I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday celebration! I enjoyed spending time with my family. We started our holiday celebration at the Dallas Zoo lights, then extended it to a trip to the Gaylord Texan for the Cirque Celebration show. Wow! That was totally amazing. This is all of us (except for the son-in-law).
And now we are marching toward a brand new year. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions and haven’t in a very long time. Instead, I choose a word that will resonate throughout the year. For 2022, my word was “Believe.” We’ll see what 2023 brings. I think I know because it keeps popping up everywhere but waiting to make sure.
I’ve enjoyed my blogging and social media break. I know I’ve missed some of your wonderful blogs, but this is a gift I have to give myself now and then to avoid burnout.
2022 has been an interesting year. I released two novels through Wild Rose Press, and they have been well-received with a good amount of 4 and 5-star review ratings.
I am SO grateful to the readers and reviewers. Often, writers say they write for themselves, but at the end of the day, we are lying if we don’t acknowledge that we want others to read and enjoy our work.
I have finished the first draft of “A Beggar’s Bargain.” My goal was to finish it by the end of 2022. I don’t know what I want to do with it yet, but I don’t think I’ll be submitting it to Wild Rose Press. The story is about hard times, forced circumstances, rebuilding, and surviving in 1947. I originally thought this would be a standalone novel, but now I have an idea for a second story in the same setting.
I’m still working on the logline for “A Beggar’s Bargain,” but this is what I have so far: Desperate to save the ancestral farm, Layken Martin bargains for a wife he’s never met and a future unimagined.
This story is so different from anything I’ve written so far, and creating it was fun. The biggest challenge was staying true to the time period and the setting of rural Missouri.
A title for this new series that keeps coming around to me is The Bargainer’s Series. We’ll see if that sticks.
On a very different subject, the video game adapted from Ghostly Interference is now live on Chapter Interactive Games.
As you can see, they changed the title. But they also changed the entire storyline. If you’ve read Ghostly Interference, you know that Jag Peters is a computer geek, and Rena Jett works as a waitress in a diner. In the game, they have Rena as a singer auditioning for a position in a rock band where Jag is the lead guitar player. Uh, not even close to my story. But oh well, it’s out there, and who knows. It may lead to book sales, but I really kinda doubt it. This is totally new and uncharted territory for me.
I wrapped up my Book Marketing Series at Story Empire. If you missed my wrap-up, you can find it here. I’ll be heading in a totally new direction for posts in 2023, exploring different ways to include metaphysical things in writing. I’m looking forward to this as it encompasses two of my life’s passions. If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, you are missing out on a wonderful resource for writers! You can subscribe here.
On another different and interesting note, I received a report from YouTube that I don’t recall ever seeing before. They called it 2022 In A Snapshot. I had a total of 629 views, 620 watch time minutes, 26 total likes, and 7 new subscribers. The top viewed videos were: Picasso or Picture Jasper
Hundred Miles of River – Rick Sikes
I will be selecting my Top Ten Best Reads for 2022 soon. Choosing just ten will be difficult and the most challenging by far, as I’ve read 95 books, and SO many of them were fabulous. However, I’ll give it my best shot. That will be coming in the first week of January. If you missed my Top Ten for 2021, here it is:
I’m toying with the idea of changing up my Monday Motivation posts. But don’t know yet what I want to do differently. I am waiting for the Universe to nudge me in the right direction. There will be no post this Monday, January 2nd, as I am still in holiday mode.
I look forward to promoting other authors and their books throughout the year ahead. That’s always a joy! So, if you have a new book releasing, I’m always happy to open my blog up to you for promotion.
As we close out 2022, let us reflect on the miracles that have happened for each of us. It’s so easy to focus on what went wrong when a slight shift in what we lend our energy to can create a whole new perspective—one that will lift us and bring a bit of peace.
Here’s wishing you a healthy, prosperous New Year ahead!!
