2016 Year-in-Review and 2017 Goals

Here we are with my 2016 Year-in-Review and 2017 Goals. This year FLEW by, and I had a lot of health stuff crop up, so things did not go as smoothly, and some things had to be put on the back burner. All in all, I think I did pretty damn well considering. I wrote around 130,000 words for the year, which is excellent. I did a lot of editing and revising, and that’s not counted in the total.

The two major accomplishments for this year were submitting Pirouette/Death Dancer to a publisher and one agent. I got frustrated by the process, and realized that my ability to meet deadlines due to my health is compromised, and besides that, I like having control over things, so I decided to stop trying with traditional publishing and try to publish Pirouette independently. That’s not to say I’m done with traditional publishing; it just means that Pirouette will probably at some point be a Turtleduck Press release.

The second one is Ever Touched. I finished it and submitted it to my editor by my deadline of December 1st. Due to life craziness and a computer in the shop for 11 days, it was a struggle, but I’m glad to say that I made it. I’ve already received my edits back, and have started the 2nd round.

Also, Turtleduck Press published To Rule the Stars, an anthology of space princess stories. My story, Bound, is part of it (and a sneak peek of Ever Touched!). Check it out here.

What about everything else?

~Release one novel – <–DONE, technically. I released Reaper Girl as a perk of signing up for my newsletter. I am working on releasing it everywhere.
~Finish and release Fireborn <–NOT DONE. I am close, though. I was never able to get it done to my satisfaction. It’s my #1 goal in 2017 after Ever Touched edits are done.
~Finish Pirouette revision and submit to publisher. If rejected, make a ruling as to what to do with it (trad or indie)<–DONE. Was rejected by both publisher and agent. Have decided to publish it with TDP.
~Begin Flamebound rewrite <–NOT DONE. Would love to do something with it in 2017.
~Begin Survivor rewrite <–NOT DONE. Definitely going to be a project for 2017. I am DYING to get this one out there.
~Make progress on Awaken Me <–NOT DONE, unless thinking about it counts!
~Finish Ever Touched <–DONE and turned in on time. Slated for May 2017 release.
~Get back into darkroom <–DONE. Processed a test roll of film, but have not been able to do any printing. And b/c of my skin issues, it’s not looking likely for awhile. 😦 
~Try not to stress so much <–NOT DONE. LOL. It feels like all I did was stress out about things.
~Experiment with plotting techniques <–DONE! “Plotting from the Middle” and Monica Leonelle’s techniques.
~Finish up Changeling serial <–DONE! And as of Feb. 1st, I am starting a new one in the Fey Touched world.
~Get back on diet/eat healthy/exercise<–KINDA SORTA. I’ve been trying to get better with exercise, but a sprained knee screwed me up. Likewise with the diet. Been trying, but have been losing and gaining the SAME FIVE POUNDS. Ugh.
~My word for this year is NURTURE: nurture myself, nurture my creativity, nurture my dreams.

So, all in all, not too shabby. Here are my goals for 2017:

~Release 1 book (besides Ever Touched)
~Publish Ever Touched (set for May release)
~Start revision of Pirouette/Death Dancer
~Finish Covenant
~Start Elysium
~Finish and release Fireborn
~Outline book #1 in Fey Touched spin-off series
~Get on a consistent, simple exercise plan and STICK WITH IT
~Eat healthier/Gluten-free
~Get back into darkroom when hands are better
~Add in a second writing session twice a week (8 minutes)
~Try to write more short fiction
~Continue with FYFB class (so behind right now!)
~Start working on Survivor Rewrite outline again

I think that’s enough for now. What are your goals for 2017?

#ROW80 Final Check-in Round 4

I’ve decided to post my last check-in today because as of tomorrow, I will be too busy to post on the 22nd.

This has been a busy round for me, and not without problems (losing revisions, my computer being in service for 11 days, being severely sleep deprived due to eczema). I think I did pretty well despite my issues. There are things I needed to let go in order to get the things I needed to get done done, which sucks. I plan to do better in the new year.

So, here’s how I did (gulp):

~Finish the Ever Touched revision.  I can do this. <–DONE and on time.
~Stay on top of FYFB class. Taking a class through Monica Leonelle. It happens to be going on at the same time as my revision, but might as well go all in. It’s three months. Should be fun. <–NOT DONE. As things got busier (revision + 2 editing jobs), I had to drop this out of necessity. Once things calm down, I’ll be catching up and hopefully staying on track.
~Make a ruling on my next project and start prepping (contenders are Fireborn, which needs a revision, Survivor, which needs a rewrite, and Death Dancer, which needs some tweaking — and may be my next Turtleduck Press release.) <–DONE! Fireborn is the next project. The second half needs to be reworked. I hope to release it in 2017.
~Drink 1 glass of water 5x a week <–DONE!
~Exercise 2x a week – <–NOT DONE. Being chained to the desk sucks. I plan to get better with this in 2017.
~Do All the Things related to anthology release (TBD — release is Nov 15th) <–DONE, (even though I lost my revisions on 21 pages and had to work like a mad thing to catch back up) and the anthology released as planned. 🙂 
~Keep up on reviews (I’m on 4 ARC teams) <–DONE, for the most part. Still slightly behind, but I’m doing okay.
~Lose 5 pounds. <–DONE, and NOT DONE. Lost 5 pounds, gained 5 pounds, and lost 3. So a total loss of 3 pounds. Still better than nothing!
~Take more pictures: infrared and normal. <–NOT DONE. Had planned on it with hubby but got sick both times. Another thing I need to pick back up in 2017.
~Post-process infrared pics from camping trip <–NOT DONE. Wanted to, but got too busy!
~Chocolate consumption report, as always! <–DONE!

Final chocolate consumption report – This round, I got addicted to Snickerdoodles and Twizzlers, so my consumption went way down.I still love chocolate, no issue there, but I found other things as well. Will keep reporting on it in 2017. 😉

So that’s it for this round. I hope you all have a great, safe holiday season and I’ll see you for round 1 in 2017! Thank you all for your support and encouragement. 🙂

#ROW80 Check-in Nov. 20th

This is the cover for our anthology. 🙂

I’ve been really busy revising, and haven’t had time to post. My computer is working great, thankfully. 🙂 Time is FLYING. I can’t even believe we’re about a month away from Christmas. Holy smokes.

News on our anthology: To Rule the Stars: A Space Princess Anthology has been released! It is 99c only for a short time, after which the price will raise to $1.99. It contains three cool stories (including mine!) and a sneak peek of Ever Touched. Check it out here.

Here is the rundown:

Ever Touched – I’m on page 201 of 210, but that’s deceiving because I probably have at least 10k to write. But I am getting closer. Depends on how next week goes, with the holiday and helping my mom with the cooking and cleaning. I have the following week off work for vacation so there’s a bit of time if I really need it (which is why I set it up that way).

FYFB class – Still behind, but slowly catching up.

Water – 5x last week, and I think I missed 1 day this week, so 4.

Exercise – Nothing, except raking leaves yesterday for an hour. That counts!

Reviews – Keeping up. 🙂

Weight – Lost 5 pounds, gained 1/2 pound back. Story of my life. 😦

Chocolate consumption: Would you believe that I haven’t had much in the past two weeks? Some WW sundaes and ultimate chocolate ice cream sandwiches, and a hot chocolate yesterday but that’s it. But I’ve been going a bit nuts on Twizzlers.