New Year. New Goals. New Plan of Action.

I've been MIA and with good reason, too.

I've been spending as much time with family through the holidays. My grandbabies are getting big, and quickly.

I've also been self-reflecting on where I'm going with my writing ... and where I'm going with this blog. 

If there's one thing I want and have prayed about, is this ... I want whatever I write to go along with what I believe. It doesn't matter if it's popular. What matters is if I actually help someone with my fiction.

I know I've already posted about the time I was into acting. And an agent asked, "Are you willing to do anything to be famous?" Right then and there, I knew my acting career would be null and void. But I'm glad that it is. Although, it was a great experience and I learned a lot about people in general, the world, and myself.

 

What am I trying to say? That I don't care if I'm famous and I don't care if people agree with me. There, I said it. But I hope with where ever my blog and novels and short stories go ... it goes to help someone or a lot of someones.

Anyhow, my blog will be changing a bit here. Since I'm a history buff, I will be writing more about conspiracy theories ...  which for the most part, I don't believe are unproven opinions ... conspiracy meaning: a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful and harmful; and theory meaning: a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained. Put the two together and you get this meaning: a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event. 

 

And no, I don't believe the Queen of England and her brood are a bunch of shape-shifting lizards. That's absurd!

As for my novels, Killer Stilettos, my second book, in the Lila's Journey's Series, its being stripped of the unnecessary and re-molded. The plan is to get it from 80,000 words to 50,000.

Combat Boots, the third book, in the Lila's Journey Series, has pretty much written itself. But changes will be made there as well.

Time on Her Side is being added to. I don't believe this will be a series though. And it's taking quite a bit of research on my part, since it is a time travel piece.

My White Trash and Pill Heads series is on the shelf for now. But I am missing it. Especially Joe Soften, a hoarding-gun-toting-pot-smoking-hopelessly-in-love-with-his-ex-wife-apocolyptic-red-neck-kind-of-guy. Know anybody like this?

And sometime before Christmas, I turned in 2 pieces to Chicken Soup for the Soul, on their upcoming dream and premonition book. The Secret and The Storm.

So sigh, sigh, sigh. A lot is going on. Not to mention, that it's been crazy busy at The Salon. Been doing 20 to 28 haircuts a day the last 2 weeks. I'm exhausted to say the least.

Oh and I got the edits back on Samah Ronit. Once, I get that perfected it will go off to the Copyright Office. Once I get my number, it will be onto the formatter. I know for a fact that this one will be out by Summer.

Okay. This was my update. But before I go, I wanted to leave you with this question. WHAT IF EVERY TIME YOU TURNED ON YOUR TELEVISION SET, YOU CAME UNDER A SPELL? ARE THE POWERS THAT BE TWISTING AND RESHAPING OUR MINDS WITH SYMBOLS AND PROPAGANDA? ARE WE IN DANGER? Could be. Never know. These questions will begin a blog I'll post next week.

 

And for fun, I couldn't resist ...

 

Hope good things for everyone in the New Year! And hope I can catch up on my blog reading.

I am seriously behind.

 

Hugs and chocolate, all!

Shelly

2014 Plans

Before I tell you my plans, I wanted to wish you all a Happy New New. May God be good to us all and grant us our dreams within reason.

Also, thank you all who follow, visit, and comment. Your words of encouragement mean a lot to me. I'm believing that 2014 will be obstacle free for all of us.

Now for my plans. I've been thinking about the goals I set every year. Sometimes I set them too high to reach. So this year I'm keeping them within reach.

Keeping my house clean: I've been cleaning one to two rooms a day. This has been doable and fits right into my writing and working schedule. Not to mention, I always hated cleaning the whole house in one day. Overwhelming and boring.

Exercise: I'll keep speed and interval walking thirty to forty minutes a day. And I'll keep at the light weight training, too. No more over doing it for me. The lesson learned: too much of good thing can be very, very bad.

Writing: Stick with my morning routine of two to three hours. My brain works better at this time versus night. 

Publishing:  Killer Stilettos is next to be out. It's the next book in the Lila's Journey series. And I have a short story already for publishing except for a cover. Samah Ronit. 

Last but not least, I have another project. A novella series to be published sometime this year. White Trash and Pill Heads.

What are your plans for this new year?

Hugs and chocolate!

Shelly