2025 - Smashed It!

Wow. That's the only word I have at the moment. Just, wow.

Okay, I guess since this is a blog post, I should attempt to elaborate. 2025 was crazy productive. Guess the Double Time worked? Maybe. Successfully tricking my brain could have been a fluke. I guess we'll see in 2026 when I shoot for the stars without the sneaky brain tricks. Lol.

But I need to focus on 2025 and all that I accomplished before revealing my goals for next year, huh? Yeah. Save all those new goals for another post.

If you'd like to check what my original plan was for this year, take a look at 2025 - Double Time? - I did veer off track, but definitely in a good way! I mention some of the planned changes in Writing Update - June 2025.

Let's see what I actually got done, though...

2025 Publications

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

❦ Intricate Agony (Fortunes of Fate, 8)

❦ Hell's Bells (Devil Made Me, 3)

Yes, I published three titles this year - one more than originally planned. Smashed it!

2025 Writing Progress

❦ Revised, edited, and published Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned.

❦ Drafted, revised, edited, and published Intricate Agony.

❦ Drafted, revised, edited, and published Hell's Bells - the drafting was planned, the rest was not!

❦ Drafted and revised Hell Of An Unlife (Devil Made Me, 4) - not planned at all!

❦ Edited Hell Hath No Fury and Hell On Wheels (Devil Made Me, 1 & 2) - mentioned in my June update, and then it took longer than expected.

❦ Downward Spiral (Urban Unicorn, 1) - this draft is now on hold, and I'll be jumping into the next Magic Morsel draft instead come January.

2025 Writing Tasks

❦ Newsletters - 9 sent, as intended, though more new release and cover reveals than planned.

❦ Born To Write - 11 out of 12 months, but that works for me.

❦ Networking & Social Media - Capricon 45 was attended, including the excerpt reading, but I fell flat on my face with the social media.

❦ Marketing & Promo - Did some Facebook Ads, and I also ran Amazon Ads when Dragon Stone was in Kindle Unlimited.

❦ Yes Writing, Screw Cleaning - my house definitely shows I stuck to this goal in 2025 - heh.

2025 Numbers

Yay, I made it to my favorite part of the post! All the numbers!

❦ Words Drafted = 41,635

❦ Words Revised = 78,999

❦ Total Words Drafted & Revised = 120,634 (A good chunk of my 150k For Funsies goal!)

❦ Words Edited = 79,156

❦ Hours Spent Drafting, Revising, & Editing = 272.58

❦ Hours Spent On Cover Art, Formatting, & Publishing = 48.75

❦ Total Hours Spent On Writing & Writing Tasks = 425.25

Wow. I'm stuck on that single word again. My total hours are equitable to 2023 (not 2024 - ha), but I spent more time drafting and revising this year, plus I averaged more words per hour. Just, wow. It feels awesome to have accomplished so much. Here's hoping I keep up the momentum. The end of this year has been kind of meh, but I think I deserve a little downtime. XD

I hope everyone else is happy with their 2025 and looking forward to 2026!

2024 - Lots of Writing, Just Not Lots of Publishing

Well, the end of another year is nearing (that wording makes it sound like there's an echo - damned editor side of my brain), so it's time for me to reflect on all I accomplished. And freak out over how the last 12 months flew by so quickly. Like seriously, time messes with my head.

I got to say, even though I didn't publish a novel or short story, I'm quite proud with my output. Now to take a closer look!

2024 Publications

❦ Magic Morsel - I finished the first serial. Unfortunately, it now needs to move to series status, as Kindle Vella is closing its doors. You have until February 2025 to read it on Vella!

2024 Progress

If you'd like to compare the goals I posted at the beginning of the year, head over to the 2024 - Just Chill post.

❦ Drafted to the end of the first Magic Morsel novel, Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned, and halfway through revisions!

❦ Started drafting Intricate Agony (Fortunes of Fate, 8), but paused to figure out some issues with the story.

❦ Gemini's Echo (Zodiac Aegis, 1) - Are you surprised I haven't worked on this? My priorities are shifting as well, so it's definitely on hold for at least another year.

❦ I sent out 8 newsletters, though one was just an announcement about SPFBOX, and only 4 SHU-WPF Spotlights.

❦ This will be the 9th post on Born to Write for the year. Not one post monthly, but still a decent amount!

❦ As for social media & networking... Went to Capricon, but ignored social media most of the year. I also posted mostly about my crochet projects and new Etsy shop, Speculative Stitches. Eh.

❦ I also entered Dead As Dreams into the SPFBOX contest. Unfortunately, it's been eliminated.

❦ Facebook Ads - I've used them on and off. I still feel like I'm throwing money away, though. It's a rough road getting my writing in front of new eyeballs!

2024 Numbers

Like Lila in Magic Morsel, I love numbers! However, unlike her, they typically don't love me. Let's see what I ended up with this year.

❦ I drafted 42,807 words.

❦ I revised 44,943 words.

❦ That's a total of 87,750 words, which is more than the previous year, and super close to my just for fun goal of 100k!

❦ No editing, but a lot of reading through my writing and working on world bibles. Oops, no number for this one.

❦ 136 hours spent drafting & revising. Less than last year, but that's mostly because of the lack of editing.

❦ Only 4 hours of cover art, formatting, and publishing. This is what happens when I don't publish something - lol.

❦ The grand total of time spent on writing and writing-related tasks this year was 227 hours. For a Just Chill year, not too shabby.

Was it my best year for productivity? No. But I still feel like I made nice progress. Especially since I had a whole month off in there to deal with the mind-numbing project of organizing Youngest's stuff (this doesn't just encompass her room, as she has a bunch of things downstairs, too).

Here's hoping 2025 will require a lot less organizing and cleaning. ;)

2023 - Frazzled But Fortunate

This was a rough year. I felt like I was rushing and pushing to get tasks done, which sucked. However, it was still a successful year.

This blog post is my last official writing task for 2023, and then I'm taking a two-week break (aside from working on my Bullet Journal, but that's more meditative than work-related). I need it. I'm exhausted. =P

Let's see how I fared with my goals overall...

2023 Publications

❦ Fairies - Fractured & Uncut (Fractured Fairies Collection)

❦ Dead As Dreams (Saga of Souls & Dreams)

Yes, I published both titles I'd intended to this year! Dead As Dreams being complete is the accomplishment I'm most proud of, though.

2023 Progress

Go ahead and pop over to 2023 - Year of Death and Dreams, if you'd like to compare this year's goals to what I actually completed.

❦ Revised, Edited, and Formatted Dead As Dreams (squee!).

❦ Revised/Expanded Immortal Woes.

❦ Edited and Formatted Fairies - Fractured & Uncut.

❦ Yet again, no words added to Gemini's Echo - this novel is going to turn into the new Dead As Dreams isn't it? You know, where I keep intending to work on it, but it keeps getting put off while I focus on other writing projects.

❦ Newsletters - sent out 6, but not all when I'd scheduled... Had to do some rearranging - heh.

❦ Born to Write - I kind of dropped the ball on blogging once per month. Other tasks and situations took precedence, though.

❦ Social Media - I've pretty much completely cut Twitter (sorry, not calling it the stupid new name) from my time and attention. Good riddance. But I've started posting videos to TikTok - this is way more satisfying, as I love the creativity that goes into making videos.

❦ Marketing - Yes, I got through more Ads for Authors courses! That was earlier this month. I did the Facebook Ads courses, and then I was ready to start some good, targeted ads, when Meta decided it would add a new "feature" that was preventing me from choosing an option on how to run my ads. I'm still waiting for them to fix this "feature" (they said by the end of this month - I'm not holding my breath), and then I'll be running a couple ads, including one to build my newsletter subscribers.

Guess what time it is? Number crunching time! Some hate it, I love it, so I'm throwing the numbers at you no matter what.

❦ No drafting done, since I spent my time revising and editing (though at the end of Dead As Dreams the amount I had to rewrite made it feel like I was drafting!).

❦ I revised a total of 73,687 words.

❦ I edited a total of 255,415 words (yikes!).

❦ 245 hours spent writing, revising, and editing (yes, I did double that number from last year).

❦ 53.75 hours creating cover art, formatting, and publishing.

❦ And the final total is (excluding reading and Haunted Unicorn jobs)... 424 hours spent on writing and writing related tasks! Last year I almost hit 190, so I more than doubled my time. No wonder why I feel frazzled. Also too many writing tasks that weren't actual writing, revising, or editing.

I honestly didn't realize how much time I put into writing this year until I typed up the numbers for the post (I hadn't even glanced at the totals on my handy spreadsheet before starting this post). I mean, I know it's not full-time hours, but I'm pretty amazed at all that I accomplished. Now to find a better balance, so I don't feel like I'm running as fast as The Flash to complete some of the tasks - lol.

How'd everyone else do in 2023? Writing or other goals?

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 - Broke The Cycle!

Did I accomplish everything I set out to do in 2022? No. But that's OK. I didn't have a crappy year, like so many other even numbered years. Hell, I actually wrote more days and wrote/revised more words than 2021. Woo hoo!

Of course, 2022 wasn't without struggles, including many other tasks devouring my attention (stupid, messy, house... which is messier than at the end of 2021, if that's at all possible - heh). Some months didn't include much writing progress. One of these days, I'll get the hang of writing more when the kids are home. Probably when they're ready to leave the house - lol.

But this post isn't about what I didn't get done. Nope. It's all about what I accomplished in 2022. So here's the rundown!

2022 Publications

❦ Nymphs Need Love Too (Fractured Fairies, 5)

❦ Do Not Go Gentle (Prequel to Dead As Dreams)

Only one of the two I planned on publishing, but at least I published two, even if one was originally unplanned.

2022 Progress

If you'd like to compare what I accomplished to what I had planned, take a peek at 2022 - Keep The Momentum Going. But if you're just curious about my final numbers, read on!

❦ Revised Nymphs Need Love Too.

❦ Revised 46,190 words of Dead As Dreams (not finished like I wanted, but a lot of progress).

❦ Drafted and revised Do Not Go Gentle.

❦ Added 8,979 words to Magic Morsel - 9 new episodes.

❦ Unfortunately, no words added to Gemini's Echo.

❦ Newsletters - all 5 sent out, as planned. Chains of Nect: Obsidian's Obsession is complete!

❦ Born to Write - Hey, look at that, I blogged once a month. Twice this month, even.

❦ Marketing - I purchased the Ads for Authors course. However, I've only had a chance to watch a sliver of the videos, so I haven't experimented with more ads yet, aside from trying my hand at a couple Facebook ones before I bought the course.

Now for my favorite thing. It's number crunching time! Let's see all my totals.

❦ I drafted a total of 15,225 words.

❦ I revised a total of 63,055 words.

❦ I edited a total of 49,422 words.

❦ 123.47 hours spent writing, revising, and editing.

❦ 17.83 hours creating cover art, formatting, and publishing.

❦ And finally, 189.83 total hours on writing and writing related tasks (up to the time of this post, excluding reading and Haunted Unicorn Publishing work). I actually find this number quite interesting. It's lower than 2021, even though I wrote more days and produced more words in 2022. It either means I'm producing faster, or I spent less time with other writing tasks outside of drafting, revising, and editing. I'm guessing it's a mix of both.

I'm damned proud of all I accomplished, even if I shifted focus (for good reason) with some projects. Here's hoping that I'll be able to tackle all of my goals in 2023. Of course, that's for my January post. I hope you all had a great 2022!

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, Way Better Than Last Year

Can we say yay that 2021 was superior to 2020? Yay!

I mean, there were still plenty of bumps, but I actually made progress with my writing, including three publications. That's a big win for me.

This post is a bit earlier than usual, but unless I get the motivation to add more words to Magic Morsel before the end of the year, I'm calling myself done. Decompression break to prepare for a productive 2022. Yes? Yes.

Here we go with the data for 2021!

2021 Publications

❦ Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7)

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

❦ Dawn of Fate (Fortunes of Fate 1-6 - Collection)

After nothing released in 2020, these three publications feel amazing. If you haven't grabbed a copy of one yet that you've had your eye on, treat yourself for the holidays!

2021 Progress

So, how exactly did I fare with the goals I set out for myself at the beginning of the year? If you'd like a reminder of what I had planned, wander on over to 2021 - This Year Has To Be Better.

❦ Completed revisions and edits of Well of Solitude.

❦ Completed revisions and edits of Bytes Bite, And So Do Fairies.

❦ Completed drafting Nymphs Need Love Too (Fractured Fairies, 5).

❦ I only added 1,884 words to Gemini's Echo (Zodiac Aegis, 1)... BUT...

❦ Due to the announcement of Kindle Vella, I started drafting Magic Morsel. I've currently written 27,037 words on that project!

❦ No blog posts in August, but at least one all other months. And the newsletters went out as needed (I've decided December isn't the best newsletter time unless I have a holiday related title releasing).

❦ The Year of Cats kind of evaporated on Instagram. I'm still posting pictures there occasionally, though. Social media can be such a time sink!

Now for the nitty gritty. The big, overarching numbers for the year. You know, what I love. XD

❦ I drafted a total of 39,232 words.

❦ I revised a total of 17,934 words.

❦ I edited a total of 71,033 words.

❦ 104.75 hours spent writing, revising, and editing.

❦ 42.08 hours creating cover art and dealing with other publication tasks.

❦ And finally, 222.08 total hours on writing and writing related tasks (per usual, up to the time of this post, and this excludes reading as well as any Haunted Unicorn Publishing work).

Wow, I hit most of my goals. How'd that happen? I mean, Magic Morsel ousted Gemini's Echo, but I wrote almost 29k words between the two projects. That puts me at 13k short of my word count goal for Echo. With some ups and downs throughout the year, that's damned good for me. And a million leagues better than 2020.

I've already planned 2022, so watch for that post in the first week of January. Even years seem to be a thorn in my paw, but I'm determined to break that cycle. But more about that in the next post.

Happy holidays, all, and try to enjoy the rest of your 2021 before it disappears!

2019, Gone In A Blink

Ah, 2019... Here today, gone tomorrow! At least that's what it feels like to me. This year, it firmly feels like time ran away due to my productivity, so that's good. I mean, I didn't accomplish everything I set out to do, and some plans shifted, but I do feel I've run many miles (in other words, written a lot of words).

Is it time for numbers yet? Remember, I love numbers. No, not yet? OK, I'll wait patiently. Sits on hands. Wait, I can't type up this blog post if I do that...

Anyway, first I'll go over the publications for the year, and then I'll list my progress, including some numbers.

2019 Publications

❦ Born of Blood and Souls: 13 Dark Fantasy Stories & Poems

❦ Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2)

So, two publications this year, and I honestly think this is a good goal for the next couple years ahead (Spring and Fall releases?). But more importantly, finally publishing Thorns lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I hate it that it took so long, but it's finally out there! And I almost forgot to mention - you can get the paperback version now on Amazon, too!

2019 Progress

❦ Completed the revision and three edits of Thorns Entwine the Blade.

❦ Completed the rough draft of Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7), which came in at over 15,000 words, and may hit 20,000 during revision.

❦ Wrote almost 5,000 words for the rough draft of Downward Spiral (Urban Unicorn, 1).

❦ A bunch of job requests for Haunted Unicorn Publishing!

❦ Wrote 19,554 words of rough draft material.

❦ Revised 48,690 words.

❦ Edited 205,439 words (this excludes my third edit of Thorns, since that was a quicker edit, applying my editor's suggestions).

❦ 30 blog posts (including this one).

❦ Spent 171.58 hours writing, revising, and editing.

❦ Spent 45.62 hours formatting, working on cover art, and publishing.

❦ In total, spent 344.05 hours on writing and writing related tasks (up to this post, and not including my Haunted Unicorn work or reading, aka market research, this time).

I think those numbers look a lot better than the ones from 2018. Don't you? No, I'm not linking to the embarrassing 2018 post. Let's just forget 2018 ever existed. Yes.

However, I will leave the link to my goals post from the beginning of the year: 2019 - Determination.

You can compare those goals with what I actually accomplished. The initial planned schedule didn't quite work out, but I have adjusted things so I can fit in 3 hours of writing/writing tasks on school days (unless other crazy things crop up). I'm pretty comfortable with the schedules and routines now in place!

Here's hoping 2020 will be even more productive. I'll post my goals in a couple of weeks! Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful rest of 2019. I'll leave you a pic of this year's new ornament on our Yule tree!

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!

Oh, 2017, Where Have You Gone?

Delayed post again -- sorry about that. Still getting over sickness and the to do list for December has been crazy (I still haven't sent out my holiday cards yet...).

It's time for me, though, to take a look at all that I've accomplished in 2017. While I didn't publish as much as I did in 2016, I've still been making a lot of forward progress with my goals. This year I think I'll even throw some numbers out, just for fun. I love numbers. Don't you love numbers? OK, just another thing that makes me weird then. I own up to my weirdness.

First, the publication list for 2017!

2017 Publications

❦ Edge of Sorrow (Fortunes of Fate, 6)

❦ Dreams in Shadow (Fortunes of Fate, 1) - Paperback Edition

❦ Hell On Wheels (Devil Made Me, 2)

Short, but sweet. I had so much fun writing both new titles I released this year. It should always be that way, right? If I feel the joy of writing, I hope readers get that same joy while reading!

Now, of course the publications aren't the only thing I have to show for in 2017. Writing is like a play -- tons of stuff goes on back stage. Here's where some of the numbers come in. And since I have handy charts to track everything each year, I didn't have to do some extra number crunching for this post.

2017 Progress

❦ Completed the rough draft and 20% through a revision of Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2)

❦ Added over 5,000 words to the rough draft of GSD vs. Everything

❦ Set up and posted several stories on Patreon

❦ Set up and started beta reading and developmental editing under Haunted Unicorn Publishing

❦ Wrote 93,444 words of first draft material

❦ Revised 53,039 words

❦ Posted 38 blog posts (including this one)

❦ Spent 165.63 hours writing, revising, and editing

❦ Spent 49.1 hours either writing blog posts or updating my website

❦ Spent 36.95 hours formatting, creating cover art, and uploading titles to be published

❦ In totality, including the hours above, I spent 490.43 hours total on writing related tasks (up to the date of this post -- still have a couple more hours to put in before the end of the month)

Whew. That seems like a lot more when I type it all up. I know for some writers the numbers might seem low, but remember I'm not doing this full-time right now (kids, kids, oh the kids). Though I didn't hit all of my hopeful goals (if you want to compare to what my initial goals for the year were, look back at Setting My Sights on 2017), I am proud of myself for making so much progress and keeping at it.

Next year, I'm going to make my goals more realistic and base them on my productivity from this year. But that's my post for next week!

I hope you all had a productive 2017!