In 2023, I had two primary writing goals—to publish When Heart Shall Fail (preferably in the first quarter of the year) and to draft the next (and last) book in my series on the settlement of Oregon. I published When Heart Shall Fail, but not until around Memorial Day. I […]
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How Did I Do on my 2021 Goals? And What’s Up for 2022?
On December 30, 2020, I posted my primary writing goals for 2021: 1. Edit and publish my seventh novel, my current work-in-progress [which I later titled Safe Thus Far]. I hope to complete this book by Labor Day. 2. Decide on my next novel. (I have three ideas floating around […]
Continue readingAn Update on My Work-in-Progress, and a Peek at a Possible Cover Image
In my monthly newsletter, I usually update readers on the status of my work-in-progress, but I haven’t posted about it on this blog in several months. (So subscribe to my newsletter!) My story is progressing, albeit slowly. I drafted the whole story during NaNoWriMo last November, ending the month with […]
Continue readingWhat Do I Have After Eight Years of Blogging?
I recently discovered that WordPress could show me how many words total I have written on this blog. From January 2012 when I began blogging through 2019, I posted 502,077 words. That’s five good-sized novels. Before I published my first novel, I was told at writing conferences to build an […]
Continue readingMy Performance Review for 2019 and Writing Goals for 2020
Happy New Year! A year ago, on January 2, 2019, I posted my performance review for 2018 and listed goals for 2019. So how did I do this past year? My 2019 goals were To publish my fourth historical novel. My Hope Secured was published in late October, so I […]
Continue readingTen Years Ago—My Life and Dreams
Every once in a while, I go back through old journal volumes to see where I was and how I’ve traveled to where I am today. Recently, I picked up a volume from ten years ago. Early 2009 was the end of the beginning of my retirement years. Throughout 2007 […]
Continue readingWhat Is Story (Redux)? . . . And a Sense of Urgency
My first post on this blog went live in January 2012, but I didn’t start a regular posting schedule until March of that year, so I consider March my blog’s anniversary. This blog is now three years old. I deliberately set the blog’s theme “Story and History” to be broad […]
Continue readingA Progress Report on My First Oregon Trail Novel
January has been Creativity Month, but I haven’t been very creative. With all the family issues I’ve had to deal with surrounding my father’s death, revising my current work in progress—the first novel in my Oregon Trail series—has taken a back seat. The family work I’ve been doing has been necessary […]
Continue readingSticking to Goals as a Writer (and Not)
I had a boss once who always knew what percent of the year had already passed – it was roughly 2% per week, a little more than 8% each month. He would cite the percentage down to a fraction. I’ve come to adopt that attitude, as I watch time and […]
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