Pauline Malkoun

Aspiring Writer/Author Entrepreneur

About Me

I am a former secondary school teacher with a passion for writing engaging stories and non-fiction for children to capture their attention in order to instil a love of reading. By doing this at a young age, they gain the benefit of literacy, one of the most important factors in social mobility and success as an adult.

This website is mainly a place for me to document and track my progress as I amble along on my journey to author entrepreneur.

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This is my way of holding myself accountable on my journey to becoming a fulltime author. I hope that you can learn from my mistakes and make your journey quicker - if that is where you want to go.

Week 178 - 22 September 2024​

The academic work work has indeed started and I am busily trying to get it done as efficiently as possible. It going to be a ​lot of head down and just getting on with it for the next few weeks. Before the onslaught I managed to knock off some ​curriculum writing for some of the class I teach for next term although admitedly, this did not take that long. I also ​completed some reporting on the stduents I teach - so while I didn’t get to work too much on my author journey - I have ​been busy. I managed to write a reasonably long Axolotl story for the podcast this week, so I have had to split it into two ​podcasts, so that will ease the writing burden this week.

In the event that I finish the marking work that I have n my hands, I will try to continue working on the tests that need ​writing. I am starting to think about how I can re-focus on the suthor business after a short break at the end of the year ​and hope that 2025 will be My Year of the Author! ​

Goals Updated below.​

Goals for this month (and beyond):​

1. Writing, recording, editing and uploading for the podcast​

2.Working on Academic marking​

3. Finishing some academic writing each week - still plugging away​

4. Christmas Traditions from around the world - waiting quietly for attention, maybe for Christmas 2025?​

5. Considering advertising for Christmas​

6. Collating numbers and receipts for tax return​

7. Sneaky Puss Goes Exploring 2nd Edition – waiting patiently​

Week 177 - 15 September 202​4

Another week was not particularly productive. It is just a busy time of year and I know it is going to get busier for the next ​month or so. I did manage to get the podcast up on time though, so I am taking the win. That is all for authour journey this ​week.

I did do some acedemic writing though, mainly some preparation for the last 10 tests that need to be written (8 of them ​anyway) and some prep work for term 4 classes. I am just trying to get my head in the right place for the onslaught of ​work coming in the few weeks. I just need to remember that every test I write and every essay I mark is a few bucks closer ​to my goal and then I can drop a few of these extra things and really focus on what I want to do. With that in mind, I am ​signi​n​g off for this week t​o​ go and earn a few more dollars tow​ards the freedom I want.

G​oals Updated below.

Goals for this m​onth (and beyond):

1. Writing for the podcast

2. Recording and edit​ing the Podcast

3. Finishing some academic ​writing each week - still plugging away

4. Final preparations for Academic marking

5. Christmas Tradition​s from around the world - waiting quietly​ for attention, maybe for Christmas 2025?

6. Cons​idering advertising for Christmas

7. Collating numbers and rec​e​i​pts for tax return

8. Sneaky Puss Goes Exploring 2nd Edition – waiting patiently

Week 176 - 8 September 2024​

This week was practically a write off (no pun intedned). I did do some extra academic work that I wouldn’t usually have on, ​and I did manage to write the new Monicow story for the podcast (part 1 anyway) early in the week, but time got away ​from me and I found myself recording, editing and uploading on Saturday morning again. But, I did know that it was going ​to be a busy week.

My books are are going to be featured in another store thanks to Ella’s Way - a book collaborative in the US who’s goal is ​to spread kindness by donating books to libraries - all kinds of libraries, all over the US. So that is a step in the right ​direction. They secure donations and then use the funds to buy books and send them to the libraries.

It did prompt me to look into what I have up on amazon and I noticed that I need to upload some titles as third parties are ​selling them at very high prices. So that is something else I need to add to the to do list. It’s been a while since I check ​sales and pages read - I will try to do that this week.

Goals Updated below.

Goals for this month (and beyond):

1. Writing for the podcast

2. Recording and editing the Podcast

3. Finishing some academic writing each week - still plugging away

4. Final preparations for Academic marking

5. Christmas Traditions from around the world - waiting quietly for attention, maybe for Christmas 2025?

6. Considering advertising for Christmas

7. Collating numbers and receipts for tax return

8. Sneaky Puss Goes Exploring 2nd Edition – waiting patiently

Week 175 - 1 September 20​24

This week got away from me, I almost missed the podcast deadline, only just managed to upload the latest episode less ​than an hour before the scheduled release time. Phew! It wasn’t even a new story - I slightly edited a Sofie Rose Marin ​episode, recorded it, edited and uploaded it on Saturday morning!

I have been more productive on the academic writing front. I am down to just 10 more pieces to write before the end of the ​year. I finished a few more test this week and submitted them by the deadline (today) and I completed a PowerPoint ​slideahow for an in-person workshop I am running during the week. So while I really want to get ahead and just write some ​stories and wrok my author business, it is not looking good this week timewise - I am literally out of the house from 7am to ​8 or 9pm 4 out of 5 nights this week. I may find a little time, but I won’t hold my breath. I do have time today, so perhaps I ​will try to squeeze some writing in tonight.

I am gearing up for a very busy pre-exam period with academic work, but I have at least carved out some time to do that ​work in, thanks to time in lieu owed to me. I knew those hours would come in handy.

Goals Updated below.

Goals for this month (and beyond):

1. Writing for the podcast

2. Recording and editing the Podcast

3. Finishing some academic writing each week - still plugging away

4. Final preparations for Academic marking

5. Christmas Traditions from around the world - waiting quietly for attention, maybe for Christmas 2025?

6. Considering advertising for Christmas

7. Collating numbers and receipts for tax return

8. Sneaky Puss Goes Exploring 2nd Edition – waiting patiently

Week 174 - 25 August 2024​

Another week, another podcast, though no extra stories yet, but I was inspired to use the setting of a castle for the next ​Monicow story. I also had a quick look at the Sofie Rose Marin stories I have already written and nothing jumped out at me ​as ready for publication, I will have a nother look and perhaps edit one or two for the podcast. I have kept plugging away at ​the academic writing and picked up a few more jobs, one large one with a deadline in the next 10 days and a few small ​ones I have already completed. They just keep on coming. It is the time of year they pick up, so I really need to get the test ​writing done when I get the chance inbetween everything else. I hope to complete another 3 this week. I have started ​them and found appropriate texts which is the most time consuming aspect of creating them - so it should be smooth ​sailing from here. After that, only 10ish assessments to write.

I decided to check on my sales - certainly nothing to write home about here - 2 sales - both foriegn language editions of ​random facts - ine brain and one space, one in German and one in Portuguese, both overseas. No surpirses there. No ​sales of the YA book. When I have more time next year I can work out how to get more eyes on my books. That is ​definitely something I am looking forward to doing - getting more eyes on my books - not so much the marketing, but alas, ​it needs to be done. I seem to have lost a podcast subscriber on Spotify, but it does seem like it is being listened to on ​other platfoms - I have had 80 plays so far, not counting youtube I don’t think, on Youtube there are a few more views - ​the Axolotl Lake stories get the most hits, but the Monicow stories seem to hold the attention of the viewers longer. Still​ a lon​g​ way to go, but done ​i​s better than not done. I think tha​t is all for the week.

Goa​ls Updated below.

Goals for this mon​th (and beyond):

1. Writing for the podcast

2. Recording and editin​g the Podcast

3. Finishing some academic writing each week - still plugging away

4. Christmas Traditions ​from around the world - waiting quietly f​or attention, maybe for Christmas 2025?

5. Consid​ering advertising for Christmas

6. Collating numbers and recei​p​t​s for tax return

7. Sneaky Puss Goes Exploring 2nd Edition – waiting patiently