Ring out the old

Okay, so here we go with a brief 2016 wrap-up.

My plans:
Finish 2nd book in SF Bodyguard of Lies trilogy & get it up for sale
Write 3rd book in trilogy & get it up for sale
Write 4th cozy mystery & get it up for sale
Plan and start a new series

Accomplishments:
Finished 2nd book of the trilogy. Period. Working on edits now, and might get it up early January.

Other cool things:
Participated in StoryBundle
Ran for SFWA Board

Volunteer stuff:
Helped out a fair bit with my daughter’s class at school
Continued to format the SFWA Forum
Started some work with the SFWA Membership Retention/Satisfaction Committee

Horrible thing:
Our dog died

Some good, some bad, and I didn’t get anywhere near what I wanted written. ‘Sokay — I still have major plans for 2017, and I’m grateful for all of you who are here, reading me and encouraging me. Let’s have a fabulous year together!

It was a very good year

Some of the things I did this year were things I set out to do:

  • I took my son with me to Boskone this year.
  • I sold a story to a SFWA-qualifying venue.
  • I became eligible to join SFWA (Associate level), although I haven’t done so yet.
  • I finished writing 1 book I’d previously started (Daniel).
  • I wrote more than a dozen new short stories.
  • I wrote a new book for NaNoWriMo.
  • I wrote and submitted a new novella for the UPC SF contest.
  • I attended my first WorldCon.
  • I ran a 5k race. (Okay, the original goal was a half marathon.)
  • I read, on average, more than a book a week (including magazine issues).

Some of the things I did weren’t on my agenda to begin with:

  • I started a sole proprietorship publisher, Hartshorn Publishing, to put some of my work up as e-books.
  • I got my first book contract (with Moongypsy Press, for Touching Time). (Didn’t actually get a formal contract yet, but then, I don’t have a complete book to deliver yet, either.)
  • I put four short works and a novella up for sale as e-books.
  • I lost a fair bit of weight and a couple of inches as a result of my running. (Honesty compels me to admit that the lack of said running through the summer and fall did away with the majority of this progress, especially with holiday treats to cap it off.)
  • I participated in the A to Z blog challenge in April.
  • I wrote another A to Z series of blog posts, focused on women writers of science ficiton and fantasy.

And, of course, there are things I planned to but didn’t:

  • I wanted to complete the quilt I was working on for a contest deadline in January.
  • I wanted to finally get a raised bed put in to grow vegetables and herbs.
  • I wanted to have more novels under contract with publishers.

Making money from my writing? (These numbers combine all avenues of income.)

  • Short stories: $558.48
  • Articles: $38.25
  • Novellas: $20.77
  • Novels: $0

Overall, definitely a very good year. Now, having exceeded expectations, I need to start working on my dreams and goals for 2012. Onward and upward!