resolutions – Cannons to Cruising

Happy New Year!

2024 is off like a rocket. I finished the first draft of my 8^th book last week and had a VERY exciting phone call about my 7^th book that I’ll divulge more details about later. But back to finishing the book!

My YA thriller ended up being 77,264 words long, which was close to my target word count. The working title is GYBE. For a book that was just ‘vibes’ in October, it only took ten weeks to become a fully-fledged novel by January. Ha, Gybe-vibes. I think my average pace of six months per book is realistic long-term, although I would love to reach the point where I complete a project every four months and do three per year. However, I don’t know if that will be possible until fall of 2025, when my youngest will start kindergarten. So, for now, I’m just enjoying the brain dump that happens once I’m done with a draft and letting the plot threads leak out of my ears.

I’m putting the draft aside for a couple weeks so it will be fresh when I start to revise. I’ve been focusing on some of my New Year’s goals instead. I like the word ‘goals’ instead of ‘resolutions’. ‘Resolution’ seems very constrictive and almost punitive, like one misstep and you’ve failed your resolution. Might as well throw in the towel for 2024! My goal for this year is to meditate more. My hope is that meditation will lead to improvements in other areas of my life—patience, creativity, and lessening anxiety. Instead of a bunch of small, individual goals, I’ve gathered them all up into one action: meditate! Efficient, no? I think it’s working so far (thanks, HeadSpace app!). I manifested the crap out of the first 2 weeks this year 😉

People ask how I celebrate being done with a draft. It is very nerdy and not at all exciting for anyone who isn’t me. Usually, I say, “Woohoo!” then I double-space the whole manuscript. I draft in single-space format, so after I type ‘The End’, I get to watch the manuscript page number multiply. I look forward to this moment for months (don’t judge me). Then celebrations might involve a cocktail at the end of the day while Conor cooks a nice dinner. Then it’s back to life as usual. Here I am, doing laundry and watching my kids bounce off the walls post-draft. The reality of being a parent writer!

Love,

Taylor

Taking on 2019!

2018 was an absolutely amazing year for our family. Our little girl turned 1 and is signing/talking up a storm. More importantly, WE survived our first year as parents! Conor kicked butt at work and got his JTAC-E certification. I published a book and signed the contract for another. We had some great sailing experiences and became friends with some awesome people. Here are a few highlights:

top9

I want to make 2019 as great as last year. I’m a big believer in goal setting, and do not limit it to New Year’s resolutions. Two or three times per year, Conor and I will sit down and write out a few goals we have for the near future. We keep everything in a running Word document, so it is fun to look back on and cross things off, whether it took us a few weeks or a few years to accomplish them.

One of the most important things with goal setting is being able to reflect and see evidence of your accomplishments. It is okay to celebrate! And in order for a goal or resolution to feel ‘complete’, I have to be as specific with my wording as possible. It helps to break it down from a vague idea to something that feels do-able. Otherwise, how can I judge if I’ve really done it? I’m coming up with new goals all the time. Some are a little easier, like “Tell my family I love them every day”, while others require a plan.

Here are a few of my plans for taking on 2019. See how they would look as a ‘resolution’ vs. a ‘goal’:

Resolution: Get healthy

Goal: Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. No more skipping meals because I feel too busy. My diet is just as important as the baby’s, and I need adequate calories to be the best parent I can be. Try to do yoga 2x per week.

Resolution: Be a better writer

Goal: Finish drafting another book this year and aim for 3-4 blog posts per month. Read 1-2 new books in the genre I’m writing to keep up with current trends/audiences.

Resolution: Sell more books

Goal: Work on my self-promotion and advertising with Cloaked. Come up with a better step-by-step marketing plan for Sonder Village this spring before the book is launched. Interact more on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram with readers. Actively seek out local author events. Try not to be so shy!

Resolution: Get better at sailing

Goal: Take the boat out at least every other weekend and practice more at the helm. Plan an anchor-out trip this spring. Participate in yacht club races. Get W more involved as she gets older and assign her little jobs to do while underway.

This is just the start. More goals are on the way!

How do you plan on tackling 2019? We would love to hear from you!

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W

Happy New Year!

Even though I am sleep deprived and beyond exhausted, I just couldn’t let today pass without acknowledging the New Year and what 2017 brought us. This has been the craziest adventure, and I can’t believe how much changed in just one year.

Last January 1^st, we were living in a house in California, trying to figure out our next step. Conor didn’t have orders, we had no real plan, and were realllllyyyy ready to say goodbye to a difficult 2016. Since then, we’ve gotten rid of (almost) everything we owned, road-tripped across the country, embraced life on the east coast, bought a sailboat, learned how to live on it and sail it, made wonderful friends at two different marinas, Conor kicked butt at his new job, I finished my fourth novel, and we had a BABY!

So I sit here with the newest member of our family, in our own little boat, marveling how I got here. It took one year of pushing ourselves toward new things at every opportunity, and throwing fear out the window, but we did it. Gosh dang it, I’m proud of us.

2017 will be hard to top, but 2018 is already shaping up to be another incredible adventure—parenting! Baby W, Conor, Scout, and I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year. May you persevere and accomplish all your resolutions, dreams, and goals—we will be cheering you on!

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W

baby