Happy 2014! In some ways, it's hard to believe it's already here. In other ways, it couldn't have gotten here soon enough.
As usual, I've been terrible about posting regularly on this blog. But in my defense, I didn't really feel like I had anything worth saying. "Hey guys, it's me. And things are exactly as you'd expect." Why write it and post it if we all felt like you'd be waisting time reading it? But still, I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I can express my opinions and all that jazz, and this blog has been such a part of my life for so long, I'd hate for this to be the year that I let it down.
2013 wasn't a bad year, but it certainly challenged me in ways I could have done without. But you don't want to read about that and I don't want to write it, so let's look at the the positives! Back in March, my winning short story entry to Lisa Burstein's diary contest was printed, putting my words and by-line out in there in a book! I'm still very proud of that. It was also the year that I got to go to my first ever conference. I spent about four days at the end of June/beginning of July at McCormick Place in Chicago for the American Library Association Annual Conference where I went to some amazing panels, had fun with my awesome roommates, met fabulous people (including a few favorite authors!) and came home with ARCs to spare. Thirdly, my brother got married! I was a bridesmaid for my gorgeous sister in law and the day was fantastic from top to bottom. It also became the third wedding in a row where I caught the bouquet (not that my friends really put up any sort of effort haha).
So yeah. Lots of good happened! Writing wise, apart from my short story, things were a bit harder. I found fun in short stories in the blog I started with my critique parter, Stories by SaM, but my longer fiction was a bit more troublesome. I finally understand what authors mean when they say that sometimes they need to write themselves into a story for a while to find out if it will be a good fit. I had two different projects that I loved, but the timing or something was just off so I made the tough decision to put them to the side. However, I'm working on something right now and so far, I'm feeling good.
I also made the choice at the end of the year to give the manuscript I'd queried back in 2012 one last shot through Swoon Reads. This is an imprint of Macmillian and how it works is kind of cool: writers can post their novels to their site and readers can vote for the ones they like. Swoon Reads actually plans to properly publish novels that are submitted here! So if you make an account (it's free), you can read my manuscript, and if you like it please vote for it! (Click this link - you know you want to!)
It's only day 2 of the year, but I've already been busy and have a full calendar coming. Let's keep our fingers crossed for more good things for one and all!
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