So it's 2010. Wow, okay. That sure snuck up on me. Can you tell? Does the lack of blogging over the last couple weeks hint at it? Ahem. Well, Happy New Year. I hope 2010 has started well for you. Before I can look ahead I'm going to take a sneak back at my goals for 2009.

  1. Submit "Rebuilding Retehoro" to New Zealand publisher(s).
You all know the story. Rebuilding Retehoro became Family Trust and I sent it off to beta readers on schedule, prepared my query and identified publishers. Then I got my beta reader comments back. Very wonderful, constructive, encouraging comments. There were just a lot of them. Welcome revision #4 and I'm into Chapter 5.
  1. Complete and graduate from Holly Lisle's How to Think Sideways course.
Done and what a fabulous course it was. I'm already starting to go through it a second time with a new story idea, Happiness Matters.
  1. Submit 3 short stories to paying markets.
I submitted 2 short stories to paying markets and gained for first series of rejections. I began revising the 3rd but only got so far as the first scene.
  1. Complete the first draft of a new novel.
Nope. All my energy has gone into Family Trust and it has been over two years since I've worked on anything else of novel length.
  1. Critique 3 pieces of fiction.
I critiqued 2 pieces of fiction and there really is a lot to learn from reviewing the work of other writers.
  1. Participate in 3 writing challenges: NaNoEdMo, SoCNoC and NaNoWriMo.
I participated in NaNoEdMo and SoCNoC both with Family Trust but didn't get it complete quickly enough to participate in NaNoWriMo.
  1. Read 3 non-fiction books on writing.
The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman. Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell.
  1. Develop 3 novel ideas.
I had high hopes for this one but I only began developing Happiness Matters and even there I didn't get to the synopsis stage I had hoped.
  1. Read 3 books per month.
I didn't manage 3 books every month but I did read 32 books this year. It was made a little more difficult by travelling half way around the world and only being able to take a handful of books with me. Those travelling months had barely one or two books and I had time, so much time to read!
  1. Identify 12 new story ideas.
How about 15? I didn't come up with a new idea every months but some months I came up with four. It's just a fun thing to do.


I'm actually pretty pleased with these results. I'm always very ambitious and very demanding on myself. So, goodbye 2009 and thanks for all the fish.