Picking Goals When the Trees Are Autumnal

The time always comes when I have to make new writing goals, but I never like it. Right now, since I’m not under contract, I am at looser ends than usual.

My “business” goals are pretty well laid out for right now. I’m getting my author photo done, and my website re-design is in progress, and I’ve already set up a dozen or so guest blogs in conjunction with the release of my next novel, The Duke and the Pirate Queen.

It’s the writing goals I’m pondering. What to write next? What do I want to write? What do I feel enthusiastic about writing? What’s marketable?

I can’t seem to make any decisions. Not firm ones. I wrote a couple of synopses, and they felt flat; the process was like digging through mud with a teaspoon. I suspect I’m a bit burned out, after spending the last four years writing novels while holding down a full-time dayjob.

Along with drafting synopses, I’ve been reading research materials and looking at unfinished projects. I’ve been reading, because reading is one of my essential methods for filling up my brain with materials that will eventually compost into fiction. I’ve been reading a book on woolly mammoths (Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age) and enjoying it hugely (pun intended).

For the next few weeks, I think my goal is to read more and think about writing less.

Maybe something will shake loose.

Related Posts:
Resting, Or Not-Writing.

Shopping and Recharging.

About Victoria Janssen

Victoria Janssen [she, her] currently writes cozy space opera for Kalikoi. The novella series A Place of Refuge begins with Finding Refuge: Telepathic warrior Talia Avi, genius engineer Miki Boudreaux, and augmented soldier Faigin Balfour fought the fascist Federated Colonies for ten years, following the charismatic dissenter Jon Churchill. Then Jon disappeared, Talia was thought dead, and Miki and Faigin struggled to take Jon’s place and stay alive. When the FC is unexpectedly upended, Talia is reunited with her friends and they are given sanctuary on the enigmatic planet Refuge. The trio of former guerillas strive to recover from lifetimes of trauma, build new lives on a planet with endless horizons, and forge tender new connections with each other.
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