Happy 2015 – Part 1 – Looking Back

Perhaps I’m a wee bit late on this, but it is the first WORKWEEK of 2015, and honestly, one of my resolutions is to make sure I get enough rest.

After all, a lack of rest and overdoing it was my biggest fall in 2014.  We learn from our mistakes.

So, here’s a quick review of 2014 with my plans for 2015.

Accomplishments:

THREE FREAKING NOVELS OUT!!!

A KICK-ASS WEBCOMIC WITH AN AWESOME ARTIST!!

I HAD A SIGNING AT BOOK EXPO AMERICA!!!

Those are three biggies. There are more!

“Steadfast in the Face of Zombies” finally came out in Once Upon an Apocalypse

“Oprah Funds the End of The World” was sold and came out in Demonic Visions 5

Speaking, paneling, signing, tabling at:

Arisia

Conbust

Wiscon

Book Expo America / Bookcon

Pi-Con

DragonCon

Rock & Shock

Bookstore, Library & other appearances:

Enigma Books, Astoria, NY

Books & Boos, CT

Generations Gifts and Herbal Apothecary, Oxford, MA

Nashua Public Library, NH

Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester, MA

Booklover’s Gourmet, Webster, MA

Bigelow Free Public Library, Clinton, MA

Jacob Edwards Library, Southbridge, MA

Sturbridge Coffee Roasters / Girl Power!, Southbridge, MA

I also edited a whole bunch of books in 2014—mine and other people’s.

And Calico and I had a good year together, with a good amount of riding, especially this summer. (See the blog pic!)

I also celebrated a lot of wonderful weddings for family and friends—and I was honored to be the matron of honor for two very good friends at their beautiful ceremony!

There was also a lot of difficulty in 2014, though.

I’d thought my 2013 autumn had been difficult with death and illness.  This 2014, it ended up being even worse.  I won’t list all those who I lost or who I was worrying over, but there were a lot.  I fell behind on a lot of deadlines for myself and for other people, and I had to drop some of my projects.  And then I got sick, myself, pretty badly.  I ended up with a serious kidney infection on top of some larger issues that came to a head right at the same time. I’ve still got a bit of a journey to go through with tests and such, and there are some life decisions I need to make, but I have information—and that is the best tool and best weapon anyone can ask for!

There were other big changes and upheavals during the year, too, but I’d rather not focus on those for this post.  Some things over which I have no power.

I only have power over my own choices, my own decisions. 

So, what I need to work on after looking back on 2014:

I need to take care of my own writing career.  I need to do the promo, I need to blog, and most of all, I need to do my own writing and editing.

I need to make and meet some hard deadlines in January for leftover 2014 work. I know what these are; I need to just do them.

After January, I need to make a better schedule for the year.

I will do these things.

I shall do these things.

I’m starting fresh again, my New Year’s blog.  I have a fire ceremony to do tomorrow as the moon STARTS to wane; there are a lot of things I need to be rid of.

                                                                                            

Tonight, I simply light a candle, post a blog, and get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Back in the Saddle… yet again

A long time ago (like, the beginning of January), in a galaxy far, far away (my kitchen table as opposed to my desk), I put together a handwritten business plan and a list of goals for 2013.

One of those goals was to write up those goals and post them as a blog on a particular date in January…

Ha! Hahaha! LOL!  I just kill me!

Another of those goals?  A weekly blog schedule!

Hahahahahahah!! ROTFLMAO!!  Totally dying of laughter, here!

But, as I've said in prior blog posts… (and couldn't find to link after 15 minutes, so I gave up… but believe me, they're there!) … one of the most important life lessons I've learned from riding is that you do, in fact, get do-overs.  So long as you don't give up and get back in that saddle!

And I say this having suffered cracked ribs, disjointed vertebrae, bites, sprained and strained ankles and knees… months or weeks or, pre-Calico, even years of doing next to nothing with horses.

Back into the blogging saddle I go, then.  Because I do love blogging… and I have an awful lot of amazing things to share this year!

Now that I'm here, let me hit that other goal of writing up some of my goals here. I know some people say writing and sharing one's goals is more detrimental than helpful, but honestly, I've not seen such in my life.

Goals:  Better late than never, right?

Meet all Spencer Hill Press Deadlines

I'm truly in love with my work in both writing and editing for SHP, and I have a lot of people's dreams of publication and their stories riding on my ability to hold up my end of the contract.  Thus far, I've been pretty good.  There are a few things running later than the most preferred deadline, but none that are running far into the extra-security padding that Kate, in her infinite wisdom, has built into the system.

Done in January: 1 novel proofed from galleys, 1 to galleys, 1 to closing edits, 1 through copyedits, my own to 2nd round edits, 2 submission novels read, 3 I gave the ok to offer on (one I read back in December). Also, first round of edits on half the Doorways submissions, and second round of edits on half the remaining half.

Dude… that's 8 different novels and 15 short pieces that I worked on! Yay!

Novel Goals

The Kelpie comes out this December, and I'm going through edits for this, plus working on the marketing plan.

A Silent Starsong is with Vikki to be submitted to Spencer Hill Press upon her edits.

The Earl's Childe is the sequel to The Kelpie is one of the novels I'm currently working on and needs to be finished, polished and submitted this year.

A Shooting Star is the sequel to A Silent Starsong and is actually entirely drafted! It just needs polishing.

The Banshee's Cry will be the third MacArthur book, and needs to get started.

Besides that, there are two other novel-length projects that I'm attending to but are not ready for discussion yet. ;) Stay tuned!

Other Fiction/Poetry Goals

Write three new short stories.

Submit to at least 5 different short fiction or poetry markets this year.

Write one new novella (done! And by accident, too!)

Write three new poems (one down, two to go!)

Business Goals

Make Goodreads profile and list fiction

Update Amazon profile

Update blog every week

Update website every week

Send website revamp changes ASAP

Horsey Goals

Two major trail rides

Three horse shows

Ride 2x per week on average (very difficult this winter!)

Other Goals

Lose 25 lbs

And that's what I'll be up to this year. :)  It's a lot, but more doable than other plans I've made for myself. 

I look forward to sharing the journey with you!

Happy 2013!

New year, new goals, positive accomplishments… new try at blogging.  :)

Most everyone in the world is talking about (or has already talked about) their New Year's Resolutions/Goals, etc.  Not to hop on the bandwagon, but it's a fun and inspiring topic… so I'm playing with it, too.

I've already hit a couple of short-term goals this year already:

• Submitted a novella for publishing
• Gotten my email inbox to a manageable level (from over 1000 to under 140)
• Handwritten my publishing deadlines for 2013 for Spencer Hill Press
• Handwritten a Personal Goals sheet
• Printed out my detailed deadline for January Spencer Hill Press projects
• Accomplished editing deadlines thus far

And we're just a week into the new year!

 When I was going through my deadlines and goals, I went back through my prior years' blog posts so I could get an idea of what I'd accomplished and what I could accomplish.  I'd forgotten that I never actually got around to publishing my goals on my blog last year… so I had to go back to my January 2011 posts to get an idea of what I'd been doing.

With the path my life has taken since 2011, most of those benchmarks and steps simply are… no longer useful.

When I sat down to make my plan for this year, I needed a whole new template!

And that's ok.  I'm very happy with where my life is going.

Let's have my accomplishments for 2012 explain why:

Became a Senior Editor at Spencer Hill Press.

I've been blessed in the past decade or so to have jobs and bosses who I have loved. And every move I've made has been an improvement… yet I can't imagine a more healthy and supportive job than working at SHP. 

At Spencer Hill Press, I've had the pleasure of working on many awesome books - which I will detail as they start coming out. :) 

Published Short Stories

"Photo of a Mermaid" came out in UnCONventional by Spencer Hill Press

"Fixed" came out in Corrupts Absolutely? from Damnation Books

Sold Fiction

THE KELPIE - my first novel! - comes out this December from Spencer Hill Press

"Finding Fire" comes out in May in the Holiday Magick anthology, Spencer Hill Press

"Steadfast in the Face of Zombies" to Once Upon an Apocalypse Volume 1 - more on that when I get the info. :)

Lost Ten Pounds

After three years of gain or plateau - that's still an accomplishment.

Rode in my First Competitive Horse Show - and GOT RIBBONS!

Mind you, it's been well over a decade since I practiced any sport competitively.  This was HUGE. :)

… And there were a lot more life changes. 

I traveled to four different countries I'd never been before. And, between those travels, I was without my husband who I've not lived without for over a decade.  In fact, I only lived on my own for three months out of college before we got married… so it was definitely… an experience.  I also got really into my job at Annie's Book Stop of Worcester, helping with event coordination.

I left my last W2 job in May… because things with fiction and freelancing were picking up as well as they were.

And I still held my position as president for Broad Universe - though, honestly, between my Veep, Kimberly Long-Ewing and the rest of the Motherboard, it was a massive team effort for which I'm deeply grateful.

So, that's 2012 for you.  Massive. Change.

From there, I move forward. With a lot of hope and energy for this year. :) 

Thank you, Universe!

Oh?  What are my actual goals for this year? ;) Well… that's another blog post. ;)

Happy New Year!

Fire with Friends

This past Monday, my friend Val came over and shared myannual fire ritual with me. 

It was good to share it with someone new.  She added another energy, and we added a few more parts to suit our needs for 2012… I'd organized my papers and things ahead of time, she needed to get rid of a particular artifact. 

After that, she interviewed me on faerie rules. :)

All in all, it was a lovely, magical night.

And I am tired.  So here's a cute picture of Val and Loki.

May your 2012 catch fire in a good way!

Happy New Year 2012 – Part 1

Yes, it's that wonderful time of year again!  Time to evaluate my 2011 goals and move forward with my 2012 plans.

I remember reading in one of the many articles I perused over 2011 that publicly setting goals actually hinders one's ability to get them done.  The psychology behind that is that the act of setting goals makes one feel "accomplished," and therefore slows or stops progress; we need a certain amount of stress to push us to go beyond just setting goals.

I'm ambivalent about that because every year that I've done this exercise, I've improved my business life as a writer.  On the other hand, I didn't meet a lot of the goals I set last January.

On the other, other hand (because I write spec fic and I can have more than two hands, damnit), a whole lot of opportunities and major changes redirected me…

See, I had this nice line of goals and steps set up, and then wooooo, that path took a 45 degree angle or something--starting not long after I even made said goals!—and while some of those steps and goals still fit on that line, a lot did not.

The Changes

Big Change 1: Spencer Hill Press

It started with being invited to co-edit this wonderful anthology for which I've been carrying around bookmarks and the first contributor copy around like my firstborn child.  Which it kinda is, being the first book with my name on the cover.  That, and it's made of teh awesomesauce of awesome.  (Go pre-order it now!)  It evolved into perusing the slush pile and adopting a manuscript or two to love and edit… which I need to ask Kate about the protocol for pre-publication gushing.

Big Change 2: Presidency!

Of Broad Universe.  Because, y'know, just running events and stuff wasn't enough.  I WANT THE WORLD!  FOR WOMEN!  WHO WRITE ALL SORTS OF WONDERFUL SPECULATIVE FICTION!  Ahem.  Yes.  I'm always very dignified about my responsibilities.  You totes should join our quest for world domination!

Big Change 3:  Calico Silver!

Ok, I claimed this last year, too, but I'VE NOW HAD A HORSE FOR OVER A FULL YEAR AND WE DID AWESOME STUFF TOGETHER!

Big Change 4: Concrete, Solidity on H-of-A's Deployment

Which I can only talk about a little for various reasons.  But it's big for both of us.

The Accomplishments

In planning for these posts, because they are always more than posts for me, I read back over last year's posts.  (Mind you, I really am evaluating myself and planning as I write this.  I'm a writer; I think best in writing.)  I admitted last year that I wasn't satisfied how I was tracking certain progress.  As I've learned more, a lot of what I was tracking is really useless info.

Here is just some of the highlights:

Starting with previously mentioned…

• Maintained horse adoption happiness.
• Edited an anthology. (That you totally want to buy, right?)
• Took on my first novel manuscript at Spencer Hill Press
• Became Prez of Broad Universe

What all else I did…

• Edited and updated another StraighterLine course
• Finished complete second draft of Kelpie and sent to Beta readers
• Published "Kali's Promise" in Epitaphs, the New England Horror Writers anthology
• Published "To Me You are Holy" in the Eye on Life: Poetry Locksmith
• Had "Fixed" accepted into Corrupts Absolutely? (due out March 2012)
• Had "The Unicorn & the Old Woman" accepted into Sauced anthology (due out 2012)
• Submitted 22 fiction/poetry pieces to various markets, agents, publishers (3 fewer than last year, but higher acceptance rate!)
• Guest of Awesome at Pi-Con
• Presented panels at Arisia, Conbust, Wiscon, Pi-Con, Dragon*Con, and Anthocon

And my usuals…

• Maintained position as food writer for Worcester Magazine
• Wrote and published about two dozen other pieces of non-fiction
• Edited more stuff for StraighterLine and Smarthinking
• Regularly tutored

There ya' have it. A highlighted list of 2011. Feel free to compare it to my goal-setting post and weigh it yourself, but really, I'm proud of it, and that's what matters.  Next post will be the goal setting, itself.

Too busy to blog…

Yes!  It's a New Year!

Yes!  I'm doing a New Year's Plan set of posts.

Just not today.

Why?

Because Scott's getting on a plane to the other side of the globe in less than 9 hours.

And that's what he and our living room look like right now.

Though - one New Year's Resolution will be my return to 3 blogs a week, so there will be one Wednesday sometime.  Where I'll share my New Year's Planning.

Tis the Season for Year End Self-Evaluation and Business Records

Wow!  It's freaking December already!

This week, I must:

Complete most of my Broad Universe Actionable Items.

Submit a Pub review

Meet with weight consultant

Meet with Worcester Writers Collective

Meet with Promotions & Advertising Coordinator for Broad Universe

Exercise at YMCA on Wednesday and Friday

Exchange Calico's Blanket

Review the Spencer Hill Press Slush Pile

Before Christmas, I must:

Finish tutoring evaluations

Bake cookies

Finish Calico's present (wood burnt name plaque)

By year end, I must:

Write yearly letter for Broad Universe & finish rest of Actionable Items.

Review & evaluate my 2011 plans

Create a Novel Friend business plan for 2012

Sit down with Scott to discuss a household business plan for 2012

Basically, aside from a few hours I might be able to use at Annie's Book Stop and at the coffee shop before my riding lessons, creative writing endeavors are on the back burner.

Sometimes you have to run triage as a freelancer and really focus on what needs to be done the most and leave other important things, or the pretty, shiny things you want to work on, by the wayside with promises of coming back and picking them up later.

An important part of freelancing is continually reevaluating, prioritizing, and reorganizing projects.  I do a big, formal thing of it every year-end/year-beginning, but I'm re-doing it every month, every week.  What needs my attention now because it's due?  What needs my attention now because the story won't leave me alone?  What needs my attention now based on where I physically am?  (For example, if I'm at an artsy coffee shop, I should make the most of the free-flow of creative juices; if I'm somewhere without WiFi, write stuff that doesn't require research.)

Being a fiction and poetry writer also influences these things.  First of all, we are always, always, always getting new ideas.  And sometimes these new idea are things that need to addressed immediately because they will make current work easier, are a limited time opportunity, or are so shiny that ignoring them will drive you mad.  Actually, if we don't get creative releases on a regular basis, most writers, poets, artists, etc. get pretty damned cranky and certainly less productive.  Sometimes ignoring the creative muse has a negative impact on the business end of work, so a balance has to be struck.  "Look, I'll write a synopsis or a scene right now, but then you gotta leave me alone so I can get this stuff done that helps me stay housed, alive, and in good enough shape to continue your fabulous story, ok?"

Figments of imagination can be just as demanding and aggravating as bill collectors—really!

Scheduled for next week, though, I'm having a sit down with my friend Vikki, with whom I'm sharing a few projects, and I'll make a fiction/poetry list of priorities and potential deadlines.  I also need to touch base with Christy on our novel, and I need to catch up with other people I'm working with on other projects.

It's no surprise though, and I'm hardly alone in the insanity that is December.  Who else is rearranging their life and priorities with the end of the year and holiday season?  What are your favorite ways to get it all done?

Happy New Year - Part 3

In my attempt to be more thorough and diligent - so that I achieve and attain more of my 2011 goals - I broke down and shared my process into multiple posts: comparison, evaluation of last year's goals, the spiritual side of planning, and now, the actual goal setting.  

Because I'm self-employed, a freelancer, a bit of an entrepreneur, my business and personal goals often overlap.  And that makes this sort of thing hard.  So, I'll break this down the best I can.

Business: Work I get Paid For

Goal: Sell to publication that pays > 20 cents / word.

Explanation: I keep looking for more writing gigs, but, really, I need better paying ones.  That means querying non-fiction work.

Steps:

By January 28, come up with 3 article pitches.

Pay closer attention to the market listings in FundsforWriters newsletter.

Starting February 1, query/pitch to one non-fiction market each week that pays more than >20 cents /word.

Starting March 1, find one new article pitch by the end of each month.

Goal:  $xxx in editing projects for the year.

Explanation:  It seems bad form to discuss specific money on blogs. That, and I'm not comfortable with that, either.  But I have that number written for me.  That said, this is slightly more amorphous, but mind you, I prefer to focus on writing.

Steps:

By Friday, January 14, entirely complete and bill for current editing project.

Any week where I am not actively engaged in an editing project should be spent searching for another.

Goal:  Maintain usefulness as food reviewer & local entertainment writer.

Explanation: I couldn't think of a better way to word this.  Basically, I want my food editor to keep assigning me stuff, so I need to keep pitching stuff.

Steps:

On Monday, January 10, send restaurant list and weekly pick to editor.

Maintain current mini-review deadlines and assignments with updates.

By Thursday, January 27, send new list of restaurants to editor

By Thursday, February 24, pitch next set of "Woo" minis.

Every following final Thursday of the month, send list of restaurants to editor.

Maintain payment spreadsheet.

Business:  Promotion, Advertising, and Platform

Goal: Once per month, pitch/submit educational article in related/high-profile publication.

Explanation: This is another hard one to put into words.  There are a lot of publications - particularly on the web - that don't pay a lot (or don't pay at all) - but are places that look good to be published in, places that will draw attention to my business.

Steps:

By Jan 31 (already have interview for January), compose list of 14 places I want to be published with 3 pitch lines for each.

Each week, pitch until schedule is full.

Goal:  Send monthly updates to webmistress.

Explanation:  In all honesty, my wonderful webmistress is responsible for any website updates at all.  She sends reminders, or tells me when I go into her store.  I know I didn't do so well on this last year, but that's no reason to not do better this.

Steps:

Send calendar updates each month.

Starting March 1, every other month, update one page of content.

Goal:  Maintain blogging schedule.

Explanation: I did pretty well this year, but I never taught myself automatic updates.  And I keep meaning to switch to Wordpress.  (LiveJournal's advertising continues to get worse and aggravate me, blogger is not bad… but I cannot find a way to let people subscribe by email.)

Steps:

Update every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night.

Change to Wordpress.

Learn how to do automatic updates and how to keep updating Blogger & LJ remotely.

Make a blogging topic schedule.

Prewrite some articles for a cushion.

Goal:  Keep an outside blog schedule.

Explanation: There are a few blogs I keep meaning to add posts too, but I haven't yet.

Steps:

By January 21, create outside blog schedule.

Post per schedule.

Prewrite articles for a cushion.

Business: Fiction Writing, Written Work

Another confession, one of my greatest battles is the need to pay bills versus desire to just do the fiction as my business.  Unfortunately, though the passion is there, the fiction  often ends up neglected.

Goal: Submit 1 piece of fiction or poetry every week.

Steps:

Monday, January 10th, go through stockpile of fiction market info saved in inbox and submit 3 pieces.

Every following Monday, go through fiction markets and visit Ralan or Duotrope until a market to submit one piece is found; submit.

Maintain associated spreadsheets to prevent sim subs or repeat subs.

Goal: Submit 2 A Silent Starsong queries or packages each month.

Steps:

January 18th, update Querytracker stats and follow up on agents beyond their return timeframes.

Make 1 query submission.

Every following week, research agents until quota is met.

Goal: Bring Kelpie to a submit-able level.

Steps:

Finish rough draft by March 31.

Continue submitting scenes to Traveling Java writer's group.

Start on major edits May 1.

Complete 1st round major edits June 30.

Submit to Beta Readers.

Begin Beta reader edits October 1.

Complete 2nd round major edits before Christmas.

Set Submission Goals before New Year's.

Business: Fiction Writing, Co-Op

Goal: Finish latest Bad-Ass Faerie story by January 31; submit.

Steps:

Submit next scene to Christy by Tuesday, January 11.

Maintain 24-48 hour turnaround for drafting and then editing.

Goal: Finish Shepherd's Blood to a Beta Reader level.

Steps:

Create writing schedule with Christy.

Create editing schedule with Christy.

Maintain my end of schedules based on ability.

Explanation:  If there's someone other than yourself involved, there are parts you simply have no control over.  After last years lofty co-op goals failed, I'm lowering the bar on these.

Business:  Fiction Writing, Platform

I'm actually going to do an even more thorough breakdown on this, particularly my convention planning.  Stay tuned!

Personal:  Health

Goal: Lose 60 lbs.

Steps:

Involve Husband-of-Awesome.

Create weight loss competition starting Monday, January 10.

Use Wii Fit on weekdays not spent with Calico or at convention.

Use yoga ball at desk a minimum of 2 hours per day.

Learn portion control.

Goal:  Ride Calico in a 10+ mile trail ride.

Steps: 

Work on flexibility and balance out of saddle with yoga and exercise

Ride at least 1x per week (allowances for outside circumstances, like weather.)

I know this is another lengthy post, but I hope seeing the steps I'm taking are useful to others - and that they are useful to me.  Please let me know what you think! 

Prosperous New Year!!

Fiery Friday

When you're looking to make changes in your life, like resolutions and goal setting, it needs to be more than in your head.  You need to get involved with these goals and resolutions on multiple levels: mental, physical, and spiritual.

The mental is what most people do already.  Physical is making the adjustments you can touch, feel, and interact with – and that really deserves a post of its own.  Spiritual is what I'm focusing on here.

Some people create the spiritual ties to their goals and resolutions through organized religion.  I remember New Year's masses that included a section dedicated to asking God to help us with [insert resolution here], for example.  And, of course, other cultures include goals and resolutions in their celebrations of the new year.

But, it's been a while since I've gone to a mass or felt spiritually tied to any church in the area. 

A few years ago, when I was starting my own business, I created a fire ritual.

Some background:

I was raised Catholic, and the older I got, and the more conservative the Church grew, the more I felt my faith was betrayed.

I was working as a customer service representative for a financial firm that was suffering and whose practices – especially concerning their employee treatment – I was growing increasingly uncomfortable with.

On a whim, I applied for grad school and got in on a full scholarship, so I said "adios" to work… and then had a huge gaping summer to fill.

My sister in law had also lost her job at this time.  The two of us started meeting every week for lunch and to frequent the many "New Age" and pagan shops in the area.  I was rekindled to start back with my Tarot reading, realized I was pretty damn good at it, and found a new spiritual tie to many of the pagan rituals, the love of earth, and the kindness of so many that I met.  In fact, I learned that a lot of the churc rituals that had meant so much to me, that moved me to my core, were originally pagan rituals.

From there, I started on the often rough journey of rebuilding and redefining "What I Believe In."

Tie that spiritual overhaul with my work-life overhaul (Thank all that is holy that my husband stayed the same and needed no overhaul!), and I needed to create my own ritual.

And its still under construction.

I was up last night, talking to a good friend of mine, Sunder, about the ritual.  Normally, I'd do this ritual with the New Moon, but everything this year has seemed to get in the way of that.  And last year, well, while I still feel it was a positive year, I felt the ritual hadn't had the same impact as it had in prior years.

The problem is that I didn't really have a good understanding of the moon's energy.  (It's still not great, so I'll suggest if you want a better explanation, do research or talk to a proper pagan who uses the moon.)  In any case, this year, the ritual will happen on the full moon, the first day of the full moon (while it's still waxing).  I need to look up that date, but I've got a few days to do so.

In the meantime, let me tell you what I do.

I give my wood stove a good cleaning – physically and with sage.  I also cleanse and sage the wood I will use for that night.  That night, the only things that go into the fire are for this ritual.

Now, weeks and months before, I've been collecting burnable trash that represents things I need to change and transform to make this year better than last, things that I need to move past, and things that I just want to "set aflame" with energy.  I organize and sort all of this into those categories, and then sub-categories, meditating and considering and visualizing what I wanted the fire of these things to become.

(I should have said it before, but this is a pretty involved ritual.)

The night I do the ritual, upon the cleansing of the stove, I start the fire with some sage and other herbs as kindling.  I also continually add incense and resins to bring my intentions heavenward.  I re-sage and re-incense between each of the abovementioned categories. 

I invoke my guides and angels and saints and God and the spirits of the world -  because I have fait in all these things – as I start my fire.  Then, slowly, and deliberately, I burn each piece, cleanse the flame, burn the next… and so on. 

The ritual usually takes 2-3 hours.

When it's done, I re-cleanse the flame and then let it burn itself out (usually about the time I go to bed.)  In the morning (er, when I wake up, which may or may not be what most people consider "morning," I clean out all the ash and clean the stove and take a moment to intentionally rededicate it to just being the tool that helps me warm my house. 

It's  powerful ritual; I'm usually in tears for most of it, and I truly feel the magic within it. 

In that burning power, I wish you a positively transformative New Year.

Happy New Year! Part 2

So, for my Manic Monday, I posted the first part, a compare-contrast of 2009 and 2010.  Now, let's take a look at the goals I'd set for 2010 and evaluate them.  :)

Average 3 short fiction OR poetry submissions per month (same goal as 2009).

The total for short fiction and poetry was 32, so I was only 4 shy of my 2010 goal, so that makes this a realistic goal to continue striving for.

Get Yesterday’s Shadows polished and send at least 10 queries or submission packages (carryover from 2009).

Yeah, no.  But that was something we needed teamwork for, and if more than one person is involved, there's always even more of a chance of things going wrong.

Get A Silent Starsong polished and send at least 10 queries or submission packages (2009 carryover).

Yes, and exceeded. :)  I sent out 13 queries, got two partial requests and am still playing the waiting game on a few more.  Not too shabby!

Finish draft of 2nd Christy project, edit, send out to beta readers, prepare for submission.

Submit 2nd Christy project by July

Yeah, no… same issue as Yesterday's Shadows.

Attend at least 7 conventions, 5 as a guest/participant/dealer/volunteer*

I cut down the # of conventions because they are costly, but I attended every single one as at least a dealer with Broad Universe and running a Rapid Fire Reading, and all but one as a participant of some sort, so I'm happy with this goal.

*Calculate 2009 convention expenditures and spend 25% less.

Um.  Yeah.  I think so.  I cut out one convention (which, in 2009, was my second costliest convention.)  I also made use of my mother's house for all Western MA and CT conventions, and packed lunches or utilized the con suite whenever I could.  Air fare was crazy, though, but entirely out of my control.  However, I did plan enough to not have too many unexpected fees due to overweight baggage (though H-of-A and I did have to pay fees because we missed our stupid flight to Atlanta for Dragon*Con.)

Attend at least 10 non-convention events

Yeppers.  Though, I believe I will cut this down for 2011 because of cost.  (Most are either lunches or dinners or somehow require one to buy food.)

Set business goals with Stefanie for Aurelio project.

We dissolved the business relationship, but I am mostly done with the script for the first comic.  This ended up being out of my hands, too.

Finish:            

Western Faeries:  Nope.

Puhka-Shire Pond Castle Story:  Turned into a Novel that's almost finished.

1^st Android Novel/Novella (?) Rough Draft:  Also turned into a Novel that's almost finished.

Wings & Fire:  Nope.

Edit:               

Max:  Yep.

Manipulation:  Yep, and 2 submissions.

Cemetery Angels:  Yep, and out on submission.

E-Hell:  Yep, and out on submission.

Pony's Guide: Dropped/back-burnered for now.

Full Withdrawal:  Yep, but want to do one more pass before submitting.

Oprah Funds End of the World:  Yep, must find place to submit.

Nonny:  Dropped/back-burnered for now.

Send regular monthly website updates to Del

More or less, but definitely a good goal to keep.

Blog at least three times a week

With a few reasonable exceptions, yep!

Blog at trishandchris.blogspot.com every other week

Alas, no.

Send Family Newsletter 1/month

The family moved to Facebook, so an acceptable drop.

Create/send Business Newsletter 1/month

Yeah, no… also dropped without my partner.  :(

Submit 6 Paid Non-Fiction/month

No.  I was closer to 4, which got really hard some weeks/months.  I really need to not write more, but write for more $.

Maintain 15 hours of Tutoring/week (save summer break)

Yep!

2 Major Editing Projects

Just barely.  I squeezed the second one in just before Christmas.

Raise more than $500 for Bay State Equine Rescue

YES!

Submit more than 75% of articles at least one day early.

Probably not.  But, the only two "missed" or late deadlines were per miscommunication with the editor or computer issues, so a definite improvement.

Do a better job of tracking expenses/profits THROUGHOUT the year… possibly quarterly.

Looking over at the pile of envelopes.  Yeah, no.  I'll be scrambling with spreadsheets and crying again shortly.

Answer questions on LinkedIn /

Write useful Tweets and respond to people more on FB & Twitter

Another "yeah, no."  I don't think I did much of anything on LinkedIn besides accept requests and update the status via Hootsuite.  That said, I did a bunch of social networking through Broad Universe, Facebook, and my blog.

Non-Business:

More horse training OR riding

1 Horse Clinic

As I HAVE MY OWN HORSE NOW, yep!

Relaxing more and losing some weight is also in there. 

Last I checked on the Wii Fit, my weight is exactly what I started at in 2010.  Blergh!

Scott is still scheduled to leave for Taiwan, though end of 2010 or 2011 now (thanks to site conditions), so you'll hear my trials and tribulations with that.

Um… this is still up in the air. Yahhhh… We'll just leave this alone for now.

Believe it or not, I actually have far more notes outside of this - hard copy and on word files and spreadsheets.  I feel more prepared than last year - and I hope that displaying all my plans gives you an idea of the life of a professional writer, occasional editor, tutor… and helps you achieve your own dreams and goals.

This hasn't changed at all, really.  I have pages and pages of notes of things I must do, things I accomplished, comparisons… and spreadsheets galore.  (I rather like spreadsheets.)  I do feel more prepared than last year once again, especially considering some of the financial difficulties and loss of work… while adding more financial responsibility.

I'm also glad that I broke this exercise down further, and as I mentioned last year, I hope that sharing all of this with you is helpful to your annual planning.  It's all fine and well to make resolutions - especially about writing - but to really make them stick, there needs to be a lot of evaluation and introspection of what you are able to do.  Looking back over these blog posts, I've gotten a much better idea of what I can do in both long-term and short term - but it will likely be a learning process for all my life.

And that's ok.

I'll gnosh on these things and have a more detailed business plan of goals/resolutions for 2011 next Sunday.  And Friday, I'll share my fire ritual.  Because achieving goals is more than just the mental desire to do so… you have to satisfy your physical and spiritual needs too.

So, for now, continued positive wishes for 2011!