Goals for 2021, Weekly Posts, and Hoping for a Better Year Ahead

Despite the awfulness of 2020, I got a lot accomplished. I wrote most of a novel, edited it, published it, and drafted another novel during NaNoWriMo. As the year ends, I’m about a quarter of the way through my first edit of this new work-in-progress—which will be my seventh novel.

As I described at the beginning of 2020, my primary goals for the year were to complete the contemporary novel (check), research my next historical novel (check), and keep up this blog and my monthly newsletter (check, though I only posted weekly during November).

I also wanted to give my website a makeover. That did not get done. And I didn’t resolve how my pseudonym should fit in with the historical novels I publish under my own name. I still maintain two separate writing personae.

Recently, I set my goals for 2021, which are similar to last year’s goals. My primary writing goals this coming year are to

1. Edit and publish my seventh novel, my current work-in-progress. I hope to complete this book by Labor Day.
2. Decide on my next novel. (I have three ideas floating around in my head presently.) Whether I’ll participate in NaNoWriMo again is yet to be determined, but I’d like to get a good start on the next draft by the end of the year.
3. Develop a more integrated marketing plan for my website, blog, newsletter, and other social media sites. Ideally, this would address my pseudonym as well.

There are a slew of other items to accomplish as well, but if I do these three things well, I’ll feel that 2021 was a successful year.

Of course, a lot this year will depend on the pandemic. Will my family and I stay healthy? When will we get vaccinated? Will we be able to travel? I’d love to put my goals on hold and take a month off, though that is probably unrealistic.

Plus, I still want to meet my long-term goal of publishing ten novels by the time I’m seventy—now not much more than five years away. I have six books published, and the last three novels have been written from scratch and published in the past four years. The seventh novel is in rough-draft stage, and should be finished in 2021. That will leave me with writing and publishing three more books in four years. It’s certainly doable, though it will require continued self-discipline. And good health.

Earlier this month, I wrote about the time it takes to write posts, and I asked readers how often they wanted to hear from me. (Thanks to those who responded—here or via email or in person.) The responses varied, from “keep the blog as it is” to “I don’t have time to read everything you post.”

I have decided to only post to this blog weekly this coming year, at least to start with. I want to concentrate on novel-writing. Plus, I’d rather develop a more holistic approach to marketing, rather than spending so much energy on blog posts.

I will try to keep the mix of topics about the same—some history related to my novels, some family and life philosophy, some writing progress. I hope you’ll post in the comments about what you like and don’t like. I plan to post on Wednesdays, so you can expect my next post on Wednesday, January 6.

And at the end of the year, I hope you’ll see more of me on other social media sites (that integrated marketing plan), and that I’ve found additional ways to market my books successfully.

Every year I hope for a better year ahead. It won’t be hard for 2021 to outshine 2020 in terms of political and social malaise. But I hope at the end of 2021 I also feel that the year has outshone 2020 in terms of my productivity.

What hopes do you have for 2021? And thank you for following my blog.