Hello everyone!

Long time, more about no talk, order no write, no see. I apologize for being pretty MIA lately. 2016 was a crazy year for me, in so many ways. I lost some friends, gained some more, reconnected with my estranged best friend and wrote not one, but two books. It didn’t leave a lot of time for blogging or reading.

But this year, 2017, I wanted to make it a goal to get back to blogging again. I miss so much, sharing the love of books with everyone. This blog is what propelled my love for YA into an obsession, into my passion. It’s what led me to the amazing people in my life. It’s what led me to learn so much about writing and the community and its ultimately what led to The Awakened, The Survivor and The Sanctuary being published.

So I am totally ready to get back. I’m ready to read more and blog more and do lots of giveaways. There are so many great events happening again this year: Ontario Teen Book Fest, Festival of Books, YALLWest, WonderCon, Gallifrey One, San Diego Comic Con and so so so many more and I’m so excited to get back to being a fangirl.

So here are my goals for the year. I’m hoping you guys hold me to it!

Reading

I have been such a terrible reader lately and it makes me so sad because I most definitely have not stopped buying books. My TBR pile has gotten out of control, even more so than it ever has been in the past. I’ve only read 3 books this year but I’m still holding myself to the goal of 100. I still think I can do it and I’m going to make myself do it. Reading hasn’t been the same for me lately and I want it to be. It’s my hobby, my passion and my saving grace and I want to get back to it so badly.

So I’m going to keep buying the books and I’m going to make reading a priority. I’m going to work on remembering why I love it so much and hopefully I’ll get back to that passion that I’ve had the past five years (and beyond) that has kept me sharing that love with you!

Blogging 

I was any even worse blogger last year than I was a reader. When I first started this blog, I wrote 2-3 times a week and as I went along, I got to the point where I was posting at least once a day. Unfortunately I do not think I can do that anymore. I have a 9-6 job nowadays AND I write consistently so its just crazy talk.

But I love this blog. It’s about to be five years old this year and I am so proud of what it has become. This blog has been a consistent thing in my life through all the ups and downs, through my break up, through losing people I loved, through discovering the extent of my mental illness, all of that. I could never give it up, especially not now.

So, my goal for this year is to get back to consistently blog again. My goal is spend some of my time on Tuesday, which is my day off, to blog. Whether its only one post or a couple, I’m going to make a point of doing posts every Tuesday.

I’m also going to get back to giveaways too! I loved doing them and its been way too long since I’ve done one. Keep your eyes out because they are coming back soon!

Writing

Last year was a rough year for as well with writing. I wrote both The Survivor and The Sanctuary last year and honestly, I am insanely proud of both of them. I think they both came out so much better than I expected and I’ve enjoyed the response that it’s gotten.

But I also fell a little out of love with writing last year. It felt like a job and the community felt…different than it used to be. I always felt like the moment that I got published, it would feel like I finally made it! But instead, I felt a bit like an outsider, like I had worked so hard and it hadn’t quite turned out the way I had expected. I have so much support in the community, and I’m grateful for every little bit of it.

But I need to get back to my love of writing, to want to write just to write, just because I enjoy it, not because I expect anything, not because I want it to be my next big thing. I have a great idea for a new science fiction romance, like The Awakened, but this time, I’m taking my talents to space. I’m actually really excited about this story and I’m not going to pressure myself to finish it fast, to worry about if its going to get published it or not, or any of that.

My goals for writing this year are simple. I want to finish editing and rewriting Benched, my NA baseball romance, and start to hopefully find an agent who loves it as much as I do. And I’m going to write my new sci-fi and I’m going to take my time. I hope that I can finish, I know that I can finish it and I hope that it’ll be in your hands one day! But for now, I just want to spend the year writing it.

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So those are my goals for the year! They aren’t much but they’re also so much more than what 2016 was. I hope you guys will join me, as you’ve done the past five years, as I continue on in my love for reading, blogging and writing.

It’s going to be a great year, guys. I believe that. Even with all the hate and fear in my government right now, even with all the hate and fear in the world, I’m surrounded by too much good and too much love to believe that people will stop fighting. It’s going to be a good year guys and I can’t wait to share it with you!