Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

Well to me it's a new year!

Back in June I was talking to a friend of mine and I mentioned that I wish it was the new year already....this year hasn't gone as well as I expected it to go so I was ready for a new year already. So she told me, "Why wait for the calendar to say that is 2014...you can start your new year whenever you want."

So as of July 1, 2013, it is now a new year for me. Whenever we start a new year it's like a chance to start fresh...to start anew. In my case, that's with a new mindset and starting anew in my writing career.

My goal for 2013 was to produce a new novella per month. If I had stuck to that goal I would have 7 novellas produced instead of only 2! So I decided to just start fresh. Start a new year! I can't go back and change what I haven't done and I can only go forward.

I'm not setting a publication goal but a production goal. If I produce 12 novellas in a 12 month period or 6 novels in a 12 month period then I have reach my goal for that year.

The reason I say production instead of publishing is because I use beta readers to read my work before I publish. I like to have two other people read over my work so when I publish will depend on when I can have two betas read them for me.

I'm not setting a sales goal....lord knows if I could control that I would be selling millions of copies right now! ha!

I'm choosing to focus on what I can control and that's production.

So I mentioned mindset as well. Well that is a work in progress and my mindset right now is mainly centered around my career or lack thereof. If it was up to me I would be a writer full-time right now but I have to pay the bills so I work a regular 9-5. Because I work a 9-5 and have a steady income coming in every two weeks I have not been treating writing like a career but more so like a hobby. Since it's not producing the same salary as (or better than) my current "bread & butter" job, it's been easy to put it off if I'm not "feeling" it, or not meet deadlines that I set for myself or to go months without writing at all.

I have to change my mindset to look at writing as my career, my job, my way of life, my bread & butter. If I keep treating it like a hobby I won't take it serious enough to reach my ultimate goal of becoming an author who makes a living telling stories easily and effortlessly on a full-time basis.

I have to get disciplined....create a strong work ethic. I have to write to quota as suggested on the Kill Authors Zone blog.

My goals for the new year (I've faulted on these goals this month but I did really well in July when I created the goal so I did start my new year off right :-D)

1. Write to a quota
I learned that I can produce 4K words a day if I give myself at least 4 hours of writing time and if I know what I'm going to write. Minimum goal per writing day is 1K words. I plan to keep a spreadsheet to track my word count per week.

2. Write six days a week
I plan to take Sundays off to catch up on networking, blog reading, reading books, hanging out with friends, watching movies, promotion etc. (I slacked off this past week so I will be working this Sunday)

3. Produce a new novella once a month or a new novel once every two months
I met that goal for July. I can meet that goal for August even though I slacked off for an ENTIRE week...smh there are no excuses I just didn't make it a priority. But that has to change.

4. Read a new fiction book once every month (or every two months)
I love reading. Reading also helps with writing. So I have to make sure that I'm getting that in as well. I've been reading some non-fiction too. Currently I'm reading Think & Grow Rich. (look for future posts on that too)

5. Don't compare myself to others and trust the process
I've read countless stories about authors hitting best-sellers list with their very first book....I'm not that author although when I first started writing I hoped to be that author. But God has mapped out my road to success a little different. Although I'm not that breakout novelist with instant stardom it doesn't mean that I should stop writing. My path is my path and I have to trust the process. Everything happens at an appointed time. Which leads me to point number six....

6. Never give up!
I've tried giving up....lol I'm not lying when I say I tried to give up on this journey. I didn't write for four months. I wanted to give up. I didn't want to want to be a writer. I didn't want to like telling stories. I wanted to give up because the journey hasn't been as smooth sailing as I wanted it to be. I wanted EASY...I wanted Instant Stardom....I wanted to quit my day job like yesterday....LOL well that didn't happen and when it didn't, I was like oh..so that means that I must not be meant to be a writer so let's just put this to the side.

I've published to two novellas since then. Something inside of me won't let me give up. What does that mean? I don't know exactly what it means. I just know I choose to not give up. No matter how many books I don't sell or how many negative reviews I get....I'm going to continue on until the Lord says that it's time to quit.

I have a certain lifestyle that I want to live and working for myself has always been one of my goals. Having a creative job has always been one of my goals. I started writing poetry when I was 14 and love to do it...but life got in the way and I stopped. One thing I have to work on and overcome is ALLOWING life to get in the way. 

I'm determined to live the life of my dreams. There are plenty of people in this world living the life of their dreams and some of them looks a little like what I've described my ideal life to be so that tells me it's not impossible. I have proof that it's possible. If it can happen for them/to them, then it can do the same for me!

It's okay to start over whenever you feel you've gone too far in the wrong direction....it's never too late as long as you are alive and in perfect health....so Happy New Year to me and to anyone else that just need a fresh start!!!

Stay Blessed and Stay Tuned!