I freely admit, when it comes to goals, I regularly bite off more than I can chew. According to all the self-help and motivational books I’ve read this year, that’s a great thing. So, I’ll put that under the category of flaws about myself I need to celebrate and accept. That category has lots of other things in it to keep goal-making company.
My typical problem with goals is not a lack of motivation, but a lack of plans. I will write ALL the words! And my plan looks like this: wake up: write. sleep: never, just keep writing. Well, that’s obviously not very sustainable when I’m healthy let alone when me or the kids get sick, allowing me to have time with my husband, a plan for when he’s out of town, a move, or anything else life tosses at me.
In recent months, I began a bullet journal and it’s worked brilliantly for me. I don’t do all the fancy designs and stuff. I just make a list of what I need to do. I write out when other appointments are coming. Now, that I know how to really plan in a way that works for me, I could probably use a traditional planner (which I have used before and would always lose) but I like having a little journal that can fit in my purse and I can jot down any note that I want.
Now that I have so many stories under my belt, I have a basic idea of how many words I can type in a block of time. I do well with sprinting. That is, I write for a few minutes with a timer going. Then I take a break (sometimes for hours) and come back. During the writing session, I don’t focus on finding the right word or researching something. I’m just writing. I will reread what I wrote later and make changes. It’s a much more effective use of my time. I can stare at an empty page all day and tell myself to write, or I can say to myself, just write (the intended scene because I do outline) for 15 minutes and suddenly the pressure is off. Usually, when the timer goes off, I don’t want to stop!
All this to say, that I really do think I have a fair chance of meeting my goals this year! This is important to you (even those waiting on an update for Mr. Darcy’s Compassion) because it means more stories. Before we get to the books though, I also have these goals not listed in order: Kindle paperbacks, Book website. Audiobook, Figure out how to balance writer & younique & homeschool, Learn Amazon ads, Learn Facebook ads, New covers!, Consistent posts, Grow network, Grow Newsletter, be more consistent, Upgrade bookfunnel, Own author email account, Learn videos, Business cards (author and younique), Patreon, Fix When Love Blooms series
And while there are notes about homeschooling and Younique in there, that’s mostly just the writer goals.
Here are the book plans:
January: Mr. Darcy’s Compassion (novel)
March: Lady Darcy’s Bluestocking Club (novel, sequel to Mr. Darcy’s Bluestocking Bride)
April: Mr. Darcy’s Impertinent Daughter (novella, sequel to The Gentleman’s Impertinent Daughter)
June: Domestic Felicity (novel, sequel to A Sense of Obligation)
July: Surprising Serenity (novella, Book 4 in When Love Blooms)
August: Restored (novella, book 1 in Friends and Follies, a Loving Elizabeth spin-off)
October: The Secrets of Donwell Abbey (novel, Emma Variation)
November: Debut of The Duchess of Clifford’s Lessons on Love Books 1-4: These will be short novels.
Book 1: Tempting Scandal (Nate and Sylvia)
Book 2: Beguiling Friendship (Jonathan and Penelope)
Book 3: Untitled (Max and CeCe)
Book 4: Untitled (James and Hannah)
December: A Christmas story which may or may not be JAFF
Throughout the year, I want to dedicate time to working on Mr. Darcy and the Bewitched Sisters. I hope to have the series ready to launch in 2021.
Now, it should be noted that only three of these stories have 0 words. A few only have a few hundred but I have spent years working on the outline and honing the intended tropes. As it stands now, Mr. Darcy’s Compassion and The Secrets of Donwell Abbey are the only stories which are stand-alone works. Only two of the JAFF stories are part of a planned series. How will the sequels to my old works do? I don’t know. However, the characters and the universe each story created which I thought was laid to rest with “the end” have spoken to me a lot in the last two years. I actually intended to work on them last year and didn’t do it. I am tired of breaking promises to myself, so here we go!
Also, I am getting off to a slow start as we have recently had a loss in my husband’s family and I am having some kind of reaction to a virus (so the neurologist thinks) and am dealing with loss of feeling all over my body. However, if there’s anything I know about myself, it’s that I can overcome and get back on the horse.
Rose Fairbanks 
Better to have ambitious goals and reach as many as you can than to have no goals and reach them! I’m looking forward to whatever you come up with. Girl, you have a busy brain! Prayers for you to get better.
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I feel like Darcy in the ’95 series. I will conquer this! My brain never stops. It’s exhausting!
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I often wish my brain would shut up and let me sleep! Yes, I agree it’s better to have a lot of goals than to have none and just drift. When I think about my unhappiest years, they were years when I had no goals.
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Hi, One way that may help a little with homeschooling is to give your kids a plan for the day, and have them do it. You will need to know ahead of time what you want them to accomplish, of course. For example, kid #1 do this worksheet, that lesson, whatever on the computer, etc., lunch at time o’clock, independent play from this time-that time, etc. And similar for the other kid. You can then plan your schedule around that. Thus, you can even include on their schedule, such-and-such with Mom from this time-that time. This also helps them with their independence, and problem solving skills.
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Yes, one of the tips I saw when making our plans was to give them basically a to-do list. My oldest, Teddy, really excells when he knows what the plan is. We do a lot of lessons through a website so it’s been much easier to have it written on a list for him to do activities 1-3 then the next subject rather than having to come and ask me what to do after each activity. I have to be a bit more hands on with my kindergartner, especially as she can’t read, but I think the system will work well for her in a few years too. I made a basic schedule when we started homeschooling in November and then slowly added other subjects and requirements in. I didn’t want to make too many strict expectations for the first few weeks until I saw how we all adjsuted. We are supposed to start school again on Tuesday and I have created a loose schedule for us to follow. We’ll see how it goes!
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Wow, I am impressed and eagerly awaiting the release of these books. A lot of exciting projects to be sure. I love Compromise, excited to see the sequel to bluestocking, adore sequels were we meet the Darcy’s children and full of anticipation for the Emma story. Emma is my second JA favourite (after PnP). Seems to me, 2019 will be fabulous year!
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I love Emma too! I am excited and a bit scared to work on these sequels. I hope my efforts will be rewarded. I don’t have a lot of “to market” plans for the year so we’ll see how I do.
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I like your idea of a bullet journal – may have to try it. I’m always busy I work full time and that keeps me out of the house for 50-60 hours a week. I have recently taken up embroidery, which I love, but it is taking time from knitting, quilting, cross stitch, and of course, reading JAFF. Audio books are the best – I can ‘read’ a novel and stitch at the same time.
Thanks for all your hard work. The kids will be older and independent before you know it. Enjoy them while you can. Xx
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