Last year I had some very specific resolutions as to what I was going to write and do this year. I think it’s safe to say that most of it didn’t happen. My muse is fickle and what I want to work on one month, is not what I want to work on the next one. So for this year my resolutions won’t be quite so fixed as to what project to work on specifically.
Writing
My goal for the new year is to write 365,000 words all-together. This equals a 1,000 words a day, roughly 30,000 words a month. On good days I can go way beyond 1,000 words a day, while on bad days it’s a struggle. Still, a 1,000 words a day should be manageable no matter what. And if I don’t one day, I’ll make up for it on a good day. If I can get 40K or 50K each month, it would be better, but in case of a four month absence again like I had in 2013, I think 365,000 words should be manageable. Considering I managed 300,000 this year with the absence, I’m quite happy with that goal.
Also, a very important goal this year: to finish what I start. No more skipping between projects and leaving something unfinished. If I do, I have to go back after the more shinier story is done and finish it up.
Publishing
Ideally, I would’ve liked to publish something each month, but that’s not doable. I would like to have something published every other or third month. Maybe next year I can shoot for the release-a-month, if I get myself buckled down with the writing this year. I would also like to try my hand at self-publishing, but that probably won’t happen for months anyway. We’ll see.
I would also like to submit books to two other publishers. Two publishers that has been my favourites, besides my current one, for quite some time and which I would dearly like to be published by. I won’t name them now, but I can say so much that I have submitted a book to one of them already. So we’ll see what happens with that one.
I will do my very best with the books being released, and hope that they will be scheduled ahead of time, as some of the accepted books are quite far off now. It would be fun if they could be available sooner, as all but one of the accepted books are in already established series, and I really want to see more books published in them. The hope is that More Than Anything will be released ahead of schedule as well, hopefully this year, as that’s one novel I am particularly proud of. It’s over a 100K and I think it’s my very best book to date and I want all the readers to be able to read it as well as soon as possible.
Marketing
Ideally, I would like to figure out how to better market myself. I was trying to do that this year, but with the four month absence, I haven’t been good at it. I would like to meet new people, which requires commenting, and I try to be good at it. I would like to do more guest posts, both at my own blog and on others’ blogs.
Real life
I want to study more, so I can get better grades. This will hopefully be my last year of studies, as I’m taking more courses than required and thus will hopefully finish my bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature by Christmas. Next year, I would like to start working in publishing or take a master’s degree. I would like to study more in linguistic and philology, but we’ll see what happens. First I have to write the bachelor’s thesis in the autumn.
