I am a firm believer in treasure maps, which are for me, a list of things that I want to bring into my life. These lists vary from year to year, and I have managed to obtain a lot of the things that I hoped to, just by having it written down and taped to the back of my bedroom door. It is a daily reminder of what I need to focus on and I find that it really helps me.
I also choose a theme word each year, and in 2018 (and if I’m honest 2017 as well) my theme was Balance. I needed it in a bad way and because of that, the entire focus of my series touches on it. I finally feel like I’ve achieved it, so I’m excited to try out a new word this year!
While I’ve had annual goals for my writing life each year, it is becoming harder and harder to keep track of all the things I need to focus on. The writing is one thing, but there is also the marketing and networking that I have to fit in. I decided that I need a treasure map for my writing life as well, and I thought the best way to move forward was to create one here for the world to see. I may regret this later, but I believe that this list will serve two functions.
1) It will give me a reference to go back to so I can check things off when I complete them (giving me a sense of accomplishment), and…
2) It makes me accountable to someone other than myself (Yes, folks, you are playing the part of my conscience)!
While I do believe there are pros and cons with New Year Resolutions, and we will get into that in a future post, I still feel that for me, a list to work from outweighs any con that I can think of. So here it goes, my list of things I will accomplish in 2019.
- Finish edits on Twist of Fate (Prequel for Power of Four series)
- Publish Twist of Fate (Anticipate Mar 2019)
- Complete Edits on Sea of Dreams (Book 1) and Publish Third Edition (Don’t ask)
- Finish edits on “Secret Squirrel” Paranormal Mystery & start the query process
- Polish my pitch and find an Agent for said “Secret Squirrel” project
- Complete and Publish Fourth Book in the Power of Four series (Anticipate Dec 2019)
- Complete fleshed out idea maps/outlines for back-burner projects
- Continue good 2018 habits:
- Writing Daily – 1,000 words or more
- Continue weekly blog posts and daily social media posts
- Write-Ins with other authors – 2x a week
- Attend monthly GDRWA meetings – we have some fantastic speakers!
- Attend RWA Convention in July! Can’t wait!
Whew! Holy Cow but I’m going to be busy! I am going to have to crank on that other post I mentioned, which is where I will cut myself slack if I don’t get everything done on this list! That will be the key moving forward, to not be hard on myself if things don’t turn out the way I planned. We all know that life can get in the way…I just have to be better about reminding myself of that! So my word for 2019 will be… Patience!
What are some of your goals in 2019? And if you had to pick a theme word for this next year, what would it be? I would love to know! In the meantime…
Happy Writing! XO
P.S. Here is an awesome post I found when thinking about my goals for this year!
D.A. Henneman - Romance Author 
This is great! It inspires me to be more clear about my goals so here is my start…
1. Attend the NE writing conference that features the writing gals.
2. Attend 20books to 50k Vegas
3. Write 1,000 words per day six days a week. A total of 10,000 per week. That makes me anxious so I’m lowering the goal to 8,000 per week.
4. Start my newsletter in Feb.
5. Have my freebie up in Feb.
6. Have book 2 of my reunion series up in March.
7. Decide how many books I can publish a year without feeling burnt out – decide in March.
8. Start my Alexa briefing.
9. Have my simple website up by Feb.
10. Relaunch my 2 billionaire books as clean with edits and new covers.
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These are great goals! I would like to have my newsletter going by the end of the year as well, but still need to decide what I am doing for a freebie. Good luck on these!
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