My 2024 Writing Goals

In my Pre-Holiday Writing Update I gave you all some idea of what I was hoping to achieve over my (too) brief winter break from that pesky ole day job of mine. Today I'd like to share how I did with those goals as well as fill you in on some of the things I hope to achieve in 2024.

🏠Earthquake House

I finished v5!!!

That's the good news. The 'bad' news is that Earthquake House needs a v6. V6 won't take nearly as long, however, so I am optimistic that my 2024 goal is doable:

2024 Goal: Submit Earthquake House to ALL potential agents by April 30th.

👧🏿🐉The Others

This is the one that my fans are most interested in because it is the Book 2 in The Adventures of Evelyn Acorn (Book 1 having been The Reality Warper). I am pleased to announce that not only did I make significant progress with The Others over the break, but I have also re-established this project firmly in my weekly routine, so progress will continue. While my 2024 goals for this book might be a bit optimistic, I am determined to give them my best shot:

2024 Goals:

• Complete v3 (or v4).
• Run a Facebook contest through which fans can read v3 (or v4), give their feedback, and win signed copies of The Reality Warper and The Others plus the chance to be a character in the third book in the trilogy.
• Complete v4 (or v5/v6) based on reader feedback and self-publish.

I'm not gonna lie. This is a lot. I will keep you updated on how I do with these rather ambitious goals.

📖Picture Books

I wrote two more picture book manuscripts over my break! I now have three in total, and I think that I am ready for next steps. I feel fairly confident about my 2024 goals:

2024 Goals:

• Review and implement beta reader feedback on picture book manuscripts.
• Query all three picture book manuscripts with agents by April 30th.
• Begin the self-publishing process in December/January if needed.

🏆Contests and Anthologies

Over the break, I started thinking about what contests I will enter this year. In addition to the NYC Midnight writing challenges that I absolutely adore and participate in whenever I get the chance, I have also decided to submit Earthquake House to the Cheshire Novel Prize (if I can get the opening pages ready by the deadline) as well as to try my hand at writing a short story for Wolf Grove Media's Book of Choices Anthology. I mean, look at that topic. It's so 'me.' I will most likely find other things I want to submit to as the year progresses, which you will hear about (usually on my Facebook page) as they happen.

2024 Goal: Continue submitting to contests and anthologies by the specified deadlines.

📕Short Stories

Most contests I do result in a short story of one kind or another. What I didn't have time for this break was updating them and preparing them for publication as an anthology. I am also taking the opening pages of Earthquake House to my writing group instead of short stories at the moment as part of my goal to get them polished and ready for agent submissions. So, short stories will continue to be generated, but I'm not sure when I will get to wrap them up for publication.

2024 Goal (tentative): Prepare two short stories for publication.

🧜‍♀️Awake!

I did not have any time for Awake! over my break, which is not entirely surprising. There are only so many hours in a day, after all. However, I'm hopeful that I will be able to give this rewrite some attention later in the year:

2024 Goals:

• Complete rewrite planning.
• Begin v1.

🦉Owl Academy

I am very excited about this new story idea, and very happy with the planning I've done so far. Time allowing, I will give Owl Academy some attention later in the year:

2024 Goal: Continue planning.

There you have it, folks. Is it too much? Is it too little? I am notoriously bad at judging either way. But now that it's on the internet, maybe I will stay 'honest' and get all this writing done.

Wish me luck!