Wrapping it Up

/ Joan Hall

Hi, SE Readers. Joan here today with my last post of this year. What??? Yes, we’re wrapping up 2017. Can someone tell me who stole it? I’m sure January 1 was only a few days ago.

My mom always said the older a person got, the faster time went. She was right.

Anyway, I just wrapped up the rewrite of a new novel. One last proofread, and it will be ready for publication. Of course, I planned to publish the book no later than August and have a third novel almost ready to go. Not to mention I wanted to write several short stories. (I completed one.)

As they say, the best-laid plans…

Since I’m currently in an editing-induced brain fog, I was hard-pressed to come up with a subject for today’s post. So I decided to make this about you, our readers. I’d like to hear from you.

As a writer, what do you consider your most significant accomplishment this year?

What goal(s) did you fail to achieve?

What are your plans for the upcoming year?

Please share in the comments.

39 thoughts on “Wrapping it Up”

  1. I’m a few days late, which has become a norm for me with social media. I just don’t have enough hours in the day to get to everything. :-/ Still, I have made peace with it because my priorities are in order – family, health, work, friends, writing…..social media. Lol! 😉 My biggest “author” accomplishment for this year was publishing the series finale for the Chronicles of the Diasodz. It’s been a 7-year project, and I’m happy to have the finale in the hands of readers. My biggest “self” accomplishment was finally having a positive turn in my health “management.” I’m looking forward to a healthy, energetic 2018! 🙂 As for writing plans for 2018… I’m between revisiting an unpublished novel and working toward making it worthy of being published or writing a prequel to my series. Hopefully, the next two weeks off of work will help to direct my inspiration. 🙂

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  2. Sorry I’m late to the party, but, what do you expect? It’s STILL 2017, and the hits keep on comin’! 😀 My biggest accomplishment for this year was to survive Hurricane Irma physically unscathed. Sadly, my house can’t say the same, and more than 3 months later, repairs are still underway. Hopefully, it will wrap up next month, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Now for the fun stuff. Hmmmmm. Thinking . . . thinking . . . Oh, yeah! There WERE some good moments scattered hither and yon throughout the year. Like, I finished & published That Darkest Place, the third book in my Riverbend series. And then I finished my first novella, The Emissary, a spinoff from the Riverbend series. Then September 10 arrived, and Irma decided I’d written enough for one year, I guess, because I’m sure lagging behind on my 4th Wake-Robin Ridge book. But overall, I’m pretty pleased that I published two new works for the year, so I’m not going to complain. Much. 😉

    I also was lucky enough to have some wonderful Meet the Author events in 2017, including two lovely luncheon/teas, which are one of my favorite ways to meet new (and old) readers. And I’ve got at least 2 events booked each month all the way up through fall of 2018. Now that may sound like just hangin’ out and havin’ fun (which it IS), but it also has helped me build a local readership that really supports me and made up of readers who buy all of my books. So, I’m counting those as successful endeavors for the year, and looking forward to more of them in 2018.

    My goal for the new year is to get better at other forms of marketing, so I can add that to a post like this NEXT year. 😀 Here’s hoping 2018 finds us ALL in a better place, with much to be celebrating at year’s end. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! Roll on, 2018! We’re ready for you! 😀 Probably.

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    • Sounds like you had a busy year. And I’m happy you survived Irma. Hoping everything comes together for getting your house back in order. I know of people in the Houston area that are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey.

      It also looks like 2018 will be a busy one for you. Wishing you much success!

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      • Oh, Harvey was terrible to Houston! As for our damage, I tell people it’s frustrating and annoying and disruptive, but it isn’t TRAGIC, which it was for many, many people. So we still feel lucky and blessed, and we will get to the end of all the mess one of these days.

        Thanks for the well wishes. I’m looking forward to 2018, and some changes to my game plan that I hope will work well. The best to you, too, Joan! See you next year!

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  4. Biggest accomplishment this year was publishing 2 novels (not to mention writing one from scratch).

    I failed to complete more new books and stories that I want to do and could have squeezed out one more novel.

    2018 will be filled with as much new content as I can complete.

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  6. Your Mom told you right! I can attest to ‘flying time’ here in ‘Twilight’! I no longer do ‘goals’, ‘success’ and ‘failure’ analyses…I just write! It’s my therapy and my passion! Not that I don’t recommend those for the younger folks. ♥ MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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    • Billy Ray, I think you have the right idea! Goals can get in the way of our creativity. On the plus side, by not finishing the novel when I first planned, a new idea came to mind which I believe made one of my main characters stronger. So it all worked out in the end. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!

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  7. There seems to be a consistent theme through these posts. 2017 was a rough year for lots of us. I started shopping for a publisher for my new book series and so far am still shopping. I know I can self-publish, but I wanted to try for a traditional publishing contract. You never know if you don’t try. That being said, I am in complete agreement with everyone else, that the year passed by in a blur. Time is moving at warp speed. Merry Christmas, Joan!

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    • Merry Christmas to you too, Jan. And best of luck with locating a publisher. I once heard a writer say, “If your work is rejected, that just means there is someone else who needs it more.” Confident you’ll find the right one.

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  8. It’s weird when I look back over 2017. Much of it is a blur, like a roller coaster went winging by at warp speed. I guess after a while, things kind of glom together. I did sign a new 3-book publishing contract in 2017, so that was a huge plus. If I can focus at some point between Christmas and the New Year, I hope to do a wrap-up post on my blog. They’re always fun, and they make me take a hard look where I succeeded and where goals slipped through the cracks.

    Congrats on finishing book 2 of your series, Joan. I’m looking forward to the release when the edits are behind you 🙂

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  10. 2017 went astray so badly for me that I don’t even remember my original goals. Around early autumn, I simply wanted to make it to 2018 with some of my sanity and sense of self-worth intact. I’m still hoping to publish the last book of my fantasy series before New Years, so that’s something. Hope you have a fun and successful 2018.

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  11. I think most of us plan one thing and end up doing something different. I know I do! I signed two publishing deals this year and wrote a new book, but only managed 3,000 words of my first NaNoWriMo. I wanted to write a sequel to my book Ninja School Mum, which is out in Jan 2018, but timings didn’t work out and I barely began the first few chapters. That will now be a task I will enjoy in next year. I have also not managed to work on my blog other than organic growth. I wonder if we put ourselves under too much pressure and load up on endless jobs? We also need time out to sit and enjoy our surroundings and top up our creative levels, which might be seen as an indulgence, but is so important. It’s just fitting it into an already busy day can be tricky:)

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    • Congratulations on the publishing deals! I’ve tried NaNoWriMo a couple of times, but never do good. November is always such a busy time and the last two years I’ve been busy with edits for two novels. Maybe I’ll have a clean slate next year and can accomplish 50K words.

      I agree we often put too much pressure on ourselves. And I think it’s perfectly okay not to always achieve goals on time. (As long as we don’t stop trying.) Taking time to sit and enjoy our surroundings and letting our minds be refreshed is just as important in the creative process as writing. Best of luck to you in 2018!

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  12. I’ll be glad to see the end of 2017. It wasn’t a great year. Wishing better for 2018. I have a lot of plans, but then again, I had plans for this year.

    • Most significant accomplishment of 2017: Finishing the Medici Protectorate Series. (Books are done, but the last isn’t published yet.)
    • Goal failed to achieve: Weekly personal blogging/significant blog growth.
    • Plans for 2018: Well, I plan to blog about that (lol), so that’s going to have to wait.

    Joan, congratulations on finishing the novel. Can’t wait to see it published. Best wishes!

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    • Well, you know we share a brain, so you might know we share that personal blogging/blog growth issue. One of my goals in 2018 is to increase my traffic and blogging. And no, 2017 wasn’t the best year for either of us. But here’s to 2018 for a better and more productive year for both of us.

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  13. Oh yes, those best laid plans, lols! I had lots of ideas about 2017 but it turned into ‘one of those years’, and everything seems to have gone wrong. And on top of that, my health isn’t what it was. I had one book that I’d struggled to get written, and it ended up shelved for most of the year, but I have finally done the editing it needed and it’s just about ready for the next stages now. It is the first in a planned three (all standalone stories but with a character arc throughout), so I won’t publish until I have the next two well underway.

    I’ve learnt a lot about writer’s block and having to find the energy and writing something (anything) if at all possible on a regular basis so that wellspring doesn’t dry up.

    My goals for 2018 are to increase my writing output significantly!

    Very best wishes to you all for the coming year 🙂

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  14. I’ve always found self-reflection and goal-setting to be one of the most rewarding-yet-daunting-yet-important parts of the New Year period. This year, I am pleased to have “launched” my website and social media accounts (scary!) and finished the second draft of my YA novel Holding Up the Sky. I’d hoped to finish the line edits by December 31st, but since I’ve been on a roll with my other project, an epic fantasy, it’s kind of fallen by the wayside.

    So, for 2018, I intend to have Holding Up the Sky ready for publication (of some kind), the copy edits done for the fantasy book, and made a start on its sequel. Lots to do, but I’m feeling motivated! Best of luck to everyone for 2018!

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  15. I’m right there with you, Joan, on the “best-laid plans.” 😀 I didn’t get book two of my debut novel out. It’s done…been done a while, but I’m not happy with it. We’ve had so many ups and downs with my mister’s health this year, I wasn’t focused. So, in the process of dissecting and rewriting, and hoping to unleash it on the world February 28th. 😀

    On a positive note, I learned A LOT, especially about my own writing style. And when I couldn’t focus on my book two, I wrote…”other things”…LOL! I will definitely have more releases in 2018. I also went the distance in the Writing Cooperative’s 52-Week Writing Challenge. Next week is the last post and I’ve posted on time every week. I’m still in shock. LOL! Hope your holidays are warm and wonderful – Merry Christmas!

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    • Felicia, sorry about your mister’s health – I’ve had some setbacks of my own this year, but nothing that can’t be fixed. And congrats on the fifty-two-week challenge. I need something like that to encouage me to blog more often. Will they repeat in 2018? If so, can you provide info? Thanks! I’m confident you’ll get that book done and published.

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