My Goals for 2022!

It's that time of year again, time to make plans, set goals and work out how the hell you're going to achieve them.

The first flush and the excitement of the New Year has dwindled, we've already made it past Blue Monday and we're heading headlong towards the end of January. I've had time to consider and now seems like the perfect time to layout my plans for 2022.

So without further ado, here they are:

1. Write Book Two

With the aid of Nanowrimo last year, I'm 20k words into Book 2. Although I haven't physically written any more of it since then, I have had lots of ideas for the direction I want it to go in and I've been making copious notes. Because Book 1, Getting Away, took me so long to complete, I had thought of writing a shorter Novella for book 2, but the way things are going, it may well be a full-length novel! I have the flicker of an idea for a trilogy/series of Romance books, so I need to work out how to weave my storylines and characters in preparation for later books. Coming up with ideas and working out how they will all fall in together, is one of my favourite parts of writing, so I'm raring to go with this one.

2. Write my Reader Magnet

This one is two-fold. In order to tempt people to my website and buy my books, I've started writing a short story. This will be free, and hopefully, if someone reads it and likes it, they will go on to buy my full-length book(s). Well, that's the plan anyway. I haven't written a short story since my college days so I'm getting to grips with the format. I have started to write and I think I'm about halfway through, it should be approximately 5-6k words when I've finished and edited. The story is about a holiday romance set in Greece (my favourite place), and it's lovely to be able and write about sunny days and holidays, in the midst of a cold and drab January.

3. Write my 2nd Reader Magnet

Ok, this is similar (if not apparently the same) to my goal above. This second magnet, however is slightly different as I want to write an extra scene for my existing book 'Getting Away'. Something as a bonus treat for those who have read the book and would like a little bit more. This will be free and available to those who sign up for my newsletter. Currently, I'm pondering over a possible 'What happened in Monaco'  kind of bonus chapter. As Nancy doesn't go to Monaco, it would be a chapter written in the third person narrative rather than from her point of view as the rest of the book. I'm hoping that will work and I can keep the same tone and feel. Alternatively, I could write a Prequel chapter or an Epilogue, but I'm not sure I want to add either of these to my story. Hmm, decisions. I make put it to my readers to see what they would like to see.

4. Make time to write. Plan.

For all of the above, I need to plan in some writing time. If I want to achieve my writing goals, I need to prioritise writing. At the moment I write when I get a spare 5 minutes when everything else has been done, but this needs to change. The reception I've had from the launch of my first book has been so encouraging it has given me the confidence to carry on and the sooner I can build up my portfolio of work, the better.

5. Master Marketing, Social Media and Newsletters

This will be a bit of a learning curve. I need to get a regular newsletter going where I can engage with readers and hopefully build a 'fan base'. Finding time as well as coming up with interesting content to fill a newsletter and my blog posts will be my main challenge here. I also need to get to grips with Mailchimp and how to get my Reader Magnets out to those who would like to read them. This, together with marketing, ads, promotions and generally trying to sell my books to strangers rather than family and friends! 

6. Non-Writing Goal

And lastly but by no means leastly, my No5 Goal is to Make Memories. I already have several plans and trips planned with the hubster and with friends, so this year we are going to make the most of 2022. Life is too short after all. Let's have some fun!!

So, with only 11 months left of the year, I wish you luck with any goals you have set yourself and here's hoping 2022 is our best year yet!

Fingers crossed, AS xx

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