Best Wishes for a Great 2014

On January 2, 2014   /   Agent Dallas, Detective Jackson, L.J. Sellers, new releases, New Year's Resolutions, productivity, setting goals   /   2 Comments
Tags:

New Year startNew Year’s is my favorite holiday! I love a fresh start and a chance to establish new habits and set new goals. At this point in my life, I’ve kicked most of my bad habits (except Diet Dr. Pepper), so this year’s resolutions are more about what I want to start doing rather than what I need to stop.

My personal list is pretty short and simple: I plan to dance more, maybe even take lessons. I hope to take hand drum lessons too. I’ve had the drum for a couple of years and I want to learn how to really play it. And I want to get out and see more of my gorgeous state this summer, do some hiking.

As for writing and publishing, I’m feeling pretty ambitious for the year. I plan to write and publish two more Agent Dallas books, one of which I’m working on now. The first one releases on New Year’s day and I have a great giveaway planned. I also plan to write Detective Jackson #10 before the year’s over. So here’s the production schedule:

  • January 1: The Trigger (Agent Dallas #1) released
  • January-March: Write Agent Dallas #2
  • May: Publish Agent Dallas #2
  • May-July: Write Jackson #10
  • July 1: Deadly Bonds (Jackson #9) releases
  • September-October: Write Agent Dallas #3
  • December: Publish Agent Dallas #3
  • March 1: Detective Jackson #10 releases

 

At the end of this year, I’ll have 16 books written—10 Jackson stories, 3 Dallas stories, and 3 standalone thrillers. And the only one that won’t be published until 2015 is Jackson #10. It’s an ambitious schedule but doable. My personal life seems to have settled down a little, and Thomas & Mercer is handling the production and marketing of the Jackson series. What will be challenging is doing all the production and marketing for the Agent Dallas series, which I’m independently publishing. But after this first one, it should get easier.

I will also be moving sometime in the spring, and I’ll also be working on Left Coast Crime 2015 as the co-chair…so I’ll be plenty busy.

I really hope readers like the new series. Agent Dallas has been a lot of fun for me. As much as I love Jackson, it’s nice change of pace to write about someone who is less structured and less encumbered. In other words, Dallas is a little wild, and I’m enjoying her life vicariously. ☺

Happy reading! Happy New Year! Thanks for all your support

Back to Top

NaNo, Goals, and Motivation

On December 1, 2010   /   motivation, NaNoWriMo, setting goals, the writing life, writing life   /   1 Comment
Tags: , , ,

nanowrimo_participant_06_100x100I  participated in National Novel Writing Month for the second time. Last year, I had the first half of a book written and I used NaNo as a motivation to quickly finish the second half. I was successful in doing that. This year, I had an outline and a first chapter of the next Jackson story, but I’d been out of new-story writing mode for a long time, so I signed up for NaNo as a motivation to write a good chunk of the book. Read more →

Back to Top

My Someday List

On December 20, 2009   /   setting goals, the writing life   /   Leave a comment
Tags: , , , ,

No matter how efficient I work, I still have this growing list of things I want to read/learn/get better at that I never seem find time for. Maybe in 2010…
A few things I have not yet learned to do:

  • Read a manual called Perfect Eyes that I paid $39 for in the hopes that I could keep my eyes from getting worse. (It’s near the top of the pile, but I’m damn near too blind to read it now.) Read more →
Back to Top

New Day, New Goals

On November 1, 2008   /   e-book, Echelon Press, meeting goals, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, podcasting, podiobook, setting goals, The Sex Club   /   4 Comments

Last January, I set two main goals for the year: 1) establish a freelance fiction editing business and 2) write and sell a second Detective Jackson novel. With the help of a layoff from my job, I sort of accomplished the first. And yesterday, I signed with Echelon Press to publish Secrets to Die For next September, so I can happily check off the second goal.

And I did it with two months to spare, so now I can write like crazy on the third Jackson story during November, also known as National Novel Writing Month. I don’t expect to finish the novel in 30 days, but if I have 30,000 words down by December, I’ll be very happy. (And yes, technically it’s a new goal.)

I’ve also come to accept the idea that the publishing industry is moving—slowly—away from paper products. In fact, I bought a Kindle the other day (I still have a credit card!), something I never thought I would do. (It hasn’t arrived, so I can’t report on it yet, but I will eventually.) So now I’m thinking seriously about nonpaper media, with ideas such as 1) creating an audio version (podiobook) of The Sex Club, 2) creating a downloadable e-book of a story I wrote years ago and never tried to sell, and 3) podcasting the first chapter of several of my stories. All viable projects—all time consuming. But I have two months to spare this year, so why not branch out?

Back to Top