Looking Back at 2012

Post date: Jan 02, 2013 2:13:37 PM

It would seem to be traditional to do some sort of year in review.

Since this is the first year for this site, this is itself a milestone that the site exists.

It was one of my most productive years ever as a writer.

I'm very pleased with getting "The Fifth Sun" and "Blood Maiden" out there. Both giveaways went quite well with a predictable mix of people liking and disliking my writing style, which can be idiosyncratic. I’m pleased with both reactions. Obviously, I’d love for everyone to like what I write. But having some reviews that can help people, who will like my style of writing is a good thing.

Now I just need to finish the last few stories to get the set of short stories out there. And keep going.

I've wrote more in this one year, even not having done NaNoWriMo than I have in previous years.

As in about 185k over the year. Most of that fiction that is fannish in nature. But some pieces that I’m very pleased with and have gotten the best reaction that I’ve ever gotten.

The difference from NaNo being, I actually think all those words are pretty good. Versus several NaNos that are masses of words that I really would like to go back to and finish up, but are all over the place. The more I look back on the lessons that this year gave me, the more I think NaNo isn't for me. I don’t need the structure. I need to be kept from tangents. Not from forced into them by a need to make a word quota.

This year everything I've written, I'm happy to have written. That I feel as if the universe said, go write that. From "Forty-One" which was very stream of consciousness about turning forty-one (as you may guess) to "A Study in Azure", which was perhaps the most ambitious project (The Fifth Sun aside) that I've ever attempted. Yet every few weeks, I get comment on “A Study in Azure” that makes me very pleased with that effort.

Now then Yuletide. The project that pretty much defines the x-mas season for me these days.

I wrote 18 stories this year, as last year. Again, all fic within my comfort zone. But it's always interesting to see what the universe will bring.

Now onto the new year.