So we’ve all made New Year’s resolutions, right? My big one this year was to write two thousand words a day. Okay, one thousand. Then family matters caused me to skip a day. I promised myself to get back to my work in progress the next morning. Right? Right. Um, not so fast. I found out friends from out of town were coming. I had to clean the house. You know, that house I’ve overlooked for way too long. Good thing I had the week to do the cleaning because, boy, what a mess. Oh, and all the mail I needed to shred. Bags of it with my name, credit card numbers, bank numbers. Half a day’s worth of shredding mail. The daily junk mail goes in the recycle barrel, so at least I don’t have to shred that. Good. I was on a roll. Uh, oh. I forgot about the critique. My critique partner and I rarely miss our twenty pages, give or take, every two weeks. I wasn’t ready. Now, where was I? Because, you know, with all the family matters, house cleaning, and visitors, I had no time to think ab...

Happy New Year, dear writing friends! As we slide into 2013, what are your writing goals for the future? Even if you don't feel the need for resolutions, I am certain you've given the next few months some thought and consideration, as have I. Before the week is over, I plan to finish reading Chuck Sambuchino's new book, Create Your Writer Platform: The Key to Building an Audience, Selling More Books, and Finding Success as an Author. With the rapid changes in publishing, many of us are taking full responsibility for marketing our books. Developing a strong platform is a must for the modern author. Stay tuned for a review of the book later this month. I'm excited to read what Chuck has to say. Some of the points he'll cover: The definition of a platform—and why you should start building one now . How to harness the 12 Fundamental Principles of Platform. "Old School" and "New School" approaches to platform, from article writing and conf...