Long time readers will know that I don’t like RESOLUTIONS. There’s too much focus on one day in the year, and there’s too much looking back on a previous year with regret, with a false determination to DO BETTER next year.
And it’s all too easy for the resolutions to fall flat.
Like: “This year, I’m going to lose x weight”. It’s a focussed target, which might appear to be good, but it’s a digital target. You will either succeed, or you will do the ‘F’ word – FAIL. And failure is a destructive state of mind.
We don’t like destructive things – we only like constructive things. So my resolutions are NOT resolutions – they’re aims, or goals. If I don’t reach those goals, I’m not going to beat myself up about it, because as you will have seen if you’ve read my ‘looking back‘ post, there’s still a lot to celebrate.
So let’s get started.
BOOKS – FICTION
I have the first two books in my Witford Mysteries series planned and part-written. So, early in the New Year, those two will be completed.
Currently, I have 3 products unpublished as a Christmas book: a collection of dark Christmas short fiction, a crime thriller (standalone but could be part of a series) firmly based on Christmas, and the introduction to the Witford Mysteries was a Christmas book. I am unsure as to whether I should just publish that last one during the year anyway, or publish another and save that until Christmas time.
BOOKS – NON-FICTION
I have been contracted to conduct an online workshop by [ Jericho Writers ] about creating a simple author website, so I shall be writing a small booklet / book / something to go along with that. I’m also planning to write a “Successful Author Mindset” book.
TUTORING
Already for 2022, I have a booking for [ Jericho Writers ] to run an online workshop on Creating a Simple Author Website (official title to follow). This will be a paid, one-hour (plus) workshop.
Also, Anita and I are running a Self-Publishing short course at [ Swanwick ], which should be good fun. I’ve run a one-hour workshop before on this subject, but two hours should give us more time for practical demonstrations of the publishing process.
And, of course, I’ll be finishing and promoting the [ Efficient Novelist ] course once it’s been completed. So a busy year for teaching.
VLOGS / VODCASTS / PODCASTS
After completing a number of video discussions, I’ve halted these temporarily, whilst I decide in which direction to take them. Anita and I enjoyed the [ Afternoon Tea ] episodes, but after 13 episodes, the time taken to produce became too extensive, competing with increased workload in other areas. So at some point during the early stages of 2022, we’re going to be reviewing exactly what we want to do with video on our channel.
In the meantime, I’m continuing with my co-hosting of [ Literary Roadhouse ], as I have done for nearly 7 years now.
SUMMARY
I’m not going to be too over-ambitious with my targets for 2022. We’re currently in a Covid infection rocketship, with cases rising scarily which has brought back feelings of unease. I worry about my health only occasionally, but we seem to be in a situation where the government is encouraging us to go about our daily lives, ignoring the frightening rise in cases of the Omicron variant. So yeah, there’s that.
Moving on, I have the Efficient Novelist course as my main priority (after finishing this post and setting up a New Year newsletter!) and after that I have the new Witford Mysteries series to begin, which is exciting.
So, plenty to keep me out of trouble. Hopefully!
If you’re interested in the Efficient Novelist program, there’s a Twitter account which will get busier over the coming weeks. It might be worth a follow for future updates: @EfficientNovels
And if you found this blog post interesting or useful or a brilliant way to procrastinate, please consider buying me a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/authorgeraldhornsby
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