New Year, New Plans, and Name Juggling

On (usually) the first Monday of the month I gab about what's going on with me, my writing, and life in general.

Welcome to my first post of 2017! Fitting that this winds up being my monthly update post. 

New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! 

I've heard a lot of people talk about how happy they are to cast off 2016 and usher in a fresh, new year. I've been eager for this as well, but not so much because I couldn't wait to see 2016 in my rear view mirror. As the year's writing and personal goals wound down for me, I naturally began looking forward to what I want to achieve in the coming year.

I don't know about you, but I'm a calendar freak. Not so much the wall-hanging type that my husband is hooked on (he uses as many as three or four at a time to keep things straight). But the idea of a fresh, spanking new planner or online calendar makes me smile--and makes me want to fill it in with the magical routine that will make my days productive and organized. I keep my calendar in a 3-ring binder. Purple, of course, since that's my favorite color. 

My planner is ready to go!

New Plans

Some time back, I mentioned that I swear by the Passion Planner to help me organize my days. I printed a new one for 2017 and have been hard at work on making a master to-do list so I can fill it in. Basically, the list is a free write/mind map of everything I can think of that I want to achieve in the coming year. Then I'll prioritize, set up a time frame for each, and plug them into the calendar accordingly.

What's on deck for writing? I'm excited to say I'll be spiffing up some free reads to tie in with each of my series. Sons of Herne already has Books 1 and 2 as freebies, and I confess I've gotten hooked. So for urban fantasy fans, I'll be doing a bonus Sons of Herne tale for the box set. As for other freebies, I'll be re-releasing Their Secret Paradise, the urban fantasy that inspired my Immortal Paradise series. And for werewolf/cowboy fans, I've got a Lone Wolves of Shay Falls tie-in planned. 

In other writing, I'll be completing work on Bound to Her Master, my urban fantasy/erotic bondage romance saga. And on top of this, I'm hard at work on some mainstream contemporary romance for a new pen name.

Name Juggling

The biggest challenge I anticipate in rolling out the new plan for 2017 is the launch of my new mainstream pen name. I had a mainstream name when I first started writing, but when I began focusing on my spicier J. Rose books, I found it difficult to give proper attention to two different names. After much soul searching, the original pen fell by the wayside. 

Name juggling has been perhaps my toughest challenge as an author. I know it doesn't sound hard to slap a different name on a book cover, and many authors I know juggle multiple names. But me, well, it's proven a difficult concept to master. Picture building a carefully constructed schedule to fit in a writing career, full-time day job, being a wife and mom, homeschooling, etc. Then wake up one day and decide to shoehorn in double the work in the writing column. Sure, I could write the same number of books as before and simply divide them between the two. But it's still twice the work to manage the business and online presence aspects. Double the Twitter/FB, double websites, double the blogs,etc.  That's where the problem came in before, and I've no doubt it'll be a challenge again. But this time, I've got my handy dandy passion planner to help keep me on track. 

What are your goals for 2017? And what tools do you like to use to keep organized?

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On select Mondays, I like to gab about whatever's going on with me. For more gab, please join me on Twitter or Facebook. I love talking to people!

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night.