Happy New Year

Happy 2025!

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2025 is kind to you and isn’t anywhere near as dystopian as I think it’s going to be. Actually, the future is looking more bizarro with a dystopian subplot and I’m not entirely sure if that’s better or worse. But I’m not here to rant or share my fears. It’s a new year! Time for things to begin afresh. I’m going to try to focus on things that I can control, which isn’t much. I’ll keep my goals simple this year. That’s what this post is going to be about. As always, feel free to share your goals or thoughts or questions here in the comments or on my social media pages (which I’ve made some changes to, so see my social media goals for more info)!

Writing Goals: I wrote a couple of short stories in 2024, but not much else. This year, I’m planning to finish a cozy mystery novel that I started and gave up on because of a lack of will to write. I read through what I have and I really like it, so it’s not like I was stuck or anything. There’s even an outline with it. I’m going to set a deadline of July 18th (Dad’s birthday) to finish the first draft. Feel free to prod me occasionally for updates on how it’s going. No short stories unless I see a call for submissions that conjures an irresistible idea right away. I’m just going to focus on this book and see how it goes.

Social Media Goals: Leave X in favor of Bluesky. Ever since Musk implemented algorithm changes to prioritize paid accounts and bury free ones, I’ve gone from daily interactions to one a month if I’m lucky. It’s not worth my time anymore. I’m going to give Bluesky a shot as one of the sites (along with Facebook and Instagram) that I post to every day except Sunday. I’ll still check X occasionally and probably post major updates there (book releases and such) if they should occur, but it will be mostly inactive. This starts today.

Reading Goals: I read 38 books in 2024. I’m sticking with a goal of 35 books for 2025. It gives me room to read a couple of super long books if I want or just to go slow on some shorter books. I’m not looking to push myself or read a book a week or anything, so this works for me.

A Time For Goals

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello!  Welcome to 2019!  Since it’s only the 2nd day of the year, I thought I would share my goals.  I did this type of post for last year as well, but I failed pretty miserably.  In 2018, I finished the first draft of DS1, started revisions on LR1, wrote 3 new short stories/flash fiction pieces, submitted 2 short stories/flash pieces/poems a week (earning myself a publication and a handful of personal rejections), and I read 29 books.  I started out strong early in the year, but eventually lost steam.  Hopefully, I can find a steady pace that won’t wear out on me in 2019.  On to the goals!

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True.  Also, I guess 2016 just kind of disappeared into the aether.

1. Finish revising LR1.  I still have a lot of work to do on this book, but I adore the characters and the story line.  I’m shooting for a finish date of early April.  At least finishing the second draft, at which point I’ll have to find some trusty beta readers (always the hardest part in my experience).  I might even look into prices for professional editing, so I can get some expert feedback.  We’ll see how it goes.  First, I have to finish revising it.

2. Revise DS1.  My mind has been randomly drifting to this book for the past couple of weeks.  I’ve been reading so many cozy mysteries that I really want to get back to working on my own.  It’s a series I’m considering using a pseudonym for, though that means I’m getting ahead of myself.  I have to revise it and get an agent or publisher interested, then I can worry about names and all that fancy stuff.  A woman can dream, though.

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Non-existent Jekyll. Has a nice ring to it.

3. Submit short stories/flash pieces (at least 2 subs a week).  I want to keep this habit going for as long as I can.  It’s sometimes really difficult to find at least semi-pro paying places to submit a story that’s been out in slush limbo on and off for over a year, but I keep looking.  I haven’t had to retire a piece because of that yet.  Hopefully this year will bring more acceptances and more awesome venues for submitting!

4. Write 5 short stories/flash pieces.  A break between revisions is always a good thing.  Last year, I aimed a little too high on my short story goals, so I decided to be more sensible.  I already have one short story brewing for a project with some friends.  Maybe getting that one written will help grease the wheels, so to speak.

5. Shop LR around to agents.  This is a goal that is a tad ambitious, which is good.  It all depends on how well the revisions on LR go and whether or not it requires another round of them.  It’ll give me something to strive for.

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Look at the cute puppy!

6. Read 30 books.  I didn’t include a reading goal last year, but my goal was 24 books.  I managed to read 29 books, so I thought I would try to one up that.  But I’m a slow reader.  Hopefully, I can get through 30 books.

What about you?  What are your goals for 2019?  Feel free to share them or your thoughts here or on my social media pages!

The Year Of Persistence, Revision, And Submissions

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Hello, hello!  Welcome to 2018.  I hope everyone has a wonderful year.  May the year be filled with everything you need and something you want!  A few weeks ago, I talked about my goals for the new year (here).  So, I thought I would go ahead and share my January goals this week.  Even though it’s only been two days, I’ve been doing pretty well so far.  Let’s hope the rest of the month is just as productive!

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Definitely not the view here in Texas.

So, here are my January goals in no particular order.

1. Get DS1’s (the current novel attempt’s code name) shitty first draft to at least 60,000 words.  It’s currently 44,000 and I’m aiming for a complete draft of 70-75,000ish words.  For a month, 16,000 words is a pretty reasonable goal.  Hopefully, I’ll get further, but it’s always a good idea to stick with tough but reasonable goals.

2. Submit stuff 10 times (2 every Monday).  This refers only to short stories, flash fiction, and poetry.  Not agent searching.  Last year, I focused primarily on my novel and neglected my other work.  I don’t want to do that this year.  Sure, it means more rejections, but I can’t get any acceptances if I don’t submit, right?  (More positive thinking is also something I’m working on this year.)

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Sounds like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but I’ll try it.

3. Write 1 flash piece OR short story.  I should probably include poems in this, but it’s been so long since I’ve written any poetry that I probably suck at it now.  That’s not negative thinking, it’s just the truth.  I’ll probably set aside some time for writing poetry when I start focusing on my revisions.  For now, I’ll stick with short stories and flash fiction.

4. Read 2 books.  I recently joined GoodReads to try to keep better track of what I’ve read throughout the year.  I’m a slow reader, so my goal is to read 24 books in 2018.  I’m currently halfway through a book I started a week ago, so I guess technically my January goal is only 1.5 books.  Is that cheating?

5. Stop dwelling on rejections and sucking and just do the damn work.  This is where the positive thinking really comes in.  I’ve been down about all the agent rejections I received last year.  After 100 rejections (or just flat out being ignored), it’s hard not to think it’s me and my suckiness.  But!  I just need to suck it up and move on.  I’ve got other projects that might interest people.  It’s time to focus on those!

6. Make time for people.  I always say that I need to talk to more people and I always fail.  But I will keep adding it to my goals until it actually happens!  I used to be so good at keeping in touch with people back when Yahoo chatrooms were a thing.  I don’t know what happened to that me.

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This is not wrong.

7. Turn 32.  Yup, I’m a January baby.  In about 9 days, I’ll be turning 32.  I’m old.  But I’m okay with that.

That’s my plan for January.  What about you?  Do you have any goals for this month?  What about goals for the new year?  Feel free to share them here or on my social media pages!