Planning Ahead…?

 



I’m not so keen on New Year resolutions but I do like to set myself goals for the year ahead. I also like to think big. After all, with hard work and luck, anything is possible and who knows what opportunities will present themselves along the way?

So this year, I’m planning to be better at time management and to use the time I reclaim to be more focussed on my writing. I still plan to be just as active here on the blog and on all social media - and be open to any opportunities that come my way to connect with readers and writers - but I really need to manage my time better so that I can ‘do it all’ and finish the three books I plan to write and publish this year.


Do you find that time runs away from you? What are your plans and is there one goal you’d like to focus on in 2013?

Of course, it can't be all work and it’s nice to have other things to look forward to. This year, I’d quite like to do a few more speaking engagements at reader/writer events - should the opportunity arise - having now got a couple of talks successfully under my belt during 2012. I also plan to attend as many writer events and conferences as I can in 2013; certainly The Romantic Novelist’s Association conference in July and the Festival of Romance in November and hopefully lots of others in between.

So what about you? Are your goals big or small? What would you like to make happen in 2013…?

Please do feel free to leave a comment below!

Incidentally, do you ever plan to visit Scotland? Because apparently the US broadcasting network CNN has just named Scotland as its Top Travel Destination for 2013 saying “anyone who has seen (the Bond film) Skyfall, part of which was filmed in Glencoe (see the pic at the top) would have left the cinema wishing they could race through Scotland’s dramatic countryside”. You can read the full article HERE.

Well now you CAN visit Scotland AND without leaving the comfort of your own home.

 

All you have to do is pop back here to my Scotland based and tartan clad blog every Friday. Yay!!

Haste ye Back – as we like to say in Scotland!

Kicking back….

This week I’ve been kicking back and relaxing after the launch of How Do You Voodoo?

Mr JH and I took ourselves off to the cinema in Glasgow to see Skyfall and both of us remarked how the scene with Bond and M standing beside the Aston Martin in the remote Scottish countryside - looked as though it had been filmed at the Dalveen Pass – an area very close to our cottage. I got quite excited at the thought that Daniel Craig might have popped in for a cup of tea!

 

I also caught the BBC Scotland programme ‘Imagine’ featuring Edinburgh author Ian Rankin. It’s up on the iPlayer just now here and is really worth watching. It follows Ian over the course of writing his new novel ‘Standing in Another Man’s Grave’ and it was fascinating to see how he worked. I also found it reassuring that he gets stuck (in his case usually at page 68) and that he doesn’t plot his stories beforehand. Indeed, with this particular novel, he got almost to the end without knowing himself who the killer was!  The interviews with his editor and his wife were also illuminating from a writerly perspective and I enjoyed seeing how he researched the details in his stories.

This weekend is Mr JH’s birthday and we are having our friends over to celebrate with us. So, this afternoon, I’m not writing or going anywhere near my laptop - I'm making birthday cake!

 

Happy Birthday to my real life hero - Mr JH!

 

So until next week (when I’ll be back to work on my WIP) I’m wondering if you like to take a break and kick back a little after completing a writing project - or are you a writer that gets straight into the next book without a single pause?

Love, Janice xx