Goals for 2013 - at halftime

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

It's hard to believe, but 2013 is half over. The weather is warm, the kids are out of school, and it's time for me to review how far I've come with my goals for this year.

As with any year-long plan, there have been some adjustments, but I think that's a good thing, right? Shows that I'm flexible and willing to change to meet new priorities. So, here's where I stand.

Submit my second Laurel Highlands story.

This is done. I sent it off earlier in June. Now it's just waiting to hear whether Mysterical-e will accept it (they accepted the first, so I'm hopeful).

Complete and submit my Black Orchid Novella Award contest entry.

This is done. There was some nail-biting ("Is it good enough?"), but I finally stuck it in the mail. The confirmation postcard is hanging on my fridge. Now to wait until December when the results are announced.

Read at least one craft book per month.

I don't know if I've done one per month. Well, that's a lie. I do know, and I haven't done one per month. But I've continued to read and I'm in the middle of a class on short fiction. So I'm making good progress. Right now I'm still in Plot and Structure; I think Donald Maass' Writing 21st Century Fiction will be next.

Complete the SFD of Hero's Sword 4 by May 31 and first revisions by July 31.

Because of the other commitments, this one had to be reset. Target for completion of the SFD is now July 31 (I am doing Camp Nanowrimo to help make that reality). And since I let things sit for a while post-completion, I probably won't get to first revisions until late August/early September.

Complete and submit two more Laurel Highlands stories by end of summer.

I've completed the SFD of a third story. But it won't be ready for submission by end of summer, and I won't have another one. So I'm going to have to move this to end of year.

Plan an anthology release of the Laurel Highlands Mysteries by the end of 2013

Another one I'm going to have to reset. This won't get done until Q1 of 2014 at the earliest now, so I'm going to put it on the back-burner for the time being.

And because I forgot yet another commitment...

Finish edits on my Sisters in Crime anthology story by June 24

I hit this one. I'm kind of proud, too. When I submitted the story I was only 6 words under the upper word limit. After receiving revisions from the first round of edits, I needed to shore up the ending, and I went almost 200 words over. But I managed to get it all back under count (by the original 6 words) all by my lonesome. But since I hadn't planned on the work (silly me), that kind of messed with the schedule. But it's all good.

So there I am. 2013 half over and I'm looking pretty good. Stay tuned for another update at the end of September!