Scaling Back the Juggling Act

Back in September, I wrote a post called Planning by the Seat of my Pants.

It listed my writing goals for the final months of 2012. Well … those months have passed, and it’s time to reflect and share some news about goal-setting and the direction of this blog.

I’m happy to say I’ve accomplished most of what I set out to do in 2012. I now have eight books in the marketplace—three collections, and five short stories. You can find them here.

US | UK | Canada | Germany | France | Japan | Italy | Spain

I’ve blogged continuously since Nov. 2010 and have taken every opportunity to highlight others via an author/artist interview, author promotion, or sharing their work via all available social networks. This, in turn, has connected me to wonderful authors, filmmakers, and creative people from all walks of life. They are not simply virtual acquaintances; many have become good friends.

I’ve juggled writing, promoting my work, and promoting others’ work non-stop for over two years. Why? Because I’m a huge believer in supporting work I like—plain and simple. For a full-time writer like me, writing is a business, and like all businesses, we need a strong support network to grow, thrive, and continue.

Have I done it correctly? I don’t know. What are the benchmarks?

The number of Twitter followers? The number of friends on Facebook? The number of reviews on our books?

Though I agree these criteria are important, they are only part of the juggling act. Ultimately, as a business, my efforts must translate into sales of my books. That means, I need to continue writing and juggling. I can’t afford to discard even one ball … but perhaps I don’t need to juggle so quickly … and I don’t have to accept the bowling pins people throw in my direction.

I have three major goals for 2013.

Put out a full-length novel
Release the four novellas of Spring into Summer separately
Revamp my website and blog

I’m also helping friends with a major fundraiser in the city, and for the third year running, I’ll be on the jury for the Feminist Porn Awards (hard work, but someone’s got to do it).

All this to say, my professional goal for 2013 is not to stop what I’ve been doing, but to scale back certain activities to fit everything in—the main one being this blog. I’ll be reducing the number of blogs per month in order to keep up with the high quality of posts you’ve come to expect.

Check out January’s schedule.

I leave for a holiday shortly, where I’ll catch up on my reading. As always, y our comments—good, bad, or otherwise are welcome, and please accept my sincere gratitude for your continued support.

eden

 

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