An Early Happy New Year

I hope this finds everyone enjoying a festive and wonderful holiday season. I missed the opportunity to post my greetings with my blogmates because my e-mail has been down due to the fact that I'm switching over to another computer. I love getting a new machine, as mine is slipping away at a rapid clip, but in the transfer process I've missed some communications that I wish I wouldn't have missed. The holiday wishes for this blog was one of them.

So, I'm being proactive, given that my next post will be in 2013--can you believe it?--and wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year's. Where did 2012 go? I mean, it seems like just yesterday that I was doing my last blog post of 2011, and here we are with 2013 looming. Is the earth spinning faster or something? Yeeeikes!

For me, 2012 has been a hectic, crazy, and challenging year, and I'm not sad to see it go. However, even for all the hard stuff I've had to overcome this year, there have been some real bright spots, some real accomplishments or good things that helped offset some of the difficult times. For example...

1. I finally found underwear that fit really, really well. I'd lost some weight, and my undies got baggy. I never thought much about it until I saw the wrinkles showing through my jeans one day. When I moved, it looked like my bottom had a mind of it's own and was doing some kind of hula dance with a snake. To find underwear that actually fits, because of my odd size, is a major accomplishment that makes for a little less worrisome morning when I'm trying to get ready for work.
2. I maintained my weight after losing about almost twenty pounds, although I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not right now. I feared that I'd gain my weight back, so it's good that I didn't, but I also wanted to lose just five more pounds. I actually had a going away party for those stubborn last few pounds of flab, but since food and drink were served, it sort of defeated the purpose.
3. I got to write a little more, but also I've found new homes for some of my older books. They'll be coming out in 2013, in hopefully new and improved versions, along with some brand new stuff. The process to get it done has been a real learning experience, and I've discovered you can teach an old dog new tricks. Woof!
4. This hasn't happened yet, but my DH is 100% supportive of creating sort of a home office for me, which will include my new computer (once I get the blasted thing set up) and a nice workspace in case I want to do a craft of some sort. We're negotiating, and I've had to use my feminine wiles to convince him to give up his computer chair. That and other kinds of "negotiations" like it have really been the true highlights of 2012 for me. :)

What about you? What great things happened for you in 2012? Or, what do you look forward to in 2013? Please do share. It's gonna be a great year!

New Year and a New Outlook

I hope everyone’s enjoying the holiday season and ready to make 2008 the best year possible. While I’m not one who usually makes New Year’s resolutions, this year I’ll make an exception. After a great deal of reflection recently, I’ve discovered many times when I’ve focused on the big picture and failed to fully embrace the smaller everyday elements that add harmony, bliss and excitement to my waking moments. I’ve also realized an amazing inner peace by relaxing the reins and letting life take me on journeys I might not have considered in the past. For 2008 I’m resolving to plan less and allow for more spontaneity in many aspects of my life.

What about you? What are you resolving as we approach the time when 2007 will surrender to 2008?

Season's greetings and steamy readings,

Shawna Moore http://www.grant-moore.com/

ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave

HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave

Myspace -- http://www.myspace.com/shawnamooreauthor

Helle's Myspace -- http://www.myspace.com/hellehawthorn

What Are Your New Year's Goals?

I wonder if William of Normandy made New Year's Goals. Time to conquer Saxony England.

Or if Christopher Columbus peered out into the wide blue ocean and made a goal to reach land.

The key to making goals is ensuring they're reasonable, something that we can actually achieve!

First, make a long term goal---for instance: by the end of the year I want to have written another book.

Make shorter term goals to reach this end: Write 70,000 words in the next 3 months, so approximately 23,000 a month, break down further, in a week, less than 6,000 words per week. Divide it up by days, 1,000 per day, 1 day off a week for good behavior. But what about the rest of the year? Okay, revise book, have it critiqued, ultimate goal? Send it out to agents/editors before year end. Again, make these real goals....By such and such a date, send in chapters for critique. By such and such a date, have all revisions done. By this date, submit to these five agents. If no response by a certain date, send out to these five agents. Etc....always make the short term goals identifiable, not vague.

The key here is to set tangible goals and how we're going to reach them with shorter, more doable goals.

By stating I want to have something or do something by the end of the year, but I make no plans on how to go about that, will surely result in not accomplishing my goal. :)

I want to write a new book and have it ready to go before the end of year? I'll do it, IF I reach my short term goals that keep me headed in the right direction.

So what is my New Year's Goal? Finish Betrayal of the Wolf and send it to my editor!

What are your New Year's Goals?

Terry Spear

Heart of the Wolf

~~Welcome to my world, where wolves are wolves with a human sensibility, and their human counterparts are gifted with the wolf's keen senses. See what happens when the lupus garou break free of the rules of their society, wreaking havoc, and threatening exposure of their special kind. Read how Devlyn rescues Bella only to find themselves in worse trouble than before where their forbidden love may get them both killed...

www.terryspear.com