by Beth K. Vogt, @bethvogt
What a year 2020 has been, right?
We’ve waded through so much change and tension during the past months. And as the year ends and we step into 2021, more of the same awaits us.
As writers, we’ve each battled the unexpected in our real life as we’ve pursued our writing goals. Some of us experienced unemployment. Some of us started homeschooling our children. Others grieved as family members battled COVID-19, or as we ourselves struggled with the virus.
As 2020 winds down, we may wonder if we’ve done enough to accomplish our writing dream. Consider several simple things we can do to finish 2020 well:
- Review your website. Is it time for an update? If you have a new book releasing in 2021, consider what you need to do to prep your website for the release. Consider your banner, your sidebar, and your book page. Just recently, a visitor to my website found a minor typo on my “About” page – and my website “redo” has been up for several years now. I had to applaud her, even as I thanked her for telling me about a double word.
- Check your author bio and pro photo. Do you need to make any changes to your author bio because you’ve written a new book or series or earned an award? If it’s been more than three years since you took your last pro photo, schedule an appointment with your preferred photographer.
- Organize your office. I’m certain there was a groan when some of you read this suggestion. Remember, during the process, organization looks a lot like disorganization. Having just finished moving my office, which meant I also had to organize things, I recommend undertaking this task a little at a time. Start with your desk. Or the closet or bookshelves.
- Brainstorm blog post ideas for 2021. Look at the upcoming calendar and plan your upcoming blog posts. Take into consideration any annual holidays like July 4 or National Booklovers Day (August 9). Consider if you want to invite anyone to be a guest blogger. Also block out any vacations you might take during the year.
- Write one thank you note. Finish 2020 with an attitude of gratitude. Pause and think of one person who has helped you or encouraged you during this challenging year. Now encourage them by telling them how they made a difference in your life. Are you able to think of more than one person? Go ahead – write several notes!
How can you choose what is right for you when your decision will break the heart of someone you love? Having abandoned her childhood dream years ago, Johanna Thatcher knows what she wants from life. Discovering that her fiancé was cheating on her only convinces Johanna it’s best to maintain control and protect her heart.
Despite years of distance and friction, Johanna and her sisters, Jillian and Payton, have moved from a truce toward a fragile friendship. But then Johanna reveals she has the one thing Jillian wants most and may never have—and Johanna doesn’t want it. As Johanna wrestles with a choice that will change her life and her relationships with her sisters forever, the cracks in Jillian’s marriage and faith deepen. Through it all, the Thatcher sisters must decide once and for all what it means to be family.
Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” The Best We’ve Been, the final book in Beth’s Thatcher Sisters Series with Tyndale House Publishers, releases May 2020. Other books in the series include Things I Never Told You, which one the 2019 AWSA Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year, and Moments We Forget.
Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us.
An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.