the learning curve that I had to go through...and probably will continue to go through as I build onto that site..I'm going to keep my personal blog (Yogi's Playground) hosted on Blogger. This site is the one that I update the most because it's about my whole life not just my career. But in case something happens to any public platform then it will be good to be able to reach my readers on my own self hosted site.

So check out the new home of Author Yolanda Allen at www.authoryolandaallen.com

Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned!

Joel Osteen-Choose Blessings For Your Future

Hello Everyone!

It's been a minute since I posted last. I just want to fill you in on what's been going on. Well a lot of personal drama has been going on in my family that I won't go into details about but let's say they were major distractions however we are continuing to overcome all obstacles placed before us by the Grace of God.

As far as my career, I'm still writing. The last book I published was in September. I was going over some notes that I had written down a year ago when I first started writing back before I had published my first book. I had the idea of writing my stories as webisodes in book format, what most would consider a serial however I was not planning to publish each episode weekly but publish as a season each having about seven or so episodes. I abandoned that idea and started publishing novellas.

Well about a month or two ago I was listening to the Self Publishing Podcast on YouTube and Sean Platt, one of the writers of the Yesterday's Gone Serial, mentioned that they were changing their delivery method for their serials to publish seasonally vs publishing per episode weekly. So hearing him say that and finding my notes from a year ago I decided to go back to the idea I originally had.

My idea was a good one I just didn't execute it but now I have confirmation that I should do it. So that's what I'm working on now. I found an app for my phone last week called Kingsoft Office. I absolutely love it. I can now work on my writing on my phone on the train as I commute to work and even at home when I want a break from being in front of a computer. In the 30-40 minutes that I'm on the train I can get a good 600 words done and it's so easy to drown people out because I'm so focused on my story. It's better than reading on the train because sometimes when I read with that long of a commute I'm sleepy again before I even get to work.

So my next story is called Mr. Yummy Chocolate. It's a romance serial. I think it will be about 42 episodes so approximately three seasons. I will probably do paperback versions of these books since they will be the length of short novels (40K words each).

SO that's what you can expect from me as far as my writing goes, more serial style writing. I love writing this way. I see the story in my head clearer and I think I pace myself better. My goal is to do two episodes a day, so approximately 6K words daily minimum 3K, with weekends off unless I just want to write on the weekends. If I can keep this writing schedule up weekly, I can have a good number of titles up each year. Minimum 6 new titles.

Ok...enough about me...on to why I started this blog post. I'm a little stuffy today and I rarely get a cold. So everyone is like you have a cold? I'm hesitant when I answer because I don't want to say I have a cold. I just tell them I'm a little stuffy. But even that isn't good enough. What my answer should be is, I'm getting better. I don't like to say that I'm something when I actually don't want to be that. Meaning I don't want to keep saying to everyone that asks, Yeah I have a cold. Because guess what, I will keep experiencing the effects of a cold to agree with the words that I'm speaking over my situation. This coincides with the message that I received in my inbox this morning from Joel Osteen. I will share the message below.

Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned

Choose Blessings for Your Future

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

(Deuteronomy 30:19, NKJV)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Your words have creative power. With your words, you can either bless your future or curse your future. If you want to know what your life is going to be like five years from now, just listen to what you’re saying about yourself today. Too many people go around saying, “I’ll never get well. I’ll never get out of debt.” “It’s flu season. I’ll probably get it.” “This marriage is never going to last.” Then they wonder why they don’t see things turn around. It’s because they’re calling defeat into their future. They’re calling in mediocrity. Don’t let that be you! When you wake up in the morning, no matter how you feel or what things look like, instead of using your words to describe your situation, use your words to change your situation. Make a declaration of faith by saying, “This is going to be a great day. I have God’s favor. He’s directing my steps.” When you do that, you are choosing to bless your future. You are calling in favor, increase and opportunities. You are opening the door for God to move on your behalf so you can live the abundant life He has for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, thank You for the blessings You have prepared for my future. I submit my ways and my words to You. Help me to speak what You speak and keep me close to You. I give You the glory in all things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— Joel & Victoria Osteen © 2013 Joel Osteen Ministries

The Key To Making It As A Writer!

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Everybody wants to know the key to success!

Well I've been listening to a few people lately...messages I've heard before but sometimes I need a reminder.

Will Smith-
"There's no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A."

My Plan A: Ultimately, to live a life of freedom working from home full-time supporting myself easily and effortlessly as an author  & if I can add "New York Times Best-Selling Author" after my name that will be a bonus!

Every step I take today and the many days after will lead to my ultimate plan. 

Tyler Perry (I love this dude he's a true inspiration to me)-




With my 100% commitment to being the best storyteller I can be and by God's grace and favor I will succeed!


Hugh Howey- My Advice To Aspiring Writers

"The key to making it as a writer is to write a lot, write great stories, publish them yourself, spend more time writing, study the industry, act like a pro, network, be nice, invest in yourself and your craft, and be patient. If you can do all of these things, you’ll earn some money. Maybe enough to pay a bill every month. Maybe enough to get out of debt. Maybe enough to quit your job. Thousands of writers are doing this, and we are welcoming all comers with open arms."

Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned!

Focus On Becoming A Better Storyteller!

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So I mentioned that I started a new year in my writing career. I've decided that I need to focus on improving my craft and creating content. I need to spend less time on promoting because that's a major distraction that takes away from my writing. Especially for a new writer like myself who don't have a lot of product and who needs to create better writing habits. When I released my last novella I was so focused on spreading the word that I haven't even started writing my next book yet.

This may not be an issue for most people but I recognize my shortcomings and weaknesses so I need to work on perfecting my craft and building a better work ethic and getting more inventory. I honestly think that I get better with each story that I write.

So my ultimate goal for the next 12 months is to focus on becoming a better storyteller!

I follow the blogs of Dean Wesley Smith and Hugh Howey. They both suggest doing what I'm going to focus on for the next year.

Hugh Howey- My Advice to Aspiring Writers

"When I finished my first novel, I was on a complete high. This is when you think your book is the shit and you wonder why Oprah hasn’t called. You’re gonna be rich!
This feeling lasted a few days. That’s when I started writing my next work. My father at the time wondered why I wasn’t spending all of my time promoting that first book. I told him I had my entire life to promote my works. I only had now to write. I stuck to that principle for years, writing and publishing several novels or short stories a year. 

....My father now agrees with this approach and sees the value of having a dozen titles available. This is going to sound strange, but you are MUCH better off with your 10th work exploding than your 1st work. You’ll never have quiet time to crank out quality material ever again. And when your backlist matches the growth of your first breakout, you’ll do very well for yourself. Be patient. It’s been said by many others, but I’ll repeat it here: self-publishing is a marathon."

Dean Wesley Smith- Maybe You Wrote A Good Book

"It really is that simple.But putting the responsibility squarely back on the writer’s shoulders to write better stories is scary. Especially to new writers who really don’t understand what it takes to write a quality story that hundreds or thousands or millions will want to read. New writers don’t even know what they don’t know. They just don’t have the study or the practice or the words under their fingers yet.Writing good stories is a skill that takes time to learn. It can be learned. It’s not a talent, it’s a craft that can be studied and learned with enough effort and drive and practice.But writing and learning need to be the focus.So if you are out promoting your third novel and wondering why it’s not selling, maybe your time would be better served to learn how to write a better story. Just maybe.Just saying…"

So other than announcing on my blogs, Facebook, and uploading to my different author platforms, I won't be going hard in promoting. I'll focus on producing great content  and building relationships with my readers and other authors (which I'll do on Sundays). I started a small group on Facebook where we help each other promote our books so of course I'm always going to help my fellow authors promote their work and they will do the same for me but once I make that initial announcement.....I'm off to writing my next book!

Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

Well to me it's a new year!

Back in June I was talking to a friend of mine and I mentioned that I wish it was the new year already....this year hasn't gone as well as I expected it to go so I was ready for a new year already. So she told me, "Why wait for the calendar to say that is 2014...you can start your new year whenever you want."

So as of July 1, 2013, it is now a new year for me. Whenever we start a new year it's like a chance to start fresh...to start anew. In my case, that's with a new mindset and starting anew in my writing career.

My goal for 2013 was to produce a new novella per month. If I had stuck to that goal I would have 7 novellas produced instead of only 2! So I decided to just start fresh. Start a new year! I can't go back and change what I haven't done and I can only go forward.

I'm not setting a publication goal but a production goal. If I produce 12 novellas in a 12 month period or 6 novels in a 12 month period then I have reach my goal for that year.

The reason I say production instead of publishing is because I use beta readers to read my work before I publish. I like to have two other people read over my work so when I publish will depend on when I can have two betas read them for me.

I'm not setting a sales goal....lord knows if I could control that I would be selling millions of copies right now! ha!

I'm choosing to focus on what I can control and that's production.

So I mentioned mindset as well. Well that is a work in progress and my mindset right now is mainly centered around my career or lack thereof. If it was up to me I would be a writer full-time right now but I have to pay the bills so I work a regular 9-5. Because I work a 9-5 and have a steady income coming in every two weeks I have not been treating writing like a career but more so like a hobby. Since it's not producing the same salary as (or better than) my current "bread & butter" job, it's been easy to put it off if I'm not "feeling" it, or not meet deadlines that I set for myself or to go months without writing at all.

I have to change my mindset to look at writing as my career, my job, my way of life, my bread & butter. If I keep treating it like a hobby I won't take it serious enough to reach my ultimate goal of becoming an author who makes a living telling stories easily and effortlessly on a full-time basis.

I have to get disciplined....create a strong work ethic. I have to write to quota as suggested on the Kill Authors Zone blog.

My goals for the new year (I've faulted on these goals this month but I did really well in July when I created the goal so I did start my new year off right :-D)

1. Write to a quota
I learned that I can produce 4K words a day if I give myself at least 4 hours of writing time and if I know what I'm going to write. Minimum goal per writing day is 1K words. I plan to keep a spreadsheet to track my word count per week.

2. Write six days a week
I plan to take Sundays off to catch up on networking, blog reading, reading books, hanging out with friends, watching movies, promotion etc. (I slacked off this past week so I will be working this Sunday)

3. Produce a new novella once a month or a new novel once every two months
I met that goal for July. I can meet that goal for August even though I slacked off for an ENTIRE week...smh there are no excuses I just didn't make it a priority. But that has to change.

4. Read a new fiction book once every month (or every two months)
I love reading. Reading also helps with writing. So I have to make sure that I'm getting that in as well. I've been reading some non-fiction too. Currently I'm reading Think & Grow Rich. (look for future posts on that too)

5. Don't compare myself to others and trust the process
I've read countless stories about authors hitting best-sellers list with their very first book....I'm not that author although when I first started writing I hoped to be that author. But God has mapped out my road to success a little different. Although I'm not that breakout novelist with instant stardom it doesn't mean that I should stop writing. My path is my path and I have to trust the process. Everything happens at an appointed time. Which leads me to point number six....

6. Never give up!
I've tried giving up....lol I'm not lying when I say I tried to give up on this journey. I didn't write for four months. I wanted to give up. I didn't want to want to be a writer. I didn't want to like telling stories. I wanted to give up because the journey hasn't been as smooth sailing as I wanted it to be. I wanted EASY...I wanted Instant Stardom....I wanted to quit my day job like yesterday....LOL well that didn't happen and when it didn't, I was like oh..so that means that I must not be meant to be a writer so let's just put this to the side.

I've published to two novellas since then. Something inside of me won't let me give up. What does that mean? I don't know exactly what it means. I just know I choose to not give up. No matter how many books I don't sell or how many negative reviews I get....I'm going to continue on until the Lord says that it's time to quit.

I have a certain lifestyle that I want to live and working for myself has always been one of my goals. Having a creative job has always been one of my goals. I started writing poetry when I was 14 and love to do it...but life got in the way and I stopped. One thing I have to work on and overcome is ALLOWING life to get in the way. 

I'm determined to live the life of my dreams. There are plenty of people in this world living the life of their dreams and some of them looks a little like what I've described my ideal life to be so that tells me it's not impossible. I have proof that it's possible. If it can happen for them/to them, then it can do the same for me!

It's okay to start over whenever you feel you've gone too far in the wrong direction....it's never too late as long as you are alive and in perfect health....so Happy New Year to me and to anyone else that just need a fresh start!!!

Stay Blessed and Stay Tuned!

Create Identity Based Habits for Success!!

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Hey Peeps!!

So today I was listening to a video on YouTube about creating winning habits to become the best you can be. If you want to be a pro athlete, or a bestselling author (raises my hand), or CEO of your own company then you have to create the type of habits that those people who have those titles would do.

You can check on the video here:





One of the guys in the video, James Clear, spoke about creating Identity Based Habits. An identity based habit is more effective than a performance or appearance based habit. Basically, if you want to achieve a goal then you must create the habits to reach that goal. Say your goal is to lose 10 pounds so that you can be more fit and healthy. What are the characteristics of a fit and healthy person? That person would most likely be someone that works out on a regular basis, consumes healthy food on a daily basis, etc.

Now in order to reach your goal of losing 10 pounds, you need to change your behavior and habits into that of a fit and healthy person, once you do that, then you will eventually achieve your ultimate goal of losing those 10 pounds. The point I'm trying to make is you must become the person you want to be before you become the person you want to be. Does that make since?

Take my situation for instance, I want to become a bestselling author. I must now adapt the behavior of a bestselling author before I even hold the title bestselling author. So I ask myself, what type of person is a bestselling author? I don't know a lot of bestselling authors personally but I would conclude that a bestselling author is someone that is disciplined, meet deadlines, produces quality work on a regular basis, looks at writing as his career and take it seriously, knows that if he doesn't write he doesn't eat, and practies his craft on a daily basis.

Now if my ultimate goal is the be a bestselling author, what habits can I start creating in my life that will get me one step closer to my ultimate goal? In order words, I have to create the habits that someone would attribute to a bestselling author.

My plan going forward:

Write daily whether I want to or not. A professional doesn't show up to work only when inspired or motivated to go to work. If that was the case they wouldn't keep the job long. If I want to get a paycheck I show up for work and work. I invest approximately 50 hours per week into someone else's dream i.e. my day job. I must invest in my dream career as much time and effort as I do in my day job if I want to eventually be my own boss and have a self-sustaining business.

Produce quality work. This comes with time and practice. The more I write the better I get. The more I learn and apply what I learn, the better I get.

Don't focus on my sales. This is a big one for me because I haven't been displaying patience with my writing career. I have been comparing myself to others that have more sales monthly than I have. I wanted instant stardom so that I could quit my day job and have more freedom. Well it doesn't work that way for everyone...for most people. So it may take me longer to quit the day job than I had hoped for but that's just a price I have to pay if I want to reach my goal and focusing on my sales and how much longer I will have to go before reaching my ultimate goal only hinders me from being productive. If I'm not productive then I will DEFINITELY not become a bestselling author. My work will eventually find an audience but if they don't have more than one book to read from me...then my chances of making this a fulltime career is slim to none.

Stop worrying about how long it's going to take. This a marathon not a sprint. I need to focus on the process and not worry about how long it's going to take to reach the finish line. God works on his own timeline not mine. So what he has for me is mine but it's up to me to remain patient with the path he has me on and not give up just because I don't think it's coming fast enough. He knows the big picture, I can only see what is currently in front of me. So I need to trust that my steps are being perfectly ordered on my path.

Continue to pray that God leds me to live out my purpose for my life. Being a bestselling author is what I desire for my life and career. But I know that whatever God has in store for me is the best for me. I will continue to pursue my career as an author giving 120% and if for some reason this was not God's ultimate plan for me, then I will at least know, I was fully committed.

Get fully committed to fulfiling your dreams. Get fully committed to creating the habits of the person that you want to become. And keep praying that God order your steps so that you can fulfill your purpose.

For more information on creating Identity Based habits, check out James Clear's website. You can download the PDF for free on his site. I think you may have to give your email address.

Until next time my loves!
Stay Blessed....Stay Tuned



The Wedding Date: New Adult Contemporary Romance Novella
Available Now at following retailers:
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I'm MOVING!

Blog homes that is....well not entirely I'm starting a new blog on blogger but it's going to more career focused less personal.

I started this blog back in '09 and it's been all over the place to say the least...it started out to document my journey as an actress then I started incorporating my personal life now I'm incorporating my professional journey as an author....

I haven't been doing much of acting lately since I've just been working my full-time job because that actually pays LOL but as of a few months ago I started my fiction writing journey.

I need to fully commit to writing as if it's my full-time career/business/profession not just a side hobby. I already bought a domain name so I'll probably figure out how to use a custom domain name with blogger. Cost wise this is efficient for me and blogger blogs are very user friendly and they show up high in the search results on Google.

I will still post to this blog because I have followers here....but this will be the place that I air out more personal stuff too. 

On my author's site, Author Yolanda Allen, I won't necessarily be blogging just updates on my books, things related to my genre, and things my readers would be interested in knowing. :-)

As always,
Stay Blessed...Stay Tuned

What's Your Ideal Lifestyle?!

Other than living in perfect health with my family and close friends by my side....my ULTIMATE goals in life boil down to these top 3:

1) Financial Freedom! Money is never an issue!

2) Travel the world whenever and wherever without any financial or time restraints!

3) Never wake up to an alarm clock unless it's for important meetings or to catch my flight!


It's not impossible because I know people, not personally, that had the same exact three goals and they have accomplished all three!

I'm just waiting on my day!

The key to reaching these goals..........................I'll report back on that one once I have reached them ha!

But I can tell you that I plan to embrace the process, embrace the small beginnings, perfect my gift, and FULLY COMMIT to making it happen! I have to give 120% and make the right decisions, smart decisions, and whatever sacrifices are necessary because I refuse to live in mediocrity when I know I was born for GREATNESS!!

Stay Encouraged

Stay Blessed.....Stay Tuned!

BELIEVE IN YOUR DREAMS!

Hey Everyone,

okay....this post may be long! ha!

A LOT has been going on in Yogi's World the past few months....a lot of changes. First off, 2012 was a challenging year for me...major changes personally that had a serious effect on me spiritually.

I was in a very dramatic situation with a guy that I had to remove myself from...I cannot, do not, will not tolerate any negative energy that keeps me from being the kind and loving person that I am. I don't like arguing and been upset all the time. So that's over!

I moved from my apartment in Feb. 2012, after living on my own for 5 years. With my current job, I don't make enough to do what I want to do financially as far as: living on my own (NY is expensive if you want to live in a decent area), save my target goal every month, have an active social life with my family and friends, and do something that I've been wanting to do for 9 years...travel!! So I decided to move into a roommate situation. Long story short, I ended up in a less than ideal situation....I can't tell you how many times I cried missing my old apartment and disliking my new roommates. I started looking for a new place to stay last June, every where I went was not to my liking and it was extremely frustrating to say the least. I was getting upset and angry about the situation because this was the first time that I had wanted to move and had not been able to find a place in two weeks or less. 

It really tested my faith. I eventually decided to just stay put until May of this year, and start the process of looking for a place again. Well the Lord had another plan, long story short :-) a few hours after I said that...I get word about an apartment for a Jan. move in date!! SO I moved mid-Jan into an apartment with my friend and I absolutely love the place!! Finally, I'm living in peace again hoping to stay put for a few years!! 

Moral of the story, your delay is not a denial. If God has pulled you through before, then rest assured he will do it again, just may not be on your schedule but IT WILL ALWAYS BE ON TIME!! He's perfect like that! :-)

So...another thing (as if this post wasn't long enough) I've always been a writer, I started writing poetry at age 14, I now have two e-books published with my poetry: Blues of A Sister and Life's Journey.  I plan to complete a third one by the end of 2014. With that said, I decided in 2011 that I wanted to make a living as a writer, I started researching ways to do that, I spent a lot of money in the process. Nothing that I read really touched me sort of speak with a strong sense that "hey yea I can do that". It was all about non-fiction methods to make money. Then one day, I came across this one program called Kindling by Geoff Shaw while reading Tiffany Dow's blog. Geoff was the only internet marketer that really pushed going the fiction route as a means to make money as a writer.

Long story short, (I know I keep saying that ha!) I decided I'll try my hand at writing fiction stories. I knew I was great at writing poetry, and I had written a short story before, but it was about 2 pages long lol! It has been a dream of mine and I am more than proud to say that I am pursuing that dream!! I started on my journey as a self-published author a few months ago, but living with those roommates really knocked all the motivation and determination, and drive out of me. I wasn't the same person I was when I was living on my own. The energy in that apartment was draining. A time when you should pray even harder...which used to be a challenge for me but I've managed to overcome that. 

In spite of my circumstances I published two romance novellas on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, under a pen name. To get my feet wet and well...truthfully, I published under a pen name out of fear that if I did fail then at least I wouldn't have my real name tied to it... lol (don't do that by the way...i.e. go into any endeavor with the anticipation of failing...I'm still learning :-))

All in all, I'm sooooo freaking proud of myself! I took a step towards my goals and my dreams. With those two stories I learned things about my writing that I need to work on which was minor. I am going to publish in the New Adult category mainly in the Romance genre, but I do have ideas for paranormal, urban fantasy, and women's fiction/chick lit. We'll see where my mind (and characters) take me. 

One goal of mine is to really get disciplined in writing daily while working a full-time job! Challenging but I'll do it!! I'm so excited that I am finally doing something that I enjoy and that I feel and believe can make a great future for me!!

I have not given up on my dream of acting, but I have decided that I would prefer a web-series since that was an idea of mine back in 2009. I just never had the means to put the web-series together but I won't give up on that either!


I said ALL of this to say: Keep believing in your dreams and fight for them no matter your circumstances!


Stay Blessed...stay tuned!!

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Life's Journey (Collection of Poems) Available Now!!!

Hey Peeps!!

Just wanted to share the good news!! Life's Journey is finally here!!!

This is the second of three poetry books I plan to publish. Its available on Amazon....CLICK PIC ABOVE!

If you have a Nook then you can purchase it here 

I'm working on a Romance Novella that I will post about when it's done. I've been learning as much as I can about my craft and improving my writing. 

I intend to be in this for the long haul so I will keep this blog updated more often but among personal things it will document my journey to best selling author status!! :-D

Stay Blessed!

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FINALLY!! Published My Poetry Book!

Hey Peeps!!

Just wanted to share the good news!! Blues Of A Sister is finally here!!!

This is the first of three poetry books I plan to publish. Its available on Amazon....CLICK PIC ABOVE!

If you have a Nook then you can purchase it here 

My second book will be available online shortly....I still have to write the third one but I'm hoping to have that one done by the beginning of next year!!

Happy Hump Day!

Stay Blessed!

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