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But today, I'm going to give you an update on how I did with my writing goals for December - and all of 2012. And, of course, share my January, and 2013 goals.
So, let's start with my goals for 2012 (yeah - I'm afraid to look!!)
- Learn as much as I can about writing from various places, applying what I've learned to Handmaiden To A Princess and any other writing I do.
- Restructure my non-fiction book Ailing Body, Nourished Soul into more of a "help" book, and get the new version out to publishers/agents.
- Work with Jennifer Slattery to put together the second Story of Faith devotional book (New Testament biblical fiction devotionals for tweens).
- Continue to build my name recognition/platform.
As far as Ailing Body, Nourished Soul and The Story of Faith - I did a bit of changing to the former, but not as much as I intended at the beginning of 2012. (More details on that later in this post) And Jen and I are waiting on working on the second book until we have more interest in the first.
And on that note - how about I share my goals for 2013?
- A completed rough draft for Handmaiden to a Princess
- Build my platform/focus around my new tagline--Scripture Stories: Timeless Truths
- Interact in my blog comments! (I KNOW I need to do this, but I am SO not in the habit!)
And now I bet you're wondering how I did on my December goals - especially with me not posting here much if at all. Well, you're about to find out.
Here are my December goals:
- Take notes necessary in Plants of the Bible by Michael Zohary and The History of Ancient Israel by Michael Grant (my two library books) for Handmaiden to a Princess. Would love to be able to return both books before the end of the month.
- Fix up Ailing Body, Nourished Soul for the One Hope contest, based on my dear friends' read-throughs. This MUST be submitted back to them by December 31.
- Do some plotting (snowflaking?) on Handmaiden to a Princess with the new ideas I have.
- Pray about a direction/focus/whatever for my blog.
I did get my full book/manuscript (I was a finalist - one of five) submitted to One Hope (almost two weeks early!). Now I wait. The winner gets a contract and a stipend - will be announced by February. I've decided that unless I win or am offered a contract anyway, this book is going in the drawer for a bit so I can focus on my biblical fiction. Just FYI.
And now - it's time to set goals for January!
- Post, on topic, two to three times a week on my blog (with at least 75% of it fresh content) - this does NOT include "teaser" posts to other places I blog.
- Finish steps five and six of Snowflake for Handmaiden to a Princess, and start step seven
- Keep up in the blogging class on the ACFW course loop
- Work through Margie Lawson's lecture packet Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors with a friend (or two or three - if you're interested in joining us, drop me a line. We're starting January 7. Not sure of the pace yet.)
Scripture Stories: Timeless Truths