WE DID IT, Y’ALL!  WE MADE IT THROUGH 2017!

This year fucking sucked, huh? It was a gross year. Just surviving this year means everyone gets a gold medal. Here you go:

This here is my 2017 retrospective post. I like doing this to remember all the things I managed to do, even when it feels like I didn’t actually do much at all.

Writing

I was way more productive this year than I expected to be. I didn’t feel very productive at any given moment.

Published

Novels

• Resistance – re-released with The Kraken Collective, July 2017
• Extraction, book 1 in A Tale of Rebellion – released with The Kraken Collective, November 2017

Novellas/Novelettes

• In The Company of Strangers – Patreon subscriber reward, February 2017
• Matters of Scale – re-release to Patreon subscribers, August 2017
• The Poet Returns – Patreon subscriber reward, December 2017

Short Fiction

• “The Music of the Spheres” – Capricious, issue 7, May 2017
• “On the Market” – Patreon subscriber reward, May 2017
• “Sigils” – Patreon subscriber reward, June 2017

Interactive Fiction

• Hair of Flame, Eyes of Soot – Patreon subscriber reward, September 2017

Other Writerly Stuff

• Did some heavy duty editing on the third book in the Tale of Rebellion series, The King and His Makers
• Started poking around in a ~brand new universe~ I’m tentatively calling the Soulbroker universe. We’ll see where that goes.
• Attended Sirens 2017 this year! It was great, and I loved it!!

Reading

• Read 27 books this year (fewer than last year)
• Reviewed 5 books this year (waaaaayyyy fewer than last year)

Overall, my writing productivity went up, but it took a toll on my reading/reviewing. I’d like to find a balance between the two next year, because I like reading and reviewing, and because I feel like I am a better writer when I’m reading more regularly. Reviewing also makes me a sharper, better reader–and a better, sharper editor of my own work.

Recs

Ok, but from what I did manage to read, these were my favorites!!

• When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore
• All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Personal Life

• I bought a house this year!!
• I started a new job with a much better work/life balance, which is probably why I was able to get so much more writing done.
• So far this year, I haven’t had a major depressive episode. Anxiety is still a damn mess, but my coping strategies are working, so that’s good. Migraines are still chronic. Seasonal Affective Disorder this year is of a grumbly and restless variety instead of last year’s hibernatory type.
• I somehow managed to pay down the balance of one of my credit cards. The extra monthly income from writing really helped with that, so thank you, friends!!

In Conclusion

I’m still not great at balance, but you know, that’s what life’s about, right? Learning and growing? So maybe next year I’ll stop pushing myself to produce so much and read more. I’ll reinvest in reviewing, because it’s something I genuinely like doing, and it’s a way to give back to the book community. I like analytically engaging with art, figuring out just why I respond to things and why I don’t.

I was super-productive this year! I want to find a way to keep the momentum going without working myself to the bone. I have definite workaholic tendencies that need to be kept in check. There’s time enough to work.

Stay tuned tomorrow: I’ll post some writing and reading goals for 2018.