Be it resolved ...

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"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." - Oprah Winfrey

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul." - G.K. Chesterton

"For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice." - T.S. Eliot

"New Year's Day is every man's birthday." - Charles Lamb

"Your success and happiness lie in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties." - Helen Keller

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"New Year's most glorious light is sweet hope!" - Mehmet Murat ildan

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man." - Benjamin Franklin

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"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one." - Brad Paisley

Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing many flavours of romance. When not torturing her characters, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband and two hens. 

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Resolutions by Kimila Kay

I’m a goal setter, but not always a goal achiever. And not from lack of desire or ambition. A conundrum that challenges me at the beginning of each new year.

A recent Facebook meme not only made me laugh, but also made me curious about the definition of “Resolution”. The quote was, “I’m thinking of opening a gym this week called “Resolutions”. In six months, it will turn into a bakery.”

 

The definition of Resolution is: A firm decision to do something. As in I want to publish two novels in 2023!

 

How to reach a Goal is described as: Set specific goals, have a plan of action, list steps to complete each goal, DO NOT be passive.

 

Another Facebook cartoon showed a large dog asking a smaller one, “What exactly is a New Year’s resolution?” To which the smaller pup answered, “It’s a ‘To Do’ list for the first week of January.”

 

Hysterical and unfortunately true but made me think about my most recycled Resolution ‘Lose Weight’. Did I fail to achieve this resolution each year because I didn’t set specific goals with a plan to balance diet and exercise? Obviously, I need to reinvent my strategy to ensure success, so my Resolutions don’t become words that just form a wish list.

 

As a writer, I always have a plan for my current work in progress, which generally includes a dedicated time block. With tasks ranging from writing to editing or research and plot development. Where I struggle is accomplishing the goal attached to a particular task. Of course, I blame my day job or laundry or my husband or, my favorite, happy hour with my girlfriends for my failure.

 

This year, I have decided to write and publish two novels. Both books are already ten chapters in, and so far, resonate with the promise of a good story. I desperately want to complete this resolution and my determination led me to self-analyze why past goals found themselves stacked in the recycle bin, waiting to be repurposed once again each year on January 1^st.

 

I absolutely love everything about writing, whether it’s a blog, short story, or book. It sends me over the moon when I meet my readers or receive raving reviews for my books. And even more important, accolades from other authors. I love the process of being a writer. Now equipped with Google knowledge, I’m confident my new novels, Vanished in Vallarta and Redneck Ranch, will be finished products by October 2023, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

 

It’s a brand new year, all shiny with possibilities and begging for a new list of Resolutions. What’s yours? My list is short:

 

Implement the strategy of using Goals to achieve my Resolutions

Lose weight (With my new wisdom, I feel obligated to include this illusive challenge)

Finish writing and publishing Vanished in Vallarta and Redneck Ranch

 

Easy Peasy! Happy New Year!

Kimila Kay lives in Donald, Oregon along with her husband, Randy, her adorable Boston Terrier Maggie, and a feisty black cat named Halle.

Her professional accomplishments include three anthologized essays in the CUP OF COMFORT series. Kimila is currently a member of Windtree Press, Northwest Independent Writers Association (NIWA), and Willamette Writers.

VANISHED IN VALLARTA (10/2023) is the third novel in cross-cultural series that now includes Peril in Paradise, Book One, and Malice in Mazatlán, Book Two. The series will also include Chaos in Cabo, Lost in Loreto, and Fiasco in Peñasco.

REDNECK RANCH (10/2023) is the first book in the Stoneybrook Mystery Series, which is set in a fictional town in Oregon.

KIMILA KAY, AUTHOR
author@kimilakay.com

 

New Year, New Name

I start every new year full of energy and plans for the future. One of my goals for this year was to give birth to a new pen name, not in lieu of my current name, but as an additional authorial identity, one who writes in a different romance genre.

What are the pros and cons of multiple pen names? I asked myself this question for much of last year. Even better, I polled authors who I respected about their opinions. The general consensus was that one of the big drawbacks is the need to maintain multiple social media identities, websites, blogs, etc. We all know that social media can take up lots of energy and time, yet it's also an essential tool for connecting with readers and fellow authors. Another author/editor advised that one's brand isn't genre-bound. As authors, our brand is bigger than our genre. It's our public writing identity, our style, our voice. 

One of the pros of separate pen names is that, theoretically, you can diversify readership. It seems to have worked out all right for J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick. Readers will know what to expect from your name if you stick to a particular genre and do it well. Conversely, some would argue that writing multiple genres under one pen name allows you to consolidate readership. If you love a writer, will you love anything they write, no matter the genre, or do you tend to stick with writers within your favorite genre?

There are valid and interesting arguments on either side of the multiple pen name issue. I waffled a bit—or maybe a lot—before finally deciding that I wanted to create an additional writing identity. I have several sexy contemporary romance manuscripts in progress. As Christy Carlyle, I write historical romance, usually set in the Victorian Era. I just felt I needed another name for my contemporaries. Thus, Krista Knightley was born. 

From the outset, I acknowledge that it was a bit of work setting up another website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook account. However, the excitement of a new venture is heady fuel. It's a bit like I am running two tiny businesses now, and I want both of them to succeed. With a new year, all things seem possible, and I plan to make 2013 the year I publish, under both of my names.

What do you think of the multiple pen name question? 

Christy Carlyle

Debut Romance Author Bec McMaster

SOME RESOLUTIONS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

As a debut author, I can only say that I’m having the time of my life. In 2012 a dream came true for me, when my first book Kiss of Steel, was published with Sourcebooks. A steampunk romance, it’s set in a dark world where my heroine must make a desperate bargain with a dangerous rogue for her safety.

BEC MCMASTERS

A brilliantly creative debut where vampires, werewolves and clockwork creatures roam the mist-shrouded streets of London…

When Nowhere is Safe

Most people avoid the Whitechapel district. For Honoria Todd, it’s the last safe haven. But at what price?

Blade is known as the master of the rookeries – no one dares cross him. It’s been said he faced down the Echelon’s army single-handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood-craving he’s been quicker, stronger, almost immortal.

When Honoria shows up at his door, his tenuous control comes close to snapping. She’s so… innocent. He doesn’t see her backbone of steel – or that she could be the very salvation he’s been seeking. 

“Dark, intense and sexy…a stunning new series.” – Library Journal

For 2013, I’ve been setting a lot of goals and resolutions, because I firmly believe in having a roadmap for the year ahead.

For a little fun, I thought I’d get the hero and heroine of Kiss of Steel to write their own resolutions – as they might have been at the beginning of the novel.

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Blade’s New Year’s Resolutions:

       1.     Kill the Duke of Vickers

2.     Find out precisely what Miss Honoria Todd is hiding under her tightly laced gowns

3.     Discover the stubborn chit’s secrets… after all, why would Vickers have a price on her head?

4.     Keep the blue blood’s of the Echelon out of his turf, with extreme force if necessary.

 Honoria’s New Year’s Resolutions:

       1.     Survive

2.     Stay as far away from Blade, the Devil of Whitechapel, as she can

3.     Ensure the Duke of Vickers doesn’t get his hands on either her or her siblings – or the diary her father made her swear to protect with her life

4.     Resist the urge to choke her sister, Lena, when she spouts her romantic drivel – particularly when it involves a certain ruthless rogue.

Of course, some resolutions are meant to be broken, and those are the most fun of all. Can you guess which of my hero and heroine’s resolutions will be the first to go?   ~Bec McMasters
 

You can visit Bec's website here