Well, well, hasn’t the first month of 2016 sped along nicely? It feels like Christmas and New Year’s was a lifetime ago and Easter is just around the corner. January just seems to get faster every year. Is the universe playing tricks on us or is that just life putting everything on fast forward?

Who knows? But I have to say, January was a good month. I managed to ace my goals this month and that is an awesome start to 2016!

I’m excited.

In this post, I mentioned that I wanted to publish 6 books in 2016. Well, I’ve had my novella, Lethal Instincts edited, the cover completed and published yesterday.

Lethal Instincts: A Lexi Ryder Crime Thriller is a novella and is now available on Amazon.. You can grab it here. It’s Book 0.5 of my Lethal series with Lexi Ryder, a ballsy investigative journalist who doesn’t mind stepping on a few toes to help those in need.

I also had Lethal Disposal proofread again. It was unfortunate that it got published with far too many errors. Expensive lesson learnt. Note to self, be more vigilant.

No one is ever going to care about your work as much as you do. 

If you sign up for my email list, you can get a free copy of Lethal Disposal here. It’s best to read Lethal Instincts first, then Lethal Disposal.

I’m aiming for $10,000 in writing income by the end of 2016. I’d love it if it was solely from book sales, I’d be ecstatic actually but this will be a combination of book sales, affiliate marketing, freelance writing and advertising.

How did I fare in January with my income?

I was hoping to make $100 to get the ball rolling. It seemed like quite an easy number. I fell short but that’s ok because my main focus was to submit at least 10 pitches.

Queries sent: 12
Responses: 1
Accepted: 1
Follow ups: 2
Income: $27.51
Books sold: 4
Income: $2.34
Total writing income for January: AUD$29.85
Total writing income for 2016: AUD$29.85

So what are my goals for February?

Sell 100 copies of Lethal Instincts and Lethal Disposal.
Publish Lethal Secrets.
Set up a mailing list (and hopefully get a handful of sign ups!)
Run a Facebook promotion for my Lethal series.
Send 25 pitches to websites, magazines and businesses offering my writing services
Make $200 from my writing.

I’m sharing my goals and my results here to stay accountable and show you how much work and effort it takes to create an author-entrepreneur business. It also keeps a record of how I’m going. The freelancing world is very transparent and it’s good to see people sharing their experiences.

My aim is to have a location independent lifestyle while earning a six figure income after tax. I’d like to achieve this within 5 years. When my son goes to school I want to have the flexibility to drop him off and pick him up, to attend all the school events and sporting activities without having to worry about finances or a boss. That way I can work during the school hours and spend the rest of the time with my family.

How did you go with your goals this month? Have you started working towards achieving your 2016 goals?