Ah, resolution/goal season. If you’re subscribed to my email newsletter, you’ll have already heard from me about some of my goals for 2025. While I emailed about a mix of personal and professional goals, I’d like to keep this post focused on my author goals of 2025.
Publish a short story collection
This goal came about when I realized last year that I wouldn’t be able to get the final installment of the A Collection of Scars trilogy ready for this year. However, I would really like to have another book ready for sale this summer, so I’m currently working on a collection of short stories featuring side and invisible characters from A Collection of Scars and A Burden of Love. Some featured characters include Yonah’s brother Obi and his friend, Naris’ father, and Meerha the barmaid at The White Stallion. If you have no idea who I’m talking about, why not give A Collection of Scars a read?
Finish the book three manuscript
If I can finish the first draft of book three in the ACoS trilogy (that’s A Collection of Scars), I feel confident about launching by the end of 2026. I know, that feels so far away, especially considering book two came out in 2023. I’m a slow writer, okay?
Sell my books at one event per month after a maternity leave
You may or may not know already, but I’m expecting the arrival of Baby Hataley 2 this winter! After I’ve taken a few months to recover, (try to) rest, and get a handle on keeping two little human beings alive, I’d like to attend one book sale a month for the rest of the year. I’ve enjoyed selling my books at Saskatoon’s Art in the Park events for the past two summers, and would like to continue to show up at other events. If you have any suggestions for where I might sell my books around Saskatoon or Saskatchewan, drop a comment or shoot me an email.
Attend an in-person book or author event, and/or join a writers’ group or organization
I’m looking for community and professional development. It’s easy to get caught up in the online world, but it’s hard to make real personal connections there. Last year, I had the realization that all the interesting and surprising opportunities that came my way came from real-life connections. So, how do I make more of those come around? Keep showing up in real life. Keep connecting in real life.
Other ways I intend to show up for my readers:
Monthly blog posts
Last year I really let this blog fall by the wayside; I’m finding juggling parenting a toddler and all my other goals to be a tricky act to learn. This year, however, I’ve already set myself up for success by creating a list of a dozen post ideas. Some post topics I’m planning to write about over the course of this year include:
Balancing the love and the ick-factor in Yonah and Naris’ relationship
Books I read for school that I actually enjoyed
Things you didn’t know self-publishing authors think about
Books I’ve loved for over 10 years
If you’re reading this post, it’s happening either one of two ways. You’re either on heatherhataley.com reading the online version, or you’ve become a free subscriber to the Heather Hataley Fiction Author Substack.
Not sure what Substack is? It’s essentially another website-home for my posts to live, as well as my quarterly short stories, which brings me to…
Quarterly short stories
Every quarter, I’m publishing a short story to my aforementioned Substack. There are two free stories available on there right now, but otherwise, only paid subscribers can read these. Some of the short stories are set in the world of my dystopian trilogy A Collection of Scars, and some are stand-alones of various genres.
Weekly email newsletter
If you’re enjoying the slightly more candid vibe of this post, you’ll certainly enjoy my weekly email newsletter. I typically save my more casual and intimate thoughts for my email subscribers and use the blog to share evergreen, bookish content. Some topics I’ve recently covered in the email newsletter include:
My resolution to use less social media
My word of the year
Our disastrous attempt to potty train
And, of course, updates on available blog posts and short stories, and authorly news!
Email subscribers also receive pdf files of the first three chapters and a deleted scene from A Collection of Scars.
I’m looking forward to sharing another year of writing with you, whether it’s online or in my books. Happy 2025!
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