The end of a decade feels different from simply the end of a year, doesn’t it? Not everything that has happened in those ten years will have been happy but this is a useful time to reflect upon all the things you’ve achieved.
As far as my writing goes, this has been a very important decade for me. During this time I have:
- Found a publisher and an agent
- Published seven books
- Signed a contract to write a trilogy
- Written the first book in the trilogy to be published in February 2020
- Joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Historical Novel Society and the Society of Authors
- Won several awards and been shortlisted several times
- Made fabulous new writing friends
- Overcome my terror of public speaking and given talks, workshops and book signings
- Enjoyed researching different eras of history
- Learned about social media and set up my website
- Shared what I’ve learned about the craft of writing with anyone who is interested – and a few who aren’t
What about my New Year’s resolutions? I wrote a post about my dislike of these a couple of years ago and you can read about that here
If I was pressed to make writing resolutions they would be to:
- Remain curious
- Keep learning
- Write every day
- Improve my system for recording historical resources
- Remember to Step Away From the Desk from time to time
- Always strive to make each novel better than the last
- Always keep a notebook and pen to hand
Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them? Are they helpful? I’d love to know what you think!
Oh yes and very similar. I don’t write every day and write in great spurts. I still keep research notes in labelled notebooks and this works for me. I want to still get Scrivener to work for me as I like it a lot. Happy New Year.
It’s always interesting to discover the different ways author’s work, isn’t it. No way is right or wrong as long as it works for the individual. My notebooks – kept over the years – are always a useful source of inspiration if my imagination is flagging.