Back to Work & New Year Resolutions

My birthday roses...

Hope you all had a great Christmas! I'm back writing today, which I was worried would be difficult. But I realised this morning how much I missed writing - I was ready to start back. Which is good because I need to finish the next book.

I'm not a big New Year's person. For me the date is completely arbitrary, and I never do anything particularly special for it. So I don't make resolutions as such. But I think Christmas is a time for re-evaluating where you are now and where you want to go. So I do make goals.

I'm not doing too badly on last year's resolutions. Ok, I haven't got a traditional publishing contract, but I have self-published my novel. Happily, it's selling reasonably well so fingers crossed that will continue. I'm fostering now, and I've started research for my PhD. Career wise I'd like to keep up the writing and release more books this year. I have a more detailed schedule for writing, but I won't bore everyone rigid by posting it here.

My main goals for 2012 are more social. Writing, research and minding children can all be very isolating, so I want to find a way to meet new people. Also, 2012 is already shaping up to be a really busy year for me. I need to get healthier if I'm going to have the energy to deal with it. The fibromyalgia means I have less energy anyway, so I need to be particularly careful. I also need to get my weight down for mobility reasons. I'm not giving myself rigid goals for this, because I want my goals to be achievable.

What about you guys? What are your goals?

It's halfway through October. Really?!

I can't believe that it's already October 17th. There's so much that I still have to do. Finish edits, finish first draft of Guildhall, plan my Nanowrimo stories, get a start on the Christmas shopping, buy a tiny Halloween costume in the shape of a cute bug for Polly Pocket... I also have to catch up on my social media, write some articles and do some historical research. I also, crucially, have to sleep. I have no idea how I am going to do all of these things before midnight on October 31st. 

Has time sped up? I don't know why, but the past couple of months seem to have just flown by.

What about all of you? How are you doing on your goals?

Back to School (Kind of)

It's September! That back to school time. The one thing that I miss about school and university is the fact that I no longer have a month when it was acceptable, nay responsible, to buy a cupboard's worth of stationary. I did succumb to my love of papers and pens the other day by buying an armful of folders and labels, but they were for household organisation. Essential, no?

But the thing about the academic year, is that in some ways it feels more like a fresh start than the beginning of the calendar year. So I'm going to try this whole goal thing again. There's a number of things that I need to get sorted in September, but as this is a writing blog I'm going to concentrate on my writing goals.

1: Write entries for two writing competitions with deadlines in September.
2: Finish the first draft of Lemons
3: Finish half of Guildhall first draft (with steampunk conversion)
4: Resist new plot bunny (no matter how cool I think it is)

I don't know if my list is under-ambitious, or realistic. But if I get that much done, then I'll be happy.

What about all of you? Any 'back to school' goals?

Goals and Awards

Ok, so my goals for the month of May are:

1: Finish Storms in Teacups edit, write synopsis, write cover letter and query letter.
2: Finish application for PhD programme.
3: Get If Life Gives You Lemons to 70,000 words in time for BuNoWriMo (Check it out here)
4: Stay on top of journalism work.

Now, one of things about the award I got yesterday is that it gets passed forward. So, the five blogs I think deserve the award are:

1: Allison M Simon. Not only does her blog talk about interesting things about writing, there's also some good stuff about movies and abstract topics like the Peter Principle. This is a really intelligent blog.

2: Laura at Chick Lit Love. She really works hard at making her content interesting and different from a lot of chick lit blogs out there, it's a really cheery site.

3. Princess of Procrastination. I love this blog, it's hilarious. If you're looking for a laugh (and to learn more about Taffs) then it's worth heading over here.

4: Alison DeLuca. Alison is going down the self-publishing route, and her posts on writing in general and being an indy author in particular are really interesting.

5: Kate Larkindale. Kate is a YA writer who works in the film industry, and who is refreshingly down to earth about life and writing. She also has some great tips.

Today is bank holiday Monday in Ireland. And it's sunny! Life is good.