The Year in Review and Writing Goals for 2015

 December 31, 2014

As I reflect back on 2014, it was rather uneventful, especially in comparison to 2013. For the first time in five years I didn’t have a family wedding to help with. In October of 2009 my son married, one daughter in September of 2010 and the other in July of 2011. My mother married in October of 2011, my nephew in September of 2012 and I married in 2013. It definitely was a season of weddings.

2014 has been quiet, but busy in its own way. It was my first year of writing on a full time basis. I’ve always been writing in some form, but in the past it had been squeezed in around other work that provided a livelihood. With retirement from ministry in July of 2013, writing became my primary work focus. 2014 also included a trip to Guatemala for research.

Last year my writing goals had been to self-publish one book, create a web-site and start blogging on a more regular basis. I’ve done these and more. I now have a WordPress web-site that I have set up myself, thanks to the help of the WordPress community. I blog twice a week and I self-published five novels and one non-fiction book. I’ve read lots of information on marketing, attended webinars and enlisted the help of a Marketing Major to help get my books noticed. I have essentially started my own one woman business!

Now for 2015, my writing goals are simple.

1. To continue writing, both fiction and non-fiction. I have two more novels in rough form and plans for more. I also have non-fiction books I might dust off and consider self-publishing.
2. To explore audiobooks. Depending on how this goes, I might publish all of my novels as audiobooks.
3. To write a Kindle series.
4. To become profitable. This may only be a dollar, but as long as my income finally exceeds my expenses, I will consider this goal done. This past year I spent money on copy-editing and covers for my books and purchasing copies to have on hand. I also spent money on marketing materials and consulting a Marketing person. My hope is that this will pay off in the New Year. My overhead will be lower because of what I have invested this year. Time to just sit back and let the money roll in . . . NOT! I’ll continue to write and work on marketing what I write.

I’ve read that for many it takes three years for a business to become profitable. I’ve also read that it’s only with your sixth book that people start to take you seriously as a writer. That’s why I’m keeping my goal low, one dollar profit this year. Anything beyond that will be the icing on the proverbial cake.

So, these are my goals for 2015. Simple and doable. I’m ready for another year, whatever life may give me – Bring it on!

Happy New Year!

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