Looking Ahead

Every January I tell myself I’m going to post about my writing goals for the year—and then I don’t. Admittedly, I wondered if anyone would care about what I was up to. Right now, though? This post is for me. My whole blog is pretty much for me. ❤ So here’s a resolution post with an outline for some reading goals, some personal goals and quick ramble about all the books I’d like to write.

Reading

I normally start the year with a post about my reading resolutions. Every year they become less defined, with fewer challenges and broader goals. I… don’t actually have to challenge myself to read. I read a lot. Usually around 250 books a year. In the past, challenges have been more about diversifying my reading and clearing the TBR list.

Last year I diversified without challenge. I read more non-fiction and more literature. I found those titles by following my interests, which is pretty much how I find all my books. I never really know what I’m going to read next until it’s in my hands. So, this year, I plan to just keep doing that. Follow my interests and just read what I pick up.

Releasing

I have two books scheduled for release in 2017, both in the first quarter.

Block and Strike comes out at the end of this week, Friday, January 6^th.

Counting Down (Counting #2) is scheduled for March/April.

Writing

Last year I wrote about 200k words, which isn’t a bad effort. Only one of the books I wrote last year is being published this year, though. Two of them probably won’t see the light of day. They were enjoyable exercises—and I’m okay with that. I find it’s a lot easier to accept tossed words now that I’m a couple years into this unexpected career.

I don’t have a word count goal for this year. I don’t really work that way. I do have a book goal. I’d like to write two novels and two novellas.

Last year I wrote a novel called Irresistible. I’m currently revising it with the intent to submit it as the first of a series of three. I hope to have the other two books, Irreplaceable and Irredeemable, drafted by the summer.

I’ve just finished outlining Counting Out, the third and final book in the Counting series. I’ve outlined this book three times now, changing the story a little each time. Now that I’m super happy with the climax/resolution, I’m ready to write. I hope to have that drafted by February. I also have plans for another freebie that will fit between Counting Down and Counting Out. At this stage, I’m not really sure how long it will be, but could be anywhere up to 10k. It will have to cover approximately two months of time between books two and three. 😉

I want to write a new story for Julian and Mac. Working title is Road Rash. The novella will be around the same length as Best in Show and will continue the story of the diary and Julian and Mac’s relationship, and introduce a new family of shifters.

I’d really like to write some more science fiction and I do have a couple of projects competing for my attention. I have made the decision to put them off for the time being in order to concentrate on building my contemporary collection. I really enjoy writing in both genres, but feel I can better serve my readers by putting out a decent number of related books before dropping back into the world of science fiction. Also, I’m not entirely sure if either SF project will be classified as romance. There will be romantic themes and an important love story woven through each, but there may not be a lot of kissing or sex on the page. We’ll see…

Other projects: I have more ideas that I will ever get to, but I have ideas for a mystery novel (romantic suspense) and something else slightly paranormal (think angels and demons). I also have a fantasy project in mind with, um, magic and dragon shifters. I’m thinking that one might even be YA!

Co-written projects: both Jenn and I are pretty busy with solo projects right now, so we’ll see. 🙂

Personal Goals

Hey, if you got this far, stick around for another minute so you can giggle at my personal goals!

Get Fit(ter)
It’s hard to stick to fitness goals when there is snow on the ground, but I’m going to try. Last year I got back to exercising regularly and really enjoyed it. This year I’d like to focus on building more strength and increasing my stamina.

Eat Less Sugar
Yeah…

Draw
I really, really want to get back into my art. I always enjoy it and believe it’s important to make your mind work in different ways. Just as walking helps me unravel plot knots, drawing helps me take time out to do nothing for a while, which is something I have a hard time doing.

Stay Motivated
My motivation took a real hit in the last three months of 2016. I could blame the election. But really, I think I just needed some time off. I packed a lot of words into the two years preceding 2016 and brought myself perilously close to burn out. So while I’d like to be more motivated this year, I’m going to do so by setting closer and more realistic goals and planning for time off in between. I don’t need to put out five books a year. I’d like to, but I don’t need to.

Be More Present
Rick Reed posted about this one on his blog and it’s something I’ve been trying to do for a while now. Living in the present moment is harder than it looks. It means putting aside the phone and Facebook notifications. Putting aside the tablet or book. It means listening with undivided attention when people talk to you. It means hiking without music or audio books. It’s all about embracing this moment and letting it be important or not. But acknowledging either. It means slowing down and taking time to smell the roses. That’s what it means to me, anyway.

Here’s hoping 2017 is exciting in all the good ways! What do you have planned?