This was a big year for me. (Photo year in review at the end.)
This year was:
Hard
Exhausting
Rewarding
Emotional
My 2021 reflections could focus on teaching through a pandemic, sending my youngest off to college 3000 miles away, or what it’s like to empty the nest and then fill it back up again, but I’m going to spotlight on my writing dreams.
In my 2019 NYE post, I planned to publish my first book by the end of 2020. When 2020 came to a close, that hadn’t happened. Yet.
I finally got my short stories, Once Upon This Time, published in September of this year. While the basic text was ready for publication in March of 2020, if you recall, that was the beginning of Covid lcokdowns, remote teaching, and stress eating. On the tail of that first publication, I published my first full length novel, Discovering Darcy, in November. There is still something surreal about being an author, even if I self-published.
I didn’t reach my established goal. I was 11 months late. Better late than never, right?
Here’s the thing about goals. Sometimes you reach them; you win big. More often reaching our goals is a bit hit or miss. We reach some of our goals because of commitment and hard work. Other goals, no matter how hard we work, we never accomplish because of circumstance outside of our control. We’ve all seen a dream slip away. Some goals we meet, but later than we planned. Some goals we abandon along the way because we give up. Maybe it was too hard, we couldn’t muster the motivation, or we couldn’t break it into manageable steps. Others we abandon because we reevaluate and set different goals. Giving up isn’t always bad. I think that’s where I’m heading for my future writing goals.
Let me explain.
When I decided to write a book back in 2016, I was an occasional blogger. That was all. I attended my first writing conference and learned a lot about writing. By the following year when I returned to the conference, I had a rough write-up of The Book I wanted to write. That’s when I encountered my first roadblock. I read about marketing, platforms, and self-promotion. I started blogging regularly. My husband built my website. The results were slow and unremarkable. I continued working and learning. I changed the direction I wanted to take my book, and I created a new plan. I needed a “freebie,” so I created a book of short stories. I learned more about fiction writing. I wrote a novel. (This all sounds so easy, but as you can see, it took 5 1/2 years to go from decision to self publication.) All of this was in preparation of the big goal: Publication through a real publication company.
So where am I? Reconsidering.
My book sales were lower than expected. My mailing list and Facebook likes are nothing that is going to impress a publisher. I took a break from blogging because it was consuming too much of my available writing time. I learned how much I hate the business side of being an author.
Here’s the thing. I love writing, but it’s only a piece of my life and can’t consume it. If anything is going to consume my time, I want that to be faith, family, friends, and teaching. That’s who I am, who God made me to be. So, I’m going to reach for my dreams, but slowly when I have time. I know, not exactly a motivational speech. I’d prefer to slow down and enjoy life than hustle my way to exhaustion.
This year, I’m going to write The Book, the one that motivated my entire writing journey. I’m still going to see if I can find a publisher, but I’m coming to the realization that my time is too valuable to jump through a bunch of hoops just to reach this publication goal when self publication is a viable option. It’s not exactly my dream, but it might just be good enough.
It’s time to work on the big dream I’ve set forth, and hold it loosely. I hope to have a rough draft to my editor by the end of the year and publication in 2023.
Maybe this year, I’ll aim high, but be willing to accept good enough. Maybe we should do this with all by the most important of our dreams.
Here’s what I was doing this year when I wasn’t writing.
24th Anniversary trip to New Hyde, NY
Seidle Day
Full Contact Easter Egg Hunt
Joel in the school musical (outside, socially distanced Les Mis)
Joel’s Graduation
Cross Country road trip
Christmas at Peddler’s Village
New Year’s at home
Have a wonderful 2022!