January IWSG and 2020 Goals

This year launched with a stressful and exhausting beginning. I haven't had a quiet day since Dec 28. It's been one long exhausting day and overtime after another. Great for paying bills, as far as the overtime goes, but with everything else on top, it's been a lot to deal with. The other stuff is mostly health issues for other family/extended family members but it's beginning to take a toll on me too. Thankfully, I don't have anything author-related planned until early February. I hope to be more awake and alert by then.

My annual one word resolution is READ. I've been so focused on writing/editing for the past couple years that I haven't had much time for kicking back with a book.  I hope to do better with that this year. To get me in the right mind-set, I'm looking into a book club at a nearby indie bookstore. Beyond that, my TBR stacks are spawning baby stacks. It's out of control...but I keep coming home with more books. So yes, I need to tame those a bit.

2020 Goals:
1. Due to the publisher of The Narvan closing down at the end of last year, first on my list is republishing Trust myself.
2. Chain of Grey: The Narvan - Book Two, is proofed and awaiting formatting and then is next up for publication.
3. Publish a second short story collection. The stories are all written, but await a final edit and then the whole proof/format/publish routine.
4. Publish Spindelkin - a MG fantasy/fairytale. This was my NaNo 2019 project. It needs an ending, but is generally outlined and then onward to editing/beta reads and the rest.

I'll be doing slightly less events this year so I (in theory) have time to accomplish these goals. I'll be updating the list over there ---> as events are added throughout the year.

If you'd like updates on when any of those projects are published, please sign up for my newsletter. Also over there ---->

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 
and find links to all the other 
participating writers.

And now, its time for the first Insecure Writer's Support Group post of 2020. This month's question is: 
What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just "know" suddenly you wanted to write?

This is a popular question. Which, thankfully means it's an easy one to answer. My third grade teacher launched me into writing with a Scholastic writing competition. I wrote a horrible little story about a dog who got lost, complete with pictures, and won for our grade. That meant I had to go to the local college to an award ceremony, which was utterly terrifying for an extremely shy kid. A year later, my fourth grade history teacher and I clicked and I started slipping her short stories (which were also awful, btw), and she would covertly slide them back to me the next day with encouraging notes on them.

So for all you teachers out there, doing your little one on one things with what little time and energy you have in light of everything else, it's greatly appreciated, even it's not apparent at the time.