How many of you stick with New Year’s resolutions? Seeing gyms fill up in January and empty again in February attests to the difficulty in keeping resolutions. In some ways, it’s a little like hiking a rugged mountain trail. Starting on the path is easy enough. Then the trail takes a turn into a switchback or runs alongside a jagged cliff. Suddenly, putting one foot in front of another requires much more effort than you anticipated.
The same can be true in creating writing goals. How often do you tell yourself, ‘I’m going to write a novel,’ and never put more than a few sentences together before life gets in the way? Trust me, I’ve been in this situation. I’ve traveled that road many times where writing dreams never enter the real world. It’s so easy to make excuses than face an empty notebook or a blank computer screen.
Crafting an engaging, well-written story requires you to exert effort and energy just like climbing a mountain. It takes commitment to develop characters and bring them to life. Sometimes, you have to push yourself to reach the final destination.
I finally conquered my own rugged mountain trail when I published my debut novel Pandora Reborn last summer. I took some time to soak in the scenery and celebrate the accomplishment and realization of a lifelong dream. Now I’m hard at work attacking the next trail ahead of me and making good on some new writing resolutions.
Now, in 2019, I’m working on my second novel which I hope to publish by the spring or summer. I’m so excited to share the story and characters I’m creating with the world. This second novel will mark my first official foray into the science fiction genre. It will also draw on some thriller and horror elements that I wove through the narrative in Pandora Reborn. The coolest part of my work in progress is it will introduce a new fictional universe that I will expand upon further in a legion of sci-fi novels and short stories down the road.
That doesn’t mean I have forgotten about Deer Falls. I also have many more stories and novels I plan to write and publish that are set within that fictional universe. This includes two direct sequels to Pandora Reborn currently in development. Both sequels are planned for a 2020 or 2021 release.
That’s the fun part of having writing goals. Once you reach one, it becomes much easier to reach others.