Challenges

READING

Last year I was able to read more books than I expected and wrote reviews for all of them. For 2012, I will increase my goals, but not for much.  I hope to read a total of 15 books and write their reviews.  If I go over it will be great, but I just wish to reach this modest stepping stone.

Since I am reading a lot less than most people, I will not formally pledge to complete a specific challenge, but will use the information below as a guideline.

• 3 self-published e-books (http://bit.ly/uFqAeL)

• 3 books by Puerto Rican writers

• 3 audiobooks (http://bit.ly/usXKtX)

• 3 speculative fiction books (http://bit.ly/tXFrpU)

• 3 paper books from my TBR pile (http://bit.ly/rMI9xV)

WRITING

During 2012 I hope to publish my first novel, several short stories, poems and some articles.  In order to do so, I will need to reduce my blogging frequency.

Post-A-Week

I am planning to update Thirty Creative Studio on Mondays, Deborah Milagros on Wednesdays & ‘Consultoría Literaria’ on Fridays.

750 Words

This challenge is hosted by 750words.com and asks writers to commit to a minimum of 750 written words per day. It may not sound like a lot of writing, but it is the average length of a flash fiction piece.  I wanted to use this daily exercise in order to complete different projects that had been hunting me lately.

Write 1/Submit 1

Since I need to channel those 750 words, I will be participating in the write 1/submit 1 challenge hosted by Write 1 Sub 1. You are able to sign up for weekly or monthly submissions and I am doing the selection once a month.  This is a great way to showcase my writings into different outlets.

Row 80

A Round of Words in 80 days is the next step for those 750 words. The great part about this challenge is that it starts today, just in time for the new year. To keep accountability, you have to check in on Wednesdays & Sundays. I am able to set my own goal for ROW80 and since I am combining it with the challenges above, I am shooting for 60,000 words. What I am going to do with them afterwards, who knows!

NaNoWriMo

Just as this year, I am planning to participate in NaNoWriMo during the month of November. It was a great experience during 2011 and I know it could be better this year. They have some summer activities I may join as well.

Editing

I will be editing my first novel, The Eve Project starting today. Hope to get it ready for submission during Spring.

BLOGS

As you know, I have a tendency to simplify and organize my blogs and posts. Therefore, this year you will see, before each post title a brief description of the post content (see above for example) in order to give you a better idea of the content.  I will use this method in all three of my blogs.  As mentioned, I will update each of them once a week and I will be playing around with some formatting too.

Thirty Creative Studio (http://bit.ly/uzLdUz): a bilingual blog about books, experiences & news.

Deborah Milagros (http://bit.ly/tJJ1Kp): house of my muse; creative writing pieces.

Consultoría Literaria (http://bit.ly/w0AuY8): literary services for authors with books in Spanish.

SOCIAL MEDIA

I will continue updating my social media outlets so we can keep in contact and interact about current topics.  In the near future, I may condense some of the options to be more effective.  In the meantime, if you do not want to remember all the links below, you can find all my information in my writer’s profile (http://www.about.me/DeborahMilagros)

Facebook

Thirty Creative Studio   *   Deborah Milagros    *   Consultoría Literaria

Twitter

Thirty Creative & Deborah Milagros   *   Consultoría Literaria

Google Plus

Deborah Milagros   *   The Eve Project: A Novel

LIFE

In order for me to achieve all the aspects above, I have to find the right balance between my family life, blogging and my writing career. I also need to make a little time for some fitness and all those things keeping me alive like, food, water, etc.

Since my husband is my editor, I have to be extra good in order to adjust my goals to his daily routine and expectations. Plus, I have three kids that crave attention in all the wrong moments. It will be a challenge, but I know I will succeed.