I’ve worked so hard in 2024 that I lost sight of the initial goals I set. On first reflection, it feels like I failed. Then I remembered all the progress I’ve made, plus all the extra things I accomplished that weren’t in my original plan.
Publishing Goals
Sky Heart was my top goal of the year and I thought I was close to publishing at the start of 2024 as the manuscript was sent to my new editor for the final edit.
She only managed to do a chapter before she ended up in the hospital. A medical emergency left her unable to continue editing, as she had no idea how long her recovery would take. It was crazy, one day she was at a festival, then the next thing was her life changed forever.
Finding a new editor was not easy. After a few quotes, I decided to take a chance on my author friend, April Grace (Hooked on Words). I was unsure as I worried that being friends would make her feedback feel more personal, however, she did an amazing job. She helped get my manuscript to the final stage and rebuilt my confidence during the process.
All these delays took my book into the later part of 2024, and by the time I sent it off to my Formatter it was already December. Once I had the final word count, my cover designer finished the paperback. It was 31st Dec that I had all the files ready to upload.
I’m pleased to say, Sky Heart has a release date.
My side writing projects took a back seat whilst I worked on Sky Heart, but both Summer Heart and Dark Heart are pretty much drafted. I’ve already started editing Dark Heart. In addition, I’ve written the first few chapters of Forest Heart (my next big project). And, I wrote the first 10k words of a novel I entered into a competition – wish me luck.
Marketing Goals
I outdid myself for author events. I ended up doing nine in-person events, and some of these were two-day events. One of the YouTube videos I am most proud of is the one about doing Herts Book Festival. I wanted to do more videos in this style but they do take a while to put together and I struggle for time.
Writing for Felixstowe Magazine slipped away, as I was so busy. I would like to find time to get back into this and submit it to other local presses.
My YouTube channel gained more subscribers but I didn’t hit 100. My current subscriber count is 78. This is partly because I’ve struggled to find time to post consistently.
Creating videos is quite time-consuming. I’d love to post more often, but it’s not feasible. Instead, I’ve started posting more shorts. My last long-form video of 2024 was about my Fairy Loot subscription box.
Reading Goals
I’m a slow reader, so I always set my goal low, so I was sad to see I didn’t manage to hit this. During the summer, I suffered from dehydrated eyes. They were so sore I’d have to lie down with my eyes shut in a dark room. I finally went to the opticians and got a treatment plan and things have been better.
In addition, I’m cross with myself for being late posting reviews, especially for ARCs.
What else did I achieve in 2024
Writing
I did a writing boot camp with Curtis Brown over the summer. And, I decided to enter their Discovery Writers’ competition. I wrote the first 10k words of a story I’ve been thinking about for a while. If I don’t win the competition, I plan to finish and publish it myself.
I also started writing the first few chapters of Forest Heart. The story is a mess but that’s how first drafts are. I will keep adding to it until it’s finished, and then tidy it up.
Something I’m super proud of is that I started my TeeMill store. I think I set it up at the end of 2023 but didn’t share it until 2024. It started up as a way to get a T-shirt for myself as I’m always unsure what to wear to author events. Creating products has been so much fun and super easy. TeeMill creates events throughout the year which has helped with content creation.
I survived migrating my website from one server to another, and I’m happy with how it looks. In addition, I figured out how to tag my TeeMill products in posts on Instagram/Facebook posts. I updated my Link Tree with the Billie Elish underwater theme and added a shop. I also added Ocean Heart to Book Vault which means it is available for buy from The Great British Bookshop and I was able to create a Pay Hip store with my books available to buy from me direct.
When I met up with Jodie (author of Sorceress of Truth) at Herts Book Festival she shared with me the things she was making to sell at an event she was attending later in the year with author Cassidy Reyne. This inspired me to make some brackets inspired by my books.
Let’s not forget that I tripled the number of events I planned to attend in 2024!
Overall, although I didn’t achieve all my goals in 2024, I’m pleased with the progress I made and in many ways, I achieved more than I planned.
