How Did I Do in 2015 and New Year's Resolutions for 2016

On December 29, ,2014 I wrote a blog post New Year's Genealogy Resolutions for 2014 - Did I Achieve Them?

At the end of reviewing my 2014 resolutions and deciding I was writing too may resolutions and expecting too much of myself, I set one resolution for 2015.

 "So 2015 will be my year of writing - novels, tutorials, family histories - I plan on writing and creating ebooks and paperbacks. It's going to be my fun year."

HOW DID I DO?

 2015 is almost over. So how did I do? I'm pretty happy with my progress. I focused on my writing and am pleased to say I accomplished quite a bit. In March I published the first two volumes of my planned series on the Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his children.

From Van Valkenburg to Vollick: The Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his Vollick & Follick Children (Volume 1)  and From Van Valkenburg to Vollick:  Cornelius Vollick and his Follick and Vollick Descendants to 3 Generations (Volume 2) are both for sale on Amazon.com 

A third volume about Isaac's son Storm Follick is almost ready for publication and I feel very good about that.

I also published several private family history books which are not for sale but I distributed to family members. My 4-volume set of books on the McGinnis family (my maiden name) is finished and each of my children has copies.

Work on a book of the Beardmore family is in progress for my nephew's wife. It's almost done and that's another achievement I feel very good about.

BLOG POSTS

I stuck to my commitment to write a daily blog post on Olive Tree Genealogy - another thumbs up because it was not always easy.

Many days I did not feel like writing or I couldn't think of anything to say! But I like the discipline of meeting the commitment and I love writing so I was able to see even the bad days through.

EXPANDING MY WRITING VENTURES

 My writing took off even more when I also began writing articles for Legacy Family Tree in 2015. That has been a wonderful experience and a different style of writing which I am thoroughly enjoying. Then just last week another well-known Genealogy company asked me to write for them. That recognition is very gratifying, and the topic for January is a fun one.

The one area of writing where I failed miserably was in getting my Genealogy Murder Mystery Novel finalized for publication. Life and my health got in the way and I simply could not set aside enough quality time to focus on that task. To be very honest I am a little nervous about publishing it. What if no one likes it? What if it gets panned? What if it's not as good as I think it is? What if.......

I recognize this anxiety. It is the same anxiety I felt at the first (and only!) showing of my artwork. I was very worried that viewers would say it was terrible and not fit to be hung in the show. It's a type of stage fright and I have to work very hard to overcome it. I actually sold a painting at that show so I guess my nerves were not warranted. That is something I need to work on next year - overcoming that anxiety hurdle and finishing my novel. 

SOCIAL MEDIA 

One other quiet goal I had was to focus more on Social Media, in particular Twitter. I set a goal to reach 10,000 followers on my Twitter account (@LorineMS) by the end of 2015. I'm happy to report I now have 9,922 but somehow I doubt I will have 78 more followers in the next 4 days. I also joined some new Social Media channels, namely Instagram and Periscope but I have not been able to devote as much time to them as I'd like to. 

2016 GOALS & RESOLUTIONS

I'll make that one of my goals in 2016 - continue growing my Twitter profile with quality followers, and find time to work on Instagram and Periscope.

But mainly in 2016 I will continue to focus on my writing - both non-fiction and fiction. Of course I will continue my genealogy research as well. I look forward to new challenges and opportunities in the New Year!  What are your goals for the coming year?