What are your writing plans for 2017?

If you don't take stock of what all you accomplished when the new year turns over, you should. By making a short list of the highlights you will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. Preventing us from getting too caught up in the tough stuff every year seems to bring.

Let's see if I can do a quick assessment:
1. Finished my New Adult/Young Adult Novel
2. Edited #1 multiple times after input from trusted critique partners
3. Shopped #1 to several NA/YA agencies for representation
4. Submitted NA/YA MSS to a couple of contests
5. Worked on new women's fiction novel
6. Worked on new MSS in the feisty family series

A couple of things on my list for the year that I did not accomplish:

1. Attend a writer's conference
2. Do more marketing
3. Submit to more contests

Okay, that's enough of looking back. Let's look forward to 2017. 

What are your plans?

My number one item is to find a publisher for my NA/YA novel. Since my search for agents only resulted in nibbles and no bites, I will return to the small independent publishers that have good reputations and don't require an agent. In other words, I'll do my homework and search on-line for small pub houses, talk to other authors, and see if there's a writer's conference this year that will work with my schedule.

Take a tip from me. It takes a lot of time to do what we do and we can't get discouraged if we want to succeed. Nobody that has ever written seriously has said it was "easy." It's a lot of hard work and dedication with a little luck thrown in.

The publishing industry is constantly changing and we have to keep up. Publishers Marketplace. Writer's Digest. Goodreads. These are just a few of the sources of publishing information on-line and in print. Check them out. See what advice resonates with you and your writing process. Try things you haven't thought of trying before. I'll be right there with you and will share any insight I garner along the way.

Enjoy the writing journey, my friends, it can be an exciting roller coaster ride!


Bonnie (BD) Tharp is an award-winning author of women's fiction, with novels FEISTY FAMILY VALUES and PATCHWORK FAMILY.  Also, the author of Kindle ebook short stories: THE CROSSROADS & EARL DIVINE.