I can’t believe it’s February. January always seems to go on forever, but then suddenly it’s over, and now we’re already hurtling towards the end of this brief month. I love that today the sun felt warmer, the sky was actually blue instead of grey, and the spring bulbs were starting to flower. But it also reminds me that time is passing, and I need to get my head around what my goals are for this year so that I can intentionally pursue them.
The best goals are simple, and my basic writing goal this year is to finish the dystopian trilogy that I started a looong time ago. When I first decided to get back into writing, it was this idea that I outlined, and Book 1 was my project for several years of drafting, editing, querying… the whole shebang. When it didn’t land me an agent, I shelved it in order to write Bell Time, and I’m really proud that my romcom and its sequel are out in the world now. But when you pour so much of your heart and soul into a story, it begs to be finished. Last year I bashed out a first draft of Book 2, and I’m currently doing the same for Book 3. If I can get through it, I can then check that the story holds up throughout the whole trilogy, and then begin the process of editing and polishing. Because this time, I’m going to publish it myself, and I am excited that none of the crazy effort I put into Book 1 will be wasted.
Of course, effort is never wasted, is it? I needed to write millions of drafts of Book 1, because each one made me into a (slightly) better writer than before. We can’t skip the process of writing rubbish drafts and things that don’t really sound like the voice we want to create, in the delusion that we can just fast-forward to the best-seller part. It doesn’t work like that. Maybe sometimes we need reminding that we’re in this for the process, not just the product at the end.
I’ll keep you posted with my dystopian journey. In the meantime, I’ll share with you some of my reading goals for this year. I’ve gone through my kindle to create a backlist of books just sat on there, unread; this is the year to read them!
I’ve read a few ARCs for other indie closed-door romance authors, and it’s been great to be able to support them and be part of the Bookstagram community. It’s all well and good having goals, but you need people to share them with, and celebrate when you reach them. I’m grateful for all the connections I’ve made over the past year and I look forward to meeting other romance readers and writers in 2024.
What about you? What are your goals for 2024? And what’s your next step to pursue them?
Sophie Toovey 