It’s hard to believe 2015 is already here. At the beginning of 2014, I was starting on an entirely new personal life path, filled with equal amounts of anxiety and excitement. Even though I was unsure where the road would take me, I took those first tentative steps forward. And you know what? I’ve never been happier.
So after looking back at what I accomplished in 2014, my gaze is locked on the future and what I plan to achieve by this time next year.
Here are my writing goals for 2015.
Goal #1–Write at least 240,000 words
Now if you read my last post, you realize this is the same writing goal that I met last year. Some may think that I should increase my goal. Perhaps I should, but with my full time job and fatherly responsibilities, this word count is an achievable goal that does not over stress me.
That is important for any goal we set for ourselves. It must be reasonable. I could set a goal of a million words, but where exactly would that get me? There would be no way for me to achieve that milestone with my current life responsibilities, so I made a goal that is realistic in my world.
But how I will accomplish that will be a bit different this year. Here are my plans:
- The majority of my year will be spent on my paranormal romance series, The Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge. This is a seven book series, the first of which has already been accepted to be published this year by Dreamspinner. This series will follow the adventures of three powerful warlocks–Mason, Thad, and Warren Blackmoor. The brothers will alternate being the main characters of each book in the series, which will chronicle their paths toward love and the supernatural threats that threaten to destroy them, their family, and the men they love.
- I am also contemplating a contemporary romance in between books 3 and 4 and 6 and 7 of the series. I feel this will be a good way to keep my feet in the contemporary world while still moving forward with the series.
What do you think of that idea?
Goal #2–Increase Social Media Presence on Goodreads
Right now, Facebook is a well-oiled machine for me, so I need to venture into another social media site that has a profound influence on authors. Goodreads does just that. Many readers/authors have good and bad things to say about Goodreads, but whatever the opinion, Goodreads is a powerful force, so rather than fight it, I’m going to roll up my sleeves and jump right on in.
- I am a member of the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads. If you’re familiar with it, you know it’s a big group. So big that it is rather intimidating trying to figure out where to start or how just to interact. I plan on more actively involving myself with this group. How exactly? I’m not too terribly sure at the moment, but I figure posting more regularly and making myself more of a presence over there is a good place to start.
- I’ll also post more on my author thread Dreamspinner set up for all the authors. Perhaps this will be the one-two punch I’ll need to make a better dent over at Goodreads.
If anyone has suggestions on how to achieve this goal, I’m open to hearing them.
Goal #3–Further Expand Audiobook Offerings and Break Into the Foreign Market
As I mentioned in a previous post, this isn’t a goal I can achieve on my own. In order to offer more books in audiobook format or break into the foreign market, each book has to hit a certain number of sales.
So how do we meet this goal then?
- If you enjoyed Being True or any other of my books and would be interested in the novel being turned into an audiobook, then recommend that book to your friends. More sales means a better chance of meeting this goal.
Goal #4–Increase Activity on My Blog
For most of 2014, I didn’t do much more than self-promotion on my blog, and this has to change. I know that, so here is what I plan on doing:
- Write at least one post a week
- Vary types of posts beyond self-promotion
- Increase cross promotion opportunities with other authors
So there are my writing goals for this year. Looking back at them, they don’t seem daunting, but they will take commitment and discipline to be able to meet them. What do you think about the goals? Is there anything I missed that you think I should also consider making a goal? And what are your goals for 2015?
I’d love to hear what you have to say.
