2026 - A Novel In A Year!

So... Let's see if I can write a novel from start to publication in one year! XD I really hope I'm not setting myself up to fall flat on my face, but seven days into 2026, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I've already written 3k words of Once Gorgon Bitten, Twice Shy (Magic Morsel, 2), so I'll ride the wave of optimism for now.

Last year was great for writing, and I intend to keep up the momentum. Plenty to do to get a novel drafted, revised, edited, and prepped for publication. But I also have a few other goals for 2026. Time to get into the nitty-gritty.

2026 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

Same as the last couple of years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. =P

2026 Publications

❦ Hell Of An Unlife (Devil Made Me, 4) - Spring 2026

❦ Once Gorgon Bitten, Twice Shy (Magic Morsel, 2) - Fall 2026

Hey, at least Hell Of An Unlife is already revised. And it's the last title in the series! Consider grabbing the first three if you haven't already, starting with Hell Hath No Fury.

2026 Writing Goals

❦ One novel in a year!

❦ Edit & Publish Hell Of An Unlife.

❦ Draft, Revise, Edit, & Publish Once Gorgon Bitten, Twice Shy - It was really easy slipping back into the world of Morthmagica, and here's hoping it stays that way!

❦ Plan the third Magic Morsel novel (currently untitled) and/or plan Blood Stains the Soul (Trinity Torn, 3)

❦ Newsletters - 9 scheduled again.

❦ Born to Write - One post a month, with a break in August.

❦ Networking - Capricon again in February, but no readings or panels. I'll still have paperback copies of my books available, if you'd like to buy a signed copy!

❦ Social Media - More Instagram and Tiktok posts! Last year I kind of forgot about all that. Oops. Reminders set in Todoist now - lol.

❦ Marketing & Promo - Likely more Facebook and Amazon Ads, depending on how much I feel like gambling (because that's totally what it feels like to me when I run ads).

❦ SPFBO XI - Yes, back to Self-Publishing Blog-Off, and the eleventh year of the contest! Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned (Magic Morsel, 1) got through the lottery (I like to say it won the 50/50 because there were around 600 submissions this year), and has been assigned to Fantasy-Faction. Fingers crossed that the novel makes it to the semi-finals at least!

That's what I got for the year. The caffeine flowing through my system from my Chai is bolstering my optimism at the moment, but we'll see how I feel once my youngest, who has an upset stomach, gets home shortly. Heh.

If you have any writing goals for the year, please join us in the Writing Quest group, where we support each other in our progress (or commiserate when walls prevent that progress).

Happy 2026, all! And here's the obligatory bullet journal pic.

2025 - Double Time?

Well, we're over a week into 2025, and I'm already hammering away at my yearly writing goals! There are too many projects I want to work on, so I'm trying to up my output, using the lure of oh-shiny-new-if-I-finish-sooner. We'll see how long I can keep it up, though. Must get past Quitter's Day at least!

I also need to publish a couple titles this year, since last year ended with me only finishing my serial episode posts for Magic Morsel on Kindle Vella. My optimism is high right now, and I actually have hidden goals underneath my typical goals.

Double time. What does this mean? I have a certain word count planned for each week - that's my minimum, and the goal that would mean I'm still trucking along at a regular pace. But my extra goal is doubling all of it.

The information below does NOT include the double time, as it's mostly a personal challenge. Plus I'd rather not promise the world and only deliver half. It'll be a nice cherry on top if I have extra announcements and/or publications later in the year, though, won't it?

Here we go with the mantras. No change, as they're perfect for me.

2025 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

2025 Upcoming Publications

❦ Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned (Magic Morsel, 1) - Spring 2025

❦ Intricate Agony (Fortunes of Fate, 8) - Fall 2025

Looks a lot like last year, huh? Well, aside from actual date estimates. This time, though, it's novel publication for the Magic Morsel title, after a revision (not too extensive, though). Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned might also be available on Amazon only for the first three months, releasing on other online platforms in Summer 2025.

2025 Writing Goals

❦ Yes Writing, Screw Cleaning - This should probably be a mantra, but it's me prioritizing more than anything - lol.

❦ Finish the revision of Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned - I've been getting through this at a nice clip, so this goal will be in the bag in no time.

❦ Edit & Publish Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned - I'm excited to release this as a novel!

❦ Draft, Revise, Edit, & Publish Intricate Agony - No stalling out on it this time. That means prodding my blah protagonist into action.

❦ Draft Hell's Bells (Devil Made Me, 1) - One of those projects I've been itching to return to.

❦ Draft Downward Spiral (Urban Unicorn, 1) - Yes, I'm pushing off the Zodiac Aegis series in favor of this series. We'll just say... Reasons.

❦ Newsletters - 9 planned/scheduled, and this year I'll be focusing on exclusive cover reveals and excerpts of my current work-in-progress. And I hope to build my list, too - so if you've been thinking of subscribing, Sign Up Here!

❦ Born to Write - Aiming for one post per month again.

❦ Networking & Social Media - Heading back to Capricon in February, and this year I'll be reading an excerpt from Dead As Dreams. If you'd like more info on when, shoot me an Email. And as far as social media goes, it's kind of hit or miss. Per usual, I'll keep posting on my Facebook Page with updates as needed. I hope to post pics to Instagram more often, but that can be crochet heavy at times. And Tiktok... Who knows if it'll even be around next month!

❦ Marketing & Promo - More fiddling with Facebook Ads. We'll see if I attempt any other ad platforms this year.

And that's what I hope to accomplish, minimally. I keep thinking if I can double time everything, I'll write so much more and jump into my extra goals! So here's hoping that excitement keeps me sustained, and I mash out ALL THE WORDS this year (without killing my keyboard).

Do you have any crazy goals for 2025? And how has the year treated you so far? If you're a writer looking to share your goals with a group of other writers throughout the year, please consider joining us at Writing Quest!

Writing bullet journal pic below of my current January progress.

2024 - Just Chill

It's 2024, and I'm bringing lessons from 2023 with me.

Both publications last year were pretty stressful - I put in too many hours some days just to meet my deadlines. I really don't want to do that again.

So this year, if I have to move a deadline for my sanity, I will. I'm also not going to push myself to surpass last year's numbers. Just chillin' in 2024. Yup.

Now that doesn't mean I'm not going to be writing! Still plenty of projects to work on, and I'd probably die if I didn't write. ;)

I'm also sticking to the same three mantras. I like them. At this point they might be permanent.

2024 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

2024 Upcoming Publications

❦ Intricate Agony (Fortunes of Fate, 8)

❦ Magic Morsel (New Kindle Vella Episodes, Plus Revising into a Novel)

Hey, look! No dates! Completely intentional. Though right now, the next Magic Morsel episode will go up on Kindle Vella on January 12, 2024. Four episodes are ready to go.

2024 Writing Goals

❦ Draft Magic Morsel and post new episodes to Kindle Vella until I've reached what I feel is a good ending for the first serial.

❦ Revise, Edit, and Publish Magic Morsel as a novel. And think of a good title because Magic Morsel will be the series name.

❦ Draft, Revise, Edit, and Publish Intricate Agony - This story has been simmering in my mind for a while, but I kept having to put it off. I can't wait to continue the Fortunes of Fate stories!

❦ Draft Gemini's Echo (Zodiac Aegis, 1) - Yes, this is getting pushed off a bit again, as I'm not touching it until the previous tasks are done.

❦ Newsletters - 8 scheduled for the year, 5 of which will include SHU-WPF Book Spotlights. If you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, please consider doing so. A free novel and three short stories just for joining - Sign Up Here!

❦ Born to Write - I'm hoping to write one blog post per month at least, but I'm not going to pressure myself into that. I'll at least keep you all updated on my writing progress!

❦ Social Media & Networking - I'm going to Capricon in February! It should be fun, as a couple of my writer friends are presenting. I've also narrowed my social media attention down to Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok (I do post my Tiktoks to Youtube, too). Just casual usage, though. Not going to try to use it as a marketing tool, as social interactions are a weakness for me, not a strength - heh.

❦ Marketing & Promo - I'm experimenting with Facebook Ads! It kind of feels like gambling to me, and I hate gambling. But the Ads for Authors courses at least made it all less daunting. So, testing, testing, testing.

Per usual, I have more writing goals planned if I happen to get all of the above done. But since I'm chillin' this year, I doubt I'll get to those.

How has your 2024 started? What do you have planned for this year? Are you going at a chill pace, or are you trying to push yourself to greater heights?

Obligatory pic of my bullet journal below. I felt I needed some rainbows in my life this month. XD

2023 - Year of Death and Dreams

Ominous post title this time, yes? Mwuahahahaha!

Enough of that. Nose to grindstone, focus on goals, make progress, etc. I have a lot to get done in 2023, and I'll be pushing myself to my writing limits, especially the first half of the year.

Here's the rundown!

2023 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

Do these seem familiar? They should. I've cut the mantras to three this year, but they're ones that have stuck with me for a couple years. And they might just hang around for many years ahead.

2023 Upcoming Publications

❦ Dead As Dreams (Saga of Souls & Dreams) - Spring/Summer 2023

❦ Fractured Fairies Collection (Untitled Thus Far, 7 stories) - Fall 2023

2023 Writing Goals

❦ Revise, Edit, and Format Dead As Dreams - And here's where the post title comes in. I'm determined to release this novel into the world this year, over 15 years after first starting it. Yikes. I ended 2022 46k into revisions, so I have a lot to go to reach the end (though I've already revised over 6k already this month!). I'll update my tracker to the left every time I have a new blog post.

❦ Revise/Expand Immortal Woes (Fractured Fairies, 1) - This first story with Grinka, Syndago, and the fairy brats feels off compared to the subsequent stories, so it's getting an update! In preparation for that story collection, of course.

❦ Edit and Format Fractured Fairies Collection - Simple enough, right?

❦ Draft Gemini's Echo (Zodiac Aegis, 1) - This will fill my second half of the year. It'll be nice to get some fresh words down, taking a break from revisions. I just need to convince myself not to fiddle with the next Fortunes of Fate story that's been brewing in my head.

❦ Newsletters - 6 scheduled for the year. And in the first one, I'll have a poll to vote on the Fractured Fairies Collection title. So if you want a chance to offer your input, make sure you Subscribe to My Author Newsletter!

❦ Born to Write - 1 blog post per month scheduled. Too much writing and revising to get done to plan more!

❦ Social Media & Networking - I'll be attending In Your Write Mind virtually again this year. I know they're planning to set up something for alums to promote, and I'll post about it once I know more. As for the rest of social media, yeah... Too much writing to do to deal with all that - lol.

❦ Marketing & Promo - I purchased Ads for Authors last year, and I'm hoping to squeeze in the chance to watch more of the videos for that. Then tackle Amazon and Facebook ads. Scary!

I'd love to get so much more done, but when planning my weeks, the time disappears so fast. Completing my list above will be quite the feat already! Of course I have a list of extra goals, just in case I smash the main ones out of the park.

What does your 2023 look like? Aiming to accomplish a lot, or hoping for a calm, low key year?

Quick pic of a bullet journal page below. Nice to have so many squares filled in already for days I've revised!

2022 - Keep The Momentum Going

OK, I can break that nasty streak of even years going to hell, right? Right. *cracks knuckles* Let's do this!

I am going to up my goals compared to 2021, and I'm hoping I'm not sabotaging myself by doing so. Must stay positive. I'm going to rock 2022!

All that optimism is rather saccharin for me - lol. Time to bring things back down to reality. If I get my two planned publications out this year, I'm going to call 2022 a win. Especially since one has been waiting its turn forever - time for it to claw itself out into the world.

Onward with the 2022 writing goals!

2022 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

❦ Sit And Get To It.

The first three are holdovers from the last couple of years, but the last one is new. Most times getting started is the hardest part, so no matter how I feel, if I have writing scheduled for the day, I'm going to sit down and attempt to get words out. If I sit there with nothing for a half hour, then I'll throw in the towel for the day - heh.

2022 Upcoming Publications

❦ Nymphs Need Love Too (Fractured Fairies, 5) - Spring 2022

❦ Dead As Dreams (stand alone novel) - Fall 2022

2022 Writing Goals

❦ Revise, Edit, and Format Nymphs Need Love Too - this should be pretty easy. Not tons to tweak, and I always have fun with Grinka, Syndago, and the fairy brats.

❦ Revise, Edit, and Format Dead As Dreams - and here we come to the novel that has waited too long. This poor story has been fiddled with off and on since 2005! And I love it, so I just need to finish revisions already. Right now it's a stand alone, but I can't say I haven't had ideas for a sequel...

❦ Draft at least 8 Magic Morsel episodes - I'd love to add episodes to this on Kindle Vella each week for the rest of the year, but since I need to get other things done, it's just not feasible. This is my focus, though, the first couple weeks of January, so hopefully I'll have another two months of episodes before I take a break from it.

❦ Draft 20k words of Gemini's Echo (Zodiac Aegis, 1) - Or I'll just add more episodes to Magic Morsel, depending on how I feel once Dead As Dreams is complete.

❦ Newsletter - I have scheduled 5 of these for the year; 2 for my releases, and the other 3 will each include two chapters of Chains of Nect: Obsidian's Obsession. Yes, this means I'll be sending out the final chapter of that this year!

❦ Born to Write - At least 1 blog post per month (I know, I'm slacking on Marvel/MCU commentary, but writing comes before blogging, always).

❦ Social Media - Yeah, I'm not even sure what I want to do with this right now. I've had some ideas to fiddle with TikTok, but I so don't have the time to jump on that bandwagon at the moment. What do you think? What social media platforms would you prefer to see me interact more on?

❦ Marketing and Promo - I need to delve deeper into this when I get the chance to this year. Got to get my books in front of more eyeballs!

There you have it. Too ambitious? Just right? I mean, I also have a list of extra goals because I want to do all-the-things now. Damn it, time, why must you be finite?

What are your goals for 2022, writing or otherwise? Feel free to share. Either way, good luck, and may this year be less rocky than the last two!

P.S. Some Writing Bullet Journal pics below. At least the first full week of the year has started out well so far!

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Header Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

2021 - This Year Has To Be Better

I won't do it. I won't talk about The-Year-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. That was the last post. This post is looking toward the future, and I'm mustering as much optimism as I can (this can be a difficult task at the best of times, for me at least) for 2021.

To go with that optimism, I've turned down my usual goals to about half. This is mainly because I have kids in and out of face-to-face, blended, and virtual learning, and I have to be adaptable. I will be adaptable if I want to keep going with writing instead of coming to a screaching halt again. And I've already proven to myself I can be adaptable this past Monday and Tuesday while Eldest was in Zoom classes. Headphones are a wonderful thing...

Anyway, Happy 2021! On with the goals!

2021 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

❦ Embrace My Process.

Not much different from last year, aside from that second one. I think these are all great mantras to have that may persist for many years.

2021 Upcoming Publications

❦ Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7) - Spring 2021

❦ Bytes Bite, And So Do Fairies (Fractured Fairies, 4) - Summer 2021

❦ Fortunes of Fate Collection #1 (Fate 1-6) - Fall 2021

2021 Writing Goals

❦ Revise and Edit Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7) - I'm feeling more confident with what I need to do in the re-write of this story now, which is good. I've already gotten through another 501 words, and my brain is itching to continue it tomorrow. Slow but steady on this one, though.

❦ Revise and Edit Bytes Bite, And So Do Fairies (Fractured Fairies, 4) - This likely won't need too much work, but it will sure be fun to poke at Grinka and the fairies.

❦ Draft Nymphs Need Love Too (Fractured Fairies, 5) - Now, my brain has been going a million miles an hour on ideas for this since drafting Bytes Bite in June. The only foreseeable problem is that due to all of the elements I want to weave in, it's going to turn out rather long. Novella?

❦ Draft at least 42k of Gemini's Echo (Zodiac Aegis, 1) - Yes, I know this looks like I'm abandoning Dead As Dreams and Downward Spiral, but when your brain loosely maps out an entire arc for a 13-book series... Not looking a gift horse in the mouth. We'll see how it goes, though. I could always abandon ship and go back to the others. You can always realign my focus - just post a comment or send an email. What novel series do you want me to work on?

❦ Author Newsletter - 1 every other month, plus extras for releases. Trying to keep it simple for now. Chains of Nect: Obsidian's Obsession chapters for the most part.

❦ Born To Write - At least 1 blog post per month.

❦ Social Media - Have fun trying to post a cat picture every day on Instagram (which will also be posted to Twitter/Facebook). Year of Cats!

I'm feeling a little bit of deja vu with this post, but we won't talk about why... because I promised.

That's what it all boils down to for me this year, though. Not as much as I'd like to get done, but hey, it's better than nothing. Progress counts.

What are your goals or resolutions for 2021? Are you happy to have a fresh start in the new year? Feel free to share with me! Happy writing and reading. =)

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2021 Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

2020 - Keep On Rollin'

Are we really over a week into 2020 already? This whole time flying thing needs to stop.

Well, Happy New Year!

As always, I've written up a yearly plan for myself. I don't always expect to hit all the goals I plan out, but I've gotten much better at being more realistic with them depending on the time I have available.

So shall we see how much I get through on my list for this year? I've already written 4800 words - that's a good start!

2020 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Finish Them!

❦ Focus.

❦ Embrace My Process.

Yes, a little repetition in there from last year, and I'm putting determination under the umbrella of focus for now.

2020 Upcoming Publications

❦ Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7) - Spring 2020

❦ Fortunes of Fate Collection #1 (to include titles 1-6) - Fall 2020

2020 Writing Goals

❦ Draft 22k of Chains of Nect: Obsidian's Obsession - Yes, I'm continuing this, so there will be some new chapters available soon. If you want to see the chapters earlier, please subscribe to my Author Newsletter. Otherwise, starting in May or June, I'll post one chapter every other month on Born to Write and Wattpad.

❦ Revise and Edit Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7) - Mind you, this will be novella length. Solis's and Resz's stories needed a bit more room to unfold than expected.

❦ Revise Dead As Dreams - This is a novel I hope to publish in 2021, currently not tied to any series (though I do have thoughts for sequels, but I won't be exploring those ideas at this time).

❦ Draft Fortunes of Fate, 8 - Right now, the Tarot card and title are unknown. I'm sure I'll think of something soon enough, though, and then the characters will keep bugging me until it's their turn - lol.

❦ Draft Downward Spiral (Urban Unicorn, 1) - After wrapping up all that's listed above, I'm finally going to focus on this series. I just feel like I need to complete a few other tasks before I can devote most of my time to the Urban Unicorn novels.

❦ 1 Author Newsletter per month.

❦ Sporadic blog posts, but at least one per month unless life explodes on me.

❦ Keep writing consistently when the kids are in school.

I do have extra projects in mind if I happen to hit these goals out of the park, plus I have some notes to myself about social media and marketing. This year I won't bore everyone with the boring things like making sure my beta reading and developmental editing work for Haunted Unicorn Publishing doesn't take over my writing time. Hm, I guess I did just mention it now. Oops.

The 5-Year Plan is still too scary to think about. Actually, I may never want to consider drawing one up ever again. Plans work much better in smaller bites for me. Even a year is pushing it at times. Life changes too much, no matter if both kids are in school full-time or not.

What are your goals for the year? Or are you best at only planning weekly or monthly? Feel free to share any of your goals below, and if they're writing goals, please join us over at Writing Quest!

2019 - Determination

Happy, 2019! Yes, I'm saying happy. This year, I'm not going to let life roll me over and flatten me out. I will plow through the obstacles! Is that determination enough to go along with the post title? I hope so. Not sure how much more I have in me right now. My tea is the only thing keeping me awake right now (I really need to stop staying up so late).

Anyway, my goals for this year look oddly familiar. Hm... yup, almost exactly like last year's! Hahahahaha. Yes, I'm laughing about it. I have to, to hold onto any shred of sanity I have left.

First, my mantras. I narrowed these down and only have three this year. Wait, you only see two listed below? That's because I'm keeping one to myself. It's a bit of a harsh one, and I don't want to offend anyone. My mind works in mysterious ways, and although I know what the mantra means for me, people could easily take it another way.

2019 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Passion, Determination, Focus.

There's that word determination again! Super stubborn Leo here, and I'm not going to let life stop me from reaching my writing goals. With that said, I still have kids and other responsibilities, so my goals aren't too insane this year. Keep going, just need to keep going, and have fewer days where I'm not doing any writing tasks.

2019 Goals

❦ Follow the writing schedule I've planned. The basic focus of this is to write (or do writing related tasks) for 1.5-2 hours per day, every weekday (weekends off!), through August. Come September, I hope to up this to 3-3.5 hours per day, since my youngest will be in school full time. I've also given myself 50 off days (I know this sounds like a lot, but kids... especially in summer) -- this includes holidays, vacation, and sick time. Time Spent > Words Produced. Especially since the more time I spend consistently writing, the quicker I write.

❦ Revise, edit, send to copy editor, edit again, format, and release Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2). Finally. I hope. I better.

❦ Draft, revise, edit, format, and release Well of Shades (Fortunes of Fate, 7). I'm still not sold on Shades. Since I have so many S alternatives for that last word in the title, maybe I should just call it Well of S? Heh.

❦ Write introduction and format Untitled Fortunes of Fate Collection (Fortunes of Fate, 1-6).

❦ Finish draft of Obsidian's Obsession (Chains of Nect, 1). I'm going to need more chapters for my newsletter subscribers! If you'd like to see the chapters earlier, please sign up for the newsletter (link on the left side), but I'll also post them to my blog (and Wattpad) one month after each chapter is sent via the newsletter.

❦ Blog posts -- I'm still aiming for one post every other week. However, I'm considering trying to up it to one post per week again. Though this would include several shorter, commentary type posts. I'm still tumbling things around in my head on how exactly I want to approach the shorter posts. Maybe some with just pics? Some with a link or two I found useful? Any thoughts are welcome!

❦ One newsletter per month still. And a chapter of Obsidian's Obsession available to download in .MOBI and .EPUB format in each, too!

❦ Back to doing one Critter critique each week as well.

❦ Limit social media. Focus on writing. Makes sense, right? I am trying a new thing, though. One picture (minimum) per day on Instagram. It's the one social media platform I don't side eye on a regular basis, so I figured, why not. So, if you want to see a daily pic from me, follow me on Instagram!

As usual, those are my main goals. I have a whole slew of side goals if I happen to make awesome progress on the things above.

I'm not going to list the planned publications. You can see from my goals that I'm hoping to release three different titles, but I don't want to make any firm dates yet. Yes, I may be determined to take this year by storm, however I know how big problems can flatten that in seconds. I'm knocking on wood (well plywood - lol) a hell of a lot at my desk to keep away the big, bad stuff.

Oh, and the 5-Year Plan is on ice. It needs an overhaul, but I don't want to waste the time doing it right now when things are still a bit in flux. Maybe if life seems to even out nicely once both kids are in school full-time.

I'll leave everyone with a picture of my Writing Bullet Journal. Ready to kick off 2019! I still love bullet journaling -- so relaxing.

And feel free to share any of your goals for the year below. May we all vanquish our goals with ease!

2018... What? Already?

Nothing like the end of a year and the beginning of the next sneaking up on you. I'd love to snap a picture of my 1-Year Plan written in my Bullet Journal for this post, but alas it hasn't made it into the Bullet Journal yet.

At least I have a 1-Year Plan, even if it's only in a Word doc right now. Guess what? I have a 5-Year Plan, too! That was pretty damned hard to do, though it's only drafting, revising, and publication goals.

Last year, I jumped into the year with too high expectations for my productivity. I can declare this, since I didn't hit all of my goals. But I'm still thrilled with the progress I did make. So this year, I'm going to be more realistic. I crunched numbers (numbers are fun), and my plan for this year follows how productive I was last year. Yay for realism? Hehe.

Before I get into a few items from my 1-Year Plan, just know, if you're patient, you'll discover which Tarot card won in my survey. You just have to read to the end for it. Oh, the suspense! ;)

I decided I needed a few mantras for 2018. Maybe if I repeat these every day, they'll sink in. And I think they say a lot about where I am in my writing career right now.

2018 Writing Mantras

❦ Slow Down.

❦ Just Write.

❦ Live.

❦ One Word At A Time.

❦ Any Progress Is Good Progress.

❦ All In Time.

Writing kind of took over my life last year, which is why the first one is, "Slow Down." I love to write and I have a writing career to build, but I don't want to sacrifice everything else in my life, including family time. In 2017, I felt like I was scrambling with writing all year and ignoring everything else too much.

With that said, my main writing goals for this year follow! (Note: This excludes any developmental editing and beta reading work -- I do have a limit of work hours per week scheduled for that as well, though.)

2018 Writing Goals

❦ 10 hours per week of writing and writing related tasks. (No more, no less -- though I have some scheduled weeks off.)

❦ Maximum 2 hours per week of critiquing.

❦ Complete revisions and do an edit of Thorns Entwine the Blade.

❦ Draft, revise, and edit the next Fortunes of Fate story. (What card will it be based on? Keep reading!)

❦ Start revisions on the poor, neglected novel, Dead As Dreams

❦ 1 newsletter per month -- each one will include a chapter of the first draft of Chains of Nect: Obsidian's Obsession in mobi and epub formats!

❦ 1 blog post every 2 weeks. (Yup, I'm reducing the blog post frequency again -- I may have a few extras, though, depending on how the year goes.)

That's the main stuff. Oh, you wanted to know about publications? Yes, yes. I still plan to release two titles in 2018, but right now I don't have publication dates. I don't want to stress myself out with firm deadlines. Progress is what's important.

2018 Publications

❦ Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2)

❦ Untitled Fate Story (Fortunes of Fate, 7) -- Sorry there's no title yet!

This post has gotten rather long already. So I won't go into my 5-Year Plan extensively, but I will mention some general details. Again, it mostly contains word count goals for drafting and revision along with hopeful publication dates. I expect it to change each year, as a plan like this is mainly just to see where I'm heading and isn't set in stone.

You already know the publication goals for 2018. So... 2019 -- Dead As Dreams and GSD vs. Everything. 2020 -- I'll be working on the draft and revisions of the third Trinity Torn novel for most of the year, so publications will hopefully be 1 Fate story and 1 other story connected to Trinity Torn. 2021 -- The third Trinity Torn novel, a Fractured Fairies story, and a Devil Made Me story. 2022 -- Downward Spiral, the first title in my Urban Unicorn novel series, 1 Fate story, and 1 collection of short stories (old and new).

5-Year Plans are scary, no? I think they are.

OK, I promised to reveal the Tarot card, didn't I? This post is huge! Maybe I should leave it for next time. You can wait two weeks, right?

Fine, fine. I'll be nice.

I had 2 votes each for:

❦ The Chariot
❦ Temperance
❦ The Empress

But there was a card I had 3 votes for. And that card is...

❦ The Hermit

So that's the next one I'll be doing! This will be interesting. Jasp, the protagonist of the last Fortunes of Fate story, was a bit hermit-like. Which means it will be fun to see what I can do to make this next story completely different. The options are plentiful, especially since I can pull from the upright and reversed meanings of the card.

Thank you to all who voted!

I hope everyone excels with their 2018 goals. I'd be happy to hear what anyone else has planned for the year, writing related or not!