This year hasn’t been the best as far as emotional stuff is concerned. The family drama that started in mid-October is still ongoing, and kind of derailed me a bit. But, I persevere!
As far as productivity goes, I did very well. I started and finished Pirouette’s five One-Pass Revision, got it out to critters, and have been rewriting the draft, implementing suggestions, cutting, adding, and hopefully making it better. I’m almost halfway through the draft. I hope to be done with it early next year.
It’s taken me longer than anticipated, which is okay, but sort of screwed up my schedule. But it is really okay, b/c I’ll take however long it takes to make it submission-worthy. As such, no query letters were sent. I’ve decided to wait till the draft is done and critted. The story, while essentially the same, has been morphing in interesting ways. Hopefully in good ways.
Flamebound is on its way towards being totally revised, using Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel class. I have high hopes for this. I want to get Flamebound revised, critted, and submitted somewhere next year. I can do this.
I planned on participating in Nanowrimo and writing a new novel. Unfortunately, life had different plans. Two days in I ended up quitting. The book was to be Soulfire. I’ve come to the conclusion that the timing just wasn’t right on this one.
I finished Survivor, which was a HUGE goal. I hope to rewrite it in the next few years (depending on if I sell something, etc).
I don’t think I broke 100k on new words, but that, too, is okay. Because I said I’d do some serious editing and finishing unfinished projects, which I accomplished.
I submitted my poetry chapbook, Life as a Moving Target, to a publisher. Did not bite, but that’s okay. I might try again next year.
For next year, I have a few more projects besides Pirouette the Third and Flamebound. I have Unforgiven, which is a personal challenge to myself for various reasons. I also have MindBound, the next book set in the Flamebound world. And I’m seriously considering pulling out Darkweaver and starting work on it. And then there’s Pirouette book 2 (Blood Dance). Ambitious, I know, but want to aim high.
I think the biggest goal for 2010 is to get something submitted somewhere, be it Flamebound, Pirouette the Third, or something else entirely. I need to start moving forward with my goal of getting published. I’ve been working like a madwoman, but I need to focus on that more. So, hopefully I can do something about that next year.
So, to all, Happy New Year (a few days early!) and reach for the stars.
Weaver of Words 