As with every year, I am doing my usual sit down and recap last year and look into what I want to achieve this year scenarios. Cracking my knuckles, I am digging into last year’s post and doing some comparisons and recapping.
2015 was a rough year when it came to personal life debacles. We are talking about EIGHT family deaths between my husband and I starting roughly in May all the way to November. Among those were a Great Uncle that I looked up to and my husband’s grandfather who I adored. Another obstacle was I had a second car for a little while, but then it broke down. Followed by every car I borrowed brokedown; from serpentine belt to tranny sensors. I can go on and on about the smaller hiccups and concerns that escalated as a result of these two firestarters, but let’s look at what DID go right. Oh, and lets not forget the fact my youngest got MRSA in March/April despite FIVE visits to the Emergency Room in four days….ugh. And then the fact the husband spent January through September on-call nonstop then got hurt and changed jobs… blegh.
Despite failing to get two novel drafts done for the year, I hit some major milestones.
First off, I joined ReadWave at the start of the year wanting to hit 5,000 Readers. Sadly the site was taken down in December with me just shy of having 10,000 Readers. But! It has given me the confidence I needed to both continue my blog and my two core series: “Val Tell Me A Story” and “#WritingTips”! So look forward to more of both this year!
Another goal I wanted was to be recognized more for my talent and skills. This I definitely achieved with the influx of advice pleas, an online radio interview, over 100 read on Readwave for my advice posts, and lastly being able to proudly say I am now a GO-TO Typesetter for Grimbold Books and Kristell Ink out of the UK for 2016.
I did manage to get some business cards and hand them out when I can. What I failed to do was do books signings and join Author table events. This was mainly due to the car troubles and family members dropping dead. It’s impossible to keep life on track when all of it is hitting so constantly let alone even once in a year.
On a happy note, my goal to join and “win” NaNoWriMo 2015 was achieved. Thanks to this goal I managed to be half successful with getting one out of two novels drafted out before the close of the year. Not what I was wanting, but it sufficed when I looked at what happened on a personal level.
SO, what my goals and expectations for 2016:
BRASS COLLAR GAMES – I have stock in the company and have been busting butt on this AMAZING tabletop dice game as a technical writer, typesetter, editor, and many other hats. Expect more awareness about my on-goings with this team of devoted individuals. Learn more about the Project and Team here on our site: http://brasscollargames.com/ . Lots of exciting things will start to be put in motion as we piece together our books as well as prep and start with playtesting. If you wish to help support us, please feel free to contact me: willis(dot)artist(at)gmail(dot)com
JUDGMENT – This is book 2 of the Tattooed Angels Trilogy and the first draft is done. At this very moment it is in Editing phase and my amazing team of volunteers are helping me polish this story so it hits its full potential. I wanted to have this ready to publish by December 2015, but with the weight of personal chaos it was delayed. New goal for this is set for July 2016 at latest!
ORACLE – Book three for The Cedric Series is running way behind! My goal is to have this novel drafted, edited and ready to publish no later than December 2016. So far the first draft is falling out onto paper pretty easy! I am sure all the readers are eager to get back to Cedric and Angeline!
BLOG – I am opening a sister site for my Blog on WordPress to take the place of losing Readwave. It’s sad this platform died, but in the meantime I am hoping to draw more people to my blog and series. Granted I will be posting older “Val Tell Me A Story” but over at my original one expect new installments weekly!
TYPESETTING – Excited about this! Expect to see some books in PRINT and DIGITAL formats with my name in them as the Typesetter! I am opening myself to take on clients for my skills and services to help Self-Publishers, Independent Publishers, Agents, and more in the Art of formatting and setting up context for these medians. Besides my own novels, I have done a few books for Kristell Ink and Grimbold Books for authors such as Joel Cornah and Kate Coe. Keep an eye out for releases and shares to these fantastic authors!
NANOWRIMO 2016 – I plan on joining at least joining the November session. Debating on the “camp” but not sure. Regardless, my bottom line goal is to aim for a third successful round of Nano in November and see if I can keep my streak going!
This is pretty much my focus for 2016. I could easily add more to this list, but I will be aiming for these bear minimums in case 2016 implodes on a personal level like last year. Here’s hoping it doesn’t!