New Year (Writing) Resolutions

Hope everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday season! I wish every day of my life was filled with tinsel and lights, like so:

Festive seasonal palm trees

Alas! It’s on to the New Year. Which brings to mind resolutions, especially of the writing variety. As an author, I actually don’t start fresh on January 1st. Instead, I use a system of constant goals. For example, I have a standalone mystery that I’ve been tinkering around with since last year. Except I didn’t quite make my personal cutoff date for constructing a coherent structure for it.

Then again, that was much of 2021 for me. It was a win to just keep on writing sometimes. A few of my plans took flight, but others plummeted. In the end, everything turned out fine.

Here’s a recap from last year:

PUBLISHED:

1 novel (Mimi Lee Cracks the Code; Sassy Cat Mystery 3)

1 anthology (Midnight Hour)

WROTE:

3 short stories (on submission)

1 novel (Death by Bubble Tea; L.A. Night Market Mystery 1)

SHELVED:

1 YA manuscript

I’m not sure what this says about my planning skills that I have both hits and misses. I suppose it means I should leave room for surprises. (That’s been much of my writing career. I wouldn’t have predicted my trajectory with the Sassy Cat stories or even the anthology.)

Well, I’m still plotting and crafting in 2022…but maybe I’ll cut out the rigid goal-making.

Cheers! Let me know how your 2022 is going and what your plans are!

Wordless Wednesday: Holiday Donut
Book Review: Mulled to Death

Comments

  1. Happy New Year! I’d say you accomplished quite a bit in 2021.
    For my 2022 goals and intentions, I spent a couple of days journaling and planning out quarterly projects. I intend to re-outline a YA novel I shelved six months ago and see if that revives the ms. Who knows, it may work out. If not maybe I can salvage the ms by creating a short story to submit.

    • Jennifer Chow says

      Thanks, Mona! Your plans sound superb. I love that part about salvaging manuscripts by making them into short stories–I’ve done that before myself.

  2. I’d say your 2021 was a big success, Jen! Thank you for bringing such wonderful books and stories into the world. Looking forward to more of them in 2022 (no pressure, ha).

    • Jennifer Chow says

      Happy New Year, Lisa–and thanks! Well, I have one book coming out in July 2022: Death by Bubble Tea. It’s got two Chicks’ wings up (from Ellen and Leslie), so hopefully readers will love it, too.

  3. I’ve used Jan. 1 resolutions before. But now I also use the system of constant goals. Your successes in 2021 are amazing. Congratulations and happy New Yea.

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