2010 Wrap-Up

Once upon a time I posted some writing goals for 2010. So, believe it or not, we’re now at the end of that year. Wow! It went very quickly. How did I do on my goals?

Writing: Two complete first draft novels, currently expected to be the first Green Acres novel and a category length romance. I gave this a run for its money, but only completed half this goal with one full novel, Domino’s Game, written.

Revising: One of the above novels, hopefully Green Acres. Doubled (tripled?) this goal! Not only did I get the Green Acres novel, Domino’s Game, revised twice, I also did a once-through on Off Beat.

Contests: Enter the first 15 pages of each of the above novels into the Genesis. I did enter two novels into Genesis. Neither finaled.

Critiquing: Keep up with my crit group, also crit up to 3 other novels. My crit group disbanded early in 2010. I’m trying to remember how many novels I critted in 2010–less than usual, yet all that I was asked to do. Three, I think.

Submissions: Dependent on the results of the two that are out right now. Have one of the new novels ready to pitch in 2010. Of the two that were out a year ago, one was rejected, the other is still out. At the moment I have three novels in circulation, a full, two partials, and several proposal/partials, including Domino’s Game, the ‘new’ novel.

Conference: Yes, please. I hope. Indianapolis, September. Yes, I went to conference. Yes, it was awesome!

Blogging: Time to find my niche and get into a schedule. I did find a niche and maintain a schedule fairly well with Green Bites Mondays, Review Bites Wednesdays, and Writing Bites Fridays. However, I’m not sure if the niche actually worked. The jury is still out.

In other news, 2010 was an extremely full year. In January and February, I spent several weekends at my daughter’s house, helping her paint, sew, and otherwise prepare for a baby.

On February 28, my awesome granddaughter, SweetPea, was born! And yes, I spent a bunch more weekends helping out in March and April.

In May, our son and daughter-in-law completed university and moved home, which meant a weekend trip to Victoria to help move. And then we started gardening.

In June, Jim and I celebrated our 30th anniversary (actual date August 30) with an Alaskan cruise. Very cool! Just a few days after our return, my friend Margaret and her son visited for nearly a week.

The rest of the summer was extremely busy with gardening and processing food for winter, as well as enjoying visits from family members for my mom’s 88th birthday in August.

September saw me visiting a sister (and family) in Wisconsin, meeting my crit buddy Nicole for the first time, then taking in ACFW conference in Indianapolis, where I roomed with another cyberbuddy, Wendy, and a couple other gals.

For the rest of September and all of October I pushed hard on revising my novel so I could send out the requested proposals and partials to agents I’d met at the conference. I had my eye on NaNoWriMo, but started in unprepared due to the revision. I dropped out on the fifth of November, when my mom died. The next couple of weeks were another blur with all the family who came to BC for the funeral/memorial and just being wiped from the whole thing.

In December I’ve been taking stock of my life, the things I’d meant to do this year, the special blessings (both my granddaughter’s birth and my mom’s death fall into this category, strange as it may sound), and looking toward 2011 and the goals I’ll set for the new year.

How was your year in a nutshell?