Welcome 2012

First of all, if you’d like to read the draft copy of my latest Ardraci Elemental book, Fire, you have until the end of the week. This weekend it will be removed from my blog. And to make it easy for you, I’ll even provide the chapter links:

Draft Serial Novel - Fire
Ch. 1~Ch. 2~Ch. 3~Ch. 4~Ch.5~Ch. 6~Ch.7~Ch. 8~Ch. 9~Ch. 10~Ch. 11~Ch. 12~Ch. 13~Ch. 14~
Ch. 15~Ch. 16~Ch. 17~Ch. 18~Ch. 19~Ch. 20~Ch. 21~Ch. 22~Ch. 23~Ch. 24~Ch. 25~Ch. 26~
Ch. 27~Ch. 28~Ch. 29~Ch. 30~Ch. 31~Ch. 32~Ch. 32~Ch. 33~Ch. 34~Ch. 35~Ch. 36~Ch. 37~
Ch. 38~Ch. 39~Ch. 40~Ch. 41~Ch. 42~Ch. 43~ Ch. 44~Ch. 45~Ch. 46~Ch. 47~Ch. 48~Ch. 49~
Ch. 50~Ch. 51~Ch. 52~Ch. 53~Ch. 54~Conclusion

Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. A new year means new changes, and I’ve got a new blogging schedule to share.

Monday – Weekly recap and goals. This post will be posted simultaneously on both Random Thoughts and Random Writings.
Tuesday – Spreading the Love on both blogs. I’m taking Tuesdays off blogging to visit a few of my blogging buddies, and I’m going to posts a short list of blogs I think you should visit. If you’re lucky, I might even tell you why.
Wednesday – Hump Day Hunk on Random Thoughts; Serial post on Random Writings
Thursday – Serial post on Random Thoughts
Friday – Flash Me Friday on Random Thoughts; Poetry on Random Writings. I used to write flash fiction on Fridays and I’ve been thinking for a while now I’d like to get back into it. As for the poetry, it may be a form, it may be a random poem, it may even be a guest poet.

Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to remember all that. In the next day or two I’ll put it up on the side bar. :-)

The new year also means a new set of goals, which are as follows:

Writing
1. Organize my days
2. Publish three books
3. Get more involved with the business of publishing
4. Do more self-promotion
5. Find a writing schedule I can live with and stick to it
6. Websites
Personal
7. Eat healthier
8. Exercise more
9. Crafts
10. Read a better variety of books

1. Organize my days
A couple of weeks ago I thought about keeping track of what I did during the day and how much time I spent doing it. Well, this week I’m going to actually do that. By this time next week I’ll have a good idea of where my time goes and I can set up a schedule of sorts to get myself organized. I might even post the results of my tracking.

2. Publish three books
The first will be Fire, the second is science fiction adventure romance called the Faery Heart, and the third I’m hoping will be Shades of Errol Flynn, which is about half done at this point.

3. Get more involved with the business of publishing
Yes, I have a novel published. But I’m very confused as to the whole process of how it was done. Writing it was the easy part. Editing it was a little more difficult. The rest of the process is a complete mystery and it’s time I learned what’s what.

4. Do more self-promotion
This means being more pro-active on Twitter and Facebook, especially when it comes to my writing, and seek out other venues for promotion. I’d also like to start doing author interviews a couple of times a month, so if you have a book you’d like to promote, let me know at carolrward(at)gmail(dot)com and we can arrange a date.

5. Find a writing schedule I can live with and stick to it
Once I’ve got the whole schedule thing worked out, I need to set a daily word goal for myself. Something less than NaNo but more than most days currently. I'm also going to select a specific project (or two) and work on it until it is finished. Progress for said project will be recorded on the Random Writings blog on the Works in Progress page.

6. Websites
I have a business called Creative Expressions. It used to have a website that was not that great, so I wasn’t sorry when the hosting ran out. I really need a new website. And an author’s website wouldn’t hurt either. Websites are easy, so I’m told, and if I don’t find them easy, there are lots of people I can call on for help.

7. Eat healthier
Due to health reasons (ie. being diagnosed with diabetes) I need to pay better attention to what I’m eating. I’ve made quite a few changes actually, but there’s always room for improvement.

8. Exercise more
I started walking at the end of the summer and although my stamina has improved a bit (I walk the same distance but take less time) walking doesn’t really get me into shape. I need to supplement my walking with other forms of exercise. I’ll be trying out a few different things to see what kind of exercise best suits me.

9. Crafts
I made about a dozen snowflake bookmarks to give as Christmas presents this year, and as I was crocheting them I realized it had been a long time since I’d sat down and worked at any of my crafts. I have a lot of crafts. More to the point, I have a lot of craft supplies. I need to either start doing something with all these supplies, or start getting rid of them. My craft closet is a hoarder’s dream come true.

10. Read a better variety of books
It’s pretty much a given that I’ll be reading a lot. I signed up for Dolly Garland’s Reading Challenge, but this year I dropped my goal down to 75 books for the year. The reason for this is that I want to read a greater variety of books. To this end, I would like to read one classic book a month and one non-fiction book every two months. AND to keep track of this, I’ll be adding a page to Random Thoughts with an ongoing of what I’ve read. As well, I’ll be keeping track on Goodreads as well.

So there you have it. My plan for the year ahead. Of course anything can happen, so you’ll want to check back often. :-)