2011 Domestic Goddess Goals

Last week, I gave you my writing goals, so now for all to see (and thus to give myself pressure to perform) are my domestic goddess goals:

1. I will continue with the Flylady regime of daily laundry, Kelly Missions and daily chores for the kids. This made an incredible difference in how well our home was kept up.

2. I will expand my mission to meals, ensuring that we only get junk food once a week and go out once a week (except perhaps brunch.

3. I will recover my dining room chairs with the help of my mom in Feb.

4. We will get out of debt before Rob retires (April 2012 is the target.)

5. I will teach my children how to do laundry and cook. (They know some, but not all.)

6. I will resume my haidong gumdo lessons and work out every day I'm not at lessons for at least 15 min. (Sundays are days off.) This will include walking the dog, weather permitting.

7. I will pray daily and read daily Scripture.

8. I will get my kids to their clubs, etc. I will help them keep up on grades and homework daily.

Most Important: I will keep writing in its place where it does not interfere with my domestic goddess/supermom duties.

Writing Goals, 2011

This is going to be an interesting year for writing, in part because I have some things going on at home that may sap my creative energy--or may resolve themselves. Also, I have an agent--with a big league agency!--interested in me, and I'm not sure where that will lead. So my goals this year are running in a "IF-THEN" pattern. However, here're the general plans:

1. I need to finish the school planners for 2012-2013. I'm waiting on further instructions, but they're 85 percent done.

2. I will revise Mind Over Matter, the second in the Miscria Trilogy, to submit in March. (Mind Over Mind comes out September 2011 from DragonMoon.)

3. I will write the second Neeta Lyffe book to submit to DamnationBooks bu June. I have the basic idea and flow of events. It will be another fast moving, crazy ride!

4. I will have four virtual book tours: ISIG II, Perfect Ten, Neeta Lyffe, and Mind Over Mind.

5. I will develop my marketing database, then use it! I hired my very good friend, Rebecca Butcher, to do the bulk of it, so I figure this goal is 70 percent done right now.

6. I'll continue to blog at least twice a week. I may add a third day, "Tour Tuesday" to tour friends' books.

7. I will resubmit all my short stories at least twice this year. I have 14-20 left to sell, depending on whether the ones out are rejected and if I can polish some and write more.

8. I will teach at the Catholic Writers Conference Online, the Catholic Writers Conference Live and the MuseOnline Conference.

9. I will write at least one more book--either I will compile my 30-Minute Marketer newsletters into a weekly marketing schedule OR I will finish Discovery OR I will write Gapman, Redcap or Damsel and Knight, depending on what the future holds.

10. I will revive my Dragon's Eye View newsletter. It got away from me this autumn because of stuff at home.

I am going to drop my weekly 30-Minute Marketer newsletter in March. I got so little feedback and few subscribers, that it's not worth keeping up. Likewise, I'm dropping my online classes on my website. It was so frustrating to me to have people sign up and pay then never do any assignments! Maybe in 2012, I'll look for other paying venues for my workshops, but 2011 is going to be busy as it is.

Monday, I'll list my 2011 home goals.

Resolutions!

(This is a busy month for me, so I'm re-running this blog. I think it's one I needed to re-read, anyway. Just FYI, I met my goal of ramping up my efforts and targeting agents and publishers, I did not meet my desire of finding a home for Live and Let Fly. I did find homes for three of the DragonEye, PI, stories, however. Next year, I'm looking for a small press home. Guess DragonEye, PI does not appeal to the big NYC publishers.)

Resolutions!

Oh, bleah! Can you imagine a less original topic for Dec 31? Tell you a secret: I don’t make resolutions. I set goals. Here’s how I do it:

1. I think about where I want to be in the far future, and what I want to be remembered for.
2. I think about the past year—what didn’t work and why, and what did advance me toward my ideal life.
3. I think about what I can do differently (or continue doing) in order to keep advancing.
4. I write those as my goals, assigning them appropriate time frames.
5. I break them down to tasks and deadlines.
6. I get to work.

So, let me give you an example.

1. I would like one day to have my DragonEye, PI books be sharing the spotlight with Discworld and Myth, Inc.
2. This past year, I published Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, got good reviews and regular sales. However, I’ve not been able to sell Live and Let Fly yet, nor did I achieve my goal of writing Gapman! Also, my stories on my website are not selling well, though my newsletter is getting thousands of hits now that I publish it on myebook.com.
3. This next year, I will ramp up my efforts at shopping L&LF, sending out queries more often. I will make some modifications to my newsletter to draw folks to the website and stories. I will consider new venues for selling the short stories.
4.& 5. Deadline to finish Gapman: June 2010. Deadline for shopping L&LF to agents and big traditional publishers: October 2010, after which, I will return to small press. Have a new story written and on the website or being submitted each quarter. I will send out a query a week minimum. I will not wait for a rejection before moving on.

Still not enough for you? Want more information, tips and ideas on making resolutions, setting goals and getting organized? I’m going to post a link or tip every day in January, then have the whole file for download on my website in February.

Working toward making your life better is not a matter of a single night of resolution setting. Take your time, learn, tweak your ideas and build your habits.
Happy New Year!