Thursday, January 8, 2015

Setting Goals for 2015

So it’s 2015 and time for a fresh start. It’s a time two make new goals. For me it's writing goals. Whether I success in those goals...well that's another matter. Last year, I had the grand idea that I would write FOUR books in 2014.

Confession…I did not come close.

I finished one book BY CHRISTMAS, which I ended up self-publishing as part of a holiday box set with 13 other authors. Then I put it out as a single book. It was my first foray into the world of indie publishing so there was a big learning curve, meaning everything took longer to accomplish. I did have the benefit of working with 13 other fantastic authors from this group on the box set and learned SO MUCH.

So what about those other three books I was supposed to complete? Book two was supposed to be the fifth installment in my Covington Falls Chronicles series. However, somewhere along the line it became not Book 5 in that series, but Book 1 in a WHOLE NEW SERIES. It’s set in another fictional town, only this one is in Florida. It centers on a prized pig named Matilda who inherits a fortune from her eccentric owner. Oh yes, there are also three women competing for custody of the pig (and control of the money, of course) as well as a trio of sexy men who might win their hearts.

The other two books are part of another series. This one is a contemporary romance/women’s fiction. It’s also set in Florida (different town) and it follows three former childhood friends who return to their hometown and become involved in rehabilitating an old dinner theatre called The Paradise. I finished the first book a couple years ago, but book 2 and 3 still need to be put down on paper.

The third idea is another series that is perhaps the craziest concept I’ve ever come up with. My heroine is a spoiled heiress who dies and then gets recruited as a celestial matchmaker, helping soul mates find their One True Love before it's too late. It’s crazy and weird and hilariously funny…It is also so far away from anything else I’ve ever written. A little scary.

So…yeah…that’s a lot of books. And I have a demanding full time job. I don’t know how I will possibly do them. I need a plan. I need help. I need to find that impossibly rich tycoon so I can quit the day job and write full time.

Hmmm…okay...writing all those books might happen first.