2020, I'm Breaking Up With You

Sorry, 2020, but I'm ending it.

I'd like to say it was a good run, but if I'm being honest, it was painful. Excruciating. Torturous.

I know the grass is always greener saying, but 2021 has a twinkle in its eye. It may treat me just as badly - that's a chance I'm more than willing to take at this point. Anything has to be better than this.

Unfortunately, I can't say it's me and not you. Because it's totally you. You've treated me (and many others) horribly.

I'd like to think I'll eventually look back on this time with a few fond memories. Nope. No way in hell.

You scrambled my senses, laughed at my aspirations, and made sure my progress stagnated. Your time was always more important than my own. Utter selfishness.

The only positive I can pull from all of this is that you likely made me stronger, more willing to adapt as needed, even if it means doing something I never imagined doing before. Isn't that always the case, though? We learn from the bad. And, oh man, you were bad.

So, with a sigh of relief, I bid you adieu. All the cliches come to mind: don't let the door hit you on the way out, you're getting kicked to the curb, miss you never, sayonara sucker. Ad nauseum.

That time of yours you so valued above my own? Yeah, it's run out.

❦

Author Note: I hope you liked my Dear John letter of sorts. I'm sure many of you are feeling something similar! I won't be talking about what I didn't accomplish with my 2020 writing goals, as I think the above says enough. Next week it'll be 2021, and I'll have a fresh new post with my goals for the New Year. Happy reading!

Image by Jazella 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!