The Year of Living Ambitiously

"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." ~ Winston Churchill

It never fails. The New Year begins and the first question out of many people’s mouths is – What’s your New Year’s resolution?

Thing is, I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. They’re too nebulous for me. If I really want to do something, make a change, tackle a new venture, I don’t need a resolution. I need a plan. So several years ago I gave up the resolution making and dove headfirst into the plan. Every holiday I sit down and think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year. Then I figure what I need to do to make that happen. And then I break out the calendar and start planning out the steps to get there.

Now last year things got a bit off the rails. I lost my writing mojo for about the first half of the year. Thankfully it resurrected itself sometime around July, but for the first six months of 2010 I floundered, jumping from one thing to the next, leaving in my wake a trail of almost-finished manuscripts, partially started stories, and scribbled ideas. By July I realized I needed to get myself straightened out. Shortly thereafter THE OUTLAW BRIDE sold to Carina Press. That seemed to be the spark I needed. It lit a fire under me and made me realize now that the ball was rolling, I might want to stay on top of it, capitalize on my first publishing success and build it into more.

Hence (that’s right, I said ‘hence’), when it came time to make my plan for 2011, I looked at what I had on hand. Invitation to Scandal was 80% done. Brimstone was done but still needed a bit of tweaking to tighten up a few areas. Salvation Falls was going through one last tidy up revision. Fractured Sight and The Widow Bride were in the first draft stages. The plots required some reworking before I could go further. And then there was Finding Home, a story with characters I loved, loved, loved but a plot that was bland, bland, bland. I had a brain storm on how to fix it – finally! There were also the follow up books to Invitation and Brimstone that were outlined and ready to go.

I decided it was time to clean up my partials and send them out into the world before I sat down and started writing anything new. So my plan for this year is simply that – finish ITS, Brimstone, Salvation Falls, The Widow Bride and Fractured Sight. Once that’s done, I’ll sit down and start reworking the plot on Finding Home.

It’s a bit ambitious, given that I only have 1.5 hours every morning to write, and it may mean giving up some weekend or evening time to get it done, but there’s been enough lollygagging. It’s time to go big, or go home. And it’s like my mom always said – ‘You never did like to do the easy thing.’

Well, no…what fun would that be?

Re-focusing for 2010

This year was really busy. Kind of insane, really. When I look at everything I had to deal with in 2009 I sometimes wonder how I got through to the other end with my mental status still registering normal. Well…normal for me, anyway.

However, the year is almost at an end, and despite all the brouhaha kicked up in the past twelve months, the lack of publishing success, the questioning of my goals – in writing, life, etc (you name it, I questioned it), the belief that I was living under a dark cloud that kept chasing me everywhere I went, I am actually looking forward to the holidays.

And not because that means 2009 is almost at an end. I made the mistake of saying at the end of a rather trying 2008 that I should look on the bright side – 2009 couldn’t be any worse. Then the sh*t storm that was 2009 hit and, well, I learned that yes, Kelly, it could get worse.

I also learned that what doesn’t kill you makes you scarred and bitter and angry. Oh no, wait, no…that wasn’t it…hang on, I wrote it down here somewhere…just give me a minute…ah, here it is: it makes you stronger. Hm. Well okay then. I suppose it beats the alternative. Not to mention much more attractive than scarred, bitter and angry.

So I will not say 2010 cannot possibly get any worse. I’ve learned my lesson on that account and there’s no point in throwing that challenge out to the karma gods yet again.

But I will tell you what 2010 will be. It will be a year of re-focusing. Of getting my head back in the game. And even more importantly, getting my heart back in the game. Re-discovering my joy of writing, the rush of can’t-get-to-the-keyboard-fast-enough, the wonderful play of words and ideas and emotions. And the craft. I think the past two years I got so caught up in the business of writing, I forgot to have fun. I forgot about the craft.

I forgot that I love to do this and can’t imagine any other alternative.

Given all of that, 2010 shall henceforth be dubbed the Year of Re-focusing. Actually that sounds kind of blah. How about The Year of New Beginnings? I like that better.

This year, I’m going to play. With words, with ideas, with new genres. I’m going to invest my time in the craft and improving my skills and rediscovering why I do this and why I can’t not do this. I’m also going to update my blog more regularly. Hopefully once a week. I swear.

And speaking of new beginnings, I’m starting off the new year with a new addition. A fur-baby in the form of a fuzzy golden retriever pup who will be ready to bring home on my birthday in mid January. And this time, I don’t care what catastrophe befalls me, this puppy is going to stay.

It’s That Time of the Year Again!

That’s right…it's resolution time…ahhh yes. Another reason to make a list. And we all know how I do love a list.

I really had to sit down and think over what I wanted to accomplish this year. I’ve been feeling a little burned out on the historical romance genre of late. Not the historical end of things, but more on the parameters of the romance genre part. I keep hearing how the editors / agents are looking for books that break the mould, how they want the books to be sexier, etc, etc. And while that’s all well and good if it fits the story you are telling, a part of me is beginning to feel as if the story is coming in second to the sexy. And I don’t want to tell a sexy…I want to tell a story. And I don’t want to be told to sex it up for the sake of sales at the expense of the story.

Now, maybe I was just having an off day when I was doing my goals, and I’m not saying that I will no longer write historical romance. I have every intention of keeping my toes in that pond. But my ultimate goal has always been to write historical fiction with a romantic element – think Elizabeth Chadwick, along those lines. Where the story and the history and the characters have top billing and the romance feeds into all of these elements but at the same time you are not constricted in what you do. There is a freedom in historical fiction to really branch out into the grittier side of things, to explore different eras that might not sell as well in the romance genre, and to bring to life characters both real and fictional who come from all walks of life rather than just the upper crust.

For the past several months I’ve had a story percolating in the back of my head that wants to be told. It is straight historical fiction and bit by bit the heroine is revealing herself to me, to the point where I had begun to make notes of who she was and what her story is. Then the title popped into my head, and once that was done, there was no turning back.

When it came time to write down my goals, I had to decide what the best use of my time would be this year, given that my writing time is limited to 1.5 hours per day in the morning. As Brimstone has yet to sell, jumping in and doing Book 2 didn’t seem to be a good idea until I knew what was going on with Book 1. So I decided to look at my inventory. I have first drafts of a western historical I did for Nano in 2007 (Salvation Falls) and the first draft of a new series I did for Nano this past November (Invitation to Scandal).

So here are my writing goals for 2009:

1) Do revisions to Salvation Falls (Jan – Apr).
2) Do revisions to Invitation to Scandal (May – Aug)
3) Research historical content for The Tangled Garden and develop outline (Jan – Aug)
4) Write first draft of The Tangled Garden (Sep – Dec)

Next up…figure out my personal goals for the year, one of which will likely be to work off the gelatinous spare tire developing where my waistline used to be…