2020 Round-up.
Dec. 26th, 2020 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenmillion2020 was seriously weird, but I did some things:
That's five books published, and three solo short story collections. It's also the serious launch of a new pen name (two of those five books). It's about sixty art cards. Three short stories in two anthologies. Project: Hug (13 flash fictions).
I found my breaking point this year - the point at which I can't simply power forward and continue making things happen. I am grateful that I was in a position where I could step back and stop for a while to regroup, and I feel considerably better and more balanced and ready to do things again.
I found my goals for 2020:
*Write six books - I re-wrote Dragon Prince, wrote Unicorn of Glass, Broken Lynx, Dragon Prince's Librarian, and Gryphon of Glass (twice), plus a whole lot of short stories and several novellas. I ditched the Green Valley Christmas book. If you count re-writes, I made it, otherwise...no.
*Publish six books and two story collections (Is that crazy? Probably!) - Oh, sweet summer past self, you had no IDEA how crazy. I ended up dropping one book from this plan...and adding another collection.
*Submit to two anthologies - submitted to four, got into three, two were published this year, one scheduled for January.
*30 pieces of cat art in one month. #junikitty? #janucat? - I morphed this into magical pets, but I consider this a goal met. I also did #junicorn again and raised $1k for the food bank.
*Work on the sequel to the Alaska Animals Native Translation coloring book - I didn't so much as look at this and they haven't agitated. Definitely back-burnered.
Personal Goals:
*Work on my physical strength - Some...not as much as I'd like. I did keep up on belly dance, and the three of us kept each other sane during this crazy year.
*Avoid comparing myself with others and focus on self-confidence without outside validation - I actually did a fine job of this. By the end of the year, I simply didn't have the extra energy to waste on comparing myself to other people.
# # #
Obviously, 2020 was one of those years that no one really sees coming. My goals had been based on things like school and summer camp, and the husband being at work, not camped in my kitchen on video conferences. Instead of writing being a career I was pursuing, writing was something I shoved desperately into the corners of being a full-time teacher and care-giver. I canceled trips. I lost friends. I had triumphs. My faith in humans was badly shaken. Things I took for granted proved dangerous. I re-examined myself and didn't always like what I found. I learned. I broke and rebuilt. I shut down more major parts of EMG. It was a wild, wild rollercoaster with no seatbelts.
My goals for 2021 are hopefully gentler. They're definitely humbler.
I'm planning on writing four books: Dragon Prince's Bride, Firebird of Glass (concludes a series!), Green Valley Christmoose, and Shifting Sands Academy. Of these, the last is the least solid and might get replaced with another idea I've been toying with. I have some novellas in mind, too - three Kalikoi/Elva lesfics, and a Suddenly Shifters reprint. (These would be expanded from existing things.) In a perfect world, I would also write The Dragon Prince's Magic and some new novellas, and possibly start the last Green Valley book and also do the middle grade book I have in mind.
Artwise, I want to do another art card challenge this year. No idea what that will look like. I don't seem to be out of #junicorn ideas.
I'd also like to put together a new coloring book for print on demand. No one wants to buy from small press and ship from Alaska when they can get it from Amazon with free shipping, and if you can't beat them, join them! This would be a compilation of existing artwork and a few new pages.
In personal goals, my ambitions are minimal: stay healthy and maintain grace. I can't predict what 2021 is going to be like, but I do know that it's not going to be 'normal' again immediately. We're distance-learning at least until summer, and I'm not optimistic about summer camps. Teleworking might be a thing for a long while. I have to be patient, with myself and others. I have to be kind and remember to be grateful. I have so much to be thankful for.
That's five books published, and three solo short story collections. It's also the serious launch of a new pen name (two of those five books). It's about sixty art cards. Three short stories in two anthologies. Project: Hug (13 flash fictions).
I found my breaking point this year - the point at which I can't simply power forward and continue making things happen. I am grateful that I was in a position where I could step back and stop for a while to regroup, and I feel considerably better and more balanced and ready to do things again.
I found my goals for 2020:
*Write six books - I re-wrote Dragon Prince, wrote Unicorn of Glass, Broken Lynx, Dragon Prince's Librarian, and Gryphon of Glass (twice), plus a whole lot of short stories and several novellas. I ditched the Green Valley Christmas book. If you count re-writes, I made it, otherwise...no.
*Publish six books and two story collections (Is that crazy? Probably!) - Oh, sweet summer past self, you had no IDEA how crazy. I ended up dropping one book from this plan...and adding another collection.
*Submit to two anthologies - submitted to four, got into three, two were published this year, one scheduled for January.
*30 pieces of cat art in one month. #junikitty? #janucat? - I morphed this into magical pets, but I consider this a goal met. I also did #junicorn again and raised $1k for the food bank.
*Work on the sequel to the Alaska Animals Native Translation coloring book - I didn't so much as look at this and they haven't agitated. Definitely back-burnered.
Personal Goals:
*Work on my physical strength - Some...not as much as I'd like. I did keep up on belly dance, and the three of us kept each other sane during this crazy year.
*Avoid comparing myself with others and focus on self-confidence without outside validation - I actually did a fine job of this. By the end of the year, I simply didn't have the extra energy to waste on comparing myself to other people.
# # #
Obviously, 2020 was one of those years that no one really sees coming. My goals had been based on things like school and summer camp, and the husband being at work, not camped in my kitchen on video conferences. Instead of writing being a career I was pursuing, writing was something I shoved desperately into the corners of being a full-time teacher and care-giver. I canceled trips. I lost friends. I had triumphs. My faith in humans was badly shaken. Things I took for granted proved dangerous. I re-examined myself and didn't always like what I found. I learned. I broke and rebuilt. I shut down more major parts of EMG. It was a wild, wild rollercoaster with no seatbelts.
My goals for 2021 are hopefully gentler. They're definitely humbler.
I'm planning on writing four books: Dragon Prince's Bride, Firebird of Glass (concludes a series!), Green Valley Christmoose, and Shifting Sands Academy. Of these, the last is the least solid and might get replaced with another idea I've been toying with. I have some novellas in mind, too - three Kalikoi/Elva lesfics, and a Suddenly Shifters reprint. (These would be expanded from existing things.) In a perfect world, I would also write The Dragon Prince's Magic and some new novellas, and possibly start the last Green Valley book and also do the middle grade book I have in mind.
Artwise, I want to do another art card challenge this year. No idea what that will look like. I don't seem to be out of #junicorn ideas.
I'd also like to put together a new coloring book for print on demand. No one wants to buy from small press and ship from Alaska when they can get it from Amazon with free shipping, and if you can't beat them, join them! This would be a compilation of existing artwork and a few new pages.
In personal goals, my ambitions are minimal: stay healthy and maintain grace. I can't predict what 2021 is going to be like, but I do know that it's not going to be 'normal' again immediately. We're distance-learning at least until summer, and I'm not optimistic about summer camps. Teleworking might be a thing for a long while. I have to be patient, with myself and others. I have to be kind and remember to be grateful. I have so much to be thankful for.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 07:06 pm (UTC)(I feel like "Didn't have the energy to do this thing I wanted to stop doing anyway" is definitely a mood for the year. Might as well get something good out of it!)
no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 06:57 pm (UTC)Yup.
As we say in the Army, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with... filling out the paperwork in triplicate and waiting for your orders.” Hmmm, on 2nd thought, perhaps not the best proverb.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 11:34 am (UTC)Here's to gentle goals for 2021. I still need to look back at my 2020 and my goals and what comes next.
It would be nice if working from home became more acceptable for people who want to, instead of it being thing we have to do because pandemic.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-27 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-28 10:50 am (UTC)