2011 and Other Goal Oriented Fiascos: A Recap

As 2011 comes to a close, I, like many others, take some time to reflect on the past year while planning for the one coming up. What did I accomplish this year? What goals did I set and not achieve? What kept me from reaching those goals?

Depending on how you approach it, this time of reflection can be either a boon to your confidence, or a slap in your face. It's all in  how you approach it. Almost any negative, if looked it in a different light, can be a positive.

Generally speaking, I am not a "the glass is half full" sorta gal, so sometimes I have to work really hard to find that positive hidden beneath the dingy negatives.

I didn't set a large number of goals for 2011, but I did have a few — some that went well, others not so much. But even those "failures" were learning experiences. You can never lose if you are learning something, right?

For example, I wrote an erotic short for a submission call, expecting to have it accepted with no issues. To my shock, it was rejected. The story didn't fit the publishers Happily Ever After requirement, so not for them.

Definitely not what I expected, but rather than wallow in the rejection, I took the opportunity to try self publishing. This is something I never would have considered if the story had been accepted. I created a cover, and managed to get the story posted and available for sale on Smashwords and other online retailer sites (iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobi, etc.).  But because it wasnt, I was able to get an idea of what self marketing is all about.  Self publishing the story didn't and will never get me rich, but I did manage to make $3.00 in sales in the past couple of months and that is $3.00 I would not have gotten had the story been published as I had originally intended. Now would I have a work of fiction out there with only my name on it as the author. All mine. No anthology, no busting a gut trying to get my name associated with the work like usually happens when you are part of an anthology of tales. Pretty cool to my thinking. Plus, I can say I've done it. That in itself is quite a positive for me.

So this experience I mark as a success, despite the shades of rejection sprinkled on it. One door closes, another opens.

This year also marks the launch of this blog/review site. A place for my writing and musings, as well as a place to share some of the great books I have had the pleasure of reading this year. I have a small set of loyal followers and posters and I have also managed to earn 200 twitter followers in the six months since it launched. I've also developed working relationships with a few smaller publishers for reviewing ARCs and such. Looking forward to seeing how that shakes out in the coming year.

Another success in my book.

What about you? What goals did you set for yourself in 2011? Did you reach them? What goals are you setting for next year?

Tagged: Barnes & Noble, Calvin, Goals, iTunes, New Year, Publishing, Recap, Resolutions, Smashwords