In the month since I’ve written, I’ve been laying the groundwork to reach a few of my goals and to get things moving in the right direction overall. Sometimes life has intruded and kept me from writing, sometimes I’ve felt I have nothing to say, and other times, I’ve been so busy doing that I haven’t been writing. But rest assured, I am committed to getting back into the swing of things and writing here and elsewhere much more often.
For the last couple weekends, I’ve been moving. Moving has been a really big chore for me, mainly because only myself and Mr. Perfect have been doing all the heavy lifting. Yesterday was the day we rented a truck from Budget Rental and got the big things taken care of. When I say the big things, I mean two desks, a bookshelf, a large DVD shelving unit, a file cabinet, a chair, a futon, a queen sized pillow top mattress and its box spring, a dining room table and chairs, two coffee tables, an end table, an office chair, and probably something else my brain isn’t remembering but every muscle in my back, arms, and legs remembers intimately.
I gave a bunch of things to Goodwill and have a lot of things to go through and give away. It feels so freeing to go through my things and get rid of what I don’t use or need. I needed to get rid of some things because I’m now living with a roommate and have less space, but I didn’t realize how good it would feel to have less of certain things. I’ve gone through shoes and furniture; now I have to go through clothing to see what I have that needs to be trashed or donated. If you have the opportunity to do so while you’re spring cleaning, I encourage you to donate and pare down your possessions.
I’m still not done moving, but everything else can be accomplished with a couple more car trips and storage totes. Then it’s on to changing my address on a million forms and getting more settled in a new morning routine. Then it’s on to the financial goals.
In non-moving related news, I entered the first page of a new story in Harlequin’s Book to Blurb competition for their Love Inspired lines. It’s a story in a series that I’ve been working on for over a year now. It’s not the first book at the moment, but it’s turning out to be one of my favorites. I’m hoping to advance to the next round, which consists of the first three chapters and a synopsis.
I commissioned a cover for my NaNoWriMo 2013 story, to be released under a pen name. I’m waiting to see what the artist has come up with. It’s the first book in a romantic suspense series that I’m testing the fiction self-publishing waters with this year. I love this story and can’t wait until it’s available. I have the second and third books in the series on the go, on the back burner while I work on book to blurb, but very much in process.
Of course, I’m working on my second non-fiction book as well. I have two possibilities–a follow up to Altered before the Altar and my book focused on the Wilderness experience of the children of Israel. There’s still a lot to muddle through on both fronts, but both are developing well.
I received permission to sign up for a class to get my claims adjusting license in April. This will better position me in my current role and lead to opportunities to be promoted to a new role. The goal is a higher position and salary in the department I currently work in. We’ll see how well this strategy works.
I’ve signed up to review a ton of books and have interviews, guest posts and other fun book related posts over at Copywrite1985. Please join me there if you like romance/romantic fiction, suspense, writing related books and posts, and any literature/literary news that strikes my fancy.