Today’s my birthday… and this year it’s on a Friday the 13th AND a full moon which means all my creepy kid tendencies are super stoked!
Every year on my birthday I try to think about what I’ve learned over the year, what’s changed, and what in the world did I even do? Time feels like it’s flying by faster and faster (seriously, wasn’t it 2013 just a few days ago?) and it’s hard to even think about a year ago some days. In fact most days I still view myself as a 16 year old floundering through high school and wonder who in the world gave me permission to be an adult.
So, a quick year in review!
I’ve been at my day job for just over a year and it’s going awesomely. I work with some amazingly fun people and rather enjoy my job. There’s definitely a lot of changes happening so it’ll be interesting to see what the next year brings!
The Bone Queen!
I had my first stand alone work published in October. Yay The Bone Queen! And honestly I think I totally flopped on a lot of the marketing aspects for it. This year has definitely taught me that I need to work on that whole self-promotion thing in the future. But overall, the process of writing a book and going through the process of first draft to published was a really helpful and eye-opening experience.
Capes & Clockwork
A short story came out in the really fun collection Capes and Clockwork and I had a blast writing a superhero steampunk story. This is one of the stories I’ve had the most fun writing and I’m really excited to be able to create a second story with Rowan and Bee in the future. It was a great experience all around and everyone who worked on it has been incredibly helpful and supportive.
Over the past few months I’ve started submitting stories out to open calls again which has been both a really nerve racking and a really fun prospect. So far nothing but rejections, but they’ve all been personalized rejections so that gives me hope that an acceptance is around the corner!
I wrote my longest work to date at 65,000 words, and I’m incredibly proud of myself for finishing. It has a beginning, a middle and an end, and is the whole story. It’s an ugly mess, but I finished it. I’ve written more words on other projects, but they were never finished, they just went on forever, so for me finishing this project means a lot. Whether it goes anywhere in the future is yet to be seen, but even if it just sits on the shelf forever: I FINISHED IT!
I’ve also started working out again and doing yoga and that has been amazing. I feel stronger and better and am remembering just how important the body is.
So all and all, it’s been an awesome year so far. I’ve got some amazing friends all around me, and the potential to just keep moving on up.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME!