New Year's Goals: 2017

It's that time of year again! GOALS TIME! I actually really look forward to this every year. I love setting goals. It gives me direction and keeps me accountable. But, I have a bad habit of going overboard. A close, trusted friend recently told me I needed to scale back a little and stop trying to do "All The Things All The Time." I'm going to take his advice this year and set fewer goals, and if I achieve more than what I list, great! And if I don't, that's okay, too. So, without further ado, here are my 2017 goals...

WRITE UNTIL MY FINGERS FALL OFF!

1. If my editor likes my book proposal and decides to contract it, then I'll be writing Deceiving Devon (working title, subject to change), which is a spin-off to the Collins Brothers Series.

2. Finish Savage Passion (Midnight Rebels, Book 1) and allow my agent to start sending it out on submission.

3. Outline the entire Midnight Rebels Series--which, right now, is looking like it could be 7 or 8 books total.

4. Complete the R&R for The Georgia Corbins.

5. Finish Hallowed Ground (Graves Barren, Book 1), my YA Gothic romance, and send to agents or possibly my editor at Entangled.

KEEP ON BLOGGIN'

Yup, this is on my goal's list. Again. But I won't be blogging here. I'll be blogging once or twice a week / month over on the Anaiah Press blog, where I'll share writing, editing, querying, and publishing advice. So be sure to head on over and follow along.

READ

Because of my busy writing and editing schedule, reading for pleasure usually falls to the wayside. I did better with this goal in 2016, and I'd like to keep it up in 2017. But this year, I'm going to keep track of what I read and share it with everyone at the end of the year so I can shout about my favorites!

What are your goals for 2017? Share in the comments or link to your goals list :-) 

GOALS CHECK: January 2016

Last year, I wrote out all my goals and then didn't look back on them until it was time to write new ones. This year, I want to hold myself more accountable, so the last day of each month, I'm going to do a Goals Check post to see how I'm doing. I'm pretty sure no one but me actually cares about this, but writing it down publicly makes me more likely to follow through with what I said I was going to do. So, here goes...


Goal: Finish Book 2 of The Hayden Falls Saga (the sequel to Death of a Waterfall)
Status: Still Unfinished

Goal: Finish Book 3 of The Hayden Falls Saga
Status: Still Unfinished

Goal: Finish Tainted: The Georgia Corbins, Book 3
Status: Still Unfinished

Goal: Finish Savage Passion
Status: On Hold -- This was originally a planned book 2 of a series that I was rewriting to become book 1 of a new series. However, I recently had rights reverted to book 1 so now I'm going to revert Savage Passion back to book 2 IF book 1 sells. I'm happy to say the full of book 1 is with another editor at a publisher that I would love to work with. So, fingers crossed!! As soon as I get word on book 1, I'll revisit this goal an see what I want / need to do with Savage Passion.

Goal: Finish Warped Remains
Status: On Hold -- Due to my co-authors current schedule, we've decided to wait on this project until we're both ready to give it the time it deserves. He's very busy with college classes, which is super important so I'm really okay with this choice.

Goal: Finish Hallowed Ground (Graves Barren, Book 1)
Status: Half-Finished -- When I added this to my goals list, I was sitting at 35k words. I'm now at 57k words :) I also: outlined the rest of the book so I know exactly where it's going, created an agent query list, wrote the query letter and synopsis.

Goal: Finish Eternally Bound (The Restani Clan, Book 1)
Status: Still Unfinished

Goal: Finish The First Snowfall
Status: Still Unfinished

Goal: Finish Resistance (the sequel to Inferno)
Status: Still Unfinished

Goal: Get Creative and come up with some new ideas for my agent
Status: On-going -- I have come up with TWO new ideas. One is a romantic suspense series that will follow the same couple through two (maybe three) books and deals with WITSEC (the federal witness protection program). The other idea is a collaboration with Jody Holford (my co-author of Dangerous Love and Jaded Love).  This is a contemporary romance that I'm SO excited about. I promise more details will come soon.

Goal: Do one or more things every day to promote me and my books.
Status: On-going -- I haven't done something every single day, but I have been much better about sharing my books. Plus, with a new release on the horizon, I am getting out there more.

Goal: Find and join a new writers group.
Status: Half-finished! I located a local writers group that meets once a month. I have not attended a meeting yet. My daughter has been visiting from NY, so my time has been better spent with her. But I will check things out in February.

Goal: Keep bloggin'
Status: On-going -- I have been pretty good about posting weekly this month, and I hope I can continue throughout the year. In an effort to motivate myself, I even joined the A to Z Blogging Challenge!


I know it seems as though I haven't done much work toward my goals, but I have been busy. I completed two freelance jobs this month, read three manuscripts for developmental edits, along with helping fellow writer, Tiffany Hoffman, get her new writing contest organized and running. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons (good reasons), I am no longer involved with the contest.

Here's to wishing everyone a successful and productive February! 

{TEASER TUESDAY}: Hallowed Ground

Hallowed Ground is Book 1 of The Graves Barren Series. It's a young adult paranormal  romance. Enjoy :-)

I was grateful for Abby’s presence as I found my locker and tested the combination. It opened easy enough. I shoved my sweater inside, not sure why I’d brought it in the first place. Old habits must really die hard. She showed me to my first class – Algebra – which we did not have together, and promised to meet me right after. I hated needing a personal tour guide. I mean, the school wasn’t that big. I was sure I could find my way around without her assistance, but after the way she snapped at me in the car, I wasn’t about to tell her that.

“Hey, Abby.” I grabbed her arm before she could walk away, then I quickly let go of her. “I just wanted to say thanks for all your help and… everything.”

She smiled. “You’re family, Chloe, and family always comes first.”

I fought back the surge of emotion threatening to overtake me. That was something my mom always used to say, too. I nodded, not sure I could speak anything coherent. Even if I’d wanted to say something further, I didn’t get the chance. Coming down the hall were three very tall guys, all with dark hair and even darker eyes. Flawless, tanned complexions with strong jaws and high cheekbones. They walked side by side by side, almost taking up the entire width of the hall. People knew to move out of their way, parting for them like the Red Sea. I’d never seen anything like it – or them – before. All three of them kept their gazes straight ahead, like they were better than everyone else and couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge any of us peasants. We were peons in their world.

“Who’re they?” I whispered to Abby.

She rolled her eyes. “The Halsteads. The one on the far left is Colton, he’s the oldest. In the middle is Jaxon, and the one on the right is Trenton.”

I couldn’t stop staring. They were like walking gods. Perfectly built, graceful, athletic. They were certainly the type of guys you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley alone. I shuddered, and that’s when the one closest to us – Trenton – slowed and looked at me. No, not at me. Through me. It was unnerving, yet, I couldn’t look away. He narrowed his eyes as if squinting against a bright light. I knew my jaw hung open, and apparently he knew it, too, because he gave me a faint smirk followed by a look filled with so much vehemence, it caused me to take a cautionary step back. Then, just as quickly as he acknowledged me, he turned away, returning his gaze forward as if I didn’t exist.

*** Copyright 2015, Kara Leigh Miller ***