4Things I would like to work on in August

Images from my file using Canva.com

Failing to plan things is planning to fail. During my teaching years, I crammed the idea into my learner's minds and mine. Once I retired, I lapsed into not caring about planning things.  

The call to write about four things I like to work on in August came as a wake-up call to renew the habit, and I jumped for it. August, in a biblical sense, is the month of beginning things. South Africa celebrates August as Women's Month, to commemorate a historic march woman of all races have executed on 9 August 1956 against apartheid. 


The month of July was stuffed up with book reviews and Insta Reel creations, things I enjoyed much. The beautiful and inspiring themes and plot developments of the books I reviewed afforded me new perspectives and am hoping for more from those queued in my reading list. The IG Reels were a thing of technical adventure, a challenge that made me feel stupid in the initial days, and when I called out 'Eureka' in the end, a smile flashed on my face.


Reviews and the reels dragged me away from working on things creative, as well as the marketing of my eBook that I prioritise in August.  The following are my plans:


  • How to market my eBook
  • Publish a short story collection
  • Shape up the second draft of my novel, a mystery thriller
  • Publish a blog post about women month in South Africa.

1. Marketing my eBook Under the Bakula Tree. 


The eBook I have in December 2021 on Amazon Kindle. It is a woman's story, a short read, titled, Under the Bakula Tree. Have written about it in my older posts and repeats for those who never come across it.


It is the story of three women, living in a superluxury residential complex in Kochi, Kerala, India.


Sara is a widow, a mother of two, eager to join her schoolmate who turned the love of her life. But that mission is almost impossible. She can't break herself free from the surveillance of a stranger her in-laws have set in the role of her bodyguard. The community is alert in watching her movements not sparing the gatekeeper of her residential complex.  


She comes across Viji and Alina. The trio seek solitude under an old Bakula tree from the audit of the in-laws in their mansions where they share their stories, validate each other in trust, and forge a wonderful experience of the sisterhood.


Can the sisterhood help Sara to join the love of her life?


'Under the Bakula Tree' is available on all Amazon marketplaces like:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NFSM2P9

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09NFSM2P9

 https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09NFSM2P9


2. Publish a Short-story Collection.


As part of the Blog Chatter eBook Carnival, 2022, I have published a short story, Aching Hearts. Add to that, one or two for a reasonable volume of a short-story collection. Not sure about the publishing options. Amazon is not bad- self-publishing needs payment on top of the cost for editing and book cover.  


3. The second draft of my novel-the mystery thriller-The Murder at Thampuran Kota.


I should have published it a long ago considering when I started it. Published Under the Bakula Tree ahead of it to gain experience in publishing and marketing, and I don't regret it. But I must take long leaps in publishing the novel.


4 Write a blog post about Women Month in South Africa.

 


The 1956 march was monumental, organised and executed by the South African women single-handedly and thrown at the face of a cruel regime of apartheid. What goosebumps me, it was organised by the women of South Africa from all races. Apartheid dehumanised the Black races the worst among them the Black women. They drafted a freedom charter demanding among other objectives, “the enfranchisement of men women of all races; equality of opportunity in employment; equal pay for equal work; equal rights concerning property, marriage and children; and the removal of all laws and customs that denied women such equality.”  


The freedom charter served the drafting of the South African constitution once the people defeated apartheid in 1994.


This post is part of the BlogChatterBloghop

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