Dear 2013,
You’ve been a fun, inspiring and challenging year. I’ve had moments where I felt on top of the world, and I’ve cried more than I have in prior years put together.
Before you leave, here’s what we did together.
January – March
Twas brillig, and the slythey toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe…
January marked my first full month: at day job, in my flat, in the county, and living alone. Between address change fees, income tax codes and internet/phone line installations, I got lost in the learning of “real world” workings. Then it was March, and I realised I had a chance to make my own decisions.
I decided to change my “writer” status to “writer and aspiring author.”
April – June
All mimsy were the burrogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe…
Having decided that this whole ‘beginning seven novels in three years’ thing might be worth a shot, I set up here, began serious re-drafts of Planes Shifter and planned for a writing workshop, retreat and WFC13. I also began attending local monthly writing meet-ups.
It was all going to plan, I made the deadlines and moved them when other things crept up…
July – September
And as in uffish thought he stood, the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame…
July was over-shadowed by a Betrothal which also celebrated six and a half years with Other Half. Lull in day job caused some slight going-mad-ness, and thus Wedding Planning occurred for sanity’s sake. Writing was in full swing, as I hadn’t yet realised the massive chasm of plot holes I was to discover thanks to some insights at WFC…
October – December
Came whiffling through the tulgy wood, and burbled as it came…
Misunderstandings in day job. Whole belief in humanity shaken. Wedding planning continued to provide sanity in the face of the above. And shall no doubt continue throughout 2014. Day-job is now re-structuring and everyone’s in a tizzy; myself included. Writing retreat and workshop happened up north (well, north of London), which was motivating. Realisation of the beginnings of my gaping chasm of plot holes. Fought a re-do. World Fantasy Convention then knocked my socks off. I then agreed to a re-plot through November and December (alongside NaNoWriMo). I wrote 31,500 words about Norse myths in novel form. ‘Realistic’ became a common word in my thoughts. In December, I finished pissing about with the plot of Planes Shifter and thus had a final draft ready with a solid plot for the print and read-through-without-stopping stage. Better late than never.
Also, I had some epic Yuletide/Christmas presents:
Warm PJs, Bathrobe, a Big Issue tee-shirt, a bottle of Jameson’s, money, jewellery, vouchers for wilkinson’s and new look, a wolf cushion, sweets and chocolates, lemon and pepper seasoning from America, and… a moleskine book and engraved parker pen with “K R Green” inscribed. Oh yeah, and an Ocarina!
~
This Year’s TA-DA List – I:
– Graduated my MSc.
– Celebrated 6 years with O.H.
– Submitted Shadow Sight to a competition.
– Passed 115,000 words of Planes Shifter.
– Interviewed S. M. Boyce.
– Was proposed to. Accepted.
– Planned most of my wedding (Sep 2015).
– Went to a writing workshop by Victoria Connelly.
– Attended WFC13.
– Was paid for my first bit of non-fiction editing work.
~
2014
January approaches. (Said with all the importance of “Winter is coming.”)
I’m working on my plans for 2014 with an air of caution. There will be a lot of changes in day-job, likely leading to two hours a day lost in commuting time. And then I’ll be moving house. Possibly moving jobs.
But I am aiming for a finished, polished version of Planes Shifter by May at the latest. And then FantasyCon 2014 shall call to me from York in September.
I’m still trying to work out what exactly I want to achieve in 2014, but I know that ideally, I want to be submitting to agents and to be getting a second novel agent-ready by the year’s end.