A new year, and new opportunities and hopes on the horizon.
Happy New Year, everyone!
I wish you all the best and hope your 2025 is starting off well. Fingers crossed it doesn’t go totally off the rails.
2024 was an interesting year for me. It didn’t go as planned (it never does, right?), but I had several accomplishments and positive momentum with my writing and career. I always review my previous New Year’s post when I write these, and noticed I never did one for 2023 (I’ve skipped a few the past couple of years), so it was interesting to see my list of hopes for 2023.
And, um, yeah, two years later, I didn’t do any of them.
The fact that I laughed about this shows I’ve grown in those two years, and I’m no longer putting the crazy pressure on myself to “Do it all!” like I used to. That’s a win in my book.
Let’s look back at my 2024 and see what I did do:
Got a new agent: I’m thrilled to now be represented by Sara Megibow at the Megibow Literary Agency. I’ve known Sara since 2008, so we really gelled into this relationship quickly and easily. She gets me and my writing, and my vision for my novels. Working with her this past year has been a blast. She’s just awesome.
Finished my revision of the science fiction novel: I sent the manuscript off to my agent in December, and she loved it (yay!) but had notes, so I have another draft to do on this one. It’s all good, and I loved her feedback and know it’ll make the book even better in the end.
Discovered I LOVE writing chapter books: This was a surprise, but a nice one. These are easy and fun to write, and since they’re so short, I can fit them into my schedule a lot easier. I plan to do more of these. In fact, I…
Got halfway through writing another chapter book: I’ll probably finish the first draft of this in the next week or two, and I totally love it. It’s fun, silly, and has one of the best characters I’ve ever written.
Revised 80% of my MG fantasy novel: This I set aside when the middle grade market tanked and wasn’t selling very well. I saw no need to focus on this when the odds of selling it were slim. Besides, my agent was more interested in my SF detective story, so I put my energy into that. But now, things in the MG market are improving and selling again, so hopefully I can get back to this book in the second half of the year.
Created the Narrative Nuggets: I slowed down on the blog, but added the twice-weekly shorter emails, and this has been a nice balance for me. I get to continue to share writing tips and info, but it still leaves me time to work on my fiction.
Did 19 workshops, interviews, school visits: Some of these were online, others in person, but it added up to a lot of great sessions and a ton of fun.
Not the year I planned, and some things didn’t get done (such as the website, which is the bane of my existence right now), but getting a new agent shifted my focus from nonfiction back to fiction, and that threw my whole plan out the window.
Which brings me to the always optimistic…
What I hope to accomplish in 2025.
Finish the SF novel revision and get it back to my agent: This WILL happen this year, the only question is how long will it take me. A supers-conservative estimate has it done around July/August, but it could be sooner. I’m making a few changes that affect the whole book, so while the edit won’t be hard, it’ll require tiny changes to pretty much every page. That might go quickly, or it’ll drag. I won’t know til I’m into it.
Finish the chapter book and get it to my agent: This will also happen, and probably in the next few months. When the book is only 15K words, it’s a lot easier to manage (grin). The goal is to get this wrapped up while I’m doing the big-picture outlining for the SF.
Finish the MG fantasy revision and get it to my agent: I sense a trend… This may or may not happen, depending on how the revision of the SF and the chapter book go. But it’ll be nice if I can swing it. I’d love to get this done before I sell (fingers crossed) the SF, since I’ll have to switch over to starting book two at that point.
Make some decent progress on the website: Finishing this is a pipe dream, but if I can at least move the needle closer to “done” I’ll be happy.
Get one small writing book written and published: There’s an outside chance of this happening, but I really want to get another nonfiction project out. I haven’t had anything new in forever, and I miss writing these. It’s the lowest priority right now, though.
That’s me for 2025, and it’ll be interesting to see where I end up this time next year.
So what about you? How did your 2024 go, and what are your goals and plans for 2025?
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