No Resolutions, Just Goals

 The holidays are over. Back to business. Serious author business. I didn't make any resolutions, but like many, I've set goals. Here are my top 5 goals:

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

1. Get an agent. I'm scouring Query Tracker and my friend Kathy Temean's blog,  https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/. These two sources have the freshest info on the literary agent front.

2. A publisher is interested in a romance I wrote, so I'll be doing a serious R&R- revise and resubmit. This is probably my top priority. Even if I can get an agent, most likely I'll have finished any dealings, good or bad, with this publishing house.

3. Submit manuscripts out. While agents don't like to take on manuscripts that have been subbed around, no author can afford to sit around and wait for an agent. My first novel, Sirenz, was pubbed without an agent, and there was already an understanding for a sequel (or two) before an agent got involved. I have several novels so an agent can rep them if they don't want to touch the ones I've sent out. Time waits for no one.

4. Publish Sirenz 3: A New Trend. I need to review the manuscript one more time, then commission a cover. It WILL be pubbed this year. I've ignored this manuscript too long. I love Hades too much to let him languish.

5. Read more. While I'll still be writing MG and YA, I'm branching out into the friendlier world of romance. And while it's always been one of my favorite genres, I need to read more to see what's out there. I have been lax reading MG and YA too, but I think I should go full force into the romance genre because of the interest from the editor I've gotten for one book (which already has a sequel written and I have ideas for a series) and because I think there is more opportunity in this genre. 

So, goals, not resolutions. The difference? Goals are stepping stones to career and lifetime achievements. Yeah, everyone wants to get in better shape and lose weight, but I'm hiking and biking. When the YMCA fully opens, I can get back to swimming, so I'm taking care of that business. 

Today, I'll be reading The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White, and reviewing/revising my Frankenstein-ish novel The Frankenstein Vendetta. But after I make my bed and eat, I'll be hiking. 

What are your goals?

Char 

Clear Your Desk!

Monday was National Clean Your Desk Day.

I wasn't totally successful.

Things I didn't clear/put/throw away:

1. My trusty thesaurus (it's the blue book on the corner). While my laptop has a built-in thesaurus, it's not as comprehensive. My laptop version gives a few examples, my worn paperback gives more than I can use, but the right word is always there. Since I'm in the middle of revisions on two middle grade novels, that precious baby is staying right there.

2. That pile of magazines stacked next to my laptop. I want to read them, have to read them, need to read them. But... I'm reading several novels, writing, revising, outlining... I don't want to take time from them to read articles on PR, etc. The perfect opportunity to go through and read is during the commercial breaks of a TV show or the NFL playoffs. If my beloved Patriots don't make it through to the Super Bowl, there will be no excuse on a Sunday not to read those mags, take the useful info, and toss the rest.

3.  That little red can.... of chocolate. As part of my New Year's goal is to work smarter, I've allocated myself one piece when I finish something on my to do list. And it can't be just anything, like washing the kitchen floor (done) because that's not important or related to my writing. Finish the blog post and query two agents? Score! Nothing like a little cocoa bean incentive.

4.  Various papers (scattered). They are bits of novel notes that need to be filed or tossed once I've incorporated them into the respective novels. Another is an outline for a romance novel I want to write. One is my darn To Do List. I need to deal with them one at a time. I'm determined to clear my desk by the end of the month.

5.  Old agendas (under that stack of white paper which is the latest mg novel). I go through my old agendas and transfer any important info into my new agenda. Things like birthdays, book festivals, conferences and awards submission dates, contact info I've scribbled down, and again, more novel notes. I don't rely solely on my phone calendar because that's crowded with stuff like doctor, dentist, music practice, volunteer, etc. appointments. And if I lose my phone (as I have been known to do), and don't have a backup, well, I'm just in a really bad place. Always have a backup!

I've made the deadline to have my desk cleared not in one day (that's just too crazy and impractical and stress-inducing), so by the end of the month is completely doable. That's the secret to writing or anything else- be practical, know or try to anticipate limitations, and work smarter.

Char

Improbable- yes, impossible- NO!

A distant relative on my husband's side of the family was this little grandmother. Being Italian, of course she was called Nonni (pronounced naw-ni). Nonni was a petite little woman, maybe just a bit over 5 feet tall, lucky to break 100 pounds.  And being in her early 80's, she was frail.

Now there was an old stove in the basement of the house where she lived with her daughter, the grandchildren grown with families of their own. This stove was in Nonni's way. She wanted it across the room, against a wall. But what could she do? She was too small, too weak to move it herself.

But everyday, when she went down to the basement to do laundry or whatever else, she'd sidle up to the stove and lean against it, using all of her 100 pounds to push. Maybe it would move an inch, maybe not.

Fraction by fraction, that stove shifted.

It took Nonni months to move it--but she did.

And so it goes with writing or whatever endeavor we face that looks too daunting to attempt. Don't set impossible goals--for Nonni that would be immediately moving the stove across the room; for you that might be finishing a novel in a month, or losing weight, or overcoming an injury. But take a little time every day, or whenever the opportunity arises, like Nonni passing that stove, to do just a bit. At first it doesn't look like you've really accomplished anything, but eventually you will see you're achieving your goal. Nonni was determined to move that stove, and I'm betting she was smiling with satisfaction when she saw it halfway there, or even just a quarter of the way across the floor because even though every day brought only an incremental change, she was moving that stove by herself. Improbable as it was, she refused to accept it was impossible.

Now go accomplish your goals.

Char