Okay, so the title is a little over-the-top, but that's the way I feel so far. We're only a week into the new year and I haven't even started planning for what I want to accomplish. 2017 was a year of ups and downs for many reasons. We're all feeling just a little more stress these days, which makes turning the corner to a new year that much more important. It can be a fresh start for us.
Most people will set resolutions -- and I'm guilty of doing that myself. How many gym parking lots will be full for the months of January and February? What about March? Not so much. Resolutions are easy to make and easy to give up on, mostly because we over promise. We set very unrealistic goals for our resolutions. Trust me, I've done it too many times to count! What I've decided to do this year is plan instead.
Planning something instead of setting a far-flung goal is totally more realistic. Setting smaller goals each month which build on the previous month's goal, leading to good things coming by the end of the year. That's the plan (see what I did there?) So, what is my first goal for the year?
Good question. I have too many things I need to do, to be honest. In the almost 2 years since I've started this self-publishing thing, I've let a lot of things slide, thinking I'll figure them out as I go along, then I get side-tracked by the day job. I bumped along and never set aside a time to learn what I needed to learn. So, here goes, my first set of goals for January:
1. Wrap my head around marketing. I REALLY need to do this. I know the basics, but I've yet to implement a consistent marketing plan - one that will get my books more exposure to the right audience. I have a couple of books that I'm going to pore through and glean as much nuggets of gold as I can. I know there is much room for improvement.
2. Finish the next book. I've started it -- I have about 8k words written. It's first draft material, but at least the ideas are getting down on "paper" . . .
3. Be more consistent in my writing schedule. If I have to plan it out with a calendar on my phone, with reminders, I will do it. At least five minutes every evening, adding a few hundred words each day, with a bigger push on the weekends will get the job done.
4. Be more consistent with journaling. I've barely done this at all -- it's been more of a way to write down some new story ideas. I know some authors journal every day, but I haven't been able to do it myself. Mostly because I have no idea what I'd write about! I have a feeling, though, that if I try to do it every day, the ideas will come. At the very least, I'll have more story ideas to explore!
So there you go -- the beginnings of my plan for 2018. Will the end of January see all of this done? If I am honest with myself, I may be biting off more than I can chew, especially in the marketing department. BUT I have to start somewhere, and this is a good place/time to start.
I'll update everyone here as I go along.
Until next time,
Terry