January IWSG—Thoughts and Goals

Happy New Year, IWSG peeps! It's time for another group posting of the IWSG where we share our fears, failures, triumphs, and successes. As always, a big thank you to the amazing Alex Cavanaugh for creating this wonderful group. Be sure to stop by the IWSG website for an important announcement on the winners of the IWSG Anthology Contest! And be sure to stop by and thank our co-hosts for the month: L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Sheri Larsen, J.Q. Rose, Chemist Ken, Michelle Wallace.

I have to apologize because this post will probably be a bit longer than normal. I'm sorry!

With a new year upon us, it's given me some time to reflect. Here are some goals I've set for myself and some things I'm excited about.

 Thoughts and Goals for 2016

Things I'm Especially Excited About:

LDStorymakers Conference in May—I've wanted to go for the past couple years, ever since I heard it existed, and I finally get to go this year! It's a little far from me (I live in NC and it's held in Utah), but I'm so excited to go back to where I attended college and met my husband. And I'm super excited to meet some writing friends I've connected with online. Who's going to LDStorymakers?? You have to tell me so we can connect! :)

Book Smugglers Publishing Year of the Superhero—On December 31st I wasn't partying with friends or playing games with family, I was revising a short story to send to Book Smugglers Publishing before midnight in hopes of it being chosen for their Year of the Superhero Anthology. I squeaked in just under the deadline (which is pretty good considering I didn't decide to do this story until only a few days before!) Nothing like putting loads of pressure on yourself!

Anyways, I'm excited to hear back from them in February, but even if they don't choose my story, I'll still be excited. Why? Because I finally got my mojo back!!

Do you remember me whining and complaining about having no inspiration or the desire to write? Well, I took some time off (like an entire month and a half) and it's back! I finally feel inspired again, so much in fact, that if Book Smugglers doesn't want to use my short story, I've decided to turn it into a novel. And I'm SO excited about it!!! Fingers crossed that they don't, er, I mean do, want my story! :)

Goals for this Year:

Publish a Book: My biggest goal is to get published (well, I guess a book publishing contract is more realistic, but whatever.) Even though I'd love to be represented by an agent, I think I'll focus on getting the stories I've currently written published through a publisher. I figure there's always time in my future to try for an agent. Who knows? Maybe the experience of publishing and having my work out there will help me in the future with the agent scene. One can hope, right?

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Get in Shape: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know this is probably on everyone's list of goals, but I mean it. My husband and I joined the gym a couple months ago, and I want to commit myself to going and working out and eating healthier. (which is really tough, by the way, because I kind of have a chocolate fetish...)

Spend More Quality Time with my Kids: I think the past couple of years I've let writing get in the way of me doing some fun things with my kids. Taking this time off from writing has really helped me see how much I'm missing and how much I want to make time for the simple things like playing games with my kids, going on school field trips, watching TV shows as a family, etc. I know it's all about finding that perfect balance, and lately for me, I feel as though the scales need to be tipped a little more towards the family side.

Be a Better Friend: I feel as though I've let some face-to-face friendships wane because I'm so busy writing or taking care of my family. I want to be a better friend. I want to be the person someone calls because they're sad or need advice. I used to be that person. Now? Not so much.

The same goes for all my writing friends. I want to reconnect with all of you. I've been a horrible blogger and while I can't promise that my blogging will improve, I at least want to make an effort to "check in" with many of you to see how things are going. And hopefully, everything is going great!

Well, that's a wrap for me. Did you set goals for 2016?

IWSG January: Gotta Have Goals

Greetings, IWSG friends and followers! It's time for another group posting of the IWSG. Created by Alex Cavanaugh, this monthly blog hop is a way for writers to offer encouragement and support to one another while airing their own insecurities and sharing their successes. It's not too late to sign up if you want to join our group! Click HERE to join.

As part of our IWSG post for today, Alex has asked us to give a brief introduction about ourselves, so here goes...

First and foremost, I’m a mother to five amazing boys ages 13, 10, 8, 5, and 3. Needless to say, there is NEVER a dull (or quiet) moment in our house. I am also a writer/aspiring author. I write adult romance and young adult novels (both contemporary and a little sci-fi). I am currently querying my YA near future thriller Catalyst. I’ve had several requests and now I’m playing the waiting game. 

When I’m not writing or querying, I like to dabble in a little design (but only for my own home) and party planning (again, only for my own kids). I’m also the queen of Just Dance and dare anyone to challenge my high score. And lastly, I’m a firm believer that chocolate is one of the main food groups. And a staple to every diet. 

Now for my IWSG post: I don’t really have any insecurities to air today (other than the normal ones about wondering whether or not I’ll get an agent or questioning whether or not my novel will ever get published) so I decided to talk a little about my writing goals for this year. 

Photo from Christinslade.com

Writing Goals for 2015

1) Get an agent for Catalyst: I’m doing everything I can, and I will continue to send out queries until I reach the 100 mark (okay, maybe 125 mark).

2) Finish my new YA contemporary Middle of Knowhere: This is a new project and I’m so excited about it. I haven’t even told my critique partner about it yet, but I was busy typing away during Christmas break. 

3) Send my adult romance to publishers: I have a few publishers in mind for this one, but if it doesn’t pan out, I may self-publish it. 

4) Write the sequel to Catalyst: I’ve started this but didn’t get very far before I decided to work on something else. I think Sienna (my MC) and I needed a bit of a break from each other…

Okay, so those are my goals. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? *sigh* Maybe I’m being a little ambitious, but that’s okay. Obviously I can’t force the first one—if it happens, then it happens. But the others I have more control over and I’m ready to rock 2015! Who’s with me?