2014 in summary
'Tis the season for such things.
I'm happy with what I did and who I was in 2014. Really happy, actually.
Here's what I wrote last year's summary:
What's next for me in 2014? More writing and editing. I gots a novel to edit and submit. I don't want to set a goal like "be published in 2014," because that is not entirely in my control, but I want to get past my fear of submitting and finally put my best work out there. I want to touch my writing in some way every day--no quantities or times or other prescriptions, just do something that involves writing every single day.
I edited Gods and Fathers to the best of my ability, and queried a good number of agents with it. Unfortunately that has mostly gone nowhere. I didn't even get any partials off the queries I submitted, and the one agent who did look at the total package (thanks to a referral) passed on it. Ah well. I could keep submitting--I probably should, now that I have a much better query letter--but the urge to trunk it is strong. Mostly because it is difficult for me to focus on more than one project at a time, and submitting is hard to balance with drafting. Of course, instead of trunking it I could self-pub it, since it does seem to have given enjoyment to some of my friends. (Mel and Will are seriously my biggest fans ♥ ) Opinions vary on whether or not this is a good thing to do if I hope to one day be traditionally published.
I have not finished, nor edited, any of the short pieces I began in 2013, either. I keep making excuses like, "It's really not my form" or "I'll wait for the next call." There's something to be said about fearing this more immediate form of submission (and likely rejection). I will defeat this fear!
I began rewriting A Lioness Embarked from the beginning, and now have just shy of 40,000 words on it. I feel like it's going to be long, though, so that might only be a third of the way through. We'll see.
As for doing something that involves writing every single day, I did okay on that. I started keeping a log in early February of what writing I did every day, so I can say with certainty that of the 319 days I logged, I did something writing-related on at least 35% of them. It might be higher than that--there are definitely some days I wrote but forgot to log.
I had a couple of really rough months in the fall, but I got back on track with outlining in November, and wrote ~6,000 new words on Lioness in December.
I also said: I'd also like to read more. It's embarrassing how little I've read of the works in my genre, or relative to my colleagues. Let's be modest and try for 25 books this year.
I totally did this! It looks like my final count as of tonight is 35 books. Admittedly, a lot of those were small books--lots of short writing ebooks and P.G. Wodehouse. I have a few in progress that I'll probably finish over the next few days--Ruin and Rising, Very Good, Jeeves, and even more short writing ebooks ;)
In summary:
- I edited Gods and Fathers
- I queried 20 agents with G&F
- I wrote 40,000 words on Lioness (some new, some recycled from an earlier draft)
- I wrote some poetry--"The Fourth Fairy," "2 AM," "Snow Melt," and a number of fragments
- I participated in Pitch Wars, #PitMad, and #SFFPit
- I wrote "Drinking Greef and the End of the World," an Elder Scrolls fanfic
- I read 35 new (to me) books
Well, that's the writing-related stuff. Let's have some more bullet points:
- I played in three (wow, only three?) theater-style one-shot LARPs... and I think one session of To Be Continued, before I quit?
- I ran Midsummer Mischief, and helped to run High Rollers
- I NPCed four games of Shadows of Amun, and one game of Cottington Woods
- I sewed a Byzantine tunica and dalmatica (for Shadows of Amun)
- I sewed an 1870s mantle (for Cirque du Fey)
- I finished knitting (and actually blocked!) my so-called "Hahanzi shawl," because it was the project I would work on in character. Sadly, I don't get to wear it in character much any more.
- I started listening to (and got caught up on) Night Vale and Thrilling Adventure Hour
- I visited a few cool places in Massachusetts, like Duxbury Beach, the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, Purgatory Chasm, and Callahan State Park
- Matt and I celebrated 10 years of marriage with a trip to Ogunquit, Maine
- I restrung a necklace of red beads
- I went to my first SCA event
- I went to Boskone and Readercon
- I learned all kinds of new skills at work -- Bootstrap, Sass, Bourbon, etc.
- I also got a raise at work
What's up in 2015? Well, that's next time, but the executive summary is: more of the same.
I'm happy with what I did and who I was in 2014. Really happy, actually.
Here's what I wrote last year's summary:
What's next for me in 2014? More writing and editing. I gots a novel to edit and submit. I don't want to set a goal like "be published in 2014," because that is not entirely in my control, but I want to get past my fear of submitting and finally put my best work out there. I want to touch my writing in some way every day--no quantities or times or other prescriptions, just do something that involves writing every single day.
I edited Gods and Fathers to the best of my ability, and queried a good number of agents with it. Unfortunately that has mostly gone nowhere. I didn't even get any partials off the queries I submitted, and the one agent who did look at the total package (thanks to a referral) passed on it. Ah well. I could keep submitting--I probably should, now that I have a much better query letter--but the urge to trunk it is strong. Mostly because it is difficult for me to focus on more than one project at a time, and submitting is hard to balance with drafting. Of course, instead of trunking it I could self-pub it, since it does seem to have given enjoyment to some of my friends. (Mel and Will are seriously my biggest fans ♥ ) Opinions vary on whether or not this is a good thing to do if I hope to one day be traditionally published.
I have not finished, nor edited, any of the short pieces I began in 2013, either. I keep making excuses like, "It's really not my form" or "I'll wait for the next call." There's something to be said about fearing this more immediate form of submission (and likely rejection). I will defeat this fear!
I began rewriting A Lioness Embarked from the beginning, and now have just shy of 40,000 words on it. I feel like it's going to be long, though, so that might only be a third of the way through. We'll see.
As for doing something that involves writing every single day, I did okay on that. I started keeping a log in early February of what writing I did every day, so I can say with certainty that of the 319 days I logged, I did something writing-related on at least 35% of them. It might be higher than that--there are definitely some days I wrote but forgot to log.
I had a couple of really rough months in the fall, but I got back on track with outlining in November, and wrote ~6,000 new words on Lioness in December.
I also said: I'd also like to read more. It's embarrassing how little I've read of the works in my genre, or relative to my colleagues. Let's be modest and try for 25 books this year.
I totally did this! It looks like my final count as of tonight is 35 books. Admittedly, a lot of those were small books--lots of short writing ebooks and P.G. Wodehouse. I have a few in progress that I'll probably finish over the next few days--Ruin and Rising, Very Good, Jeeves, and even more short writing ebooks ;)
In summary:
- I edited Gods and Fathers
- I queried 20 agents with G&F
- I wrote 40,000 words on Lioness (some new, some recycled from an earlier draft)
- I wrote some poetry--"The Fourth Fairy," "2 AM," "Snow Melt," and a number of fragments
- I participated in Pitch Wars, #PitMad, and #SFFPit
- I wrote "Drinking Greef and the End of the World," an Elder Scrolls fanfic
- I read 35 new (to me) books
Well, that's the writing-related stuff. Let's have some more bullet points:
- I played in three (wow, only three?) theater-style one-shot LARPs... and I think one session of To Be Continued, before I quit?
- I ran Midsummer Mischief, and helped to run High Rollers
- I NPCed four games of Shadows of Amun, and one game of Cottington Woods
- I sewed a Byzantine tunica and dalmatica (for Shadows of Amun)
- I sewed an 1870s mantle (for Cirque du Fey)
- I finished knitting (and actually blocked!) my so-called "Hahanzi shawl," because it was the project I would work on in character. Sadly, I don't get to wear it in character much any more.
- I started listening to (and got caught up on) Night Vale and Thrilling Adventure Hour
- I visited a few cool places in Massachusetts, like Duxbury Beach, the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, Purgatory Chasm, and Callahan State Park
- Matt and I celebrated 10 years of marriage with a trip to Ogunquit, Maine
- I restrung a necklace of red beads
- I went to my first SCA event
- I went to Boskone and Readercon
- I learned all kinds of new skills at work -- Bootstrap, Sass, Bourbon, etc.
- I also got a raise at work
What's up in 2015? Well, that's next time, but the executive summary is: more of the same.