As some of you may recall, I write fanfiction stories to unwind. I haven’t had time to indulge in this exercise in almost a year. Considering that the most recent series I’ve watched is Anne with an E, I decided to write my first fanfiction story based on that series. It is titled, “The Apology.” If you are interested in reading it, you can find it here.
I usually review my year’s goals on a quarterly basis, but I am feeling such a sense of accomplishment I couldn’t wait. I’ve been working on Amelia’s Mission for an eternity. Real estate and family responsibilities don’t leave me with much time or energy. However, I promised myself I would dedicate some time to writing this month. This project is now 80% complete.
One of my critique partners will be reading the newest chapters and providing feedback next week. Happy dance!
I will let you in on a little secret… I never posted 2021 goals for the year. Not that I didn’t have any, but I mixed my reading, real estate, and writing goals all together in a post at The Book Connection and never looked back. Yikes! So unlike me.
Honestly, I was coming off an unusual year where I spent a lot of time reeling from my father-in-law’s death from COVID and a real estate year where my volume increased despite all the craziness of 2020.
Since I set aggressive real estate goals for 2021, I only set two writing related goals for this year:
Increase my editing volume
Choose one writing project to finish
I can’t say that I’ve done much about the first one. I am editing, but not as much as I planned.
I’ve chosen to finish Amelia’s Mission, which makes sense since I am 21 chapters in. There are probably only another 7 to 10 chapters left to this story, so that is manageable.
What will I need to do to get this goal accomplished?
I really need to find my focus. My publisher is asking for more work from me, but I know that picture books take forever to get to market. A middle grade novel is a good choice.
Wish me luck!
We came to the end of 2020. Thank goodness for little favors. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I have aged five years over the last 12 months. Enough said about that. Let’s look at how the year went. Here were the goals I set before all the craziness happened.
Goal 1: Develop one of the ideas from my stash.
As I mentioned in October, the closure of one of my publishers caused me to shift gears. All these ideas came out of my participation in STORYSTORM over the last several years. The idea I would like to flesh out is a humorous Christmas story.
Goal 2: Decide which of my completed stories to submit next.
Still undecided. They didn’t garner interest in some Twitter pitches, so I’m not sure if my pitches were off or if the story ideas just aren’t of interest. I planned to sit down over Christmas break to review them, but work got in the way.
Goal 3: Edit The Sisterhood and submit to the agent I met at a conference.
Still working on the rewrite of this one. Only on Chapter 4. 😦
Goal 4: Finish additional material for the new version of A Christmas Kindness.
It was great to see the second edition of this book published. It is currently listed in the Critters Writers Readers’ Poll. You can vote for it here.
Goal 5: Acquire and edit three manuscripts for 4RV Publishing.
It just ended up being two manuscripts this year, but I have edited manuscripts for several other authors as well. I am proud of myself for keeping my toe in this end of the business. My editing services are also in the Critters Writers Readers’ Poll. You can vote for me here.
Goal 6: Write for Guardian Angel Kids.
I am still not over the unexpected and sudden closure of Guardian Angel Publishing. It makes my heart so sad for all the Angels. You can purchase copies of the three books they published for me on my books page. After I go through my stock, they will be unavailable until I find a new publisher.
Goal 7: Write five chapters of Amelia’s Mission.
This poor story. I even figured out the ending to it now, but just haven’t had time to focus on it with everything else going on. At least writing group happens once a month, so even if I don’t have time to polish it I should be able to move forward with this story.
Now, I am off to bed to finalize my 2021 goals. Hope you accomplished what you wanted to in 2020. Feel free to share your accomplishments. Happy new year!
On November 11, I shared a blog post on the subject of tackling a large project during the holiday season. Originally written for Writer2Writer, an online magazine that is no longer available, this post shares tips on how to add a large writing or editing project into your already jam-packed schedule.
Though I think it’s an ideal article for a writer tackling NaNoWriMo, these tips can be used to introduce a new project into your busy schedule any time of the year.
You can find the article here.
The Children's and Teens' Book Connection 