Tag Archives: Realm Makers

2019 Highlights!

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Even though it’s February, I thought it would be fun to do a sort of mini Ishness, recapping the most exciting things of 2019, since I haven’t been very consistent about doing Ishnesses. XD

But I don’t want it to be super long, so this will be mostly in list form! (And will also include some long-overdue thoughts and pictures from Realm Makers 2019 at the end!)

Because everyone loves lists, and pictures, and highlights, right? Right. Let’s get to it!

Some of the things I wrote, watched, listened to, and did during 2019…

WRITING

In 2019, I:

  • Wrote 102,585 words
  • Finished writing KW2 (The Secret of Kedran’s Wood)
  • Wrote an entire novella: KW2.5 (Double Lives at Kedran’s Wood)
  • Got halfway into Operation Foxtail (codename for . . . something else. >.>)
  • Completed Camp NaNo in April
  • Won my 10th November NaNo — a decade of NaNoWriMos!
  • Went to Realm Makers 2019!
  • Hit one million words since I started tracking my words
  • Completed my tenth yearly writing journal

I also wrote three short stories, all of which can be read online:

READING

I read 140 things in 2019, according to Goodreads, which you can check out here. My own spreadsheet says 175 things, but anyway. XD I hesitate to say “books” instead of “things” since many of these were short — short stories, novellas, picture books, etc. About 20,000 pages read, which seems to be usual for me.

I just shared my Top 15 (ish) Favorite Reads of 2019 post on my book blog yesterday, so check that out!

WATCHING

I saw my second-ever play! It was a college production of Peter and the Starcatcher and it was a lot of fun. 🙂

I went to half a dozen movies in theaters, which is . . . rather a lot. o.o I had mixed feelings, depending on the movie, because I never totally love or totally hate everything about any single movie, but the experience is always so much fun, and I always find things to enjoy about a movie (or a book!). 🙂

  • How to Train Your Dragon 3
  • Captain Marvel
  • Endgame
  • Tolkien
  • Frozen 2
  • The Rise of Skywalker

I saw a bunch of other movies too, and some of my favorites were:

  • The Secret World of Arietty
  • The Incredibles & The Incredibles 2
  • Christopher Robin

I’ve also been enjoying old seasons of NCIS, and early in the year I binge-watched the first 4 seasons of Merlin, which was a lot of fun! (And select bits of season 5, avoiding sadness. XD)

MUSIC

This year I discovered (or re-discovered and became a super fan):

Favorite Songs From Them:

Other Favorite Songs:

AUDIOBOOKS

BLOGGING

INSTAGRAM

2019 was my first full year of Bookstagram, and I absolutely loved it!

  • 262 posts
  • Hit 500 followers
  • Successfully posted every day for five straight months (aside from skipping one week for Realm Makers) which I was kind of proud of. XD

My top 9 most popular Instagram photos of 2019

EDITING BUSINESS

So, I don’t talk about it super often, but I do freelance copyediting/proofreading. It’s kept me busy, and I’ve been loving it. 🙂

This last year, I edited (or beta-read, in a few cases) five and a half novels, seven novellas, twenty-some short stories, and two works of non-fiction, for a total of about 700K words. (Not counting reading some of them three or more times.) Y’all, I know some super talented authors. 😉

LIFE HIGHLIGHTS

  • Went to Realm Makers 2019! (More about that in a minute.)
  • Went to a couple of book events and got to meet various authors including Terry Brooks (at Realm Makers) and Douglas Gresham
  • Saw Casting Crowns in concert!
  • Was ML (municipal liaison) for my local NaNoWriMo region for the 7th time
  • Various meetups with authors, writers, and friends (ALWAYS a highlight! I may be an introvert but hanging out with friends who I know well is the best!), and going to a few writing events/write-ins/workshops

CRAFTING

Usually my creativity comes out in writing and not much else, but this last year I enjoyed branching out a little with other artsy things. I think I should do this more often.

  • Two pairs of fingerless gloves (one pair for my costume and one for a friend)
  • Some art quotes for Christmas presents
  • A gingerbread house

REALM MAKERS 2019

Books!

Okay, I know I never did an actual recap post for my 2019 conference experience, for which I apologize. I was worn out afterward, and just never did get around to sorting through all my photos and trying to craft a post about it. I was kind of discouraged about some of the business/industry/publishing side of things, which also made it hard to write about.

Otherwise it was absolutely hands-down my most highlight-ish highlight (shh, I promise I’m a writer) of 2019! Getting to see SO MANY of my dear writer friends, some of whom I’ve only known on the internet (even from as far away as Canada!), and meeting and hanging out with amazing authors (including Jill Williamson and Terry Brooks) and being surrounded by books . . . It was a dream and was even better than the first time in many ways!

While the industry side of it may have been discouraging, I was SO encouraged, on a personal level, by the writers, authors, and friends who I had the privilege and joy to talk with. I’d even go so far as to say that the success of my NaNo was due in part to encouraging conversations I had there. And just the life and atmosphere and joy of being surrounded by authors and books and friends, all of which “got me” is unparalleled. Plus, it was just fun. 😉

I’m not going to do an entire recap here, but I will share a few pictures, which are long overdue, and seem fitting in this highlights post, since Realm Makers was the brightest star in the sky of my year!

(I’m not heading back this year, sadly, but two years of getting to go has been an absolute dream!)

This looked so cool

In a class at Realm Makers

Wayne Thomas Batson taught about balancing life and writing. His was my favorite class! Helpful, but also funny!

I also loved C.J. Redwine’s class about fairy tale retellings

I cosplayed as Lady Selene from Mark of the Raven by Morgan Busse — and so did the author! Dreamwalker twins. 😉

We’d be here all day if I shared all the AMAZING costumes at the costume banquet, and all of the amazing friends and authors I got to hang out with! (Which is one of the reasons I never got around to posting a whole recap. What if I leave someone out??) But I have to post this one, because it’s Christine Smith, my “Lauri,” who is an amazing writer and also keeps me on track with my own writing — and she’s dressed as Kuzko from The Emperor’s New Groove! XD Partners in uncrime forever!

I got to have lunch with three members of the Phoenix Fiction Writers: Hannah Heath, K. L. + Pierce, and Beth Wangler! Here we’re admiring the gorgeous copies of a book which had just arrived, by another PFW member (E.B. Dawson)!

Hanging out in the lobby at the hotel

Roadtrip! Traveling to and from Realm Makers with fantasy authors Claire Banschbach and Kendra E. Ardnek was a blast — and sometimes I got to sit with the pretty Oath of the Outcast things! Also, note all the buttons on my bag. XD

How gorgeous is this hotel??

I adore the clock tower. I want to live in it.

Overall, an amazing event, my second Realm Makers!

*awards cupcakes to anyone who made it this far* Thanks so much for reading!

Winners! (Of Silmarils & Swag)

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Just popping on real quick today to announce the winners for my 6th blogiversary giveaway last week, and to let y’all know that the Silmaril Award WINNER presentation ceremonies are going on this week and next week! (Details below!)

Giveaway Winners

The winner of the paperback copies of Dealing with Dragons and Searching for Dragons iiiis . . .

*drumroll*

  • Maya!

And the four random swag pack winners are . . .

  1. C.B.!
  2. Abigail Harder!
  3. Skye!
  4. Janice Verhoog!

Congrats to all the winners! I’ll be in touch with you shortly through email to get your mailing info. 🙂

THANK YOU so much to everyone who entered and celebrated my blogiversary with me! I wish I could give ALL of you something! *schemes for more giveaways in the future*

Silmaril Awards Presentation Schedule

Yes indeed, the nominations were brought in, the votes were tallied, and only one victor in each category has been chosen in this year’s Silmaril Awards — ten winners in all.

Check out the awards ceremonies linked below, presented by various bloggers and Middle-earth characters, to the most esteemed fantasy characters in 10 categories!

Presentations run September 16 – 27, one per weekday. I’ll update the links as they arrive!

And be sure to come back here on the 25th for my award ceremony for the winner of the Most Silver Tongue Silmaril!

Which category are you most excited to find out the winner? Who are you rooting for? I hope everyone’s been enjoying the 2019 Silmaril Awards!

6 Year Blogiversary + Giveaway!

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Just a quick post today (and a giveaway!) to celebrate SIX YEARS of blogging!

*confetti*

Yes indeed, this week I’m celebrating the anniversary of starting this blog half a dozen years ago! I can’t believe it’s been that long. O_O

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who read my online scribblings! I know I’m not the most consistent blogger these days… *cough* Especially this summer, which has been crazy. (I do hang out at my book blog too sometimes and it’s hard to juggle both right now…) And I appreciate you sticking around. 🙂

Your comments and support mean the world to me and I just want to say thanks for hanging out in (or visiting!) my corner of the blogosphere!

STATS

  • 6 years
  • 320 posts including this one!
  • 631 followers (1337 including linked social accounts)
  • 7,331 comments
  • 21,082 visitors
  • 54,180 views
  • 368,000 words written in posts (that’s 7.3 NaNos. O_O)
  • and none of this includes my book blog. XD

But it’s not about the numbers, it’s about sharing ideas and journeying along with ALL OF YOU GUYS and I appreciate y’all so much!

I’ve met some of the absolute BEST people through blogging, and you people improve my life SO MUCH.

Thanks for coming on this crazy writing and bookish fantastical adventure with me so far. ❤

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate, and say thanks, I have a giveaway for you guys!

Actually, two giveaways: one US only and one international.

Firstly, I’m giving away a paperback set of the first two books in Patricia C. Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles, specifically, Dealing with Dragons and Searching with Dragons! This is a fun series and I especially adore the second one, and want to share the love!

Enter paperback giveaway HERE!

(1 winner. Open September 11 – 16, 2019. US addresses only, please.)

***

Secondly, I’m giving away FOUR (4) sets of swag! See, I have quite a few extras of bookmarks and other fun swag like a handful of stickers/postcards/business cards from various authors, from various giveaways and attending Realm Makers two years. (Mostly Realm Makers. XD) SO I thought it would be fun to share the love! Especially for anyone who really wanted to go to Realm Makers and didn’t get the chance.

Please note most of this swag is fantasy or spec-fic or writing-related.

This one is open internationally! There will be four winners for these random swag packs. (One person will recieve the set of bookmarks/swag pictured above, and the other three winners will receive different ones but a similar number.)

Enter swag giveaway HERE!

(4 winners. Open September 11 – 16, 2019. Open internationally.)

***

Those with US addresses are welcome to enter both giveaways if you like.

The winners will be chosen at random via the rafflecopter, contacted by email, and announced here on the blog on September 18! (Winners will have one week to respond and if I don’t hear back, I’ll choose a new winner.)

Have at it and enter away!

And here, have some virtual cupcakes too! *passes them out*

Y’all are AWESOME! Thanks for celebrating with me and being amazing! Love you all!

(P.S. The voting phase of the Silmaril Awards is currently underway, so you have until September 13, 11:59 pm Central to vote for your favorite fantasy characters!)

June Ishness 2019!

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June 2019

Oh, hey, look who’s getting an Ishness post up only a week late instead of waiting for several months! *gasp*

I kind of consider June and July one really long Junely “J” month, but anyway, June was pretty cool and I’m here to recap it!

WRITING: Plots + Wordwars!

I’ve been brainstorming The Skythief and the Secret Tower and KW2.5/Mixup at Kedran’s Wood (which I introduced last week HERE) and making a little progress on those, which is exciting!

I managed to write just short of 6K words of KW2.5 in June, largely thanks to wordwarring with my awesome wordwar buddy, Claire Banschbach (who has a book coming out this month, Oath of the Outcast, one of my favorite recent reads, and it’s Celtic-esque and features outlaws and brothers and my favorite smol floof of anger management issues and is basically AWESOME, so go check it out!)!

Er . . . that was a slight sidetrack. But a necessary one. 😉 Because you need Rhys the Mountain Baron in your life.

Anyway.

I’m nearly 10K into my Kedran’s Wood novella and having a blast writing it! 😀

Otherwise, I’ve been keeping up with blogging (aside from last week because Independence Day *cough*) and trying to prep for Realm Makers, both of which I can count as writing-related, right? 😉

READING: Delicious Fantasy!

It was another good reading month! I don’t know why but seeing these books together makes me happy. 😀

I’ll post brief thoughts about all of them in a Book Ishness post on my other blog later this week, but highlights:

  • The Wolf Prince – Claire M. Banschbach — Brothers + faeries + Rangers + snark + wolves = SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS EPIC STORY!
  • Curse and Consequence – Savannah Jezowski — Regency Fantasy + hilarity + adorable dragons + faery curses + piglets + true love = YOU NEED IT IN YOUR LIFE. (One of my faves so far this year; I read it twice!) Review coming to the book blog tomorrow!
  • Deadwood – Kyle Robert Shultz — Fantasy Western + Todd Crane + Julio the dragon + creepy Pinocchio twist + I edited it = yay, more Afterverse! (It just released and you need this in your life too, and, no, I’m not biased. ;))
  • Conrad’s Fate – Diana Wynne Jones — Chrestomanci re-reads are always awesome! ❤ Where my Chrestomanci fans at?

WATCHING: Holmes + NCIS + Bolt!

  • I haven’t seen many new things lately, though I re-watched a few old favorites like Prince of Persia and Batman Begins. 😀
  • I did see a couple of new-to-me Sherlock Holmes episodes (starring Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone, respectively) which was fun. I’m always up for some Holmes of any type!
  • I watched Bolt, which was SO ADORABLE! ❤ The dog and the cat and the hamster. XD I loved it! ^_^
  • Also still occasionally working my way through the early seasons of NCIS — just started season 5 and things have been Going Down. O_O (I watch it for the characters and they’re just so much fun. :D)

LISTENING: Cress!

I finally got back to listening to Cress and I’m about 3/4 done now and I’m having SUCH a blast! It’s been keeping me to a semi-regular exercise routine (unless I’m too busy or sick or something). It’s so motivational since I get to find out what happens next while I’m exercising, and I’ve also been bribing myself with a daily chapter of a Chrestomanci book if I get it done. XD

Anyway, Cress and her friends are doooomed but I’m having a blast and I love all of them so much! Especially Thorne because he’s hilarious, and Jacin because he’s verrry intriguing, and Cinder because Cinder, and Wolf because sad puppy, and… well… you get the picture. I LOVE THEM ALLLL. The humor and snark is my favorite, and the retelling aspect is fun too. 😀

BLOGGING: Success! + Blogging Hacks

Since my plan was to actually blog consistently again this month, and I actually DID, I wanted to share this little success with you guys. 😀 And share my blogging calendar hack.

I write blog post ideas on sticky notes (color coded for the different blogs: yellow for this one, pink for my book blog, blue for guest posts etc.) and that way if I need to move them around, I can do that without having to scribble stuff out. And since it’s a physical calendar that I keep around, I’m more likely to look at it than at a digital calendar. I can also see at a glance how often I’m posting on my different blogs.

Anyway, it works for me and I LOVE it, and it usually looks like this (minus being crossed out) at the beginning of a month but is usually too ambitious to manage. XD But I did in June!

Reviews

Regular Posts

Guest Post

INSTAGRAM: Daily Posts + Almost One Year!

I had a personal challenge to post on Instagram every day in June, and I succeeded! You can check out my bookish photos here if you like. It was loads of fun. *grins*

Later this week will mark the one-year anniversary of when I first started Instagramming! So that’s exciting. ^_^

LIFE: Editing + Rain + Colds

Nothing particularly striking to report in the life category — just, well, Life, you know. 😉

I’ve been:

  • scheming about costumes and in other ways prepping for Realm Makers
  • editing
  • enjoying the rain (which is somehow keeping the three-digit Texas summer weather at bay temporarily)
  • seeing friends
  • and wrestling off a random and very-unwelcome summer cold. 😛

JULY PLANS: Realm Makers! (+ No Camp NaNo)

I’m not doing Camp NaNo WHICH MAKES ME SAD. But I figure I can’t wrangle that on top of Realm Makers so I won’t try. XD

So that’s going to be the biggest thing for me this month: final preparations for Realm Makers, a roadtrip, and attending the Realm Makers speculative fiction writers conference in St. Louis! I’M VERY EXCITED.

This is my second year going, and since it will be farther afield next year I probably won’t go that time, so I was determined to make it this year again if possible, and I’m so thankful it’s working out!

If you’ll be there, leave a comment and let me know! I’m SO excited to see so many friends, meet new people and authors, find some new books, learn more about writing, and make connections. ❤

(And no, I’m not ready at all, so excuse me while I panic and disappear for a week to frantically get ready for this. XD)

If you’re going to Realm Makers: check out Christine Smith’s fabulous post about getting the most out of this conference!

If you’re NOT going to Realm Makers but wish you were: check out Christine’s amazing post about that.

(Am I redirecting you to her posts instead of saying them myself? Yes. Yes I am. She does an incredible job of saying all of those things far better than I could, and you need those posts in your life.)

I also won’t be blogging or online as much in the next week or two, so . . . just so you know!

St. Louis Book Festival at Realm Makers

Also, if you’re in the St. Louis area on July 20th, you should make sure to swing by the Book Festival that’s open to the public and taking place at the Realm Makers conference! You can check out all the details here but tons of authors will be there signing books, including Terry Brooks, C.J. Redwine, Morgan Busse, and Bryan Davis!

And there we are! How was your June? Read or watched anything good lately? Are you doing Camp NaNo? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a splendid July! ^_^

New Year Calls: 2019 + Writing Ishness of 2018

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Happy New Year, my dearest Roadlings! *throws confetti cleverly shaped like little 2019s*

This is the obligatory new-year post but it’s a little different because it’s two weeks late not all goals and accomplishments and resolutions. (Though there’s some of that.)

New Year calls and I’m terribly tempted to pretend like Bilbo that I’m not at home. XD *cough*

We’re already 2 weeks into 2019 and I haven’t figured out all my writing goals yet and . . . I feel a little stressed about that. The pressure is on when the new year hits to figure out All The Things and set goals etc. And I simply haven’t. (Particularly for my writing, which is slightly awkward because this is a writing-ish blog.)

But you know what? It’s okay.

I don’t have to know all the things I want to do this year RIGHT NOW. I do know the next thing I want to do, and that should be enough for this moment.

And if it isn’t, it ought to be.

(*shoos list-aholic self to sit somewhere in the back row instead of booing in the front one* Ahem. >.>)

I’m sitting here wondering why I’m so stressed and thinking how I should let it go . . . and I just glanced at the writing journal I finished minutes before midnight brought in the New Year and it made me pause and reflect, because I’d totally forgotten about it.

Here’s an excerpt of my quietly-excited New Year’s Eve self, inking dreams for the future:

“. . . that the windings of the road of this writer will bring me to wondrous places and tales of the fantastic and of the heart. I don’t know for sure my goals for 2019. But I hope to meet it with a deep breath and a soul ready for the wild adventure of this road that calls me onward to new horizons of pen and paper and imagination — and the love of worlds to touch our souls and show us the stars. Whatever goals and dreams await, onward — let’s rise to meet them with the dawn beyond the horizon. The stars and the sky of imagination await! Happy New Year and may 2019 be filled with words of wonder!”

As I’ve been stressing out these last few days, I’d totally forgotten I wrote that — I suppose that enchanted hour before the turn of the year was closed in the final pages of the book that was 2018 and I forgot to open it and look at it again until just now.

Granted, it’s a little dramatic (I don’t always write like that in my journals, I promise. XD), and may be harking back to my steampunk WIP world, but it’s the feeling that remains.

That girl sitting in the light of the Christmas tree scribbling her soul down before the new year arrived . . . I want to be her. She was so excited and full of hope, and even though the future was strange and she only had a faint idea of what might come next, she was ready to embrace it and make it beautiful to the best of her abilities.

She wrote those words and then went out and stood in the cold under the stars, and watched fireworks ring in the New Year and talked and laughed, and saw a falling star, and the night was full of magic.

So I don’t know my goals. And that’s all right. I have vague inklings of possibilities and I’ll hopefully pick some of them and goal-ify them at some point . . . but here are a few.

Goal Options

  • I know I want to finish The Secret of Kedran’s Wood (KW2), since I’m still a couple of chapters from finishing. I’m so close that I can taste the final scenes but I haven’t quite dared to sit down and actually go for it. The pressure. (New Year’s Eve me thinks I should just get on and DO it already. In time, in time. Tare will make sure it happens, I don’t doubt . . .)

After that . . . I don’t know, exactly.

  • I should like to do something with The Siren and the Skyship, but I don’t know what its next step is — whether that’s working on rewriting it or carrying on with starting the next book in the series. Decisions, decisions.

  • I will probably end up working on something in Tare’s series after I finish KW2, but there are many options there, so again, I don’t know. (I should probably edit KW2 as well, which is a slightly scary thought. At least editing the new parts to be beta-readable . . . which is more doable.)

  • The Other Half of Everything lurks patiently and occasionally tackles me and makes me write a snippet or part of a chapter here and there. So I might work on it more — it always plays second fiddle to whatever my main project is, so someday I suspect it’s going to work its way into the spotlight of my main focus. We’ll just have to see when that might be.
  • And I have a few short stories I’d like to finish.
  • Plus, there are always other novels lurking, in case I’d like to be kidnapped by one of them, although the three above have been my Big Three for the last while.

So you see, I have plenty of options. I just don’t know, after this one goal (last 2 chapters of KW2), which option is going to pick me. (Because sometimes it feels that way instead of the other way around . . .)

Non-Story Goals

  • I’d like to a.) blog a fair amount, b.) actually do something with the newsletter list I started (*nervous laughter*), and c.) I’d love to go to Realm Makers again if I possibly can. (Which raises another question regarding what I should do before then, with which novels, for what next steps, if anything can happen on time — which is doubtful — and all of that’s a little too terrifying for me to want to think about just yet.)
  • Book reviews and my copyediting business will also continue, hopefully, so I’m excited for that. 🙂

It’s all very well to pretend you’re not home when the Sackville-Bagginses come calling, but who knows if 2019 might not be, instead, a whole bunch of dwarves and a wizard, waiting to take us on an adventure? We might miss out. So I think I’ll answer that door anyhow, even if I don’t know my dreams and goals yet. 😉

Speaking of dreams and goals, here’s a quick run-down of accomplishments of the last year, from my 2018 dreams post, since I’m curious how I did with them!

Dreams from 2018 that came true

  1. Finish a novel (possibly The Siren and the Skyship) — CHECK! This was definitely a highlight, finishing in the midst of NaNo.
  2. Start Instagramming — Done! I’ve already posted over 100 bookish pictures there since starting in July and it’s the. most. fun. thing. ever!
  3. Start a Facebook page — Check! Though I should definitely get back to posting on it more . . .
  4. Set up my official website — DONE! This was one of the hugest and most exhausting but also rewarding things. I did it all by myself and it was hard but I’m super happy with how it turned out.
  5. Spend more time writing stories/characters I love most — Check! Tare and The Other Half of Everything and The Siren and the Skyship definitely qualify.
  6. Get my freelance proofreading/copyediting business off the ground — Done! I spent a lot of last year editing fabulous stories for Kyle Robert Shultz, mostly. (My new title is The Editor of the Afterverse.) I’m excited for the projects I have lined up to hopefully edit this year. I adore polishing novels and short stories, catching all the typos in my typo-net. ❤ I’m calling it a very successful first year of editing. 🙂
  7. Have a giveaway or two — Done! I love giving away books so I hope to keep doing that.
  8. Go to the Realm Makers 2018 conference — YES! When I wrote that as a “dream” I had no idea it could actually happen, but it did and was the most amazing experience! (A post and another post about it.)

Half Accomplished

  1. Start a newsletter — Check! Ish. I set it up but haven’t really sent one out yet, which is slightly awkward. (But it’s terrifying, okay!) Setting up the list itself is a start. I hope to figure out the grand art of newsletters soon-ish. (And hey, if you sign up for it you get a free flash fiction, and will get to read my first newsletter I send, whenever I do! XD)
  2. Just write (no more perfectionism/not-starting) — Sort of? I’d say 50/50 on this.
  3. Letting myself have writing time — Not really? But at the same time I did write a fair amount. I do need to work on these two more, though.
  4. Develop the Siren and the Skyship sequels — Part of me is tempted to say I accomplished this, given that the two sequels have exploded and changed and switched places and also stolen parts of book one. So they’re more developed, but definitely not enough to actually write. So, again, half.
  5. Be open about writing dreams/thoughts on my blog — I did at times, but I also didn’t blog here nearly as much as I usually do, since I was rather busy living life, so I feel like I didn’t have much of a chance to talk about these things.
  6. Get closer to publishing something — The writing, learning, and network building that I’ve done this past year is definitely getting me closer to this elusive goal, but there’s still nothing definite. So I’m calling this half-accomplished.

Didn’t Do

  1. Finish the short stories I started — Nope. But I nearly finished two novels so I’m okay with this. It just wasn’t their time, apparently. 😛
  2. Figure out what I plan to do about publishing — I’ve learned a lot more in the last year about publishing, both traditional and indie, but I’m still no closer to a decision about what I’m going to do with my own writing.
  3. Write more blog posts — Heheh. Not really. XD
  4. Gather publishing/marketing info as a list of tips — Nope. Would still like to do this someday, maybe?

Well! I’m pretty happy with how many of those dreams I managed to track down and haul into becoming a reality! 🙂

A few other highlights:

Writerly Highlights: 2018

I wrote 103K words in 2018! Which makes me happy. (I usually average around that much but had quite a bit less in 2017 so I’m happy that my slump went away. XD)

This included:

  • 51,600 words of The Siren and the Skyship and finished it at a total of 95K!
  • 42,700 words of KW2 (which is currently at 123K and almost finished. *cough*)
  • 4,000 words of The Other Half of Everything, including finishing the first chapter (even though I have about 18K of the book total; I write out of order . . . it’s complicated.)

Other writing stuff that happened:

  • My 2013 NaNo, Underground Rainbow, decided it’s actually a trilogy and split itself into three parts. (This means the first book is suddenly finished, even though I didn’t write any extra. How beautiful is that?)
  • The two sequels to The Siren and the Skyship exploded and then switched places, so that book 3 is now book 2, and book 2 is now book 3. It broke my brain but I’m excited. I also had major breakthroughs about the Sky Voyages series in general.
  • Tare’s series had a couple of interesting developments regarding side stories.
  • I did some major plotting for The Other Half of Everything.
  • Tare and a KW side character nobody’s met yet, along with the purple-haired painter/artist Kevin Johnson from Undercavern Rainbow, as well as Ivan and Lulin Aurelius from The Other Half of Everything, and a raven-shifter fellow, have all decided that they want an urban fantasy novel mashup with all of them in it, and that they’re going to team up for a magical heist, and EXCUSE ME why did none of you guys tell me your books existed in the same world?? HELLO. O_O (Pushy characters. I tell ya.) Anyway, that happened. It’s called The Portal Heist and I’m super excited. I do, awkwardly, have to finish several other books before I can get to this one, but it gives me something to look forward to. 😉

I also:

  • Won a flash-fiction writing contest
  • Was a finalist in another flash-fiction contest
  • Did Camp NaNo in April and passed my 10-hour goal
  • Participated in (and won) NaNoWriMo in November for the 9th time. I wrote 58,323 words, which is the most I’ve written in a single month, ever.
  • Won the Indie E-con word-war with over 10K words in a week. XD
  • Kept my 9th writing-journal and wrote in it every week
  • I mentioned this, but I expanded my online platform with my new website, Instagram, Facebook and Facebook page, and newsletter.
  • Had many lovely get-togethers with delightful writer friends, including workshops, a writer retreat in a cozy cabin over a weekend, Realm Makers (!!), NaNoWriMo events, and just getting together in small groups and chatting. ❤
  • Ran a local NaNo region for the 6th year
  • Wrote 92 blog posts (across my two blogs), including a guest post about Draft Zero
  • And it’s not exactly writerly, but I went on two major roadtrips this last year (one to Realm Makers, one to visit family) and they were both awesome. We can call that research?

Whew! I had no idea so much awesomeness happened. I’m very glad I decided to write this post after all and found out. XD

I’m going to call 2018 an EXCELLENT year in the writing department, and look forward to the new year.

2019.

*tastes how it sounds*

Let’s make it a good one, shall we?

I’ll leave you with my new bullet journal (bjournal, as I Nordic-ly call it) and my new writing journal — a fabulous steampunk cat!