Setting realistic goals…

2022 edition.

Happy New Year! Fingers crossed most of these goals get accomplished this year…

BONDS OF MAGIC series:

• Research agents/make list by end of February. Have a publishing friend review/edit my query letter draft by end of March.
• Compile SEEDS OF POWER beta round feedback and make final edits by end of April. (Ha! Yes, “final” just means ready enough to query, knowing more edits will come from agent feedback and hopefully a future editor.)
• Send first query letter for SoP before June 1^st, 2022
• Continue to submit LAND OF MONSTERS (the fully drafted sequel to SoP) to my writing group one chapter at a time. Compile the feedback and make minor chapter edits while fresh from group discussion, but do not attempt another round of full book edits until October at the earliest. Brainstorm book 3 more once actively editing book 2.

DREAMCATCHER series:

• Restructure series which is currently four drafted books. Last year’s beta round for books 1 & 2 confirmed what I suspected wasn’t working. I’m going to pull out a stack of blank notecards and try a brand-new outline for a single book that combines books 1 & 2. I believe in Lena’s end-to-end story, but the current way I am delivering it isn’t quite right. Time to scrap big chunks of what I have and mix up the order of information/events so I can hopefully make a stronger standalone book 1. I don’t want to rush through my character development and world-building, but I think the plot of books 1 & 2 needs to be one book. It feels like a duology right now with book 2 stronger than book 1. New draft due August 1^st.
• This spring send current drafts of books 3 & 4 to the beta readers of books 1 & 2 so they can see where I am headed and provide additional feedback as I rip apart the beginning of the series.

RED HOUR:

• This standalone novel is not yet listed on my books page as an unpublished project because I don’t have a complete first draft yet. I have 80,000 words of action, world-building, and character development. I have a beginning, middle, and end… but also a lot of holes to fill. I plan to finish this draft by the end of the year. I really want to work on it now because it is different in style and tone; it feels raw, and is a little more graphic than my other works which surprised me. I’ll let myself dabble in this whenever I need a break from other goals, but I’ll only dig heavily into it later in the year.

OTHER (looser goals):

• Increase book reviewer presence using Bookish First, NetGalley, and other ARC or book tour opportunities.
• Sustain successful bookstagram account—a surprise joy of 2021—and add regular end of month “wrap-up” posts to my current schedule of reviews and fun challenges. More growth in my following would of course be nice, but it’s not a goal. It can happen organically over time if people like what they see.
• Follow more readers and writers on twitter to make more connections. Rotate my participation in word prompts/hashtag themes to engage with different people. Consider tweeting links to my newest book reviews to increase my overall presence on this platform.
• Attempt to grow Facebook page following/engagement. Consider feeding some of my Instagram posts to FB (but not all since I do book challenges that are Instagram specific).
• Continue to Beta and/or ARC read to support more writers creatively and with publicity.
• Attempt to write a short story (or two) to publish here on my website so people can get a sample of my style and/or to submit to contests. I say “attempt” on purpose here because I am not sure I can structure a short story. For the past three and a half years, I write down a new idea—and don’t stop. My little scene in my head turns into 50 pages of something that will never become a book—or it turns into a 400-page book!