Daily Archives: January 6, 2023

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What’s With the New Year?

January 6, 2023 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as editing, happy new year, Lark O. Jensen, Linda O. Johnston, New Books, Writing Plans

Happy 2023, everyone! Should it be happy for a writer? Well, that depends on what you’re writing and what you want to accomplish in the new year.

Me? Well, I’ll have three new books published this year: Undercover Cowboy Defender, part of my Shelter of Secrets series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Cry Wolf, my second Alaska Untamed mystery for Crooked Lane under my pseudonym Lark O. Jensen, and CSI Colton and the Pregnant Witness, part of the large Harlequin Colton series—this year, Colton NYC.

I’m currently working on edits for CSI Colton and the Pregnant Witness and Cry Wolf. Next will come a couple more books in Shelter of Secrets. And more? Well, my mind is always churning on ideas that I haven’t yet fleshed out. And I probably will with at least some of them.

And you? If you’re a writer, do you have this year planned? Are you working on something you’ve already sold or determined to publish independently? Even if you have a day job, I suspect your mind is also moving along similar paths to mine, figuring out what you’ll write when—and how much you can accomplish in 2023.

Do you plan over the long term? Weekly? Monthly? Or do you just see how things go?

And do you allow distractions to slow you down, at least a bit—like me? My 11-month-old puppy Roxie still has lots of energy and she knows how to get my attention to throw toys to fetch even while I’m writing. Or, she’ll attack our older dog Cari and they’ll run around the house growling in fun at each other, another distraction. What’s your most fun distraction?

And where do you want to be at the end of 2023 when you tell the world all you’ve accomplished this year? Me? I want to continue writing and playing with the dogs and coming up with even more ideas and following through with them. Oh, yes. I intend to enjoy 2023.