Happy New Year! #amwriting

Wow, 2015. Where did 2014 go? But I'm looking forward to everything 2015 may bring.

I made two resolutions last year. One, the inevitable, cliche plan to lose weight. I started by trying to track calories and exercise. Didn't work because I didn't change my behavior. Then I bought a couple pieces of exercise equipment that I liked and have used almost religiously.

The first is a zero impact swinging thing. I call what I do on it furious Japanese wogging. Very short strides done as fast as I can. I do it for 10-12 minutes every day before I go out to feed the horses. Perfect for warming me up before going out in the cold. The second was a recumbent bike. I only use it during cold weather when I'm not riding the horses much, but I do 40 minutes also at a low impact because I really don't need to build muscle. I also quit eating breakfast. With this, I managed to lose 20 pounds and kept most of it off until all the Christmas food gifts!

My second resolution was to blog more. I succeeded, even completing Blogging from A to Z in April and some weeks blogging every day.

What I mostly posted was author's cover reveals, release days, and some reviews. I put up the occasional horse post and a few personal posts.

My goal for 2015 is to do more reviews and personal posts. I still love helping out authors promote their books, so please feel free to contact me with your materials and I'll be happy to post. I'd also like to do more author interviews. My standard questions are on this blog, so if you'd like to be featured, just let me know.

Other plans for the year include moving from Colorado to Oregon, remodeling the house we've got a contract on, mapping out new trails, and doing lots of endurance riding.

Wow, that didn't include anything about writing! I'm planning a "discovery" year. I've been editing my three books over and over and haven't found an agent. Maybe I need to get the message. I plan to overcome my revulsion at outlining and write a book to a very rough plan. I know I can write - the mechanics anyhow. That's why I'm great at line editing (and I'd like to turn that into a job). But my wandering big picture goals aren't working. Lots of editing addresses this over time, but wow, so much less work if I get the structure right in the first place.

I plan to follow Larry Brooks's Story Engineering structure. His work totally speaks to the scientist in me. Then I can let the rest flow through the spontaneous, wandering writing that I've enjoyed discovering.

So, what are your plans for the new year? Did 2014 turn out like you'd planned?