Happy New Year, everyone! I can’t believe 2013 is here already. I don’t know about you all, but 2012 went by in a flash. It was a year of lots of ups and downs for me. I officially joined RWA, had an amazing time at the annual conference in Anaheim, read some phenomenal romances, met so many new people online and in person, I am now a guest reviewer, and I was lucky enough to be invited to be part of Teatime, which has been so much fun! But some not so great things have happened too, which I won’t go into. Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to 2013 to see what it has in store!
Obviously, New Years is traditionally the time when we make a fresh start, and make resolutions and goals for the coming year. My goal for 2012 was to finish the first draft of my current WIP. I have a draft. It’s rough, ugly, and not fit for the light of day, but by God, I have a draft! I have so many people to thank for their help, advice, encouragement, and support as I went on this journey. You know who you are, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I love you all, and I couldn’t have done it without you! But I must give an extra special shout-out to Marni Bates who went above and beyond the call of duty to help me when she spent about two hours on the phone with me during Hurricane Sandy helping me hash out plot, characters, and heightening the conflict and stakes in my novel. THANK YOU MARNI! <3
My goal for 2013 is to edit, revise, and polish that draft to within an inch of its life so that it will be something I’m proud of, and I am planning to have it ready by July so I can pitch it at RWA 2013 in Atlanta. Hopefully, that will give me enough time to wrangle this current monstrosity into submission. But the whole pitching to editors and agents thing is already giving me knots in my stomach, and it’s six months away! lol. I hate public speaking to begin with, and the idea of facing those editors and agents one on one is nerve wracking. I know I will be referring back to this great post by Jennelle as a refresher and putting her tips into action!
And on a more personal note, I want to take more risks, have more adventures in 2013 and be more opening to trying new things. It’s easy for me to be lazy and complacent, so I need to make a point of pushing the envelope and straying out of my comfort zone. Instead of being afraid of change, I’m going to look at it as an opportunity. You can’t grow without changing right?And I also really need to work on my habit of procrastinating and putting things off until the last minute. But we’ll see how that goes, lol. I also resolve to do a better job of keeping in touch with friends and loved ones. I tend to get too busy and wrapped up in what’s going on with my own life, and I’m going to make a point of reaching out more and not going off the radar too often.
On behalf of myself and all of my fellow Blog Sisters, we here at Teatime Romance thank you all for welcoming and embracing us. The support from commenters and the romance community in general has been wonderful, and we’re all incredibly grateful for that. We’re a new blog, and still growing and building. We’re planning a lot of new, fun, and exciting things for the new year, so we hope you’ll join us for the ride! Our goal is to be even bigger and better in 2013, and I am confident we will succeed.
So, what were your highlights of 2012? What are you hoping for in 2013? What goals and resolutions have you made, both in writing and your life in general?
I used to get nervous speaking in public (or just in front of strangers), but teaching all these years has ’bout cured me of it. If I can handle teenagers, adults are no problem
As for my resolutions, I have none. Writing goals include: finishing my current novella, re-re-re writing the novel that follows it, and completing a second novella in the series. All three pieces should be in final-draft-submission-ready form by the end of the year (gulp!).
I think it’s one of those things if I do public speaking more often, I’d get over my nervousness. Good luck with your writing goals, Cora!
I’m stretching to complete three chapters for a submission for critique I won. That will be done by the beginning of March. I don’t do resolutions so I chose to do a challenge instead. This year I’m participating in a 10,000 “Pushup” challenge. The challenge is to do 100 pushups (or situps or jumping jacks or squats or thingie) each day for 100 days. If you miss a day, for any reason at all, you start over at day 1.
Good luck getting those chapters ready Jennelle! And your 10,000 pushup challenge sounds incredibly intense! Here’s hoping you come through it with flying colors and don’t have to repeat!
Great way to kick off the New Year, Lisa!! Thanks for the fireworks!!!
I see a trend here. I’m also someone who doesn’t like to make resolutions because they tend to be things we never adhere to during the year. I do like to get a calendar and organize my time and plans. Seeing things laid out across the months helps me to better gauge whether or not something is doable. About mid-year, I’ll reevaluate my goals and balance what I’ve accomplished with what I have planned for the rest of the year. It’s not fool proof but the process works for me.
I’ve got two books coming out this year, with a possible third, and I’m submitting two other books I’ve written. We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a very busy year, but a fantastic one. I’m gearing up to be busy, busy, busy in a really good way. Woot!!!
Wishing ye all a wonderfully productive and successful 2013!!!!
Good luck with your releases and your submissions Kathy!! I think you have a good point. It’s important to set goals and stretch ourselves, but we also need to be realistic and cut ourselves some slack sometimes.
Lisa, I am so so so so proud of you for finishing that draft. That’s my goal for 2013 too–to finish and polish my novel before RWA 2013.
Thanks Erica!
Good luck with your draft too! I know you can do it and you’ll have a wonderful story to pitch at RWA this year! 