Goal Check: Am I meeting my creative writing goals?

Every January I write down what I want to achieve during the year ahead because I believe the process does a lot to help make my dreams come true. As a newly minted author, I really had no clue at the start of 2012 what a realistic goal might look like for me in the months ahead. But I waded in at the beginning of this year anyway.

We’re just over halfway through the year now, and I thought it made sense to check in to see how I’m doing. It’s been a tough slog on the novel front: my business writing interests have kept me hopping all year and I’m learning how to balance my priorities.  On the business side of things, I write newsletter and web content, speeches and press materials for large organizations. Here’s how I’ve been doing with “Teale” so far this year:

1. Goal: Connect with women’s organizations to explore ways of using my novel to help women in distressing situations move into happier lives. “Shades of Teale” tells the story of a woman’s journey through an increasingly unhappy marriage to a better sense of her own strength on the other side. It’s a story many of us can related to. I’ve made some overtures on this one but so far nothing has gelled. Score: 2/10.

2. Goal: Develop a set of “Shades of Teale” meditation cards and bring them to market. I’ve completed a rough version of the cards and I’ve asked my magical friend Christine Riedel Gagnon to review them for me with an eye to improvements I might make. Christine is a life coach and she’s a practitioner and teacher of Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique, Shamanism, Animal Communication. She’s an expert in a number of other healing arts and also an authority on domestic abuse. Christine has come back to me with some questions about the type of input I’m looking for and I haven’t yet gotten back to her. I give myself about a five out of ten on this one.

3. Goal: Introduce “Shades of Teale” as an e-book. Success! “Teale” is now available on amazon.ca as a Kindle book and you can order your copy on Amazon.com.

 4. Goal: Sell out the original press run and create enough demand for a huge reprint. Hasn’t happened so far! Two out of Ten!

5. Goal: do at least three virtual book tours. Oh dear, not going so well on this front either. Zero out of 10.

We’ll see how I do by the end of the year but so far I’m not impressed with myself! Can I do better? Will do my best! Cross your fingers for me! And in the meantime, if you’d like to order “Shades of Teale” as either an e-book or a soft cover, please do!