There’s a lot up in the air for the coming year. I have two books (#3 and #4 in the Detective Honeywell series) coming out, but I have no titles, no covers, no release dates. I blogged last week on Writers Who Kill about how the only thing we authors have control over is writing the next book. While I will be writing #5 in the series this year, it’s not due to my editor until December, which leaves me with some wiggle room. As I teased in yesterday’s post, I have a plan. I’ve been outlining and starting to draft a standalone novel. I’m calling it a domestic suspense wrapped up in a police procedural. My intention is to have opening chapters and a synopsis ready to hand over to my agent in March, so she can start shopping it around. Then, in April, I can jump back into Matthias and Emma’s world for the rest of the year. I don’t have a lot on my “events” schedule yet. In February, I’m doing a reading with my friend Bill Gormley in Pittsburgh, but I don’t have any real details yet. In A...

Happy New Year.   I'm whispering the greeting for two reasons. One, I'm feeling a little trepidation, remembering how happy we were to see 2020 go and how quickly we realized nothing had changed. Two, I have laryngitis on the heels of a nasty cold (negative Covid test).  Moving on to my goals (not resolutions) for the coming twelve months. Once again, there are things I can control and things I can only hope for.  Under my control:  1. Complete revisions on Fatal Reunion and celebrate its release this coming May! I am thrilled to bring Zoe and Pete back to my readers.  2. Complete rewrite of my NaNoWriMo manuscript (as yet in search of a title) and get it back out on submission. 3. Outline, research, and write the 12th Zoe Chambers Mystery.  4. Set up a mini book tour for this summer. Hoping for: 1. Attend Malice Domestic. I'm more optimistic about this actually happening this year. As long as the fabulous people running the convention proceed with their p...

At the beginning of the year, I posted what I was looking forward to in 2021 . I included a mix of concrete goals (the stuff I had control over) and hopeful goals. In looking back at that post, I did pretty well on the concrete stuff. Less so with the rest.  I managed to self-publish a novel and a short story collection. In the process, I've learned a lot. I also have a lot to learn on that front. Going forward, I don't have immediate plans to do any more self-publishing, but it's good to have that option available.  I turned in the next Zoe Chambers mystery to my new publisher. And I completed a first draft of a manuscript I've been starting and stopping for a while. We don't have a contract for it yet, but at least that crappy first draft is DONE. My fabulous agent managed to land an audio contract for Death By Equine as well as placing it on a couple of new reading platforms, KISS and Scream.  As for the rest of my goals? The conferences I'd hoped to attend ...

I gave up making resolutions decades ago. Those wishes that sound good on January first but that have no solid plan to accomplish. "I want to lose weight" or "I want to get published" just don't work without hard work and deadlines. Last year, I made plans and goals and...well...we all know what happened there too!  This year? I have a combination of concrete goals and hopeful plans. My goals look like a production schedule.  January - send manuscript to freelance editor, start drafting new manuscript, contact cover artist about the manuscript being edited, continue second draft of the next Zoe mystery. February - receive manuscript back from editor and begin final rounds of revisions, continue drafting new manuscript and second drafting next Zoe mystery, solidify cover art, begin putting marketing plan in place. I was going to go on, but frankly it's boring. Besides, you get the idea. Concrete goals are the things I know I can do to move the process ahead. ...

RESOLUTIONS, GOALS, AND EVENTS I’ve never been one for making “resolutions” because they’re too vague. I’ve always felt “goals” offered a better chance at success. What’s the difference? A goal is something you have control over. “I want to get published in 2014” is a resolution. “I’m going to write and submit an article every month” is a goal. You may or may not get published, but you’re doing something tangible toward that intention. It worked for me in 2013. I made a plan and stuck with it. It can work for you, too. This year is a little different. I have my three-book contract, so I’m not working on “goals” for publishing so much as I’m following a production schedule that was made up for me by my editor, while weaving my own writing quotas into and around it. While in the past, my goals have all concentrated on writing and submitting to different markets, this year I’ve changed focus. And I have included some of those vague resolutions into my plans for the coming yea...

It’s a good thing one of my New Year’s resolutions wasn’t to stop procrastinating, because here it is, January 9th and I’m only now getting around to sorting out my goals and intentions for the year. Basically, I’m limiting my resolutions to TWO this year. I’m tired of failing at a long list of things. Better to only fail at two, don’t you think? First, I intend to get back to my health and fitness routine. I’d rather say I was planning to expand on it, but I’ve really derailed, so simply getting back on track will make me happy. I can handle the yoga, weight workouts, and eating healthier parts. But getting on a good walking routine when it’s 11 degrees outside will be a real challenge. Anyone have an old treadmill taking up space that you’d like to donate to my cause? The second goal is one that I really hope I can stick to. I hope to write every day. I’ve never really stated that before, because I’ve known that I’d fail at it. Life and family get in the way. And I may very well fail...