2019 was a BUSY year for me
I published:
The entire Heirs of Destiny series:
The Silent Champions Books 1-4:
Defenders of Legend Box Sets 1-4
Re-released the Queen of Thieves trilogy:
I wrote:
- The Silent Champions Books 2-4, with around 70,000 words of Book 6 done as well.
Total word count: around 800,000 words.
- Two short stories: Indomitable (Heirs of Destiny tie-in) and the Young Colborn short story (title TBD)
Total word count: 20,000 words
- Cerberus Books 0-3.
Total word count: around 300,000 words
Word count for the year: more than 1 MILLION words
Other Notable Highlights of the Year:
Took up snowboarding and lived to tell the tale!
Got to see my second daughter graduate high school, and BOTH oldest children moved into their own apartments to start their adult lives (fingers crossed, successfully!)
Attended a kick-ass writer's retreat and made wonderful new friends:
Attended a couple of local Comic-Cons (in Vancouver and Kelowna)
Enjoyed the many beautiful and wonderful things of my tiny Canadian town and its surroundings:
Truly, it has been an AMAZING year, with so many happy memories to look back on!
But it hasn't all been peaches and rainbows
I'd be doing you a disservice if I just painted my life as this picturesque, perfect existence. That would just add fuel to the fire of social media that tries to tell you that if you're not "#livingyourbestlife", you're somehow doing it wrong.
So for the first year, I'm going to share some of my very "real-person" struggles. Yes, for all the highs, there were plenty of lows.
- For the first time, I COULDN'T finish a book (The Last March), and I'm still struggling to make it work.
- I've lived with the stress of being a full-time author and living ONLY on the income from my books. Which, given the ups and downs of the market, is A LOT of stress.
- I've been too busy writing some days to exercise, eat healthy, spend time with my family, or relax.
- My eyesight has deteriorated to where I need to wear glasses all the time.
- I've struggled with depression, anxiety, days where I felt no motivation to write, and whole weeks of teetering on the edge of burnout.
- I've struggled to know how to interact with my teenaged and young adult kids, and how to help them through their hard times.
- I've felt more lonely and outside than I have in many years because of our limited social circle in a new country.
And yet, I've come through these things all the better.
(Or so I hope...)
If nothing else, 2019 has proven that no matter how hard things get, if I just keep moving forward, I can get through just about anything.
So for that, if nothing else, I can count myself truly blessed.
In a few days, I'll share some of my goals and plans for 2020...
Your Turn: Tell me about your year!
What are the highlights, the highs, and the happy moments you experienced this year? Or, if you need a listening ear, tell me about the lows that you managed to get through. Drop a comment below or contact me via the website's form and share the good, the bad, and the ugly!