SO MUCH TO DO

by Earl Staggs

For me, beginning a new year means thinking ahead to what I want to accomplish in the next twelve months.  The list each year is long and intimidatious and while I’d like to say I get it all done each year, I can’t. Still, I’d rather have more on my plate than I can handle.  That adds pressure to get it all done, and I work harder when the pressure’s on.  If there’s no pressure, I tend to get lazy.  Maybe you’re like that, too.

Here’s my list for the coming year:

Publish my new book, JUSTIFIED ACTION.  This one has been on my plate for a number of years.  Now it’s close enough to The End, I’m getting started on the actual publishing process.  I’ve decided to self-publish it in ebook and print form.  I won’t go into the reasons why. I’m sure many of you have wrestled with that decision lately.  Only time will tell if it’s the right decision.  I’ve decided, after considering the options, it’s the best thing for me. The final tweaking and polishing are nearly done and a friend with experience in the area is helping me with the cover design. I’m going to pay a specialist to do the formatting.  I’ve done it mysefl before and with that experience in mind, I know it will save a lot of my time and a good portion of my remaining sanity.

Finish the sequel to my first novel, MEMORY OF A MURDER.  I’m way past due on this.  The reviews and feedback from readers on that book were so encouraging I should have done this before now. Five chapters are completed, and I plan to have this done and out there by summer.  Getting back together with Adam Kingston, the main character, was so neat, I kicked myself for not concentrating more on his second outing.  The exact title still eludes me so I’m calling it MEMORY 2 for now.  The right title will make itself known to me when it’s ready to.

Revamp my blog site. The one I have now is okay, I suppose.  I did it myself and don’t feel too bad about it, but it needs some upgrading and I need to add some of the features I wasn’t aware of back then.

Jump into the social media marketing arena. I’ve shied away from this for a long time, but the time has come to get involved in all that’s out there.  Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, to name a few.  I have a lot to learn, but with the responsilbiity for promotion and marketing now settled squarely on the author’s shoulders, this is now a necessity.

My plan is to accomplish all the above by the middle of 2013. After that, I’ll be busy with the sequel to JUSTIFIED ACTION, the third entry in the MEMORY series, and more short stories. Along with, of course, doing all I can to get a handle on marketing in the online social media.

I may not accomplish all the goals I’ve set, but I’ll come closer to it if I keep the pressure on.

How much will I actually get done?  That’s a mystery, and mystery is what I’m about.

Have a great year!

http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com