A Dash of Words with Loleta Abi Romance Author

The Writer’s Wheel 12/15/19: Goals for Next Year in Adult Fiction

Loleta Abi

I’m not one to set New Year’s Resolutions. I like to stick to goals. With that said, it’s that time of year when I want to be thinking ahead to the new year and what I want to accomplish. So, here goes:

In Faith: I want to grow stronger, kinder, a better person.

Family: I want to continue to enjoy the time I spend with them and make new adventures for us all.

Websites: My priority is to continue to grow them, build followers, go up in the rankings. I want to monetize Country Lane: Home at the Cottage to help out with finances. So far, the monetizing hasn’t been working. I know others say that it takes a good while to grow the website though so I’m trying to remember that. Most likely, I’ll lose Amazon as there had to be three purchases within ninety days and this is the last month. I’m thinking of reaching out to companies to see if they will want to sponsor me. Not sure if that’ll work or not.

Traci Kenworth.com is doing the best of the websites. It continues to delight me how well it climbs in the numbers. That boosts my hope that Loleta Abi.wordpress.com will also assert itself and Country Lane will come along. I plan more surprises on Country Lane.

I Am Going to Become a Regular Blogger at Another Site (not sure if they want me to announce where yet). My first post will be the end of Jan. After that, it’ll be the end of every month. That doesn’t mean I won’t guest elsewhere, however, providing the time and their acceptance.

Writing: The biggie is, as usual, squeezing in more time for such. I’ve fallen to the wayside on editing with the holidays but hope to pick that up in Jan. I have been writing but mostly poetry and short stories. I’ve been training with Colleen Chesbro for the poetry and with Max Booth III on the short stories. I hope they see a difference in my writing and how much I’m learning from both. I’m learning to push myself and take it to the next level. So on that note, I also want to devote more time to learning my craft. Practice, practice, practice they say, and I do. Sometimes it’s painful but that pain draws out something good sometimes, lol.

My goal also is to challenge myself to read more. I hope to round out this year with the fifty books I set as a goal last time. I’m four books shy right now. I’m near the end of enough that may put me over that goal. Next year, I want to challenge myself to read seventy-five. Not sure if that’s possible. This year, the surgeries and other crisis in our lives slowed my reading. At times, it helped elevate the pain. Others, not so much. I still love reading. Growing up, my mother always encouraged me to read. She was a reader as well so there were always books around the house. When I babysat, the couples or single mothers usually had a shelf of books to read to keep myself occupied while the child or children slept. That’s where I discovered the book that got me interested in horror: Comes the Blind Fury. It drew me in and soon I was reading Stephen King, John Saul, Ramsey Campbell, Bentley Little, Tanith Lee, and more. I also fell into fantasy: the likes of Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mercedes Lackey, Robert Jordan, J.R.R. Tolkien, Piers Anthony, C.S. Lewis, and more. Romance was a big part of my life as my mom mostly read that genre. I read authors such as Nora Roberts, Jane Krentz, Constance O’Banyon, Cassie Edwards, Linda Howard, Suzanne Enoch, and more. Thrillers/Mysteries came along with Dean Koontz, Linda Howard again, Agatha Christie, Dan Brown and more.

It wasn’t till much later that I danced into the YA genre with Twilight and The Hunger Games. I’d experimented with the genre with others such as Cassandre Clare’s Shadowhunter series, Harry Potter, and books by Rebekah Purdy. I LOVED, LOVED the genre from the first page. It was like stepping into home for me. Once again, the characters fascinated me and pulled me into their stories. From fairytales to outer space, normal life to other worlds. I couldn’t get enough.

Obviously, the next goal is to get published. Whether that be in poetry, short stories, or book form this year remains to be seen. I’d like to tackle all three as usual and pray for the best. If I could do this several or triple times in some of these categories I would be ecstatic.

What Genres Do I Plan to Write in for Adult? Romance is my first love. It got me through my teen years and beyond. I’m writing historicals at the moment but want to dive into contemporary and fantasy. Thrillers may rear their head in the future, we’ll see. There may be some horror in there as well. I’m a bit on the tamer side so usually, it’s for teens, but I wouldn’t rule out something deeper. Sweeter. Unpredictable. Something Shirley Jackson-ish. I can only aspire, right?

For the Home: Repairs if I can afford them. Though, I may be forced to do some. Homes take maintenance I know but it’s hard to fix things on a budget. I’m trying to fix what I can each week of the smaller things and save for the larger tasks.

For the Car: Maintenance. And teaching the kids to drive. Ergh. Argh.

Health: I need to get more active. It does no good sitting all day. I spend my days writing or driving. I need to catch the gym at least three times a week if I can. I have to check my health card and see what I can. My daughter has gym privileges with hers. We’ll have to pay or see about getting Medicare for my disabled son. He has insurance through me now, but if he gets any more health concerns, I’m going to try and enroll him.

Land: I want to get it under control next year. There’s a lot of work. I’m thinking of hiring someone as we just can’t keep up with it. We also have to find someone to remove fallen trees from storms. We thought we had someone to haul them away this past year, but they backed out. The septic may be in need of repairs, we’ll see. They are putting new sewer lines through the county and charging us twice now for them. Sigh.

Pets: Keep them safe and healthy.

What are your goals for next year? Do you like goals better than resolutions? Or do neither? What’s Your Outlook Then? Have a great week, take care, and God bless!