Image by Larisa Koshkina from Pixabay

Setting goals for the new year is always a challenge because there’s so much I want to do. As the years pass, the projects accumulate, to the point where I now have too many to choose from (admittedly a good problem to have). 

I thought long and hard over Winter Break about which project I should focus on in 2024. There’s my micro memoir, a collection of 100-word pieces meant to distill the stories of my life, mostly for my children. There are two novellas and a middle grade book completely drafted and waiting for edits. There’s a middle grade fairy tale and a young adult magical realism, both with beginnings but no end. 

I want to work on all of them. I want to write new essays. I want to write new short stories. I want more time in which to do it all.

But something I’ve learned over the years is this: simple is better and commitment is everything. I can accomplish much more when I try to do less and commit 100% to my choices. 

With that in mind, my writing goal for 2024 is pretty simple: I’m going to self-publish my cozy mystery series. 

Sweet Dreams is a project I dreamed up in 2019 after realizing there were no cozy mysteries for young adults. I planned out several books and wrote two in a six-month period; the following year I self-published the first one on Kindle Vella during their launch. I had a lot of success on that platform but ultimately decided to publish the books as actual books. Now that I’m nearly done drafting the third one, 2024 seems like a good time to release all three.

The first book will be released in summer, the second in fall, and the third in December, just in time for a Christmas bundle. That’s the plan anyway. And why shouldn’t it work? It’s simple enough, and I’m committed to seeing it through.

As for last year’s goals, here they are again, along with the results!

1) Self-publishing my short story collection, What Was Never There

What Was Never There was released on December 21.

2) Publishing at least one piece in a literary magazine

My short fiction “Windows” was published in Best Microfiction 2023 in July; another piece, “Wrapping Paper,” was published in 5 Minute Lit in August (and featured at the Salem Lit Fest in September!).

3) Reading 30 books

Here are the 31 books I read in 2023.

Happy 2024, everyone!!