Wednesday, January 7, 2015

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?


32 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the requests you've received for CATALYST! Fingers crossed for you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You can't control the first one but you can send out all those queries - do it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those are exciting goals, and I hope you make every one of them! My main goal is to get my book out there, hopefully in February. If I can do it, 2015 will definitely rock! Best of luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think those sound like fabulous goals. You're totally going to kick it this year! Oh, and romance is a soft category for entry on self publishing. Seriously. I've got my toes crossed for you on those requests.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Self-pubbing my romance novels is looking pretty good... :)

      Delete
    2. Would you use a pen name for cross-genre distinction, or just go for it?

      Delete
  5. You've got a lot going on! Good luck with your queries, submissions, and writing. I hope 2015 brings good things your way.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think you can attain all you want...it may not be in the time you want but you will get there! I agree about chocolate!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nothing wrong in being ambitious, as long as you don't let your goals bring you down if you don't hit all of them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Querying can be so nerve wracking so it's fantastic that you've come up with other writing related goals for the year. The best way to get anywhere in this game is to always keep writing. Good luck with everything and I hope 2015 is a successful year for you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I read #2 and I was like, wait, what is this?! Lol! Sometimes it's nice to keep those new ideas close for awhile, when they're so exciting and fresh. It'll be good to have something to try & help keep those querying jitters at bay. And I love that tile btw!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I keep meaning to tell you! In fact, I think it was in the email that "disappeared." :) It is still so new—I only started during Christmas break. Something about having all 5 kids home all day must have been inspiring! :)

      Delete
  10. You need to rephrase #1: "I will continue to send out queries until I land that agent!" I bet you won't reach 100. (Unless you're close. Then I bet you won't reach 125.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha! Maybe I should change it....And I hope you're right about not needing to reach 100 queries! :)

      Delete
  11. You can get that agent this year, Kristin. I hope it's your dream agent! Woot! :) Yay for 2015.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There's nothing wrong with being ambitious. If you don't shoot for the moon how will you ever hang with the stars?

    ReplyDelete
  13. You've got a good balance there. Some goals that are totally up to you and some that the outside world will have to take a hand in. Best of luck in meeting all of them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love your title, Middle of Knowhere! best of luck with the querying. It's no fun but this time of year the responses always seem a bit quicker!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Somehow I missed this last week! Great list of goals. I know you'll achieve them. Also--I had no idea you were a mom to five boys. I'm amazed.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sounds like you're doing everything all right:) As far a queries go, I used to track them in a speardsheet, but I try not to count them. I've seriously submitted at least hundreds of failed queries in my career, but it's that one that finally said "yes" that made the ultimatel difference:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. You are all levels of amazing! You make all of this look easy. Totally agree, chocolate is a food group.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am blown away, five boys?! Yikes! Brave woman you are! And you still write romance! Haha! Great set of goals you have here, thanks for sharing them! I'm running a bit late with visiting my IWSG folks, but I did make it! Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow! Sounds like you've got your hands full! Best of luck with your goals!

    ReplyDelete

I LOVE reading your comments!! Thanks for taking the time to leave one!

BLOGSPOT TEMPLATE BY DESIGNER BLOGS