Welcome, friends!

My life has been dictated by the school calendar since birth, due to the fact that my mother was a teacher.  School, college and teaching career followed, again, on the school calendar.  I guess you could say I am used to it by now.

Much like some people use January 1 to make resolutions for themselves, I use the summers to prepare for the upcoming school year as well as amp up my writing.  Don’t get me wrong, I write all year long.  My normal pacing is something like this:

• October:  Plot and outline something new
• November:  Take part in NaNoWriMo
• December-May:  Continue November manuscript, work on smaller writing projects
• June-September:  Take part in summertime conferences, writing contests, and querying.

For me, this schedule works, due to the school calendar that I follow.  As I type this, I realize now is the time for me to make plans for my summer writing endeavors.  I have a few “bucket list” goals I’d like to meet:

1. Write more short stories (I LOVE to write them!  I blog about them here)
2. Finish editing on my November 2015 manuscript (This story cracks me up!)
3. Take part in the Savvy Authors Summer Symposium (An annual thing for me.  Great stuff at this online conference!)
4. Attend a writer’s conference (I’m not sure if this will work out, but hopefully it will!)

I have gotten a lot better at organizing my time over the last couple of years, so I am pretty sure that I will finish editing my November 2015 manuscript by Labor Day.  And the short Stories?  Well, I will embrace those little story ideas that seem to come to mind suddenly, and write them as time allows.  The last two items on my summer bucket list may or may not happen, due to things out of my control, but I plan on completing both of them.

We shall see how it all goes!

How about you?  Do you have a writing bucket list?  Writing plans for the summer?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

Happy writing, everyone!