Writing resolutions - update

At the start of January this year I wrote a post about my writing goals for the year and encouraged you to make some of your own. Mine are (in no particular order):

1) to write at least 250,000 words, both fiction and non-fiction
2) to publish something
3) to "sharpen the saw"
4) to read - a lot!
5) to enjoy my family and friends.

We're now halfway through the year, so this is a good time to take stock and see how you're doing. Pull out your goals and write a little about each one...how have you worked on accomplishing them?

As far as my word count goal, up until this month I've been very faithful in recording my word count at the end of each day. This month I was so subsumed in all the work involved in my day job, I didn't record a single word. It was easy to recreate, however, since most of the writing I did was non-fiction for this blog and several others. All told, from January 1st to June 30th, I've written 165,134 words -- well past the half-way mark. I'm thinking maybe I set my goal too low!

I've published only one new work so far this year, a title under my nom de plume: Mystic Shade. Under His Spell has done quite well. I've also re-released to a wider audience, Over My Enslaved Body, the first in the Jack Kariola slave series. The book has a new cover and is now available in the Kindle store as well as the Nook store and on Smashwords. Traitor Slave, book two of that series, will be re-released by the end of the month with a new cover and additional material in it (it was a novella and will be a longer novella or novel after a healthy re-write).

Stephen Covey's admonition to "sharpen the saw" is one I take seriously.  This year I took a yoga class for the first time and found the positions and relaxation techniques to be wonderful in clearing the mind. In a few days, my husband and I are taking our first vacation without the kids in 22 years, and that will definitely be a new experience. We're not going far, but will be together for six days all by ourselves. How wonderful!

Reading? My glory, have I been reading. I haven't blogged about every book I've read, but if you want my reading list, check this post and this one!

And the last item on the list is the one I unashamedly enjoy the most. Both my kids are back living at home as they pay off student loans and, while I moan about the lack of an empty nest, I really love having them here. They'll be gone all too fast, off leading their own lives, so I'm actually very grateful to get a few more years in with them before that happens.

And that's my update! Now go write yours :)

Play safe,
Diana