Alright, I know January is half over, but I’ve been busy, so I’m just now getting around to making my goals for the year and thinking about what I want to achieve. So even though it’s now we’re three weeks into the year, I’m writing a post about my goals for 2020 and you’ll just have to deal with it. But do stick around—I’ve got an exciting announcement at the end of the post as an outgrowth of my goals!
For the past several years, I’ve given up on depressing, never-gonna-stick New Year’s resolutions and started choosing “one little word” for the year. You can read more about this idea here, but basically it’s a word that encapsulates how you want to feel this year or how you want the year to look. It can really be whatever you want. For me, it’s a great way to choose a direction and base my goals on that. Plus, I like to get crafty and make some cute reminders and stuff with my word to inspire me throughout the year. So, my word for this year is (drum roll please)…
I usually go through several words trying to come up with the right one. For some reason, my other ideas this year were all “ex” words. I started with examine—I had been feeling prompted to look inwardly at things I assumed about myself, good and bad, and reevaluate if they were still true. I tend to stick to a judgment once I’ve made it and then assume it as part of my identity, and I wanted to stop doing that. After thinking more about what I want to do this year, I decided examine was too inward focused. So I switched to explore. I could apply it metaphorically to exploring myself, but also literally by traveling more and seeing more of the city where I live. I’ve been feeling restless lately, like I want to do more new things, so I thought explore would sum all that up, but it still didn’t feel quite right. Out of nowhere, the word expand came to me. It fit everything I needed it to: Expand the assumptions I have about myself and the world around me; expand my one-time experiences; and also expand my habits, what I do regularly, how I operate in the world. I want to challenge myself and do new things. I want 2020 to be a year of expansion and growth in all areas: my personal life, my job, my writing life, and my blog.
So, how do I plan on doing all this expanding and growth? Glad you asked! That brings us to my special announcement…
I’m going to self-publish a short story collection, and I want to bring you along on the journey!
I’ve been playing around with the idea of self-publishing something for about a year now, and I finally have an idea I love and want to turn into a collection of short stories to be published at the end of this year. I’m excited to share my writing in this way and grow my writing skills as I write specifically to publish something. I also know that since I’m querying my first book this year, 2020 is probably going to be a year with a lot of rejection, so I wanted to have a project that was entirely within my control and not dependent on Yes-es from other people.
This project will also allow me to grow my blog in a new way, as I’m going to be chronicling the entire process from brainstorming to marketing to publishing! It’s a little scary, since I obviously don’t know exactly what will happen or how things will go. But I know I have enjoyed and benefitted from other authors doing similar things, so I wanted to open up this process as I go through it, either to give other writers advice or just to give readers a glimpse behind the curtain. So keep an eye out for blog posts featuring updates on how it’s going!
Not only is this project expanding my writing and blogging life, it’s definitely going to push me personally. I recently went full-time at my job, so I’m just starting to learn the balance between my 9-5 job and my writing/blogging commitments. Self-publishing also presents a whole new set of skills I’ll have to learn and other challenges that I know will probably lead to some hard days, but I believe it will all be worth it. Either way, we’ll find out together!
I hope you’re excited as I am! The first post with more details about my idea and my process for planning a book will be coming soon.
If you want to make sure to stay up-to-date on important milestones like finishing the first draft, cover reveal, and preordering sign up here!
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Featured image by Isaac Smith
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