Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

It seems that January is the most common time of year to set ourselves up with a list of intentions that are supposed to make us better people. One of the podcasts from Writers After Dark tackled this very topic, and they did such a great job of it that I'm going to send you there if you click on this link. As they put it, "Why does the 'new you' have to come right after the 'old you' just enjoyed a few weeks of absolute decadence?"

[Hey, and while you're over there, if you really, REALLY want to start your New Year right—and I think you do—listen to my own podcast interview and get your first dose of editing inspiration for 2018. The three of us have a great time and actually discuss real things that might help you!]

Even so, I find myself each year with list in hand, breaking down into categories that which is my life, and trying to figure out how to make it better for me and those around me. One of my categories is professional growth, and a subcategory of that is education. I am of the opinion that the more I learn, the more I realize I still have a lot more to learn. This past year, I had some sort-of goals that got completely derailed for a while and then back on track when I received some incredibly useful advice from S.K. Anthony: "Let's just start 2017 over again. So what if it's June?"

And we did.

Over the past few years, I'd had to put much of my business on hold due to the intensity of my day job. As a result, what little time I had left for editing didn't leave any room for growth, and I found myself narrowed down to a handful of clients I scheduled around everything else. In fact, I'd had potential clients walk away because I couldn't fit them in quickly enough, and that was discouraging, to say the least.

When I rebooted 2017, I sat down and thought about my business goals and how I'd allowed myself to lose sight of them. Obviously, the lack of a plan—and pantsing it from week to week—was not working. So I started writing, and came up with a list of things I wanted to accomplish, and whaddya know, I've even gotten to most of them.

I have continued to blog regularly, both here and at my personal blog, and have met and interacted with a whole host of new acquaintances across the globe. Yes, it's time-consuming stuff, blogging, but I love learning more about the world through one-on-one interactions with people I wouldn't have run into otherwise.

I started loading my stuff onto Pinterest with regularity. I have to admit that I don't allow myself to browse Pinterest all that often because (for me, anyway) it is a black hole that sucks away hours of my life without me even realizing it. But I look at it as one more avenue to share my work for those who may or may not ever find my blogs or my IG account.

I started an Instagram account for my business, rather than trying to shove a bunch of business-y things on my personal account. That has proven to be a load of fun, and I've found some new authors to read. Instagram is where I share my fun stuff, where I run promotions like this, and where I can explore, two minutes at a time.

I got some new clients, I joined the Editorial Freelancers Association, became an active participant on a few editors' groups on Facebook, and got off my butt to make my own ERE Facebook page active and growing. Growth is slow, but it's genuine, with people who actually read and engage with my posts there.

Just in time for the end of the year, I had my branding redone by Rachel at Imaginary Beast, and I couldn't be happier. The new look is great, and now I finally have continuity across all my social media. It's professional with just a bit of quirk, like me.

I think the restart midyear was a good move overall. Thank you, S.K.!

What about you? Did you meet your goals? Did you get off track? Did you slam it out of the park? In my next post, I'll be discussing one of my sort-of goals from last year and reviewing the books that helped me achieve it. See you then!