Thursday, January 1, 2015

Hail the New, Ye Lads and Lasses!

In honor of the upcoming New Year (and in conjunction with yesterday's post), I thought I'd post a list of goals and aspirations I have in mind for 2015. This is probably an idealized dream list . . . and it's pretty intimidating to look at now that I've got it all written down. But you know what? Stated goals are often easier to accomplish than unstated goals. So here goes nothing!

Goals for 2015:


Draven's Light cover reveal in January. This should be taking place at the same time as the pre-orders for print become available. (And I'll need bloggers to help spread the word, so email me--aestengl@gmail.com--if you want to participate.)

Get the audio version of Goddess Tithe launched at last. (We've had some setbacks on that one, but it's still coming.)

Finish a polished draft of Poison Crown in February. I really need this to happen in February if I'm going to keep on track!

Read, discuss, shuffle, and finally select five winners for the Five Enchanted Roses contest. This should be happening through January and February.

Announce the winners of the Five Enchanted Roses contest. March 1st, people!

Edits and revisions with winning authors.

Work with design team to create a gorgeous interior look for Five Enchanted Roses.

Host a Goldstone Wood Fan Art Contest . . . hopefully the biggest one yet! Sometime in April, probably.

Get the final cover design finished for Five Something Something, the third fairytale contest.

Get the cover design finished for Poison Crown.

Begin writing the New Series About Dragons. Hopefully finish the first book in a month of two. (These are anticipated to be shorter books than I've been writing, but we'll see.)

Oh, and actually launch Draven's Light. Late May for that goal!

And a cover reveal for Poison Crown, of course. Hopefully time this to go with print copy pre-orders, but we'll see.

Launch the third fairytale contest on June 1st!

All this while, I'll be polishing and perfecting Poison Crown with the help of my editors and proof readers.

Host the second annual Goldstone Wood Music Contest. Possibly. We'll see what kind of enthusiasm we're getting for this contest.

Launch Five Enchanted Roses!

And hopefully get the audiobook version of Five Enchanted Roses out to our readers soon after the print and ebook versions.

Somewhere in here I hope to write the second book in the New Series About Dragons as well. Ideally, I want to write three of these in one year.

I'm really, really, really hoping to launch a new project of my mother's this summer as well.

Fan Fiction Contest for Goldstone Wood! This will be a late summer event, as per tradition. One of the best events of the year, in my opinion.

Get Poison Crown formatted and ready for launch. Begin marketing campaign.

Possibly a Goldstone Wood costume contest this autumn, to coincide with Halloween? We haven't done one of these before, but I think it would be tremendous fun.

Launch Poison Crown! That will be the biggest event of this year for me. And when it's finished? I might just collapse in a heap and never move again.

Should I decide to move again, however, I'll consider hosting a Moonblood read-along for Christmas.

Oh, and finish that third book in the New Series About Dragons. And possibly reveal the cover for the first one before Christmas! That's probably dreaming a little too big, but I'm going to put it down anyway. Got to shoot for the moon, right?

All this while, I hope to keep up regular blog posts and features, host author interviews and giveaways, etc.

Rohan and I might try to take a vacation in there too. (Though really, who has time for vacations?)

So there you have it. My dream list of goals for the year 2015. What do you think? Any events that look particularly fun and exciting to you? What are some things you hope to accomplish in the coming year?

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh. You sure have a lot on your plate this year, but I'm so excited to see all of the covers and read all of your books. And maybe I'll enter some contests this year. Perhaps the fan art and the fairytale contest? I'm not really much of a fan fiction writer, but I might write fan fiction for Goldstone Wood.

Sarah Pennington said...

Ahhhhhhhh! If you accomplish even half of these, I will be . . . I don't even know. Overwhelmed by awesome in the best possible way, most likely. :D

I have no idea what I'm most excited for, but I really want to enter the fan art contest this year (I had a few really cool ideas last year that I want to see if I can make work in time- should probably start working on them now, really), and I want to do the fanfiction contest again, and I reaaaaaly want to enter the Five Something Something contest! Hopefully, I'll have all my WIPs done by June/July so I can work on my fairytale retelling(s) during July's Camp NaNoWriMo.

Hannah said...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

Oh my, it's incredible to look at all lined up. And then I gasp as I realize you did the equivalent of all that in 2014!

Happy New Year! I have no doubt it will be wonderful! God bless!

Rina's Reading said...

Is the new series about dragons connected to the super secret project?
What a fun year of events for all us fans to look forward to! But don't wear yourself out either!
Happy New Year everyone!

ghost ryter said...

An impressive to-do list! Oy, 2015 shall be awesome. Please do have another Music Contest! It was so much fun last year, and I loved hearing all the lovely songs my fellow Imps produced.

Happy New Year, Anne Elisabeth! Good luck with Poison Crown and The New Series About Dragons. God Bless!

Kendra E. Ardnek said...

I was just wondering what had happened to Draven's Light. I'd love to take part in the reveal, so I'll be emailing you soon.

Lots of ambitious excitement here, and I think I may actually take part in the fanfiction this year, as my library acquired the series and I've actually been able to read past book one!

Unknown said...

You simply must stop with these contests, they're killing me!

How am I supposed to focus on the bestest Lume/Hymlume mythos narrative (because I'm a doofus who can't turn down a challenge) when I want to do a billion other things as well this year? It's torture! :P

If this Costume Contest is going to be a thing, I'm warning you now, I probably won't hold back....the mass of nerdness will be unleashed....

In all seriousness, wow, you sound as though you'll be quite busy! Though I must say I am incredibly excited for EVERYTHING you're doing this year!! I'm looking forward to it! Happy New Year!

Prayers!
Melanie

Meredith said...

My! What an impressive list of goals! Will be praying for you. That's incredible! Please don't tire yourself out, though. Your health is important too, you know. God bless and happy new year!

Garnet said...

Goals committed to paper (or a computer screen) are more likely to be achieved than those just kept in the mind. Thanks for the reminder! I know that very well, but seeing yours all written out here is good inspiration to do the same myself. Best wishes as you pursue your goals. Success will bring not only satisfaction for you but much pleasure to your readers as well.

Arielle Melody Bailey said...

You have a long list of goals for this year and I wish you the best in reaching them.

I'm eagerly looking forward to the release of the Five Glass Slippers Collection.

I'm hoping to finish reading the Tales of Goldstone Wood this year.


Happy New Year, Anne Elisabeth!

Anonymous said...

Wowee! I am impressed! I can't wait! I have said this so many times and I can't wait even more each time (I think I said that right)! Yay! Lots of great things going to happen next year! A costume competition sounds great!
Some of my resolutions are:
Participate in all the competitions this time, and read every single Discworld book.
And buy the Godess Tithe audiobook.
Jemma

Unknown said...

Really, Anne Elisabeth, stop slacking off! ; ) I am, obviously, kidding. PLEASE host another music contest! My big goal for 2015 is to... gulp... figure out which college I want to go to (and apply to a host of others). It is... stressful, to say the least. I shall need books about dragons to sustain me! : D

Anonymous said...

Just wondering, can you buy the Five Glass Slippers audiobook yet?
If so where?
Jemma

Esther Brooksmith (wisdomcreates) said...

Wow! That is an awesome list. Just saying...

Unknown said...

I love the contests!And all the new exciting books and a new series! I plan to enter the fan fiction for Goldstone Wood contest. And finishing my novella A Covalent Bond.@aestengl

Meredith said...

To Ms. Gemma: Five Glass Slippers' audiobook is out. I purchased it on amazon.com Don't know if it's available in audio CD, but I purchased the Audible addition. audible.com is an amazon company. If you're not registered with them, you can sign up for a free trial. The trial period lasts a month. It's a great company which I've found to be worth joining. Hope this information helps.

Unknown said...

I'm super excited about all these things.

My goals:

1) Live abroad in England for four months and survive.

2) Finish some more novellas, make progress in a novel perhaps.

3) Prepare for my fourth and final year of university, start planning to live abroad after fourth year--hopefully in Japan (good to look ahead, am I right?)

Those are my "professional" goals. Of course, I have some personal ones too. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Meredith!
That was really helpful!
Jemma

Unknown said...

Oh, I think I would feel a bit pathetic listing my goals after your insanely aggressive list!! Wow! Yet somehow I have no doubt that most of the things on your list will get accomplished.... :) Can't wait to see your new book series, too!!

Meredith said...

No problem, Ms. Jemma. I think you'll love the audio version. Ms. Doughty, the narrator, is very talented. Super excited to, Lord willing, hear her read the Five Enchanted Roses stories that are chosen. God bless.