First, an apology: I fell off posting my monthly goal check in around September. Oops. Here’s what happened: In the beginning of October, I got super busy with Queenie’s birthday party and a visit from my mom, and then I went to Florida, and then November and NaNoWriMo happened, and now… here we are.
How was my year in review?
In January, things were slow. I was in a sort of limbo, half on maternity leave, half trying to get back in the swing of things. I was caring for an infant full time and trying as hard as I could to squeeze in a little work on the side. However, I did write “Foundlings,” (Brave New Love, out February 2012)which was the first thing I’d written since having Q.
In February and March, I was finally back in the swing of things after I found help for Queenie’s daytime care. I wrote “Stray Magic” (Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, out fall of 2012) and finished the draft of For Darkness Shows the Stars. I also got the revision letter for the latter, and rewrote the ending. And did my taxes.
April was more about home life than writing life, as we redid several areas of the house, finally giving me that wall of bookshelves I’d always wanted, a new china cabinet, and a new office for Sailor Boy. Also, Q started solids and I planted my garden. On the writing front, I went to the Annapolis book festival and kept pounding away at FDSTS revisions.
In May, I got a new short story offer, finished the revisions, dog sat for my parents, worked in my garden, reorganized my kitchen, and spent lots of quality time with my new little family. That trend continued into June, where in addition to the usual summer family/garden/home diversions, I got a new non-fiction essay offer.
In July, we had a ton of fun with Q — who loves to swim — and my crazy tomato garden, and worked on the outline for my new book so I could dive into it in August during Camp NaNoWriMo, which I did, until I got the copyedits for FDSTS, which I proceeded to kill, and got some foreign offers for a bunch of my books.
In September, I wrote short story #4 and signed a hwole bunch of new contracts.
In October, I went to the NINC conference in Florida, planned out a new idea, wrote “Hunger Game Theory” for The Girl Who Was On Fire: Movie Edition (out in January), threw Q a wildly awesome birthday party, and watched her take her first steps while dressed up as an Ewok for Halloween.
In November, I did NaNoWriMo and wrote half my new book. I had a super mini writing retreat with writing retreat queen Carrie Ryan in Charlotte — during which she helped me fix my heroine and I helped her figure out an ending for one of her short stories, before we took off for Y’AllFest in Charleston, SC. When I got home, I threw myself into the marketing ramp-up for FDSTS. This pattern continued into December: working on new book, marketing for new release.
And the big list for 2011:
- Revise/finish my contracted novel.
- Write short story #1
- Write short story #2
- Write short story #3
- Write short story #4
- Write essay #1
- Write new proposal #1
- Write new proposal/book #2
- Go to one writing-related conference. (I did three!)
- Walk my dog. (I’m about 50% on this)
- Plant a garden.
- Make sure I spend quality time with Sailor Boy.
- Do at least two home improvement projects.(I did four!)
- Cut our budget.
- Read at least one new novel per month. (Also about 50% on this.)
I know where I’m falling down, and it’s the two Rs: reading and Rio. So my next year’s goals are definitely going to include some of that! Stay tuned tomorrow, when I share my hopes for 2012!
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