writing progress

2019 in Review

2019 was fun. I learned so much about writing, telling stories, and publishing. I challenged myself in new ways. Many times I found myself energized by the pleasure of jumping in and figuring out things as I went.

What I accomplished:

I published four novels.
If there was a word for the super, huge, mongo smiley face that is on my face right now, it would be here. All of my current books are available in any e-book format or in print.

I wrote thirty-seven short stories.
I love the format of short stories. In April, I entered Dean Wesley Smith’s Short Story Challenge. The goal is to write one story every week for a year. As of today, January 28, 2020, I am finishing short story number #42.

I submitted twenty short stories to magazines; multiple times.
Submitting is something I tend to procrastinate on because I love to write more. So my submissions go in bursts (something I plan to adjust in 2020). I’ve received quite a few “try again” letters and have noticed over the last few months many of the letters I receive are more personal in responses. I figure I’m getting close to getting something accepted and published.

I received two honorable mentions for the Writer’s of the Future contest.
So far I have entered three short stories. The third one I won’t hear the results for until sometime in March 2020. The Writer’s of the Future contest is a quarterly contest open to amateur writers. If you love writing science-fiction, fantasy, and/or horror you should enter too.

I graduated my oldest from homeschooling.
While I can’t take full credit for this one, since homeschooling is a team effort, my teaching duties for our oldest shifted from making sure the checklist was checked, to advisor for navigating the adult world. The high school years are a bit more challenging because their interests are different than mine (almost complete opposites) and the way I taught had to change.

I finished a couple of paintings.
Writing took most of my focus for the year, but I found I felt more balanced when I gave myself a break to play with my paintbrush. I will post pictures of my favorites soon.

I had fun.
This one should maybe be at the top. I had fun navigating the waters as a writer. I learned how to format books, design covers, and use some graphic programs that I always meant to master when I worked as a web designer. I also experimented with many genres of writing.

Those were the highlights for the 2019. At the beginning of February I will post my goals for 2020. One of my goals is to keep my blog updated more regularly.

I hope your year went well and that 2020 is filled with fun.

What I accomplished:

I published four novels.

If there was a word for the super huge, mongo smiley face that is on my face right now, it would be here. All of my current books are available in any e-book format or in print.

I wrote thirty-seven short stories.

I love the format of short stories. In April, I entered Dean Wesley Smith’s Short Story Challenge. The goal is to write one story every week for a year. As of today, January 28, 2020, I am finishing short story number #42.

I submitted twenty short stories to magazines; multiple times.

Submitting is something I tend to procrastinate on because I love to write more. So my submissions go in bursts (something I plan to adjust in 2020). I’ve received quite a few “try again” letters. I have noticed recently some of the letters I receive are more personal in responses. I figure I’m getting close to getting something accepted and published.

I received two honorable mentions for the Writers of the Future contest.

So far, I have entered three short stories. The third one I won’t hear the results for until sometime in March 2020. The Writers of the Future contest is a quarterly contest open to amateur writers. If you love writing science-fiction, fantasy, and/or horror, you should enter too.

I graduated my oldest from homeschooling.

While I can’t take full credit for this one (since homeschooling is a team effort), my duties for our oldest shifted from checking the schoolwork checklist to an advisor for navigating the adult world. The high school years are a bit more challenging because their interests are different than mine (almost complete opposites), and the way I taught had to change.

I finished a couple of paintings.

Writing took most of my focus for the year, but I found I felt more balanced when I gave myself a break to play with my paintbrush. I will post pictures of my favorites soon.

I had fun.

This one should maybe be at the top. I had fun navigating the waters as a writer. I learned how to format books, design covers, and use some graphic programs that I always meant to master when I worked as a web designer. I also experimented with many genres of writing.

Those were the highlights for 2019. At the beginning of February, I will post my goals for 2020. One of my goals is to keep my blog updated more regularly.

I hope your year went well and that 2020 is filled with fun.

Writing Update

The more I write, the more I discover how much I don’t know.

I thought I’d try something new with my blog by posting updates on my writing and what I’m up to more frequently. I’m hoping this will help me get more comfortable with blogging, hold me accountable for my writing, and give me more practice writing what is in my head. I haven’t decided on how frequently I’ll post, but I figure I need to start somewhere.

Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch offered a challenge of writing one short story per week for a year. I decided to join because I enjoy a challenge and wanted to practice some writing techniques I learned. Not to mention, I’d get a few more classes to learn more and short stories are a great spot to practice.

In addition to writing the short story each week, I added the challenge of sending each story off to market as a way to practice Heinlein’s rules. Robert J. Sawyer has a great post written which explains the rules well.

What I’ve found, besides the rejection count accumulates faster with more stories out, is that I’m getting used to the rejections. Yes, I feel disappointed, but I have the next possible market lined up and I send the story off as soon as I can.

Sending things off to market reminds me of cold calling when I worked in sales. Some days, I’d go through a list of 100 names and each person would say ‘no’. After a few calls, I’d shrug off the ‘no’ and dial the next number on my list. It was just business and how I had to make my living. Sometimes the list had so many yeses my appointment calendar filled quickly.

Writing, I’m discovering, shares many similarities to sales.

I’m having fun with the challenge. There are some stories I like and others I’m not a huge fan of, but I’ve sent them all out.

My second novel for the year is just about done. I’m at 65,000 words. My goal is to finish it up this week.

That’s where things stand at the moment.

Becoming a Writer 2019

This year I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to make fiction writing my profession. As I progress, I hope this website will grow and evolve to showcase my work, my learning, and my passions. Writing fiction is a fun business and one I hope to learn the ins and outs of over the years to come.

With that in mind, I set my first quarter plan at the beginning of January to be:

Write two novels
Send one novel to the copyeditor. (As of 2/6/19 – This has been completed and my adjustments to the manuscript has been made.)
Publish at least one of the novels I wrote in 2018. (This one I learned has many moving parts.)
Adjust my website to showcase my writing.
Have fun.