Category: goals

Bookish Updates

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After many months of an unintended hiatus (outside of some silliness on my socials), I have several updates of the literary persuasion to share, just in time for fall coziness and holiday preparations.

Anthologies!

In case you missed it, because I totally forgot to take the time to promo it as I should have done, Carolina Romance Writers (formerly LowcountryRWA) released a fabulous vacation-themed anthology this past spring. All stories are set in the South Carolina Lowcountry and range from super sweet (like mine) to super spicy. A little something for everyone!

My sweet contemporary romance, “Forever After at the Ever Rest Inn”, brings together Max and Vivi when Max heads off for a solo getaway near Georgetown, South Carolina, and a stay at Vivi’s bed and breakfast. Having met briefly as children, the two grow close as they explore the Lowcountry and figure out how to save the inn (and Vivi’s family’s legacy).

Love in the Lowcountry: A Vacation Collection, is available for ebook and print and you should pick up a copy ASAP!

In fact, if you want to pick up a copy in person and meet some of our amazing authors, there are two events where you can do that:

And while we don’t have specifics quite yet, keep an eye out for announcements about the re-release of Love in the Lowcountry, Vol. 2: A Winter Holiday Anthology, with a new cover, a new story, and a couple of added epilogues (including one for my sweet historical, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”).

A Sweet Re-Release (or 4)!

If you recall, Soul Mate Publishing closed its doors last October, which means all rights to my Sweet Somethings Series reverted to me. A lack of time, knowledge, and financial resources have kept me from re-releasing these books to this point.

But that’s soon to change! I am excited to begin the process of getting these books back in print – at least virtual print – with shiny new covers. If all goes as hoped, I’ll have the ebooks available in time for Christmas. That’s my goal, anyway, so stay tuned for announcements about preorders and where to buy.

I won’t be jumping into print re-releases quite yet, as I still have a healthy inventory of print copies from my Soul Mate days. Keep an eye out for info on how to purchase the series in print at a specially discounted price as we head into holiday shopping season.

What’s Ahead in 2026?

I always choose lofty writing goals each year, but going into 2026, I anticipate some projects taking shape.

First, my post-Civil War historical romance didn’t get picked up by the publisher I hoped would be interested. So I’m going to press forward with indie publishing of that story (plus its planned sequels) as we move into 2026.

Second, once the Sweet Somethings series is back up and running, I plan to dive back into the long-in-limbo spinoff trilogy that will follow Marissa’s three best girlfriends, who were introduced in THE ONE I’M WITH.

Beyond that, who knows? Maybe a couple more short stories will be in play. If one shoots for the moon and misses, you’re stilll going to land among the stars. (Okay, I paraphrased Oscar Wilde on that one.)

Time for a Reset

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Wow, it’s been a minute since I’ve surfaced in some way, other than sharing some great new book releases. There’s a lot going on around here, including some things literary (which I’ll be sharing details about soon).

I made a decision earlier this month that I need to take a bit of a reset. Real life has definitely thrown some interesting things our way over the past couple years, and I haven’t taken the time to figure out a good balance. I’ve focused on freelancing, which has been great, but at the expense of my own writing.

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I made the decision to scale back my freelancing – a lot – so I can focus on next steps with some of my in-limbo projects:

  • Do one final read-through and edit of my post-Civil War romance and send out queries for it.
  • Finish first draft of the first book in my Sweet Somethings spinoff trilogy.
  • Expand a short story I wrote for an upcoming romance anthology (more on that soon, once I have the details) and prep for self-publishing.
  • Return – at long last – to the Magnum Opus and really dig into developmental edits to update, improve, and maybe, just maybe, move toward self-publishing in the future.

As often happens with my ambitious to-dos, there’s a good chance more than one of those goals will not make it to completion. But that’s the game plan right now.

Books I Can’t Wait to Read in 2020

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I am once again hopping onto the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge from Long and Short Reviews (see how good I am so far at posting more often?)

This week’s topic:

Books I Can’t Wait to Read in 2020

Amazon Associates Disclaimer: J. Lynn Rowan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I receive a small percentage of earnings on any purchase you make through associated Amazon buy links, at no extra cost to you.

Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson

This is the third and final book in the Seeds of America trilogy. I’d been waiting literally years to get my hands on this book, as I loved the first two installments. Ashes is the final volume telling the story of Isabel and Curzon, two young African Americans, as they navigate the dangers of the American Revolution in an attempt to rescue Isabel’s little sister from slavery in the south.

The Gown by Jennifer Robson


The Gown is a fictionalized account of the royal wedding of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip (before they were Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip). I’ve been binging on Netflix’s “The Crown” for a while, so this is right up my alley.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

News of the World is a new title for me. Set in the days after the Civil War, it follows a news reporter into unsettled territory of the Great Plains as he attempts to return a young girl to her family.

The fall of Gondolan and Beren & Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien

If you didn’t already know, I’m a Tolkien fan. I’ve read Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, and the Silmarillion multiple times.

For fun.

A few years ago, Tolkein’s son, Christopher Tolkien, began working to take some of the tales from the Silmarillion and, using his father’s extensive notes, flesh them out into proper novels of their own. I am giddy to finally own Beren & Luthien and The Fall of Gondolin, as I already own The Children of Hurin.

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

Who doesn’t love a good story about Alexander Hamilton? My Dear Hamilton, however, provides a glimpse into the very private – and elusive – experiences of Eliza Schulyer Hamilton in the years before and after meeting and marrying America’s first Secretary of the Treasury. The authors completed impeccable research to flesh out the character of a woman often overlooked in the history books, but whose story is compelling in its own right.

So what about you? What books are you looking forward to reading this year?

My Goals for 2020

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2020 is upon us, and with it the obligitory Yearly Goal Setting Post.

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This year, I’m piggybacking onto the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

So what’s on tap for me this year? I’m trying to be conscious of the fact that I have a new baby, which obviously changes a lot in terms of how much time I have for any sort of goal setting. But here goes.

Writing

Obviously I want to try and do more writing this year. This includes submitting the historical romance that placed 2nd in three 2018 contests (yes, I know that was a goal last year, too). I also need to return to the first installment in my Sweet Somethings spinoff trilogy, which has sat in First Draft Limbo since last February.

This also incorporates freelancing. I had several excellent freelance writing gigs the past couple years and I want to keep that up, in addition to my independent contractor work with Newsela.

As an extension, I would love to finally set up a copyediting business as well. This has been sitting on my chairside table for over a year. I should probably start perusing it:

Ultimately I would love if I can make enough with my pen, so to speak, to cover Babycakes’s school expenses and maybe a little extra.

Reading More Books

Or just reading books.

More on that later.

Cooking

I love to cook and bake, but haven’t had time to do much of either since I went back to work in 2015.

Okay, since Babycakes was born and then we moved to Charlotte and most of my kitchen stuff stayed in boxes for almost a year.

Being a stay-at-home-mom again for a while will, eventually, give me time to cook and bake again like I used to. For now, it helps that I am now the owner of an Instant Pot:

Apparently I can make yogurt with it? I’m also interested in the fact that I can also apparently sterilze baby bottles with it.

Being Mommy

Of course this year, I want to focus once again on being Mommy. I am officially on maternity leave for the rest of the school year, and then we have to reevaluate our plans beyond that. But I have a 5 year old in kindergarten, and I want to volunteer at her school. And of course, Sugarpie is here.

I also hope to not only finish filling out Babycakes’s baby book, but also keeping up with Sugarpie’s.

what are your big goals for 2020?

The Back-to-School Balancing Act

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Today I wrapped up Day 6 of my fifteenth year in education. Honeymoon period notwithstanding, I am already 99% less stressed out than I was at this time last school year.

I’m not exactly sure what’s got me feeling different. I definitely haven’t lessened my workload, having taken on some curriculum-related responsibilities at the district level that I’m a little embarrassed to admit I’ve slacked off on the past couple weeks.

(Word is I’m not alone in the slacking department. I think everyone’s gotten a bit behind. We’ll catch up.)

It’s certainly not due to a stress-free summer, because that has definitely not been the case. I feel like I barely had summer break this year. I had all these grand plans to relax with books, take a nap on my screened in back porch, take my daughter to the little local beach on Lake Norman. None of that happened.

So why do I feel so much better going into this school year, after a year that had me questioning my career trajectory?, I’d like to think it’s because I’ve started thinking very carefully about the level of balance in my life and the way I’m choosing to self-care.

I’ve take a few smallish steps toward ensuring that I not only keep a decent work-life balance, but that I also take care of myself and better manage my stress.

  1. No bringing school work home. One thing I’ve always sucked at, especially at the start of the school year, is bringing the school day home with me. In past years, it hasn’t been a big deal because I didn’t have a tiny person reliant on me. If I had to spend an hour or so grading papers or making presentations, whatever. No biggie.  But I need to protect my planning time at work, use my workdays to the max, and keep school work at school so I can devote my evenings and weekends to my family first, and then to my writing.
  2. Use a planner. This is a small thing. When I was in college, I was great about my planner. Assignments and tests and meetings and everything else were all written down. For a long time, I’ve valued a good desk calendar at work with upcoming important events jotted down from September to June. We have a family wall calendar that is full. But my personal planning game tanked somewhere around 2008, and I never really got it back. This year, I have vowed to turn that around. I bought a nifty 18-month calendar that not only has monthly and weekly pages – which are already filling up at an alarming rate – it has monthly goal setting pages and weekly exercises in self-reflection. And stickers! It comes with stickers, y’all!
  3. Eat better and sleep more. It’s been a struggle to step away from the soda and junk food (I type as I snack on Milk Duds), but I’m trying. I need to be more proactive in packing my lunch and making sure I eat a breakfast with enough protein to get me from 6:30am to 12:05pm (when I finally can sit down to shove my proactively packed lunch in my mouth in twelve minutes flat). Sleep is also essential to deal with, since my school day is shifted fifteen minute earlier. I’ve got to put a 10:30 bedtime in place and stick to it.
  4. Treat yo’self. Read a book that has nothing to do with work. Get a pedicure. Get my hair done. Soak in the garden tub. Play the piano. Snuggle those extra ten minutes with my child at bedtime – it’s as good for me as it is her, because we do have so little time together during the work week.
  5. Keep moving. I’d gotten into a good routine of taking a 20-minute walk right after putting Babycakes to bed, but that’s dropped by the wayside since school started. I guess I could argue that since my job isn’t sedentary that I shouldn’t stress too much. But I want to try and build in a solid time to exercise. If I can get the commute home done by 4:15 (possible most days if busses are on time and I’m in the driver’s seat by 3:50), I think I can squeak in a short workout of some sort as soon as I get home.

The work-life balance is important, and I’ve known for a long time that my balance has been way off. I feel like I can figure it out this year. I’m optimistic about my students, I’m excited for new idea and opportunities on the horizon, and I want to make these positive changes in my life.

So here goes the balancing act!