2019 was a whirlwind of a year with many miles traveled, words written, and manuscripts edited. There were trips to the East Coast for BookEnds, trips to Portland for AWP, and various trips where I got to hang out in hotel rooms and write while my spouse attended conferences.
I got a lot of writing done while traveling and in hotel rooms, which was something new for me. Typically, I find it difficult to hotel rooms, but I seem to have mastered the skill this past year, which I consider a win. The highlight of all the travel in 2019 was probably the BookEnds wrap up in July because I combined it with a writing retreat in upstate New York (where I got to visit my alma mater and got a personal tour by one of my favorite professors) and then attend my high school reunion where I got to reconnect with a friend I haven't seen since we graduated sometime in the last century. I also knocked on the door of the house in which I grew up and was treated to a tour, which was a kick since some of the woodwork my dad did is still in the house.
Last year was also about getting much clearer about What You'll Know Tomorrow and starting a new revision guided by my BookEnds' mentor, Fiona Maazel. I'm very happy with how that novel is progressing, though I've temporarily put it on the back burner because the fun novel project has gotten within striking distance of being done. I decided to devote my full attention to wrapping it up and beginning to query it or investigating self-publishing. I'll be back working on What You'll Know Tomorrow in February and plan to be querying it by the late spring or early summer.
2020 promises to be an interesting year with two novel projects to query and beginning to work on a new novel-in-stories project. I've also been asked to be on the faculty for the Las Vegas Writers Conference in April, and will be traveling to New York at least once for a BookEnds alumni workshop, as well as heading to San Antonio for AWP in March.
One of the main reasons I'm revamping the blog is because I'm using my experience as a developmental editor to put together a book on editing, so I'm going to be posting portions of that book as I go. Right now, I'm in the brainstorming stage, taking notes on topics I want to explore, generating ideas as I edit manuscripts, noting common issues I see in manuscripts, etc. My goal is to get back onto a regular posting schedule -- at least twice a month, if not more -- as a way to keep myself on track for the editing book and to (fingers crossed) generate feedback.
Here's hoping for a happy and productive 2020.
