Happy New Year!
In some respects I can’t believe 2018 is over already. It was a pretty interesting year for our family. We did move right after Thanksgiving 2017 (my husband is amazing!) and Baby #2 actually came on his due date a week and a half later. (I didn’t know that’s not common for a natural birth.) He is now a happy, healthy, cheerful little one year-old and does an admirable job of keeping up with his big brother.
Life with toddlers is exciting. 😛 And occasionally a black hole when it comes to time. I blink and weeks and months slip past.
Thanks to life with said toddlers (and a couple of other things, which I’ll get to in a minute), my production levels in 2018 were not what I would have liked. Still forward progress, though. I’m just relieved that in the midst of everything else I was able to release The Guardians: Freedom’s Children. That was a huge weight off my mind; I am so happy to have that story out for readers!
The other two life rolls that happened this year both occurred in August. We started homeschooling my step-daughter (long story)…and that same week I found out I was expecting Baby #3. Surprise! Needless to say, between school and pregnancy fatigue, my production levels tanked in August and September. They’ve picked up some since October as I started feeling better and we settled into a routine.
All things considered, if I had to define 2018, I’d say it ended up being a season of learning for me. Over the past year, I’ve had the chance to take a number of online writing workshops to improve my craft and learn more about the business of publishing. (That will continue into 2019.)
The workshops were especially cool because even in the midst of taking care of a newborn, I could still listen to videos. They’ve been a lot of fun and I have learned so much! The past year has helped me grow as a writer and stretch my wings, and you all will eventually get to read the results. *grin* (Although some of that growth went into the end of Freedom’s Children.)
2019 Writing Goals
One of my goals for 2019 is to update my blog more regularly—I realized a couple of months ago that I was coming up on a year without having posted an update, but life happened and that priority got shuffled down a few notches. I actually have half of several different blog posts written…but obviously I never finished and posted them. 😛
Another goal is to take what I’ve learned so far and use it ramp up my production levels. I already know they’re going to take a hit or two in 2019—Baby #3 is due in April, for one. But, I’d rather set my goal high and see what happens. I’ll be writing regardless—even if I don’t write as much as I’d like, it’s still failing to success. I’ll take it. *grin*
Project Updates
The Guardians: Freedom’s Children: The trade paperback should be out in a few weeks. The holidays disrupted things a little.
The Stone General: I think I’m about a third of the way through the rough draft. I didn’t work on it much this past year, but now that Freedom’s Children is done, it’s moving up the priority list. Still excited about this one.
The Guardians: Book 5: As soon as Book 4 was officially finished, my creative voice started rubbing its hands together in glee. I’ve started the rough draft and I can already tell it’s going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully, it won’t be as massive as Freedom’s Children. 😛
Superhero series: This is still officially on the back burner until I finish a couple of other things, though that may change this year. I’m excited about starting it, but I also know I need to finish The Guardians series.
Ink Realm Duology: Ink Realm: I started the rough draft of the sequel to Lady Ink a while back, but finishing Freedom’s Children took most of my available writing time this past year. For 2019, I plan to move this one farther up the priority list.
Gold-Dust Roses: Working title for a new book I ended up starting in April for one of my workshops. It’s the story of a young woman whose estranged godfather contacts her to warn her that she’s in mortal danger…but he can’t tell her why. I’ve had a blast writing it in between working on FC. There is a possibility that it will end up fitting into my superhero series, but I don’t know for sure yet. I do know I’m at least a third of the way through the rough draft.
Final Thoughts
Anyway, that’s 2018 and my plans for 2019 in a nutshell. *grin* Looking forward to seeing how this next year unfolds.
Hope y’all have a great start to your new year as well!