Wow, I can’t believe we are almost 2 weeks into the New Year!

I didn’t mean to fall off of the face of the blog-sphere for that long, but between the holidays, a New Year, getting together with friends and family, juggling work and other commitments, I got to the first week of January feeling like I needed a little vacation from all the joy of the season! Or maybe just to go and take a nap. 🙂

I am back now and I hope to make this one of the best writing/blogging/reading years yet! Here are a few things I am planning to do this year to make headway on my novels and keep my creative juices flowing!

• Read more. I did a 100 book reading challenge last year, but because of work, I only ended up at 45. Yeah, maybe I over-committed on that one. I did get quite a few books read that had been on my to-read list for a while and I am hoping to get even more read this year.
• Finish the rough draft of my Victorian novel. I am super excited about this one! I got stuck last year on this book when it started to go in a direction I hadn’t foreseen. I write outlines for my stories, but I only fill in major events so my stories, though I know where they are headed, don’t always get there as smoothly as I would like! I did a bit of research late last year for this one and I think I am on track again!
• Research/Edit first novel. My poor, gigantic novel is languishing in its finished, but rough draft stage. Maybe I will try to get to it this year. Maybe.
• I really love the idea of connecting books and food and history all together. So this year, I am going to try to start coming up with ideas to include all of those more in my writing.
• Keep writing here on the blog! I have some great ideas for posts that I can’t wait to share. Just have to get them written up 🙂
• I need to pull out some other creative projects to delve into again. I find that if I am being creative in a different way, like through embroidery, music or baking, it helps with my writing. It stimulates my creativity and helps me think more out of the ordinary, everyday box and use my imagination.

Well, that should keep me busy this year! It’s nice to have it all down in one place. I am sure I will be referring to this post in the future to remind myself what I am suppose to be doing! 🙂 How about you? What are your reading/writing/blogging goals for this year?