Assessing the Year...Past the Midpoint ... by Delsora Lowe

I am obsessive about setting writing and writer-related goals every year. And for every year I have done so, I have made or surpassed my goals in most areas. I am predictably bad at keeping up on social media and my website. But I always make my writing word count for the year, including a high level (for me) writing goal for every February, when I join the New Jersey Romance Writer’s 30K challenge.

That’s right, thirty thousand words in twenty-eight days. We check in daily with our goals on a special loop and cheer each other on. It’s inspiring, but also, it’s the competition that drives me. Now, everyone who knows me well understands I am the least athletic person, and definitely not competitive. But for some reason, this competition calls to me. Not because I am trying to one-up others, but because I am trying to one-up myself by achieving a higher word count over the previous year. Plus, we get this cool virtual badge, AND… drum roll, a super cool pin. Okay, I know the word cool is not actually COOL anymore, but hey, I’m a 60s gal—the decade of my formative pre-teen and teen years.

This year, as we are now officially over the mid-point, and in reality, only have five months left to meet 2023 goal expectations, I must confess, I threw away—okay, a bit dramatic—I set aside purposely, my 2023 writing goals, which included finishing (this spring) my final edits on my third book in the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series. Instead, I took up a challenge for me—writing a legacy piece for not only myself, but to give to my two children for the holidays this year.

I figured easy-peasy, since it was based on ideas from the book, Elderwriters: Celebrate Your Life, by Sue Barocas, which encourages creative pieces about aspects of your life, lists of favorites, a bit about family, life’s motivations, etc. The author is free to write in any creative genre, including poetry, lists, essays, etc. It is not a linear telling of your life, but based on memories, important events, and any other topics and methods the writer wishes to employ. For example, I did a piece on my travels as a kid that took my family to Hong Kong, the far east, then up through the Suez, and on to European and African locations. Another piece focused on memories of historical events in my lifetime, such as where I was when I learned JFK had been assassinated in Dallas. The project was sponsored by Midcoast Literacy through People Plus, (a local activities center for 55 and over,) and I worked with a Bowdoin student intern who helped guide the project.

I wrote free-flowing poems. One was about my love of jazz and an intimate venue I used to go to on Sunday afternoons in Washington, D.C. to listen to local jazz musicians, including my former high school English teacher who is a drummer. He’s only about ten plus years older than me. And to say the entire female population of upper school wasn’t in crush mode way back when, is an understatement. But during my more seasoned years, when I went back to work at my old school in the early 2000’s, he and his wife became good friends of mine. I also wrote a free-flowing ode to my grand-pets, and an ode to embracing my curls (a polite way of referring to my frizzy hair, inherited from my dad’s side of the family.) I wrote essays of wisdom I learned from my grandmother, and memories of my mom’s best friend who was like a mother to me, honoring her support and wonderful meals over the years.

I did extensive research on my father’s family. Luckily, on my mom’s side there is an entire 424-page volume tracing our family back to the first settlers from Scotland in 1772, and reference to the famous Mohawk Indian Chief, Joseph Brant, who had been befriended by my great, great, great, great, great grandparents, John and Betty More, during the Revolutionary War period. He warned them of an impending raid, and they and their eight children were able to escape. I am related to the seventh child, David. So, without the help of the Chief, I wouldn’t be here today.

I also wrote a lovely piece about my Aunt Virginia, married to my mom’s older brother, John. She was a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot,) during WWII as a civilian ferry pilot, and was one of the first women to ever pilot planes for the US military. She is now part of an exhibit for the Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian. In her later years she was a founding member of Veterans for Peace, founded in Maine in 1985, and helped get recognition for their contribution, in order to receive military benefits for the WASPs or their families, as many died in the line of duty. Uncle John, too, served in the war, and although never verified, we surmise from his knowledge of several languages and his assigned posts, that he may have done a bit of spying.

So, back to goals, and the reason for my procrastination. I have revised my goals. After taking time to breath for the last few weeks of July, while family visited and I refused to open my computer for a week, I am now thinking about finishing my final edits of Rescuing the Sheriff, and thinking about booking my editor for two rounds of edits, working with my cover artist, and writing the dreaded back cover copy, and refining the blurb in order to upload to various sales venues. And... And... And...I may be a bit late in releasing, since I had hoped to get this book and another book out this year. The good news is, I actually wrote a draft of a blurb and tag lines for the second book. Life happens…and I have decided to not obsess about missing my self-imposed 2023 timelines. Plus, I am still on-track with my annual word count goal, and I have released print versions of two e-books released in the last two years. And…drum roll…I still have four-and-a-half months to catch up.

Do you set annual goals?
And do you stress over meeting them?
Or do you readjust during the year?

Amazon (also in print)

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Left-Behind-Hartford-Estate-ebook/dp/B08L5N5DS9/

Books2Read   

books2read.com/u/mglVqK

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns, from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) were released in late fall 2022. Look for book 3 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, in 2024.

 

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