It’s 2014 already. That’s ten years since I left high school. Already? Where did the time go?
I’ve been MIA recently not only because it was holidays and I desperately needed some down time before going back to teaching next week, but also because I got to spend a glorious ten days with my big sister whom I hadn’t seen in over three years. Needless to say, writing and the Internet were far from my thoughts while I played tourist guide for my big sis and ran her ragged in and around Helsinki.
I wanted to do a year in review type post yesterday but I got caught up in admin and then rock climbing and then an evening with friends so blogging kind of got forgotten. But I’m officially back online from today!
2013, the year of awesome…
2013 was actually pretty good to me. And here’s why:
1) I got married to the love of my life after just over 5 years of being together, having lived on 3 continents together. I never thought I’d find love like this, much less get married so yeah, all the feels.
2) I got an industry related job working as a publicist and then as the publicity manager for Entranced Publishing. I have learned so much doing this job and have met amazing people from the writing and blogging community.
3) I took on more teaching hours, teaching not only dance but music – the thing I actually studied and planned a career in which was kind of awesome since I’d be feeling really depressed that I’d ‘wasted’ so much time and effort studying something I wasn’t using. Now I am and I’m loving it.
4) I sold not one but TWO books. TWO! I’m still doing the happy dance that my quirky little stories found the perfect homes.
5) I joined the online community in a greater capacity, getting involved with more writers such as the #WIPmarathon bunch (tip of the hat to Ifeoma Dennis) and the New Adult Authors Unite facebook page (thanks Rhonda!)
6) I took a writer’s course (again, thanks Rhonda!) and took a more active role in improving my craft and learning about writing. I’ve learned so much and it will only make my writing that much stronger.
7) I did some in-person events for book promotion, which, despite being absolutely terrifying, proved to be a huge learning experience as well as a great thing for my books and writing life here in Finland.
8) Thanks to the enthusiasm of a good friend, I got back into rock climbing – something both my husband and I thoroughly enjoy doing and a great stress reliever.
Hopes for 2014?
More writing. More climbing. More salad. More joy.
More focusing on the positive and less fixation on the negative!
And now onto the #WIPmarathon Check-in No.5…
Honestly – nothing has changed. I haven’t touched the WIP since my last check-in just before Christmas. I haven’t had the time nor the inclination to work on it. Now that things are settling back into my normal routine and I’ve caught up on blog tour things and a dozen other neglected admin things, I’ll start writing again in earnest.
I also suddenly remembered, I have a short story due for an anthology next month so that’s going to take priority this week. The idea is there, the words just need to be written. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share 200 words from that next week.
Did you have a good 2013? What are your hopes for 2014?
