Change, it is a-comin'

Or so I hope.  I don't want to get ahead of myself, so my lips remain sealed on one of those changes.  *locks lips and throws away the key*

But for this new year, I want to renew and refresh my focus on writing (and yes, I realize my first post of the new year comes nearly a month in.  That will be something I hope to change, too.)  I think I'm going to try this newfangled thing called..... scheduling!  I'm not very good at rigid structure, so it might be a loose schedule, but I will be organized!

I still have some Aspiring Author Profiles saved up that I can use, and I'll have to solicit more from my writer friends (any volunteers?).  They'll come in handy for times when I either have nothing interesting to say, or don't have the time to say it.  I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I'm going to start picking one day each week to write all of my blog posts for the week.  I haven't decided on a specific number per week, but we'll see.  Maybe just 2 or 3.  That's still more regular than I've been in the past!

I want to carve out time on specific days each week for my other activities and responsibilities.  That would include doing laundry, dishes, cleaning the house, etc. in addition to writing.  If I can get those mundane tasks taken care of, it'll leave me more time for writing.

And as for writing, I want to get Confessions finished as quickly as possible and start querying with that.  I still have to work out a timeline, but that will be based on this thing I can't talk about just yet.  I've barely scratched the surface with my latest round of major editing on Sorry's Not Enough.  And Marisol continues to give me bits and pieces of her story.  That one will have to go on the back burner for now, I think.  I need to do some more research for it, and I think I may have to take the unusual (for me) step of outlining and planning, since I want to turn that into a series.

On top of all that, I'd like to return to my poetic roots a bit.  I want to write (or at least try to write) poetry again, as well as trying my hand at some short stories.  Being published in Divine Dirt Quarterly definitely boosted my confidence, and I plan to continue submitting to literary magazines while I work on my novels.

Oh yeah, one last thing.  In addition to this blog, it's not a bad idea for me to expand my fiction platform and start marketing myself more aggressively.  What does that mean?  Well, I'm not entirely sure yet, but it will likely manifest in the form of a Facebook author fan page - maybe even separate pages for each of my books - and possibly new blogs to complement my books as well.  We shall see.

Sound like a lot?  Yeah, I think so too.  Then I read Elana's latest post about how she manages it all and I'm reminded of why she's so freaking awesome.  She makes it seem effortless.  I have to have faith in myself, though.  Maybe soon I'll be as adept at the balancing act as she is.

I think this will be a good year for me, writing-wise.  I plan on making the best of it, no matter what life hands me this year.