Round Up the Horses – Get Back to Work!

It’s time to round up the horses and get back to work!

See, what happened was…I signed up for a trip to south Florida way earlier this year. Then I signed up for a writer’s conference in Vegas. Then I got invited to Arizona for a week to visit old friends.

The result was…I went a lot of places, had a good time, and didn’t get much work done. Which means that currently I’m still working on a project I should have done ages ago and I’m now starting to think about 2022.

So what is my projection for 2022? I have a lot of great ideas, a pet project or two, and inspiration from some amazing authors who were at the convention. This is my list thus far:

💜 Finish Farthingdale Ranch series, which includes The Cook and the Gangster and The Trail Boss and the Brat. Both are going to be loads of fun to write! Look for those at the beginning of 2022.

💜 Write a Ranch 2.0 series (maybe six books?) – I love the setting and the environment and the characters, so I want to write about them, but in a different way. This won’t be a continuation of Leland and Clay and everybody’s stories, but they will be in the background in the new series, probably in cameos. I’m still roughing out the details.

💜 Write a three book series about orphans and how they get rescued. You guys know I love this trope to pieces, and have had sticky notes on my closet door about this for ages and ages.

💜 I want to write a historical set in Farthing in 1892, after John and Laurie leave for Trinidad. That’d be a pet project for me, something I can dive into and be self-indulgent with.

💜 And the Love Across Time sequels – I’ve not forgotten! Wendy Rathbone did some great covers for me, so all I need to do is write them. 💖

💖 One of the most important things I learned at the writer’s conference was this: respect your readers expectations. Which to me means, if you say you’re going to put out a book every other month, then PUT out a book every other month. I’m going to work at being more consistent with my writing schedule, which will help me be more consistent with my output.

💖 My health has been up and down over the past two years, which made it hard to keep up a regular cadence. Now, after several surgeries, my doctor says I’m doing very well and there shouldn’t be any more complications. I expect my health will stay steady for the next twenty years.

💖 And, oddly enough, I’ve discovered my body loves it when I walk three miles a day, and I mean LOVES it. I sleep better, I think better, I can write more words. Three miles a day seems to be a sweet spot for me, and right now I’m up to 2 1/2 miles, so I’m almost there.

💖 I want to Kon Mari my house in 2022, which means sorting through everything in my house so I can downsize. The Kon Mari method was developed by Marie Kondo and is described in her brilliant book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Which means not getting rid of something just because you’ve not touched it in six months (or ever) but passing the object on because it doesn’t bring you joy. It’s a magical method, it truly is, and I think I’ve reached the point where I want to get rid of the clutter that surrounds me.

As for you, my readers, is there anything you’d like to see me write? What stories do you want to read? Let me know in the comments or send me an email at jackienorthauthor (at) gmail.com.