Have you set new goals for the year? Are you going to? Tomorrow I’ll post about setting good, achievable goals.

My goals for the new year: 1200-1400 words a day. I’ve also set up quarterly goals instead of just the annual goal so I will pay more attention this year. What about you? What are your goals?

I hope 2008 was a wonderful year for you and wish for 2009 to be one of the best! Thank you for being the best fans a bunch of gals could hope for.

Happy New Year!

Dawn Montgomery

http://www.dawnmontgomery.com/blog

For others they have the beginning of the greatest novel ever written…if only it would get done, or several works in progress that need to be ended, polished and submitted…

Some thought NaNo was a failure, others a challenge that tore them apart or lifted them up. I walked with a few people across that finish line, cheering them on (or driving them with a timekeeper’s whip!), and celebrated with others who may not have won, but did something amazing…finally finished a chapter, tore down a writing block, dodged a potential plotting hazard, wrote more words than ever before…You catch my drift.

So here’s the big question…what now?

That’s easy. Keep writing, editing, polishing and submitting manuscripts. No, it’s okay. I hear you scoffing at me, asking me if I’ve lost my mind. How in the world could I ever expect you to keep up NaNo intensity year round?

I don’t.

I expect you to find a groove and stick with it. Let’s say you write 250-300 words a day (2-3 paragraphs). That’s FOUR novellas (25K) a year. Four potential releases! Or TWO category length (55K) novels a year…wow! Or ONE full-length (single title) novel (90K +) a year! That’s amazing, isn’t it? All those little words add up. Whether you’re writing two paragraphs a day or 1,667 a day, remember this…you can’t edit a blank page. Get out there and keep going!

Do you need help/motivation polishing up your manuscript from NaNo? Harlequin Romance has a forum dedicated to post NaNo editing. Romance Divas have areas and workshops in their forum to help. NaNoWriMo has a post NaNo care area for those who are struggling with the “what now?” question.

Either way, I’m proud to continue sweating with you guys if you’re feeling the groove…after a week off, of course. I’m TIRED!

XoXo,

Dawn Montgomery

http://www.dawnmontgomery.com/blog

12 Gingersnaps, 12 chances to win free ebooks for a year…

* Does not include those who wrote in their own unofficial NaNo programs or spinoffs, family members who lost their novel writing relatives for a month, or the poor pets who missed their humans.

I’m in the middle (*snort* I wish, more like the beginning) of a hand to hand combat course (workshop) that is *literally* kicking my butt, but in a good way…My bruises make my husband cringe and he mutters under his breath a lot about me being crazy or something. He’s so sweet about it, though. Gets me ice packs for my knee and shoulder, forces ibuprofen down my throat so I can walk throughout the day, and makes sure I’m well fed and rested by convincing me that watching this *one* show will be great (and RIGHT after dinner)…knowing full well I’ll pass right out within five minutes. I shoulda seen that one coming.

I’m on day three of a three week course. It starts at 4am and lasts two hours Monday through Friday. See? Crazy. I get home, shower and get dressed, heading to work less than an hour after I get home. Then it’s a 9 hour work day…see? Crazy.

Two weeks ago it was training on a 9mm Baretta (standard issue, I’m told, for a large number of law enforcement agencies. 56 out of 60 shots in my practical…not bad for a first time huh!).

In three weeks I perform a practical and written exam for the combat workshop…Three weeks? Wow.

The only writing I’m getting done right now involves writing down how I feel afterward so I can remember for later usage. ROFL.

So I’ll be out of here for a bit. I love you guys and wish me LUCK!

Dawn

http://www.dawnmontgomery.com/

You see, I didn’t take into account my toddler suddenly decided every moment was B and Mommy time.  It’s an amazing thing to watch him become his own little man.  I also didn’t count on an increased workload at the day job OR my normally amazingly supportive husband missing me so much he’s asking me for a non-writing vacation.

It pulled me up short (which doesn’t take much, as I’m a little over 5 feet…it’s okay, I won’t continue until your done groaning at the bad joke…*drinks a bit of tea* Good?  Okay).  My husband misses me and my toddler is wanting Mommy and B time.  Even my dog is showing the strain of not enough pats on the head.

I’m currently in deadline (what else is new LOL) and working to get books to my editors by the middle of the month (one this weekend, the other next weekend).  After that I’m taking my 70 days of sweat goal and shifting it.

Write something every day.  My goal is to just write, when I can, but do it either later at night, at my lunch break, or with snatches of time during my hours home from work. If this works out and I’m more productive, it will be my ritual.  If it’s not more productive, come middle of May, I’ll ramp up my routine again.

Sometimes it’s good to take time off and relax.

What about you?  Do you ever take a vacation?  And what do you do to relax after the strain of a deadline?

Have a great week!

Dawn Montgomery, Angel of LAW

ISBN (13): 978-1-59596-936-1

Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi , Erotic Romance

Theme(s): Interracial, BBW, Men and Women in Uniform, Spaceport

Series: Spaceport

Length: Novella

No one knows better than Alexis Donovan how the universe turns around IAS patrols. You play or you’re spaced. When she’s given an offer she can’t refuse, she has no choice but to bring in the bounty, alive. A mark’s a mark, right? But what’s a girl to do when the man she has to bring in is the man who haunts her sleep at night?

A courier exchange gone wrong has sent Mack Hernandez into a whirlwind of chaos. Torn from the family he tried to save and thrust into Spaceport Adana, he does what he can to survive. An incredible encounter… or two… with a bounty hunter has him walking a fine line between life and death. What starts out as a struggle for freedom between the two sends them careening headfirst into a cover-up big enough to blow the Haze patrol sector apart.

When the heat turns on and the adrenaline rides high, can they keep their hearts strong and steady?

Here’s a free read about their first encounter.   Enjoy!

I remember my first taste of D&D came in the form of a Saturday morning cartoon Gary had created.  I was fascinated with the possibility of being drawn into another universe (through a roller coaster, no less) and given powers you had no idea how to control.  My Mother still tells me about how I’d go around and put on little plays for them involving the acrobat and the thief (the only two female characters, plus Uni the Unicorn ROFL).

Fast forward to high school where I picked up my first Dragonlance novel: The Dragons of Autumn Twilight. In the 1st of the chronicles trilogy I was sucked in.  It had less intensity and obsessive seriousness than the Epic fantasies I’d been reading up until that time.  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for a good page turner.  My imagination started sparking.  The Epics I’d read until that time were so exhausting to read (BUT enjoyable!) my mind never considered writing one.  With the Chronicles trilogy, however, my imagination had been ignited.  I’d hoped to continue following that path of love with all the other books in the Dragonlance universe.  While a few were absolutely awesome, most were inconsistent and uninspiring.  My frustration increased with each book until one day my Mom yelled at me to write a book then, dammit, if I was going to keep throwing them against the wall.  *wall thumper: a book so bad you throw it against the wall in anger and/or frustration*

I went on to write really bad fiction…more like fan fic, really.  Really BAD fan fic.  LOL.  But I also started playing D&D.  When a Dungeon Master (the tale spinner) suddenly decided he didn’t want to play anymore, I was shoved to the DM spot. (I think I’d talked smack at the time…not a good move) Let me tell you, there is nothing more terrifying in the world than being the DM for six guys who could flay you for breakfast with their wit.  I thought I was out of my league.  So they gave me two days to prep. LOL.  No one offered suggestions and I, in my infinite teenage wisdom, refused to ask.

So I set it all up.  Man, it was tough.  Maps, scenerios, character cards for non-playable, yet key, characters, and a storyarc.  Who knew DM-ing was so tough!  My first night I still remember with embarrassment.  Mostly b/c I should have known they’d go on their own and do whatever they wanted.  Hadn’t I been playing with them for over a year?  I had one week to prep for the next round.  This time they wouldn’t get me.  I had a story dammit and no willful character was going to stomp all over me.

The next round was a little rougher but they were starting to relax and enjoy themselves.  Weeks followed.  Sometimes we had so much fun we’d meet on Sundays too. Finally a month and half long storyarc was done and I was exhausted.  We’d battled epic monsters and demons and the foundations of the world had been shaken.  I’d tracked every one of my NPS characters, some living and some sacrificed for the greater good of the story.  Man I remember how it tore me apart.

The guys were laughing and joking about how much fun they’d had.  I was packing up the DM stuff I’d been loaned by the previous one and my mind had blanked.  It was like I was closing off a chapter of my imagination.  Crazy stuff.  One I would become familiar with later in life.  I was exhausted, mentally just numb. This is the part that I most remember.  One of the guys said, “Damn that was an intense storyline! Awesome work for your first time. When does the next one start up?”  I’d laughed (hysterically, I think) and said I wasn’t sure.  Later that night I got a call from the former DM congratulating me on my storyarc.  I asked him how he’d kept it up for so long and he laughed and said something I’ll never forget and keep to my heart even now.  “It’s the story you’ve got to love.  You have to want it told bad enough that you’ll face anything, any obstacle to get it done.”  I wrote those words down.  He went on to tell me that he’d lost the love of the story and it killed him to try and play a game without one in his heart.

Fast forward to *cough* years later.  I still hold those words to my heart and I fear I’m addicted to storytelling.  Thank you Gary, for introducing me to a world where I first let my imagination soar.   You will be missed.  Thank you for letting me reminisce about how I got into writing.

Much love,

Dawn Montgomery aka Angel