This year has been big for me in writing. I think it was the first full year that I really took my writing seriously and worked at it as often as time would allow. I also reached out beyond my own little writing cave to other writing craft opportunities. So for this post, I thought I would recap all the major happenings of my writing life and hope to top that in 2014!
In February of 2013, I was selected as a FREE participant in literary agent Mandy Hubbard’s class on Writing and Selling the Young Adult Novel. Wow, was that class an eye-opener for me. And I met sooo many talented writers there that I’m still in contact with today! It was a great way to kick start my year of writing, even though it led me to morph my WIP idea to something completely different, I think it turned out pretty well!
In May 2013, I went to my first “writing weekend” to meet my critique partner, Vicki Leigh, in real living color! I was nervous at first meeting someone on the internet (as any normal person should be!) but she turned out to be just as awesome (if not more awesome) in real life!
July 2013 brought on the Midwest Writers Workshop – my first writing conference EVER. I was nervous about how the experience would turn out but guys…It. Was. Awesome. So many cool people were there and it was so wonderful to be in a room filled with others who are just as passionate about the written word as I am.
November 2013 brought about another writing weekend at Vicki’s house but this time more writers joined us to amp up the fun factor. It was so great getting to hang out with Sarah Schmitt and Caitlin O’Sullivan during our weekend of fast typing and chocolate-eating.
As far as my actual writing itself, I went from a 50,000+ word WIP called THE BEHOLDER, to a 70,000+ word dual narrative WIP called KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME to just a single POV version of KEEP YOUR EYES ON ME currently at 68,000 words. These three versions use roughly the same characters and went from a paranormal mystery idea to a contemporary romance. Yeah, I know …BIG changes. But even with those big word counts before, the story had never been FINISHED. It was still in pieces, still in need of a lovely editing hand and some plot hole fillings. The idea kept morphing from one set of rules to another, until I finally came to the version it is today.
J.A. Ward Writes 
Sounds like a really productive year. I’m envious of you getting to meet your crit partners and go to conferences. I live on the opposite side of the world to my crit partners, so that isn’t going to happen any time soon… I’ve achieved one big goal this year in that I have a novel being published in 2 weeks. So that’s a big one to tick off my list.
Absolutely, Kate! I’m fortunate enough that one of my CPs lives in the same state as I do ..but I do have others in the UK and Australia ..it is unlikely I will be meeting them anytime soon either!
Congrats on the book coming up – that is the ultimate goal and achievement for any writer!! 🙂
Very exciting year, and good luck in 2014. Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much! I was exciting – looking forward to 2014 …Merry Christmas to you too 🙂
What a great year! I finished and sent off five short stories–alas two rejects but still hopeful. Better to have submitted and been rejected than no submissions, right? I’d be sad without my critique buds! Good luck with 2014.
Yes, definitely better to put yourself out there then hold back – there is no chance of success if you don’t risk a bit! Good luck to you too on your writing in 2014!
I’ll be going to my first conference in Las Vegas next Spring. Can’t wait after reader how well your experience went. 🙂 Have a merry Christmas and best of luck for 2014. X
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Yes, it was a GREAT experience. Best of luck to you as well! Thanks for stopping by..
Wow. A real progressive year! Mandy’s class was such a blast. I’m so glad I took it. And the writing weekend looks like fun! I’ve been wanting to do a writer’s retreat, but they’re so expensive @_@ Same thing with conferences. Maybe I’ll make it one of my goals of 2014 to do one or the other if I can fork up the cash 😛
Cheers to a new year!
Yes, I’ve had to bite the bullet on the conferences but they were worth it. Also, I just got together with local critique partners so it didn’t cost much besides the gas! Happy New Year to you as well! 🙂