2020 is finally here! The start of a new year, a new decade, and a brand new set of priorities for the future. Earlier this month I was chatting with S. M. Roffey and Jeni Chappelle about goals for the new year. We decided that it would be fun to really talk about our goals together, what they meant for us, strategies on how to accomplish them, and most of all how to keep one another accountable. A way to encourage each other, but also to step in and say ‘take a break, you’re doing too much’ – which happens a lot.
What started out as two lines in a word doc soon turned into three full pages for me. Broken down into smaller categories, I had my focus on both honing my freelance skill sets to bring a greater impact to my client work, but also personal goals for writing that spanned multiple years. So here’s what you can expect from me as I step into the future (bearing in mind that the universe could have other ideas).
DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN
As a freelance professional, I have a fairly broad (somewhat unique) set of skills in web development, graphic design, marketing, and email campaigns. Over the next year I’m going to put some practices into place to help grow this side of my business to help better serve my current client base and any wonderful new folks I’ll be working with in the next few years. You can learn a bit about the work I do on the professional services page.
If you’ve got a project coming up, or you’re getting ready to launch a book, don’t hesitate to contact me and we can chat about your next steps and where you might need a pro to step in so you can get back to writing.
GIFT IDEAS
This year I took the leap from purely digital art to designing unique merchandise (mostly with dragons). I opened up Harrowick Designs, a print-on-demand shop for everything from greeting cards to mugs to pajamas and book totes. My goal moving forward is to add new designs to the shop every quarter to align with the current season. If you have ideas for a design – or see one you love but not on the item you want, contact me. I’m always happy to slap current designs on the item of your choosing.
BOOKS & SHORT STORIES
Probably the biggest change I’m building on is how I want to approach publication of the stories I’m writing. The truth is I have a backlog of more than twenty different books, anything from concept ideas and a few written scenes to full drafts to polished and ready to read. Until this year, I viewed this backlog as full-scale novels that I just didn’t have time to finish yet, but the truth is I wasn’t viewing this list with the right lens. Some of these stories will one day be full 100K+ word novels. With others I didn’t see their true potential until I stepped away from writing to better understand story and the difference between these two elements.
So, over the next few years I’m going to be breaking down this list into novel length stories, novella length, short stories, etc and moving my focus toward more hybrid publishing. Some of my work may go traditional, some with small presses, and others I might publish myself. With a loose plan in place, expect that sometime in the next three years I’ll be publishing at least three stories, though the target is five. I have no idea if I’ll make this goal, but that’s the current plan.
BLOGGING & BOOK REVIEWS
Over the next year I’ll be shifting the focus of my blog. I’ve done a lot of interviews, written articles, shared stories, and generally just added content to the site because the early years were sparse. Here’s how I imagine the future:
- INTERVIEWS – In the past few years I’ve posted a lot of Winterviews and Debut 19 interviews. I loved every single one and meeting so many wonderful creatives. However, the time dedicated to wrangling those articles together took a lot out of me this year. Moving forward, Winterviews will be posted on its new website by the new team, and I will not be taking on more debut articles. I will however be posting critique partner debut & interview articles, and I will consider word-of-mouth recommendations from past interviewees. I apologize for the limitations, this is just a way to give myself back some writing space.
- BOOK REVIEWS – I will continue to add a book review article to this site for every published book I read in 2020. Most of what I read these days is unpublished, so I love to just read something I don’t have to nitpick. If you have an adult fantasy or science fiction story you think I might love, contact me with a book blurb and launch date for consideration.
- BLOGGING – This will continue in 2020 as I prep for another round of Writer In Motion and tackle some new projects. I’d love to dust off The Ready Room articles and add more content, but we’ll see how the year goes.
THE WRITER’S LODGE RETREAT
This summer I’ll be attending my first ever writer’s retreat hosted by the amazing Jeni Chappelle. I’ve worked with Jeni a lot over the past year—both professionally and on outside projects—so I can attest to what an amazing editor she is. I plan to have my current story, RAVENBORN, ready for review and some extra work. But most of all, I’m looking forward to all the amazing writers I’ll get to hang out with. Especially Sara Bond, who is just one of the best people ever. My goal is to blog about the experience either during the trip or soon after.
THE SECRET THINGS
I’ve also got some secret goals and projects that will be unveiled this year and I can’t wait to share them with everyone. So keep your eyes on this blog in the coming months as I talk about the next steps for Writer In Motion, the next steps for my stories, and when new designs go up in the shop.
May you all find happiness in 2020, strength and support, and ways to shine that help bring your lives and stories into the future.
