Are You On Track? Mid Year Review Of Writing Goals

Blogging is a fantastic way to stay accountable and you guys keep me honest!

It's over half way through the year now, so it's time to review my writing goals for 2013 to make sure I'm on track. I hope you will also have a look at yours and share in the comments how you are doing. Come on, be honest now! We're all friends here.

(1) Main goal: Stick with Plan A and create more books

• New crime thriller – book #1: Desecration is complete, edited and with my NYC literary agent. Currently on submission to publishers.
• Non-fiction – Book marketing. Yeah! Published in the last month and already a #1 Amazon bestseller
• PLUS/ an extra 🙂 A Thousand Fiendish Angels (gorgeous cover, isn't it!)
• ARKANE Novella set in Hungary – currently at 22,000 words and counting …

I'm pretty happy with the progress so far, but I still want to write several more books before the end of the year, so I had better crack on.

• New crime thriller – book #2 I have plot ideas and have started some research. This is the one I want to tackle next, but it is the 2nd in the series that my agent has, so if it sells you won't see it for a while! But the story won't leave me alone so it has to be written …
• ARKANE #4 – themed around Kabbalah and Spain – not started but rough ideas on the go
• Another novella, based on a character from Desecration who needs her own story
• Non-fiction – Creative Business/ Solopreneur – not started. I'm considering a book on public speaking for creatives instead since I get asked about that all the time.

Get back into print and audio

I can tick this goal off as:

• All 3 ARKANE books and my non-fiction books are in print
• Pentecost is available on Audible as a professionally produced audiobook. Prophecy is on its way to Audible as we speak and Exodus is coming in the next few months. I'll be interviewing my narrator, Veronica, on the podcast in the coming weeks. You can read more about the audio deal on my fiction site at JFPenn.com.

I'm going to add foreign rights to the list, as I am currently in discussions around German translation, which I'd love to have out by Christmas. This would be a JV deal as an independent author, not a rights deal, but I am pretty much open to other opportunities.

(2) The Creative Penn Blog, Podcast, Videos and Online Courses

The site continues as ever – a few new updates:

• Streamlined the site and redone the content pages – so check Writing, Publishing and Marketing for top curated content
• Redone the Store page with new, funky buttons for all courses
• Launched How to market a book Premium audio and I'm about to start recording the first set of Q&A audios. (You can join anytime!)

(3) Professional Speaking

I'm still doing a lot of speaking. The biggest change is the Guardian Masterclasses which I am now doing full-day workshops for. Exciting stuff. But actually, I am also relishing an empty diary as it gives me more time to write.

I'm also going to add another goal to the list:

(4) Do an international research trip

Travelling is such an important part of my life, and I love the research process. Last year's trip to Budapest sparked the seed of Relic which will be out in the next few months.

I've now booked for Southern India, so I can foresee something coming in 2014 that resonates with that part of the world. I love India, and the last time I was there, I visited the burning ghats of Varanasi. That memorable place sparked the opening scene of Pentecost when a nun runs through the labyrinth of the markets there, trying to escape her pursuers, but ends up burning alive …

so yes, anyway, I love to travel so I'm adding it to the goals list.

I'd love to know how you're getting on with your writing goals for the year. Please do leave a comment below and we can celebrate with you (or kick you in the ass! with love, of course)