January is bittersweet. On one hand, it’s sad the fun leading up to Christmas and New Year’s is over and ahead of us we have plenty of cold and snowy days, but on the other hand, a new month in a new year holds so much promise. It’s no accident that January is a time for resolutions and making changes. After all, it’s a fresh start, a second chance to do something better, whatever that something may be.

I have a lot of hopes and plans for the new year when it comes to my writing and I look forward to sharing these adventures as the months pass.

For starters, I intend to make more of an effort to post on my blog regularly.

At the start of each new month, you will see a “What’s Up” post where I tell you about what I accomplished during the month just passed and what I plan to dive into for the new month beginning.

On Mondays I will post either thoughts on a topic of interest or something related to my latest release (a contest, a puzzle, things I learned while writing, etc).

Wednesdays I am especially excited about. I will be sharing a free short story each week roughly 1,000 words at a time.

Fridays I hope to open my blog to help support and promote my fellow authors. I will either have a special guest interview or I will post something related to a book I read and enjoyed. If you are an author and would like to visit me, please contact me at ingramsl (at) gmail (dot) com so we can set a date! I promise to keep it fun.

And last but not least, my favorite – Sundays I will continue participation in the Weekend Writing Warriors, a blog hop where several authors come together to share 8 to 10 sentences of a current work-in-progress. I started this in November and love the sense of camaraderie that comes with it. Even if I can’t keep up with all the other posts, I will stick with this one.

As needed, I will post announcements for new book releases and the details on where you can find them.

Secondly, and most important, I will write more! And I won’t just write, which in all fairness I did a lot of in 2015 – but I will actually finish the stories I start. It is my goal to publish at least three books in 2016. Sure, I wouldn’t mind accomplishing more than this but I figure three is a conservative and reachable goal.

On a personal level, I plan to read more than ever. I want to stretch outside my preferred genres and read all books. I have a library card and I’m not afraid to use it! I will also include several non-fiction books on my list, particularly those I feel will help me develop as an author.

As for my December progress… Well, most of my progress went into cleaning and preparing for the holidays! I made very little progress on my rewrites of my NaNoWriMo novel so this will be my main focus in January. When I finish a round of rewrites, I will put it aside and finish writing Rise of the Angerroots.

Also, the Short Story Competition begins on January 22nd. Look for updates on my progress in next month’s What’s Up post! Wish me luck. 🙂

Be sure to join my Mailing List if you want to be the first to find out about new book releases. You can find the sign up link HERE.

As always, you can find me on several social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Overall, I’m looking forward to a great start to what promises to be a fun and productive new year.

Happy 2016! 🙂