A Look Back at 2013

It’s the time of the year when we tend to review where we’ve been and what we’ve done over the past 12 months.  Here’s my review:

I worked at the day job. Wrote in the evenings and weekends. Worked overtime at the day job. Wrote. Worked. Edited. Worked more overtime. Knitted. Worked.

Not too exciting, huh? LOL

Well, let’s be more specific. Here are the highlights of my year as a writer:

Three books published this year. Eddie’s Prize in February, Ellie’s Wolf in August, and Wolf’s Oath in October. The first two were published by Liquid Silver Books, and I put Wolf’s Oath out myself. I wanted to see if self-publishing would work for me. The jury is still out on that, and my plans for future self-publishing are on hold.

Three books released in audio format. I had Sleeping With the Wolf, Wolf’s Glory, and Wolf Tracker put out by Brick Shop Audio, and Eddie’s Prize will be released early in 2014. There is a certain thrill in hearing a professional voice actress reading words I wrote and bringing characters to life.

Wolf’s Oath Chosen for a Book of the Month. Yes, this past month, December 2013, the a GoodReads forum  chose Wolf’s Oath for their Book of the Month discussion. That’s a big deal for me and I’ve enjoyed that group and the people in it.

The last couple months have been difficult for me, writing-wise.  The day job has been uber stressful, with mandatory overtime and deadlines that we race to meet. I leave home at 6:30am and get home at 5:15pm, scramble to make supper before I have to go out to church, or an SCA meeting, or my knitting group, or my writers group. Those are all things I enjoy, but overtime has sucked the fun out of it. On those nights when I am home and can write, I’m so tired I don’t seem to be able to write. I sit at the computer and try, but words just don’t come.

That sounds terribly whiny. Sorry! I get that way when my creative outlet is shut down. I need to write for my sanity, and since I haven’t been writing… That is going to have to change in 2014. It will change in 2014! 😉 I am going to try to focus on positives, and improve what I can instead of whining about things I can’t change. One of the things I feel really good about is reader feedback. Several of you have let me know that you enjoy the books, asked questions that made me think about aspects of the After the Crash world, and have made suggestions for future stories and characters. Thank you so much!

My next post will be about my plans for the New Year. My goals may be crazy, but we’ll see how it goes.