New Year Update

I haven't written for a while, mostly because Blogger had an issue where they would not let me upload a photo from my computer. Evidently that has been fixed, so I can update with this illustration of me holding my latest grandson, Weston, born January 27.

As for my writing goals for the year - they are pretty simple - but work intensive at the same time.

Novel:
I plan to finish the novel I've been working on for five years - working title "Copper top" - by the end of July. Then I'll let it sit for August, before beginning rewrites. By the end of the year I hope to be able to shop it around to agents.

National Park Essays:
I have also been working on this project for five years, but I'm very close to being done.  I plan to finish this collection of essays I'm writing about Tom and my travels to the western national parks after our trip to Yosemite in June. I'm in a manuscript critique group and I'm running this project through that workshop.
By this fall I'll be ready to look for a publisher. The title: "Canyons Calling, Michiganders Exploring the West."

National Park Poems:
I originally thought I would include poetry in the above project, but this year I decided it would be better as a completely different project. Once again, I will finish this project after we return from Yosemite and self-publish in the fall. Tentative title: "Heading to the Canyons."

And that's it! Three long term projects done so I can move on to other projects percolating in my brain.