Hear me out: September is actually the beginning of the new year.

It makes sense, right? With the start of a new school year comes the reassessing of goals, time, the reconfiguration of schedules, restored energy for tasks left languishing in favor of the unstructured languor of summer vacation. September is a time for to-dos and resolutions.

Therefore, I’ve got some September-lutions: (I just made that word up.) (Clearly.)
After a year of book marketing and promotion, I am shifting focus to three new areas: writing, querying, and revamping this newsletter.

Querying: I’m in the thick of it now, having queried both individually and via an agent pitch event. Querying for representation often feels like a full time occupation - involving different stages of research, writing, administrative tasks, and the worst of all phases - waiting. Which is why I’ve scheduled my second and third goals here to serve as both projects and distractions.

Writing: I’m finishing edits on my Young Adult manuscript (Check out THE ROCK SHOW playlist) and preparing to start a new Women’s Fiction project in October, which I’ve narrowed down to two ideas. After three years of focusing on either SOMETHING BETTER or WELCOME TO BLOOMS, it’s scary to take on a new story and characters. Will I like them? Will you like them? What surprises lie in store for us?

Newsletter: As social media continues to be volatile, I want to focus on making this newsletter more dynamic and valuable to those who subscribe. I’m still hashing out ideas of what that means and how it will look. Got ideas? Send em!!!

Progress is rarely linear, and is often invisible in the day-to-day. I’m excited to have this time to pare down and zoom in on these important tasks, even though it means my “news” may be a bit quieter for awhile. For now, I’m riding that wave of September energy, believing that it’s enough to tide me over until the next phase of what’s to come begins.

Happy New Year! What are your September-lutions?