Every January 1st, I find that I’m in a juxtaposition between looking back at the previous year and looking forward to the next. I am grateful for each day and for the support and affection of my husband and the friendship offered by my local writing community. Thank you all for being there for me during this past year.

2018 was a difficult year for me in many ways. I spent most of the first half of the year healing from a major surgery that happened in 2017. It was not until August of 2018 that I felt strong enough to attend events with any sort of normality although, I did manage to squeeze in a few local events where I did not need to travel at the beginning of 2018. The end of the year saw me back out in the world at conferences and conventions. In particular, I am grateful for the new writing techniques I learned at the 20Books Vegas Writing Conference, and the fellowship of my fellow writers at both WorldCon San Jose and LosCon in Los Angeles.

It was a productive writing year since most of my time was spent at home. I worked on my novel Christmas in Kellynch (The sequel to The Curate’s Brother) and find that it is close to completion. I also wrote for publications on Medium, offering new stories, articles, and poems almost every month of the year. Most of my work there can be found in the following magazines: Writing Cooperative, Lit Up, and The Junction. My columns at Luna Station Quarterly resumed on their blog after the magazine took a long hiatus. It is great to be back there.

I am in a happy place with my writing this year. I am looking forward to participating in writing challenges via a few of my online writing communities. I feel established at Medium and intend to continue with my monthly submission process in the hope to publish a few items each month as I had during 2018. Via the new writing techniques I learned at the conference, I’m hoping to push forward with my Austen series and make progress on the three remaining novels of the series this year. I’m not sure if I can publish them all this year, but I’m going to make a good effort to try.

I am planning on attending conventions and conferences next year, but it will likely be a lighter schedule than I’ve done in the past. I want to find more time in my home studio to sketch and paint my poetry Illustrations and keep up with my writing schedule. One of Heinlein’s rules for writers is to finish what you start. It is time that I started getting more of my writing projects done and up onto Amazon for you all.

Happy New Year everyone!