Happy New Year to everyone. I thought I’d reflect back on this year and talk about what I accomplished.
The biggie of the year was finishing the Pirouette Rewrite on June 14th, which made it just under a year since I started it. I managed to do that amid severe tendonitis, back-to-back surgeries (parents, not me, but still), learning and training and using voice recognition, and health issues. For me, finishing it in 11 months was a bit of a miracle. Starting tomorrow, I will be revising and polishing it.
I wrote just under 50k new words on Survivor. I’d wanted to finish the first draft, but that didn’t happen. Even so, Survivor is getting very close to the end. My second priority in the new year is to finish it, give it the attention it deserves. It’s been languishing waaay too long.
I wrote (and rewrote) Flamebound, the novella. It, too, needs a revision and polish. I hope to get that out the door in the new year, too.
I started my first contemporary romance, Like Summer, based on a short story I wrote many moons ago. It’s on hold at the moment, because I’m not sure if contemporary romance is my thing. We’ll see.
I participated in NaNoWriMo, even though I didn’t plan on it, and ended with 54k. And attempted to write a comedy, but being me, that just ain’t happening, but the book is quite unique and dark. Just like me. 😉 It’s kind of my experimental draft for an e-course I’ve been in since July. It’s called “How to Think Sideways” given by the talented and wonderful Holly Lisle. What a course!!!!! It’s funny, I’d worked up a few ideas for the course and had one set to go…..and then the one for Hereafter hit me upside the head after a stressful day at work. It turned out waaay different than I could have imagined, and that’s okay, because damn it, I like surprises.
I beat my previous writing record for one week. The record was 12,000, and I wrote it while on vacation using my Alphasmart Dana. This year, I had to stay home due to severe burstitis, and I ended up with 17k. I also pretty much began and finished Flamebound’s first draft that week.
I survived severe tendonitis and severe burstitis, both of which threatened to screw with my writing. Not so. I managed to produce despite all of that, and I’m damn proud of that.
Lastly, I’m finishing out the year with approximately 290k. Could have made 300k, but this month has been rough for me in terms of time and motivation (yes, even I am sometimes unproductive. Go fig). But 290k is spectacular!!!! Especially considering everything that happened this year.
Oh, and I moved into an apartment with my fiance. That was another thing that halted the writing (and caused the burstitis, grrrr).
I critted a few great novels, and I’m working on a few more.
I discovered the shininess that is the band Nightwish, and I LOVE them. And I’m still in love with Queensryche, fyi.
So alot has happened. Alot has gotten done. I’ve survived some big challenges, and I thank God for my intense drive to succeed and my motivation. That’s one thing that I have that lot of people don’t: I’m driven to the point of obcession. I have to do well, if not be the best. I have to make my dreams reality. Because if I don’t, what is life really worth? Sure, I have family and friends and a wonderful fiance, but I would always wonder what if? And yearn for what I didn’t have, what I didn’t try to attain. I can’t imagine going through life never reaching for my dreams, never accomplishing anything of value. It just isn’t in my makeup.
True immortality: writing. I hope to God that I will get published and have my writing read by generations of people for many years to come. If I keep working hard, it will be a reality.
See ya on the other side.
Weaver of Words 