Looking forward to 2011

Today I'm doing a looking forward post, to end 2010 on a positive and energetic note. Tomorrow, I'll so a review of 2010, to begin 2011 in a reflective and educative matter. I think deciding this is quite profound [image error]

So, 2011 is looking to be an utterly fabulous year. Already, with the things I know are going to happen, it's busy and full-on and then when you add things I want to have happen, and things I dream will happen… Well, it's gonna be a biggie.

So here's the way I'm starting 2011.

Professional.

So far in 2011, there is confirmed publication of two novels and two short stories. I say two novels because technically, Power Unbound is published January 1 even though lots of people already have it. Rogue Gadda comes out in July.

In April, The Protector's Last Mission will appear in More Scary Kisses and some time in the first few months, The Fairy King's Child will be published in Issue 46 of ASIM.

In terms of things I want to have happen – well I'm hoping 2011 will mark the sale of the Dream of Asarlai trilogy into foreign markets. I've got a short that is on the cusp of publication, another that I'm waiting on news of and a third that I need to polish for submission in January. I'll probably write some more shorts over the course of 2011 – I'm becoming more confident in them.

Novel wise, my focus for the year is the Free Ones trilogy, the sequel to Dream of Asarlai. I want to have it drafted, book one polished and hopefully even sold to a publisher by the end of the year. In between, I'll be working on the Battle for Odana duology and hopefully have it fully drafted by the end of the year.

I'm also going to look into other forms of fiction. For example, I've got some ideas for paranormal novellas to get up and about, and then there's a couple of contemporary romances that keep banging themselves against my head to get out.

2011 is the year of the convention for me. In March, I've got a quick fly in and out visit to the Australian Romance Readers Association convention in Sydney. A week later, I'm off to LA for the Romantic Times convention and then near the end of April, to Perth for Swancon/Natcon 50. Later in the year, there's the Romance Writer's of Australia convention in Melbourne in September and Conflux in Canberra in October.

So, that's 2011 for me professionally – you can see why I'm looking forward to it, can't you? [image error]

Personally.

It's been a long time since I've started a year in such a positive place. Everything's going so well, and yet there's still things to aim for.

The big one is my health. I'm determined to keep losing weight – I want to lose at least another 20 kilos. I also want to get fitter and stronger – it's amazing just how hard on the body a sedentary job is. So it's things like going to the gym, exercising regularly and making massage treatments an important part of my life.

This year, Hubby and I are going to have some long stretches of time away from each other, and we'll have to take care to ensure that we remain connected through them all. The first few months of the year, we'll only have a week or two a month together (except February, which mostly is just weekends apart). It's been ages since we've had a good holiday away together – might be an idea in the middle of the year.

I've spent a lot of this year locked up in the house, ignoring family and friends. In 2011, I'm aiming to be more social and connect better with people, particularly my parents and siblings.

And on a creative front, I've set myself the challenge of making handbags this year [image error] One per month, trialling a variety of techniques. I don't know how well it will go – I have virtually no skills in the area whatsoever, but I'm going to let myself experiment (and fail, which is something I have issues with creatively) and we'll see what happens.

So, that's how 2011 is shaping up at the moment. Hopefully, the trials that come will be minor or able to be handled with little effort and I'll plough ahead and do fabulous things this year!