Musing Monday - January 2

Musing Monday is now hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker.  It is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK'S RANDOM QUESTION: Have you joined any challenges in reading for the new year? Do you have any general goals book or even not book related for 2017?

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you had a great holiday season. Things are a bit somber here. After having the troops home for nearly two weeks, everyone goes back to their regular schedules tomorrow. Sigh!

This is always a fun time for me, though, because I organize, set goals, and prepare for the year ahead. As far as reading challenges, I am determined to do better than I did in 2016. These are the two I joined:

I love historical fiction and desperately need to whittle away my TBR pile. 

I've also joined the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge at Books Can Be Deadly and the 2017 Picture Book Reading Challenge at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection.

As far as goals, I have some work-related and others family- and fun-related. My first business planning meeting for 2017 is Friday. I need to get my goals together for that--my plan has been done for a few weeks now--but I know I am looking to double my business this year. In 2016, I had 66% increase over the previous year, so I should be able to pull it off.

My writing goals are:

• Participate in Picture Book Idea Month. I’ve participated in this endeavor twice, which resulted in Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving being published, Amos Faces His Bully being under contract, and four other picture books written. I’m game to do it again.
• Submit two short stories this year.
• Contribute to Guardian Angel Kids e-zine once this year.
• Seek out guest blogging opportunities once a quarter.
• Write four chapters of Amelia’s Mission by June.
• Attend writing group monthly.

This might be optimistic considering all I plan to do with real estate, but we'll see how it goes.

The most important goal, however, is to spend more time doing what I love: time with our family, reading, cooking, and gardening.

What are your goals for 2017?