*Sigh* Miserable Blue Monday

Welcome, 2014! Today is Epiphany, also known as Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. Now that the holidays are over, the highs I felt from listening to Christmas music, baking holiday cookies, and being on a two-week vacation has passed, leaving me in the doldrums.

I'm not alone, according to this article about Blue Monday.

On top of the blues from needing to put away all my Christmas gack, I received a royalty notice for £1.35. Wow! A windfall! I'm trying to laugh about it, but this news has all but killed what little desire I had to write. That's okay, since I intended on doing nothing other than watching season 3 of "Downton Abbey" today. I'm not quite ready to end my vacation yet.

Instead of letting this day get me too down, I'm reiterating my goals for the year.

1. Finish "Alex Craig Has A Threesome" and submit it to publishers. If rejected, I self-publish it.

2. Finish "Full Moon Fever" and submit it to publishers. If rejected, I self-publish it.

3. Finish four stories for one of my publishers. This won't be easy to do since I feel no motivation to write whatsoever, especially these particular stories.

4. Sock away money for the Stanley Hotel Writers Retreat in October. This will likely be the highlight of my year. I get to work on my first horror novel, "Hell Time", and I will turn this retreat into a two week vacation with my husband. Ah, to be snowed in where "The Shining" took place around Halloween, yet. That's something to look forward to.

5. Publish a few short stories in anthologies. I hope I have better luck with this than I did in 2013.

6. Do more radio shows. Enjoy the live chats with readers. Post more blog posts. Guest blog more often.

7. I've eliminated a lot of promotional nonsense from my life. I cut back on Yahoo group promotions. No more paid online book tours. No more so-called reader's forums where writers are either ignored or attacked. Plus hanging out hasn't resulted in book sales for me, so I wont waste my time anymore. I'm cutting out a lot of the social media time suckage that hasn't made a bit of difference for my sales.

8. Finish editing and find an agent for my thriller/family saga "Secrets and Lies"

9. I'm going to do my best to not get depressed over rejections, lackluster sales, and other frustrations. It won't be easy, but I'll do my best.

10. I'll get away from the computer more often. Go out. Read. Watch movies and TV. Hang out with my husband and son. Garden. Definitely make a habit of walking on the beach with my morning coffee once the weather warms up. I miss those morning walks. They made me fee fantastic.

11. I'll work on more illustrations this year. I'd like to illustrate my self-published books in 2014.

Well, that's everything off the top of my head. The only way 2014 will be a great year is if I make it that way. Even though it would be very easy for me to slip into the doldrums on a daily basis since I'm wired that way, I can't let it happen. Here's hoping for a lovely 2014!