2015 | I've Started Many New Chapters (Literally and Metaphorically)

Happy New Year, Wordlings! I apologize for the slight delay in posting this. I had intentions of writing on the 31st but I didn't consider how tired I would be after midnight. After that, I forgot to schedule a time for the post to publish. I've taken note for next year ;)

Instead of doing a monthly summary for December, I've decided to do a yearly summary and sum up 2015 month by month (December included)

This year has been massive for me. Though there were quite a few learning curves and a handful of disappointments there were also some major accomplishments. I'd love to tell you guys all about both aspects of my year so let's get straight to that. Onwards!

January

I turned 18! My sister kindly reminded me that I was then halfway to 36. Thanks, sis. 

This was a month that I focused a lot on poetry and flash fiction instead of my novel. At the time I was writing "Crec" and had reached a bit of a brain block so I readjusted my focus. 

February

After a lot of hard work, I got my Green belt in karate! All I have standing in the way of my black is brown :D

I attended the Florida Christian Writer's Conference! This was my first time ever attending a large scale writing conference like this one and I can honestly say it was one of the most amazing experiences I could have had as a writer. I got to meet Bryan Davis, my writing friends from the inter-webs, my mentor, Bethany Jett and even got interest from three magazines in my poetry, flash fiction and articles. Next December I'll be published in Focus on the Family's Clubhouse magazine for kids aged 9-12 for an article I wrote :D 

Me, Bryan Davis and my two fabulous friends

Me and Bethany Jett 

I started writing "Living City". At the time it had a different title, was a stand alone instead of a trilogy and half my cast was nameless but I really needed to shelve "Crec" and do something different. I realized that the story was just too big for me to write as a first novel. 

March/April

Once again, I reached a point where I didn't know what to do with my novel writing. I began to question my ability to write a novel to begin with and turned back to what I find easiest: poetry. I wrote about four or five poems between March and April alone. 

May

Still not sure if writing was something I wanted to do full-time, I focused on school and studying for the big Diploma exams in June. Also, I prepped for graduation as an executive member of the grad committee.

June

I graduated! It was so surreal to tell myself that I was done grade school forever. That month of may I took to study paid off and I graduated with no mark lower than an 80. Celebrating with my friends was loads of fun and I'll always regard my grad with fond memories.  

One of my favourite grad photos :) 

July

This was both a month of success and disappointment for me. It started with a triple rejection. I lost my chance of being a Lifeguard, I was rejected for a flash fiction piece I submitted and found out that I didn't make it into the choir I auditioned for. 

However, exactly two weeks later, my dream of working at a bookstore was fulfilled and I became an official employee of Indigo/Chapters bookstore :) 

Also, I got accepted into MacEwan university for a Bachelor of Arts. 

To top it all off, this was the month I found out that Focus on the Family wanted to publish me. A triple rejection was combatted with a triple acceptance. 

Of course the only picture I could find of me at work is this one XD

August

I started working on "Living City" again. Still though, it had little direction and a floppy title. I wrote the rest of Act 1 in this time period though while experimenting with different ways to organize my storyline. 

As you may remember I attempted to reboot my blog and failed. Look at me now though!

September

September 9th marked my first day of University. English easily became my favourite subject and I started learned Spanish with the intent of making it my second language. I really regret dropping French in junior high >_< 

A photo I took of my university's main building

October

I rebooted my blog for reals! With the help of my friend, Tori, we came up with a schedule technique which has worked surprisingly well for me. Also along these lines, I started up my Facebook page. 

Speaking of rebooting things, I decided to sit down and actually plot my novel. "Living City" slowly took shape in front of me and seeing where I was going with my story encouraged me to start writing again—so I did. I promised myself my novel would be completed and I vowed to do so during NaNoWriMo. 

November

NaNoWriMo! Two weeks into my first ever NaNo, I completed the challenge and also finished my novel. The ending of the novel truly satisfied me. I look forward to going back to it this year to polish it up further.

December

After months of studying and trying to balance school and blogging and writing, I finally finished my first semester of university! 

Going into the Christmas season with a completed book, I became motivated to plot and start writing "Crec". I'm not very far in but I'm chipping away at it slowly but surely. 

This was my first Christmas in Retail and I loved it :D The busy bookstore Christmas atmosphere turned out to be my cup of tea ^ ^ 

Remember that special project I mentioned? Well now I can talk about it! For the weeks of advent, I was asked by my pastor to write a poem/monologue to be memorized and read in front of the congregation. Unfortunately the plans to have it read fell through. Instead, it was published in our newsletter. I'm still elated that I had the opportunity to write something that could be used to make people think and stir emotion in their heart. 

As For 2016...

I've made a list of things that I want to do or complete this year. I wouldn't call them resolutions as much as I would call them goals. For some reason 'resolution' seems so rigid to me. 

Large Goals

I've mentioned it before but I'll be going to Florida in February to pitch my novel ^ ^ So this month and next, I'll be prepping sample chapters, business cards, one sheets ect. I'll also be talking to myself in the mirror a lot ^ ^ 

Now that "Living City" is writing, I hope to polish it to it's final draft by August. 

By the end of May I hope to have "Crec" drafted. 

Four of my main Characters from Crec that I can't wait to introduce more!

Also, "Sunken Sky" is my NaNo novel so I hope I can draft that one too. 

Yeah, maybe my goals are lofty but if I don't give myself something big to work for, I'll probably slack off. I know if I put my mind to it, all of these things can be finished :) 

Smaller Goals

Write 750 words a day in one of my novels whether it be "Crec" or "Sunken Sky". If I can't write 750, I have to write at least 100. 

Get organized! I have the planner, now I just have to fill it in!

My planner :D

Learn lots. Whether through rejections or blogs or advice given to me directions, I hope to learn a lot more about my craft and have the ability to pass it on. 

Read at least 30 books. I'm a rather slow reader so I can't do that whole 100 books a year thing that some of you crazy people do ;) 

So that's my review of the year and the plan for this upcoming one. Hopefully by the end of December I can look back on 2016 with the ability to check off all of these goals. 

What were your highlights of 2015? Have you made any goals for 2016?