Sitting at my computer this evening, I’m feeling a bit sheepish. I may have already gotten off on the wrong foot as an Indie author in 2019. For one, I’ve not kept pace with my planned writing/editing quotas this month–it’s been such a slog. I’ve also been procrastinating on setting my goals for 2019 for nearly a month. And if I don’t set them now, it just won’t be as meaningful. I tend to procrastinate a task when I haven’t quite figured something out or really don’t want to do something. I might also be overwhelmed by the tasks I have on my plate. This is THE year for me. No pressure. In 2019, I’m launching my series on Amazon–the first three books of the Lara Kingsley Series. For the past year, I’ve done a soft launch with ebooks on Kobo only and print versions on Amazon. In 2019, I’m going to go full throttle on Amazon, launching all versions and using promotions and ads. And I’m terrified of failing and falling flat on my face. Time will tell.

Now that I have that out of the way, here are my creative goals for 2019:

• Finish the Bionic Bug Podcast in January 2019. The podcast has a total of 42 episodes, and I’ve produced 41 episodes. I expect to finish this up next week.
• Launch the Authors of Mass Destruction Podcast in March 2019. This podcast will focus on helping authors write great stories while getting the technical details right. I’ll conduct interviews with leading experts on weapons of mass destruction and emerging technologies, author interviews, technical modules, and reviews of what TV shows and movies get right and wrong.
• Publish Bionic Bug and Project Gecko as paperbacks on Ingram. Currently, both books are available as paperbacks on Amazon through KDP. But I want to use Ingram for global distribution. This shouldn’t be too difficult, but I’ll have to reformat the covers.
• Publish Genomic Data in May 2019. This is Book Three of the Lara Kingsley Series. I’m currently editing the second draft and on schedule for on-time completion.
• Produce three short stories for a series called The Kingsley Files. These short stories will serve as cookies for my reader list. I’m planning to put a call to action in each of my three novels for readers to collect these short stories, which will include exclusive clues to the series.

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• Produce two additional Bionic Bug on Location videos. I’ve already produced two of these. I plan to use these video clips as part of my reader list on-boarding sequence.

• Write TV pilot for the Lara Kingsley Series. This will be my first foray into writing screenplays. I’ve written this series specifically to turn it into a TV series, but it will present a new challenge. I’m excited to learn a new skill.
• Launch the Lara Kingsley Series on Amazon in August 2019. I’ll be doing a rapid release launch combined with ads and promotions.
• Outline my new dystopian trilogy. I’m planning to write this in 2020.

I think that’s a pretty good list. Whatever else I accomplish in 2019 will be a bonus. Thanks for following my writer’s journey. I’ll let you know how I do in less than a year. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.