All The Best Laid Plans, Part II

The good news: in 2014 I did finish BIRTHRIGHT. And believe it or not, I wrote a collaboration with a friend. I also started another collaboration, and have been working feverishly on book 3 in the DESCENDANT series. I prepared WATER SO DEEP for publication. I attended a Utah conference and one in Kansas—and none in Texas. And I no longer live by the beach (boo!) but the mountains instead.

In 2014 I learned two very valuable lessons. 1. I can work through the hard stuff, even if it happens slowly. But equally important, 2. I realized that I don’t always have to.

I am allowed to not write for a month. Or two. I am allowed to catch up on TV shows I’ve missed instead of writing blogs, and to go Christmas shopping instead of finishing a chapter. Because stuff happens, and I am human.

I have high hopes for this year.

1.       The ebook of WATER SO DEEP will release February 2^nd. The hardcover may be a week or two later, depending on circumstances beyond my control. And that’s OKAY.

2.       Book 3 in the DESCENDANT series is about half-drafted, even though it should have been to the editor by January 1^st. And that is also okay. I will catch up, and it will be published on time. (I HOPE.)

3.       WSD will have a sequel, and I will write it and hope to prepare it for publication sometime this summer. Maybe.

4.       My collaborations and other projects will continue to move forward. I hope to finish at least two of them aside from the above mentioned projects.

But if life happens and things get in the way, I will adapt. No matter what goals or resolutions I reach, I will keep writing, keep trying, so that no matter what, by the end of the year, I will have made progress.

And that, my dear friends, is the whole, entire point.

Progress for the win!       

All The Best Laid Plans, Part I

I’ve decided not to make resolutions this year. It’s not that I don’t have goals—I have more goals this year than I think I ever have. It’s more that in the last three years, I’ve learned some pretty massive lessons about how easily all the best laid plans can be derailed.

Sometimes you have to let go of your own plans and ride the waves of circumstance until you can touch the ground once again.

For instance, at the beginning of 2014, I planned to write at least three books, go to several conferences in Texas, some in Utah, and one in Kansas and work toward building my career. I planned to blog every week and spend more time at the beach and read more books.

But stuff happened. 

1.       In January, I made an emergency trip to Utah for a funeral—the loss of a dear friend’s husband, who died too young.

2.       I spent February and March finishing edits on Birthright, and got it finished just barely on time for publication.

3.       In April, I traveled to Utah for a conference, where I spent just under two weeks so I could also deal with some family issues.

4.       In May, my oldest daughter graduated high school and my husband and his officers had a homicide case that blew wide open.

5.       In June, that homicide case took over our lives until the suspect was apprehended, and that same weekend, my husband was offered a fantastic job back in Utah.

6.       By July, we listed our house, packed up everything we own, and moved across the country. Again.

7.       In August, we unloaded into our current house (a temporary rental), my husband started his new job, and I moved my oldest daughter to Orlando, Florida where she is attending school.

8.       In September, I swore my life would calm down so I could finally do some writing, but then… we discovered a leak in our kitchen.

9.       In October, our landlords finally got around to investigating the leak, which led to mold and a full-scale kitchen renovation that was not complete until the week of Thanksgiving, and was distracting enough that my writing concentration was completely shot.

10.   This brings me to December. I put up my tree and hung the garland. I began my shopping. I bought my daughter a plane ticket to come home. I was prepared for full-scale holiday celebrating. And then my father-in-law died, and there was another funeral, estate details to work out, and grief to deal with.

The thing about death and grief, and also stress, is that it changes your priorities. In the cases of several of these events, writing fell way down the priority scale. My family is more important than my deadlines, and so in all of these cases, they have taken the front seat. I didn't read more books, and I sucked at blogging, and I didn't write nearly as much as I wanted. And you know what? That's okay. I could not have planned for last year.

What about you? What in your life is more important than your personal goals and deadlines?

*This blog turned out to be pretty long, so I’ve split it into two. To be continued next week.

It Begins

And by “it” I mean summer.

I’m not going to lie. I *heart* summer. It’s my favorite season by miles and miles. Always has been. Shorts? Check. Swimsuits? Check. Sundresses? Check. Sunscreen (yes, I always use it)? Check. Sandals? Check.

Vacation plans? Yep. (In two weeks, peeps! TWO!)

Boating plans? Absolutely.

Water in the nearby lakes. Uh. Let’s cross our fingers.

Writing time? Um…well. That one gets a little tricky. But. I do have goals, and I intend to accomplish said goals, DESPITE the fact that it might mean staying inside sometimes, or staying awake when I’m tired, or skipping a trip to the pool.

Why? Because I’m a writer. That’s what I do. When I don’t have time to write, I create it.

My goals: Draft a new novel, complete edits on and begin querying my current WIP, write one or two short stories (for the fun of it), and, well. Keep querying. (Because that’s another thing I do—a lot.)

Oh, also, I’d like to go to WorldCON in Chicago (somehow), turn my ab-flab into a six-pack, and get a nice, even tan.

How about you? What are your goals this summer?

To Get Into the Ice Capades

*Last week I blogged about Possession by Elana Johnson. This week, I shared more thoughts on the Star Crossed Book Reviews blog. Come see what I thought!* 

There’s a line in the movie Pretty Woman, it’s toward the end, but a supporting character says, “You gotta have a goal. Do ya have a goal?” to which the other woman replies, “Well. I always wanted to be in the Ice Capades.”

And okay, in the context of the movie and the way it’s said, the line gives you a good chuckle. But it’s also one of the movie’s most identifiable, universal truths. It boils down to this. If you don’t start out with at least one goal—say, to learn how to ice skate—you will most certainly never reach the end result—aka make it to Ice Capades.

When I first started writing (and by “first started” I mean, right after I made a conscious decision to make a career attempt at it) someone said to me, “The most important thing you can do is to finish.”(And by finish, he meant the rough draft of a manuscript.) To a non-writer, that might sound kind of lame. I mean, duh, right? But the truth is finishing a manuscript is one of the hardest parts of writing. And at the time, it was exactly the direction I needed in order to set my first big goal. FINISH. It didn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it didn’t even have to be good. It just had to have a beginning, middle, and end.

And so I did. I finished a terrible, indescribably awful story that will never, ever, ever see the light of a publishing press, because I won’t torture the world in that way. But I finished. I reached my first big goal. Then it was time to set other goals: Edit, revise, query, scrap it, start over, finish another book, edit, revise, query, submit, start a new book, edit, revise, query, query, query…and on goes the process of setting milestones.

Six years later, I’ve learned a LOT more about writing, and my plans and ambitions have grown in size and space and height.

Finish.

No matter what we’re trying to do, that original truth will always remain. You must first learn how to skate before you can perform. You must first learn how to write before you can publish. You must first SET a goal before you can reach it.

What are your goals this year and how will you go about reaching them?

*Be sure to come by on Wednesday and enter my next frawesome giveaway!

Just Another Opportunity

Here it is, the end of one year and the beginning of another, and a good time to make plans for what I want to accomplish in the next twelve months. It’s time to change what date I write on my checks and other correspondence. It’s a good time to…

You know what? Tomorrow’s just another day, like yesterday, and the day before. Just like the day after tomorrow will be yet another day. It’s up to me to decide how I’ll spend that time. On Christmas day, I hung out with my family. We played, laughed together, went visiting, ate dinner, and just spent time. Best day possible. Granted, I realize every day can’t be like that. But if I make some effort, I know I can find one day a week, or one hour even, to dedicate to the important people in my life, and to do the things most important to me. Every day is a new opportunity to do things right.

Every year in January attendance at the gym (where I work out) doubles and stays that way until mid-February or the beginning of March before the crowds thin again, because those people who resolved to get in shape have lost their motivation. And every year, I let those people who stop coming to the gym become an example to me. I will not quit, I will persevere. I will press on even if my goals are hard to reach. My gym membership will be well used, and so will my time.

January is just another month whose number on the calendar happens to be one. It’s a beginning, yes. Definitely. But it is not an end (unless you’ve decided to let it be an end to bad habits—that’s a good thing).

What great things have you accomplished in the past year? Have you established a habit that is beneficial to you? I want to know about it.

Oh yes. And by the way, happy New Year!

That Will Do

Tis the season to make resolutions, and I—like probably ninety percent of the people in the world—find myself thinking on what I’d like to do, or accomplish in the following year.

The thing is, I’m not one of those people who writes down my goals. Really, I’m more of a decide-what-you-want-to-accomplish-then-keep-it-firmly-in-mind kind of girl. The method works for me, you know? At least, with the big stuff. Write a book, check. Edit a book (like, 25 times) check. Travel, check, check. That kind of thing.

But every year, as the beginning of another one approaches, I find myself wondering if I should consider making an actual list. Detailed. One that includes smaller things like organizing my house and my time, phone calls I should make more often, the little things that seem less important in the long run, but that would most likely make my life easier, thus, enabling more of my personal happiness.

Except I never actually do that. Maybe I will this year. Or not. Either way, all the above things are in my plans, along with sending out a minimum of 150 queries (or alternately finding an agent—whichever comes first), finishing the edit of my NaNo project along with two other manuscripts, and also finishing two more rough drafts.Read the equivalent of a book a week.

And spend oodles of time with my family. Cheer for my kids at basketball, soccer, art and music. Hang out with my honey.

Can I do all that in one year? Yeah. If I’m determined enough, I really can.

Hey, look at that? A blog post that evolved into a sort of list of resolutions. Whaddayaknow. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.

What do you resolve to do in 2011?

Last Post of 2009, and One Resolution

I realize I've been a bit lax in my posting this week. True, it's been rather on the busy side for most people, but still you'd think I could find enough time to post a short blog, right? That's what I'm doing right now.

Christmas was wonderful with my family, even though it zoomed by so fast. I think that's the hazard of having so much going on in life. It seems to just fly right by. Here it is New Year's Eve, and the last day of 2009 and I have no idea where this year has gone. But that's okay. It's been a good year, and I'm positive that 2010 will be even better. We'll start it off by hanging out at a family party tonight, then we'll drive over to the mall to see the city fireworks at midnight, and then finish things off with pie and hot chocolate at Village Inn--the only restaurant in town we're positive will still be open. (We know this from experience from the last two years.)

It will be a fun night, and a great way to start off 2010. I'm not listing my resolutions here yet, but if you want to read about my thoughts on the matter, check out my post on LDS Writer's Blogck today. I also blogged about making attainable goals and resolutions on Monday at the Writing Fortress.

By tomorrow, I'll have finished the final-final-final edits on The Sharp Edge of a Knife, and will have them turned in to my publisher for typesetting. Then I'll have a short break (a real break from life which I will post about later) before I get the galleys and send it off to print. Yahoo! Can't wait for this one. When that's all said and done, back to all my other projects. Expect to see a blurb posted here in the next week or two, and possibly some teaser art.

Also, for those who read my post about this and were wondering, I did exchange gifts with my siblings. I made cinnamon roasted almonds (the ingredients for which I already had on hand) and gave each of them a bag. My parents got wooden photo cubes with school pictures of my kids. So, I wasn't the Grinch, I didn't spend a lot, and it didn't end up being that big a deal except that most of the plans for spending family time together fell through. Bummer. I guess there's always next year. But the almonds were a hit, and the photo cubes a favorite gift of my parents.

And now, I'm off to see a movie with my family before we go our separate ways. (Yeah, my oldest two are going to parties. Eeekk!) I hope your New Year's Eve is fantabulous!

Happy 2010.  Let's make it unforgettable.

Resolution #one: Learn how to use TweetDeck so it posts to all my social networking sites.