Hi all,
Next week I’ll be writing about my goals for 2023. As always, I want to look back at my goals for 2022 and see how well I did. My mental health has been far better this year, allowing me to do more than last year. Still, I thought it would be fun to look back!
Write four books.
I’ve managed to complete the first drafts of five books this year, they are:
Original Elementals #2: Maelstrom.
Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter.
Celestial Plague #4: Hell.
Original Elementals #4: Devouring.
Original Elementals #5: Tempest.
Publish two books.
Years was published in April and Celestial Plague #1: Nirvana was published in October.
Get three covers designed.
The first two books in the Celestial Plague series both have covers now. The reader magnet, Celestial Plague #0: Seashine, also has a pretty cover.
Self-edit all of the Celestial Plague series.
Unfortunately, I haven’t quite managed to reach this one. Seeing as I decided to write a fourth book in April, it messed up my editing plans a bit. The first three books have been self-edited, the first two have been with my editor. But the fourth one will be edited by myself next year.
Write the Years reader magnet.
Solar Child has been written and sent out to my newsletter subscribers! Although I struggled writing it before, I came up with an idea that clicked. I’m glad that I managed to write it and send it out before Years was published.
Make two reader magnets available to my newsletter subscribers.
Solar Child and Seashine have both been sent out to my newsletter subscribers. That brings the total up to four free enovellas that are available to those who sign up to my mailing list.
Submit more short stories.
I’ve written a lot more short stories this year, which is great! Quite a few have been submitted to anthologies that I’m just waiting to hear back from. One has been accepted into an anthology that should hopefully be out in January.
Read 100 books.
The year had a rocky start because I didn’t start reading again until early February. Still, I found a lot of good books that I devoured pretty quickly which helped me catch up. I managed to hit my goal of 100 with only a few days to spare!
Grow my mailing list.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to hit my goal of 500 newsletter subscribers. I’ve had to trim my list a few times this year which has brought the total down. Still, I’m incredibly happy for the subscribers that I have and I’m glad that they’re enjoying my content!
Focus on Amazon ads more.
I set up a few automatic ads and left them. Around June, one started getting loads of clicks. This really surprised me, especially as that momentum continued into July and August. Although I definitely still have a lot to learn, I’m glad that I’ve managed to improve my ads slightly and gain more knowledge about advertising.
Get my books into more libraries.
This is the one goal that I haven’t attempted all year. I’m looking into ways that I can get my books into libraries, but I haven’t contacted any yet. This goal will probably roll over into 2023.
Make all of my books available in hardcover.
Every single one of my published books is now available in hardcover! This is my favourite kind of book and I knew I wanted to have hardcovers, even if I don’t sell many. They are currently all on my ‘publishing’ shelf in my living room!
Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo.
Original Elementals #3: Shadowhunter and Celestial Plague #4: Hell were both completed during the months of Camp NaNoWriMo. Original Elementals #5: Tempest was completed during NaNoWriMo in November.
That’s all the goals that I had for 2022! Next week I’ll discuss my goals for 2023, some exciting ones are on there. See you next week!
