It feels like only yesterday I waved goodbye to my kids as they got on the school bus. I blinked and what do you know, it is June already and school is over. What happened? It’s time to put away the backpacks and embrace summer vacation and all the fun (and fighting) that it will likely bring.

This is one of those points of the year that I like to sit down and think about goals, where I am, and where I want to be. I do the same January 1st and I will likely do it again when the first day of school begins. I like to reflect and ask myself since January, did I do everything that I’d set out to do?

Well, I’ve fallen short on posting on my blog, no secret there. Funny how even though I’m surrounded by a world of crazy little people and writing that I still fail to find anything worthy of sharing here. I really want to change that.

Summer Goal #1: Post on the blog more often!

I have been tossing around a couple of ideas to help on this one. For starters, I’m going to write about what we do over the summer and while we’re not the most exciting family in the world, this might prove entertaining, photos included. Secondly, I want to share some of the books that I enjoy to help spread the word for fellow authors. Every little bit helps, right? I’ve had others do this for me and I greatly appreciate it. I’m happy to return the favor. And third, I want to share more of what I write. I’m going to share a story as I write it and welcome feedback on how I can make it better. This will help me create a better story and hopefully entertain my readers in the process.

Since publishing GHOSTS in January, I’ve done very little in terms of getting the next book out into the world. I have several ideas floating around in my head but have spent little time focused on sitting down to put those stories to paper.

Summer Goal #2: Write that next book!

This will be a big challenge over the summer but even if I only manage to write 1,000 quick words in the morning, it still adds up. In the fall I will have more time to focus on rewrites and edits. Now I just have to decide which story gets my attention first – The young adult novel (potentially) about evil lurking in the hallways at Bridgetown High School or the paranormal novel about the ghost who helps a writer come up with her stories? Thoughts?

I have recently decided that my formerly published novels could benefit from a rewrite, especially THE BETWEEN WORLD, which still has so much potential. I feel as though I barely scratched the surface on that story and I’d do it justice if I spent just a little bit more time with it.

Summer Goal #3: Re-imagine THE BETWEEN WORLD!

Considering the fact that I’m already knee-deep in summer adventure with the family and busy with all this blogging that I plan to catch up on and new stories to write, goal #3 is going to a toughie. I might be biting off more than I can chew so I should probably stop myself here before I get too crazy. After all, I only have three months to fit all this in before school starts and I sit down to decide just how well I’ve managed to do what I set out to do.

As for the kids, well, wait until they find out that I have weekly trips to the library planned out for us and not only will we be reading a lot of books, but we’ll spend time creating our own stories as well. No doubt, whatever comes from the imagination of a 7, 6, and 4 year-old will be amusing and I look forward to it immensely. When we aren’t reading or writing, we will spend time doing pages from our new summer workbooks.

But don’t worry because it won’t all be work, work, work. Maybe we will take a trip to the beach via Washington DC. (Still working out that idea) and of course there will our annual trips to Kennywood and Idlewild in addition to outings to the local parks and lakes and maybe even a camping trip thrown in there for good measure. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Happy Summer!