Insecure Writer's Support Group: December 2016

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means!  It's time to convene another meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group!  Our esteemed leader Alex J. Cavanaugh has rounded up another great group of minions to co-host this month: Jennifer Hawes, Jen Chandler, Nick Wilford, Juneta Key, J.H. Moncrieff, Diane Burton, and M.J. Fifield.

Be sure to visit the IWSG website!

Now that it's December, I'm looking back on the past year and thinking about all that I've accomplished.  I think that's normal behavior for this time of year.  Overall, I have to say I'm pretty happy with everything that's happened.  I had two short stories published in anthologies, and I've continued self-publishing my Self-Help 101 series.  Nevertheless, I'm insecure about the fact that I'm not going to reach all my goals for the year.

My original goal was to have the entire Self-Help 101 series written and published by the end of the year.  It's become clear to me that this is not going to happen.  Now, the entire thing is actually written.  I accomplished that much. However, when I made the original goal, I hadn't anticipated getting pregnant and having a new baby in the house.  Now that I have a two-week-old baby in the house, editing and preparing a novella for publication is not my top priority.  I can't say for sure when I'll manage to publish the last novella in my series, but I'll get it done as soon as I can.  

And now it's time to answer this month's question.

In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what's your plan to get there?

The biggest thing I'd like to accomplish in the next five years is to have a novel published.  It's a lofty goal, yes, but I have to believe it's possible.  

I've written plenty of novels in my time, though it has been a little while since I last attempted it. Were any of those previous novels any good?  I have to be honest and say that most of them weren't.  Some of them may have some potential, but it would take a lot of work to whip them into shape.  Maybe I'll unearth one of them and make the effort, or maybe I'll come up with a brand new, shiny idea and start anew.  Either way, I plan to start on my goal of writing a novel once I've completed my work on Self-Help 101.  I'd like to have a complete first draft of a novel written by the end of 2017, and I hope to have it ready for submission by mid-2018.

From there I just need to be stubborb and go through the submission process.  I know it'll be a bumpy ride, but I'm ready for it.  You don't achieve your goals if you aren't willing to get a little scraped up.  As long as I keep writing and submitting, anything is possible.