Happy New Year!

It’s a new year. Many of us use it as a time of reflection and goal making.

Last year for New Year’s I wrote this:

Confidence, according to dictionary.com, is:
1)full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing.

AND

2)belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance.

There are other definitions, of course, but these two are what God wants me to see.

I’m learning this as I type because that’s how God teaches me. If I share here, I learn more than if I just do it for myself.

Let’s look at definition one, “full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing” alongside Heb. 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Can you see how they fit together? God wants me to have confidence in His ability to do things, in His reliability, in who He is. He wants me to put my FULL TRUST and belief in His powers.

And then there’s definition two, which is why I think God gave me the word confidence instead of faith–“belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance.” I am not, nor have I ever been, confident in the things I do. As a wife, or a mother. As a friend or a writer. I always question my abilities. [You can find the complete post here.]

God helped me be confident. In 2014, I doubted my ability to write and so I didn’t get much written. As 2015 comes to a close, I can truthfully say I’ve written two and a half full-length novels and two novellas this year. Only the novellas have been published so far. You can find out about them here. The two completed novels, one of which has been contracted with CleanReads, will be published in a few months (no date yet). I expect to send the second finished novel to the publisher in April or May. That will complete the Belikarian Weddings Series–One Choice, Second Choice (tentative title)–contracted, and Love’s Choice (tentative title)–going through my crit group.

Now 2016 is here, and it’s time for a new word and some new goals to approach with confidence. My word this year is CONSISTENT. 

Dictionary.com gives these definitions:

• write 3,000 words a week, more when I’m not editing a project
• eat well
• exercise
• read the Word and get to know my God on a more intimate level
• read nonfiction books to help me write, eat, and live better – this is a hard one

My verse to go with my word–because they always do–is Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representation of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (NLT)

This is a great reminder that while I write, I need to make sure I stay consistent with my beliefs and my representation of God. While I don’t expect any of my books to bring anyone to salvation, I do expect them to touch the hearts of those who read them in some way. Even if just a seed is planted or watered, that’s enough. I write for One, and if it is His will for many to be touched or just one, then so be it. It sounds canned or trite, but it is my heart–not only in my writing, but in my life.

Moving on to goals…

This is what I have planned for 2016. We’ll see how it actually works out, but this is the plan:

• Write and publish a novella in time for Valentine’s Day. I’d like this to be a sequel to Broken Holiday.
• Complete the appropriate edits for Second Choice as necessary. I’ll update you as soon as I have a release date.
• Complete edits on Love’s Choice and send it to my publisher.
• Complete Coming in First (the half novel mentioned above), change the title (it doesn’t quite fit), and publish it in June or July.
• Consider writing a third novella in what I have tentatively dubbed the Broken Holidays Series, possibly for Independence Day or Labor Day.
  • This may also become a second novel to Coming in First. I am undecided. Or if I have great inspiration, I’ll do both. 🙂
• Write another novella for next Christmas.

If I manage all of that along with getting one graduated from college, another graduated from high school and then off to Bible School, plus homeschooling the other three, I will be a happy woman.

Oh, and you’ll notice (I hope I have it up by this time) a new page on my website entitled Spirit Rose Press. Since I plan to Indie publish all of my books, with the exception of the Belikarian Weddings Series, I have created my own business name, Spirit Rose Press. I tossed around a lot of titles, but this one stuck. I want Holy Spirit to be a part of all my work, and well, you should know by now, I love roses. I also wanted it to tie in with my blog title–A Bed of Roses…Thorns Included. This will be the go-to place for information about my Indie books.

Well, that’s enough about me.

What is your word/verse or your goals for 2016?

Blessings,