2018 Year in Review

by | Jan 3, 2019 | General | 0 comments

This year I decided to go public with my desire to be an author. It’s been a busy 12 months as I worked to establish a platform for myself. Here’s what happened:

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Writing (the most important part!):

  • Completed 1/3 of edit for Zombie Love. This doesn’t seem like a lot, but I’ve never edited a book with any method before. All prior edits (4 of them!) were simply me editing language, grammar, and spelling. This round of editing, I began with a complete read-through simply making notes, then a complete rewrite based on those notes. I might not be far into editing this draft, but in the process, I’ve learned HOW to edit, which is far more important.
  • Finished the first draft of Adventures on the Epi during NaNoWriMo, clocking in at 50,124 words, completed November 30 around 5pm.
  • Wrote several short stories. Submitted 7 pieces to contests and anthologies. 2 rejections; 1 contest entry published, but not won.
  • Began daily haiku challenge on twitter in October. Burned out beginning of December while finishing etsy orders and prepping for Christmas. Intend to return to challenge in January,

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Social Media:

  • Website: (Not that you need the link since you are here already!) Est March 6, 2018. Entire website constructed by myself with help of the Divi builder; includes pages: landing/home, about me, works in progress, and blog. 56 posts. 0 subscribers.
  • Facebook: Est March 2018. 155 likes. Countless posts. Joined a whole bunch of writing groups (favorite is Fiction Writing). Now follow a bunch of other writers and independent publishers.
  • Twitter: Est March 2018. 266 tweets. 2309 following. 1052 followers. 834 likes. 0 lists, 0 moments (not even sure what those are!)
  • Instagram: 106 posts. 187 followers. 610 following.

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Miscellaneous:

  • UK Trip! Took tons of pictures, saw amazing things, and regained my love of history and literature. Read Lines above Tintern Abbey *at* Tintern Abbey. Visited Baskerville Hall. Visited Grasmere and read Wordsworth poetry after seeing his grave. Read Dream of the Rood before visiting the Ruthwell cross, where that poem is carved in Old English. Took a book tour of Edinburgh. Took a walk around Stratford and watched Merry Wives of Windsor at the RSC. Visited the graves of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein, as well as their favorite pub at Oxford. Saw King Lear starring Ian McKellen. Watched Winter’s Tale as groundlings at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Visited Platform 9 3/4 in London. And much, much more.
  • Purchased antique books in Hay-on-Wye: The True Convert (partial, 1632, purchased for 75 pounds); Book of Common Prayer (1860, working clasp, 25 pounds); Transcript of Trial of Archbishop of Canterbury (1716, 75 pounds); Works of Milton volume 2 (1880, 3 pounds); Picture Bible for the Young (1836, 10 pounds); The West Indian (Comedy in five acts, 1823, 12 pounds).
  • Purchased book cataloging app CLZ Books. Added all my antique books. None of regular collection added.
  • Entered an Young Collector’s Antique Book Collection Contest (cutoff age 35 – just made it!).
  • Purchased signed copies of Jasper Fforde’s Early Riser and Christopher Moore’s Noir.

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Books Read:

And, of course, we can’t forget what I read this year! Here’s my list in no particular order (since I can’t remember!).

Breakdown:

  • Fiction: 7
  • Indie / Self-published: 5
  • Christianity: 2
  • Writing/Research: 2
  • Non-Fiction: 1
  • Total: 17

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