Taking Stock–and Looking Forward

I’m tempted to label 2017 as a complete bust and just move on, but there were a couple of significant things that happened last year (let’s call them silver linings) that I shouldn’t overlook or minimize.

So, let’s take a brief look backward before we set our sights on the future. As I’ve chronicled here previously, my day-job not only had me traveling quite extensively for ¾ of the year (at one point I was on the road for 13 weeks straight), but the combination of the travel and the project I was involved in consumed all my energy to the point I had to step away from my writing, my critique group duties, and just about everything else writing-related. I had to shutter my beloved pet project -- WRiTE CLUB -- and was unable to attend my favorite writer’s conventions–the DFW Writers Conference. But my misfortunes don’t end there. To add insult to injury, after I was able to return to my critique group and some semblance of blogging, I ended up missing all of our scheduled meetings due to unexpected conflicts and then I scheduled a blogfest (Déjà vu 2017) that I wasn’t able to promote or even take part in because I came down with a sinus/chest infection that totally kicked my butt! Yeah - #DejaFAIL. To say that I crawled out of 2017 wouldn’t be an understatement, a literal one to be exact, because I wrenched my back on New Year’s Eve and that rendered me almost useless.

Like I said, it would be easy to call 2017 a bust.

But from the rubble of that year emerged a few shiny gems of inspiration.

It would have been easy for our critique group to have folded and gone our separate ways in my absence, but other members stepped up (notably - Nancy Williams for one) and heading into 2018 our group is as strong–and productive–as ever.

Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to work on my manuscript last year I made the conscious decision to seek out a copy editor early on so that things wouldn’t become totally stagnant. That choice has yielded big-time. As a direct result, I have made contact with a well-respected New York agent and I’m now revising my book based on her suggestions – hopeful that it will lead to representation and eventual publication.

And although WRiTE CLUB was silent last year, I have already lined-up some amazing authors to act as judges for this year’s edition and it’s shaping up to bounce back bigger and better than before!

So, how is 2018 shaping up, you ask?

I should be able to answer that question more definitively come late-February, as that is when I’m scheduled to deliver my manuscript changes to my prospective agent. And although I’ll still be traveling for work occasionally, it won’t impact my writing pursuits in the least. Overall, it looks like 2018 could be a significant year for me. Regardless how it plays out for me…

HAPPY 2018 EVERYBODY!