Author Liesel K. Hill's Musings on Fantasia...
Showing posts with label Resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resolutions. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2017
January is Ending: The Number One Way to Keep Accomplishing Your Goals
I actually haven't, and I'm proud of myself for that. But did I accomplish everything I wanted to in January.
Another no. I wanted to finish the draft of my WIP by the end of January, and while I've made good progress, I'm only roughly half way done.
I also wanted to write one short story this month on top of my other writing. Yeah, kinda choked on that one. It took me most of the month to even come up with a viable idea. I think I have one now, but the fact remains I didn't get it written in the 30 day period I was aiming for.
The same is true of some of my other personal goals. I definitely made progress, but not quite as much as I was hoping.
And do I say this to be negative or feel sorry for myself? Of course not. Quite the opposite. The fact of the matter is, I've done more writing this month than I did in the last six months of 2016 combined. Even if I don't manage 12 short stories, if I manage like...3, it'll still be more short stories than I written in the past 3 years. (That's about how long it's been since I wrote my last one.) And while I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked, the fact is, I still made progress.
And I think this is the main problem most people experience who give up so quickly on their resolutions--be they physical, productive, financial, or anything else. They assume that if they can't do 200% of their goals immediately, it means they'll never be able to, and they'll never reach them, so they give up.
But the thing is, you have to train your brain to work toward any goal. I'm still re-training my brain to get used to this amount of writing. As much as I accomplished on each of my goals this month, I'll probably do time and a half or twice that next month. As you train yourself to do more, you'll be able to do your tasks more quickly and efficiently. But as with anything, you have to build up to it.
So what's the number one way to keep accomplishing your goals?
Just keep on keeping on.
Even if you only did 50%, 10%, 1% of what you would have liked, just keep pressing forward. Decide you'll do that much again this month. No! Decide you'll do more. If you only did 1% this month, do 2% next month. Or 5%. Or more. Then press on from there. The brain is an amazing organ and it adapts more quickly than most people realize. You'll improve at an amazing rate, if you just keep trying. Bottom line?
Just don't give up. If you're still pursing your goals, you're already a head of 3/4 of the population. And you'll be J.K. Rowling before you know it. ;D
Happy Monday!
Monday, January 5, 2015
2015 Here I Come!
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If I had one complaint about this past year, it would concern my writing. Last year at this time, I made a bunch of lofty goals and was super-excited to get started on them. But then life hit me and I ended up working a job for most of the year that made it really hard to make much progress on my writing. It was all I could do to keep up with my reading and blogging. I got very little done on the writing front.
Luckily, I'm in a better position to do more with my writing this year *fingers crossed* and I hope to accomplish more.
Last year I wanted to:
Thursday, January 2, 2014
A Baker's Dozen Lofty Writing Goals for 2014!
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So, my goals mainly consist of three areas for this blog. (There are others, like fitness, relationships, and other personal stuff, but I generally don't share that on this blog.) The three bookish areas, if you will, are 1) Reading 2) Writing/Publishing 3) Social Networking. And I might do a 4th) Miscellaneous category as well.
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2) Writing/Publishing -- As things stand now, I might actually put out as many as four books out this year, though it may only be three, just depending.
- I am finished writing book 2 of Street Games, entitled Desolate Mantle. However, I have at least six weeks of editing ahead of me and I don't have a cover yet. I'm hoping to get it out in March or April sometime.
- I also have the first draft of my high fantasy, dragon series finished. The series will be called Dragon Magic, though I haven't settled on a title for the first installment yet. (A short story prequel is available if anyone is interested). This one, though, is still a ways from publication as well. I'm going to start editing but, unlike most of the books I write, I have some pretty major, overhaul editing to do on this manuscript. I may be looking at 2-3 mos before the editing is done. Once it is, I'll probably shop it around to some big-name publishers. If I get picked up, the book probably won't be out until 2015. If I don't get any bites, I'll publish it myself, and it should be out the mid to latter half of this year.
- Citadels of Fire is slated for release this May, and--other than perhaps minor changes that at most would result in a a few weeks difference--I think the date is pretty much written in stone at this point. *crosses fingers*
- Finally, as soon as I get the editing done on Desolate Mantle and Dragon Magic, I'll start writing the 3rd installment of Interchron, which I'm probably going to call Dark Matter. (For some reason, all my current projects have the initials DM. I swear I didn't do that on purpose! :D) I'm hoping to get Dark Matter, book 3 of Interchron, out by the end of the year as well.
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So, that's four books. Originally I thought my crime drama, The Botanist, which is being published by Jolly Fish Press, would be out in the Fall, but it's looking like that one's getting pushed to 2015. Still, if I can manage it, perhaps four books this year. If my Dragon Magic series gets picked up, it should open up some time for me to finish book 3 of Interchron. That's because a traditional publisher will take care of lots of stuff that, if I self publish, I have to do on my own. If I self-publish Dragon Magic, it'll be harder for me to get Dark Matter out, so I'll just have to see how things pan out.
My only other goal in this area has to do with sales. 2013 was my first year as a published author, and I did respectably well. Not terribly, but not totally awesome either. My goal this year will be to work on visibility and just sell more books all around.
My goal for this year--and I will keep records--is to sell 100,000 books. Is that a lofty goal? Certainly! But is it possible? With three plus books on the market, absolutely! Besides, even if I don't attain it--only sell half that, say--I'll still have sold 50,000 books which is one heck of a lot more than I sold this year. You know what they say about reaching for the stars, right?
So, these are my writing/publishing goals, and I'm gonna push for them!
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3) Social Networking -- These are mostly numbers and reach goals. For Facebook, I'd like to have 1,000 + likes on each of my pages. For Twitter, I'd like to have triple the followers, or about 15,000 by the end of the year. I'd like to have 2,000 followers via my Blog, and increase my email list to 500+. (It's pretty pitiful right now. :-/ ) And, perhaps more importantly, I'd like to increase the monthly page views on my blog. Right now, I get about 3,000 hits a month. I'd like to go up to 10-15,000. (On a side note, most of you are probably aware that I have two blogs right now and have maintained both for a year and a half, now. But, I'm putting together a website that will function as a central hub for all my books, and I'm going to import my blog there, which means I really need to go down to only one. This site won't be done for another month at least, but when it is, I will probably merge my two blogs and only maintain one. But, more on that when it happens.)
I'd also like to increase my presence on Google Plus and Linked In, as I've done next to nothing with either of these networks this past year. I'm also going to look into doing some things on YouTube, though I'm not positive how far I'll get on that, as it's low on my priorities list.
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4) Miscellaneous -- Pretty much the reason I included this section is because I want to branch out in my speaking engagements this year (I did three, I think in 2013, but I'd like to do more) and I'd also like to put together some how-to products for writers. There are plenty such things on the market, and this past year, I didn't feel like a knew enough to speak about such things with much authority. But now I've been doing this more the better part of two years, and I've had experience with both traditional and self publishing, so I may start putting some things together based on my experiences.
There you have it! My 2014 goals! Wish me luck. It's going to be an insanely busy--but also hopefully an insanely productive--year! Happy New Year, Everyone! And here's to hoping the journey to your resolutions go better than this:
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What do you think of my goals? What are your goals for 2014?
Monday, December 31, 2012
Welcome to 2013 (One Day Early)
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I know 2013 doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but I have a weirdness about starting things in the middle of the week. I think it may be a rare form of OCD. (And by rare, I mean common.) So, I've been offline for over a week (SOOO weird since I've been on every day without exception for the past seven months) but now I'm back! Feeling refreshed after a break and ready to tackle the new year...
And I'm starting on Monday.
So, just a few things today. I'm going to list my Resolutions for 2013. Nothing personal on the blog like weight loss or finding a way to marry Chris Hemsworth. Just things pertaining to writing, reading, blogging, marketing, etc.
I'll also introduce some new blog features. So let's get started.
New Years Resolutions -- 2013
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Reading:
This year, it's my goal to read at least 50 books. Now I know most of you book bloggers out there are used to reading several books a week, but I am author. I have writing, editing, and marketing to do. Not to mention I'd like to have a life at some point. So, I have very little time to read. However, I'm no longer working a day job so I'm going to try and read at least one book per week from my TBR list.In addition, I want to be reading one classic novel and one personal improvement book at all times. I'll be reading them slowly--just a chapter or a percent per day. So, I'll probably only read 2-4 of each this year, depending on length. I figure I'll set up my months like this:
Week 1: a Dystopian or Fantasy novel
Week 2: a Historical Fiction novel
Week 3: a Mystery/Thriller/Crime Drama novel
as these are the genres I write.
Week 4: Freebee. Something of another genre or one of the above--just whatever I want. Or, if I want to take a break, I'll do it during this week.
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Writing:
My goals in this area are many and varied. My first novel, Persistence of Vision will be released nation-wide on January 29th. I'm hoping to get the 2nd installment of the Interchron series out by the end of the year. It's nearly ready to send to the publisher as we speak.I also already have a second novel, Citadels of Fire, Book 1 of Kremlins, slated for release from Jolly Fish Press in September of this year. It's the first of a trilogy. Kremlins is an interesting case because I wrote it as one continuous story, but it was too long to publish that way. I had to break it into three separate installments. So, while the second and third books definitely need some work, for all intents and purposes they are already written and just need some editing love. My goal as concerns this series to get both the second and third parts of this edited and ready to turn in to the publisher.
In terms of planning, I'd also like to get books 3, 4, and 5 of Interchron planned and outlined and perhaps the third book completely written.
I'm also working on an epic high-fantasy series that has to do with dragons. I'm not sure I could get an entire volume written this year, but I'd at least like to get the series planned out/outlined and, you know, if I could get book one written, that would just be a happy bonus! :D
I'd also like to foray into self-publishing a bit this year, even if it's just in small ways. I want to get to know every part of the industry. In the next couple of months I'm going to publish a small anthology of my own short stories and simply upload it to amazon, using it both to make a little extra income and to explore that aspect of the industry.
Are my goals ambitious? Obviously. A little unrealistic in their scope? Probably. But I believe in reaching for the stars. Even if I can get half of this stuff done this year, it will be a very productive year.
Marketing:
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That's most of my Resolutions for 2013. What are yours?
Of course, talking about blogging is a great segue into the second part of my post: New Blog Features.
New Blog Features, 2013
You may notice that the page about my Persistence of Vision Art Competition is gone. I'm officially cancelling it. I just didn't get enough interest. I'd hoped to use it to promote my book, but hey! You win some, you lose some. Besides, I've gotten an awesome response for my book's blog tour (which will begin January 14--more on that next week) and it's going to be really long-running, so I'll still get plenty of exposure. :DI'm going to start doing two new sections on my blog: Announcements/Entertainment News and Glorious Gadgets.
Announcements/Entertainment News will be for my own announcements, those of fellow authors and blogger buddies, and other fun stuff I just want to feature. You'll probably see a lot of movie trailers and announcements. I like to keep up with pop culture and movies/T.V. are just another story-telling avenue that I love to follow. :D Of course not every post will feature this section. It will only appear when I have something in particular to put there. :D
Glorious Gadgets will be a section where I feature cool stuff I've found. Most often it will be gadgets, software, apps, etc. that help make life easier or more fun!
Finally, I'm re-vamping my Thoughts for Thursday meme. Check out the tab above to see what it's all about. I'm really just adding prizes to get more participation. I've been a bit inconsistent about having a linky list in each post, but I'll always have one, now. Anyone can contribute a quote via linky (on their blog) or just in the comments section. I'll read every quote contributed and decide which I like the best. This will just be based on my own tastes. Whoever contributes the best quote for the week will get a small prize. (Very small. Probably just a bookmark.) But, every 3 months, I'll have a drawing. Everyone who has won the weekly prize in the last quarter will be automatically entered to win a free book or amazon gift card. This will be a 1 in 12 shot, so pretty good. I'm hoping this will encourage participation in this meme.
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How about you? Doing anything to re-vamp your blog this year? What are your New Year's Resolutions?
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