Sylvia's Soliloquies

New Year, New Goals - 12/31/22

Hello all, it's been awhile since I've done a proper blog post because what I've learned in 22 is that I'm still shit at being consistent.

You know, I remember days when I was a stay at home mom with an infant/toddler and somehow posted a new chapter almost every weekday. What the hell happened?

In my defense, in 2022 I spent 6 months leaving my day job, three months transitioning back to being a full time writer and part time stay at home mom during the summer, and then three months watching my cat lose his battle with a ruthless disease before having to say goodbye to him right before the holidays.

So as is traditional with the 20s, I'd like to give 2022 another well deserved fuck you! 

Anyway, 2022 wasn't all terrible. In fact I managed to accomplish a few of my goals that I set out in my blog post at the very beginning of this year!

1. I got 100k reads! - I was hoping to break past the 100k milestone this year with either A Bachelor for Christmas or His Only Weakness since both were very close. This past Christmas season has me well over 100k with A Bachelor for Christmas and His Only Weakness may actually break through 100k in 23 as it now needs just short of 5k reads.

2. I got 1k followers! - I think I ended up getting this one sometime in the summer... One of my goals this year is to better document my accomplishments so I can really appreciate all that I've gotten done over the year. Anyway, whenever it was, I did get 1k followers and I'm thrilled that many people find me at least mildly interesting!

3. I finally started Delilah Cross and the Bone Chapel! - I had multiple books I was hoping to do last year, but thanks to my inconsistency--and a book that decided to be way longer than I expected--I only started one of my planned books. Still, I'm thrilled with all the progress I've made with this entry in the Whisper Valley series and so so grateful for my dedicated readers who've been with me along the way!

4. Bonus: Two stories joined Paid and three stories joined YONDER! - These weren't resolutions at the start of 2022, but they're definitely accomplishments I'm thrilled to have achieved this year. A Groom for Christmas and Falling for a Memory both joined Wattpad Paid Stories this summer and then they, plus A Bachelor for Christmas, were included in YONDER's premier library! I really needed these boasts to my self-confidence given all that I was going through outside of writing.

So yes, my personal life was shit in 2022, but a lot has happened for me in my writing life that I'm so grateful for this year!

Okay, so enough about 2022. Let's look towards 23!

So as much as I would love to see His Only Weakness get to 100k, I'm not really aiming for that or any other statistic-based milestones. Mostly, I'm aiming for consistency this year because I am someone who thrives on routine and I feel like I haven't had that since before a certain pandemic came and shit all over our lives.

So here are my writing related goals for 23:

1. Finish Delilah Cross and the Bone Chapel - This one should be an easy goal since I'm very close to the end already and as of yesterday, I have officially completed the outline for this entry in the series. And before you ask, no the next book is not at all planned for this year. Look for the final book of Delilah Cross's arc in 24.

2. Finish posting The Vampire's Harvest - I don't know if anyone even cares about his book, but dammit I've made it this far and the whole thing is already written, it just needs to be edited and posted. So after I finish Bone Chapel, I will be taking a bit of a mental breather by simply getting Vampire's Harvest onto Wattpad.

3. Participate in ONC? - This resolution I'm not sure of. I'd really like to participate, but it depends on the timing of things. I really think it would be fun though, so I'm hopeful that I can do it this year.

4. Write my Untitled Women's Lit novel - Back in my 2022 resolutions post, I mentioned my desire to write a women's lit novel that focused on body image issues. I never got to it since Bone Chapel was taking forever and a day to finish, but my hope is to write that novel this year.

5. Write Reverse Christmas for NaNoWriMo - This was another goal from 2022 that didn't happen because of Bone Chapel. However, my hope is to finish the untitled book mentioned above before November so I can dedicate that month to NaNoWriMo and rewriting my discarded Christmas romcom.

So there you go, despite the heartbreak of 22, lots was done, and hopefully in 23 I can find some "normalcy" in life and writing.

I hope you survived whatever 22 threw at you and that your 23 is happy, healthy, and kind!