If you're brave enough to fly

The year in review posts are beginning to appear around the blogosphere.  And so, I add mine.

2010 is, for me, the year where writing took a backseat.  I didn’t want it to be that way, and I fought against it, trying to keep on writing and reading as much as I could.  It would have done me much better to just accept that it was never going to be that way.  I was dealing with a high-needs baby and postnatal depression, as well as the declining health of a beloved family member.  Writing should always have become a lesser priority.

But I am a writer.  And writing and words are part of what keep me sane.  This year has taught me that – no matter how hard everything else got, I still wanted to write.

I don’t feel like I made much headway towards my writing goals this year.  I messed around with The White Raven some, coming to the conclusion that the manuscript as it stands is broken and lacking.  Right now, I don’t know how to fix it, and so it’s on indefinite hiatus.  I may come back to it, I may just recycle some of the characters and ideas somewhere down the track.  I did start work on Never, and actually started outlining a novel properly for the first time.  It’s a slow process for me, but I’m actually enjoying it right now.

I didn’t read as much this year as I like to, but I still read a decent amount.  A good chunk of that reading at the end of the year was for Australian Shadows judging, which has proved to be extremely rewarding for a second year (and reflecting how much good dark fiction is being published in Australia).

What is 2011 going to bring for me?  Hopefully more words.  This time next year I’d really like to have a solid draft of Never.  Honestly, I’d love to have a submittable manuscript, but I’ll settle for a good draft.  I’d also really like to get more reading under my belt.  The two book clubs I’m going to participate in are going to help towards that, as will the podcasts I listen to, which always seem to have me buying new books.

Mostly, I want to live every day of 2011.  I know what I want out of this life and I know what I have right now.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life – so best enjoy it

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.