Looking Back on 2011

First off... WHEEEEE!!!!

EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE is off to the editor! First round of edits are complete!!!!

*happy dance*

Second, for the life of me I cannot find a post from last January where I made goals for 2011. I'm not really surprised by that, I moved twice in 2011 and there's not many situations more stressful than packing things up and moving across the country when you're trying to write on a deadline.

Even without the goals, 2011 turned out well.

I started the year with a vague idea of what I wanted, and part of a rough draft, for JANE DOE. I'm now on the eleventh draft and getting ready to query. That's not fast, not by any stretch of the imagination. Most authors who are publishing finish two books a year (rough draft to polished final product). The self-published authors who are doing well are doing two to four books in that same amount of time.

JANE DOE is also the first novel I've taken this far in the editing process. Hopefully, I'll get better at this and be able to write more than one novel a year!

When 2011 started EVFIL wasn't even an inkling of an idea. I played with the opening in the spring, and started writing it in the summer for the Samhain Superhero Anthology. I didn't get in, but it did sell and I've finished the first rounds of edits (I may have mentioned that already). For an unplanned project, that's not too shabby!

A year of editing has helped me grow as a writer, I think. I'm using commas accurately the first time, I'm catching aspects of the plot that won't work earlier, and I'm using my editing/writing time better. Not perfectly, but better.

Overall, I think 2011 was a productive year. I didn't conquer the world, but I'm moving in the right direction if I want to build a writing career.

How was 2011 for you?
- Liana