Darlene Foster's Blog

Happy New Year to all my readers.  Thank you so much for your readership, likes, comments  and most of all, your friendship. You have been so encouraging over the past year, I could not have done it without you.

We celebrated the New Year by attending a dinner party at a friend’s house. Flat Ruthie came with us and had a great time. She was the life of the party.  She enjoyed the appetizers a lot!

As it is the end of another year, it is time to see how I did with the goals I set last year at this time. I posted them for all to see on my blog https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/a-new-year-a-new-list/

1.Finish writing Amanda in England-The Missing Novel for publication this summer by writing a chapter a week for the next three months.

Check. I finished the book and it was published in August!

2.Find ways to make more money with my writing by setting up readings, writing magazine articles and entering contests.
Check. I did do some readings and wrote magazine articles as well as entered contests. I would like to do more of this though.

3.Blog at least once a week and double my subscribers

Check. I wrote 72 posts this year and went from 30 to 130 subscribers!!  I had 10,000 views from 107 different countries. I am very happy with this result.

4.Learn to manage my social networking by improving technical skills

Check. I have learned some new things about social networking but would like to learn more.

5.Reduce the clutter in my house, computer and mind
Fail. I have not only failed to reduce clutter I have added more.

6.Spend as much time with Mom as possible in person and on the phone

Check. I call Mom at least twice a week and went to visit her in Alberta three times in one year.

7.Find a reasonable cleaning service

Check. I had to break my ankle to get a cleaning service but I now have one.

8.Meet other authors to share knowledge and support

Check. I have become active in a couple of local writer’s groups and met some amazing authors, three of whom have become mentors. I have also met many wonderful authors through my blog and other social networking sites.  It is all good!
9.Take a trip to Europe

Check. Had took trip of the lifetime which included in Spain, Germany, Austria and Hungary as well as scenes along the Danube River.

10.Take time to breathe

Check. I was forced to take time to breath as I recovered from my broken ankle.

All in all, I am very pleased with how I met my goals from last year. OK, now for 2013 goals:

1. Reduce the clutter. I will take a page from Lorna at Tea Room Delights where she has decided to get rid of one thing a day for the entire year, for a total of 365 things.  This may help me get this done! Today I got rid of the old calendars.

2. Complete Amanda in Alberta-The Writing on the Stone and have it published before the end of the year.

3. Take a trip to Alberta to do research for Amanda in Alberta with my eleven year old grandson.

4.Ensure my foot returns to normal.

5.Continue to look for more outlets for my writing.

6. Write more travel articles.

7.Contact schools to do readings.

8. Consider working part-time in order to spend more time on my writing.

9. Take a nice holiday with Paul (without injuring myself)

10. Practice kindness with everyone I meet, no matter how my day is going.

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
– Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I wish all of you a wonderful New Year with many accomplishments no matter how small. Just getting up in the morning or smiling at a stranger is considered an accomplishment in my book.