New Beginnings

I love this time of year! It’s a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. No matter what you've done up until now, you can start over with a positive energy and hope for all the possibilities the brand new year brings.

Every year around this time, I begin planning for the next year. I start to think about what I’d like to do differently when the calendar year flips over, and I take stock of the past year, examining what worked and what didn't. I begin to make my lists. I dream big and I dream small. I broad-brush my goals, then I go back in and paint in the details by making sub-lists under those bigger topics.

After I've finished my plans, I post these goals on my office wall--yes, on an easel-sized post-it note to myself. So that all year long I can check off my progress. Usually, by the time June hits, I’m ready to re-evaluate my yearly goals, update and make new lists. Last year I found that by June, I’d accomplished everything I’d set out to accomplish for the year. So I had to plan again. Now, looking back at the list I had for myself in June, I've also accomplished the majority of those tasks and met those goals. It feels good to see a physical “track record” ... and to know that all the time and energy and sweat I exerted really did pay off in big and small ways for me.

One of those payoffs for me this year debuts later this week. My contemporary romance, Essence, will be released  on January 2, 2014 by Soul Mate Publishing. As you can imagine, I’m a little excited and a lot nervous. I have published a few Indie titles myself, but this is the first book of mine that a publisher has picked up. And it’s my first contemporary romance. The journey has been a good one. I've loved working with SMP. And I think this is a good next step for me. Okay, so I’ll squee now! All right, all right. Maybe not. I’ll wait until the pub day to do that because my control freak side worries about everything that can go wrong between now and then. Even though I really know better. It’s going to be fine.

So I’ll go back to focusing on my lists for a few more days, hammering out all those fun and exciting things I want to explore this year and the number of ways I hope to develop my writing career. Then, come January 2^nd, I’ll add learning the ins and outs of marketing a book to my daily and weekly writing routine.

Yes, one of my big goals this year is to figure out how to promote a book effectively. I've already begun to promote Essence and will start a blog tour January 27^th to get my name out there, and hopefully sell a few more books in the process. I’d love to see you on the virtual road! Check out my website http://www.mackenzielucas.com for details on the full line-up of my blog tour toward the end of January.

So what do you do at this time of year? Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? Do you set personal goals for yourself? Do you re-evaluate and take stock of where you’ve been and where you’d like to go? I’d love to hear what you’ve found successful or helpful over the years & if you have one or two goals you’ve set for yourself, shout them out! It always motivates others to know those around them are reaching for the next rung on the ladder or the stars.

Buy your copy of Essence starting January 2, 2014 at amazon.com and be sure to tell me what you think in a review on Amazon & at Goodreads. All my Indie published titles are currently available at http://www.amazon.com/Mackenzie-Lucas/e/B00DTEW6NS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0. To find me on the web, go to http://www.mackenzielucas.com. If you’re on Facebook, look me up at: MackenzieLucasFanPage or on Twitter at: @MacLucas_writer.

Book Giveaway:

Readers who comment on today’s blog by sharing one of their goals for the new year will be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Essence.

$50 Spa eGift Card Giveaway:

And two lucky followers who LIKE my Facebook page MackenzieLucasFanPage between today and January 15 will each win a $50 SpaWish eGift card.

So come on, let’s play! Comment, like, and share. It’s always fun to have as many participants as possible in these contests. As Misha says, join in my reindeer games. It’ll be fun!

Happy New Year and happy goal setting. Let's see what we can do in 2014!

More about Essence. More about Soul Mate Publishing.

Ring in the New Year With a Word

Photo Credit: 123RF

Instead of making wishes or New Year's resolutions, we each claim a word to focus on for the coming year. What follows is our chronicle of this year's reclaimation--The Eight's Word of the Year for 2013!

Keely
My word this time around is Bounce! Punctuation most definitely included. I choose bounce because it captures three essential components I want to embody in the coming year:

1. The Tigger Bounce! Tigger is joyful, ebullient, and bounces along to his own idiosyncratic rhythm. Sounds like an excellent role model to me.

2. The Weeble-Wobble Bounce! Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down. They bounce right back up. They are resilient, if egg-shaped. To counter my writerly propensity for egg-shapedness, I end with . . .

3. The Trampoline Bounce! Perhaps the most prosaic on my bounces, this one implies movement, action. Exercise. Kind of necessary, kind of dull. But, come on, it’s a trampoline. By law, that makes this bounce fun, desirable, and addictive. Right? Yes, most assuredly right.

Keely, who looks forward to bouncing her way through 2013!

Shellie
My word this year is Attentive. In the story of my life, the internal goal of writing well, completing manuscripts and getting them published is constantly threatened and derailed by the external conflict--that is, my life. As family, career, and community activism heats up for me, I will have to be attentive to claiming and protecting my writing time.

Nichole
After a 2012 full on changes, I intend to get my groove on in 2013. Therefore, Groove is my Word of the Year. In the past year, I had a blast scrambling to finish my master's degree, signing with my agent, and plowing through revisions. I also struggled to take care of family after loved ones passed away, major surgeries sidelined those close to me, and Mr. Christoff got ready to take on new professional challenges. Now, as we all ring in the new year, I'm looking forward to settling into a new groove, with a new manuscript, new experiences, and even a brand new house to call home. I'm getting my groove on this year!

Lisa
My word for this year is Trust. I need to trust in the writing process. Trust that the words will come when I need them. Trust that whatever needs to be worked out in my story will work out. Trust in my own instincts and abilities. Trust enables people to do great things.

Yvonne
When Candy first prompted me to start thinking about my word for the year, a word immediately popped into my head. But it was the unlikeliest word I could have come up with. Laughable. Ridiculous. As the days slid by, though, it kept coming up.

Then, a couple of weekends ago, out for dinner with a friend, I told her I needed help coming up with a word for the year. She thought for a minute and said: Love.

"Get OUT," I said, slapping the table.
"What? Why can't love be your word for the year?"
I just shook my head. "Because . . . it kicks my ass!"

Which explains everything, right? So we'll see how this word works out for me. I make no predictions. I've attached no preconceptions to it. Particularly considering how well the word “open” worked for me last year . . .

Misha
My word for 2013 is Persist. Sometimes the universe throws a up a lot of roadblocks: money or job trouble, loss of family or friends, health concerns, or even just the countless pesky inconveniences we encounter every day. But when you're headed in a good direction, you've got to keep going. Climb over, navigate around, push through. Continue steadfastly in your course. Persist. So that's my word for the coming year.

Marjanna
Hope is my word for 2013. I believe one day pigs will fly.

Candy
Once again this year I have two words. My words for 2013 are: Strength and Surrender. Strength as it pertains to body, mind, and spirit—practicing holistic health and a continuation of my development of balance from the past year. And surrender as in, well, yielding control. I’m a control freak, so there are times that I dig my feet in and fight even when the fight just isn’t worth it. This year I’d like to surrender to the journey (at least a little, when it’s appropriate) and enjoy myself instead of stressing over being in the driver’s seat.