I was just scrolling through our lovely blog and ended up re-reading all the 2007 accomplishments and realised we haven't discussed what we've achieved in 2008 yet.
Who fancies getting the ball rolling?
23 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Okay, I'll kick off by saying that I've achieved ... bugger all in 2008 :o/
Raised £1500 for One in Four through sales of Disraeli Avenue e-book, paperback of ISoA came out, publisher went into liquidation (which is not really an achievement but I link it with the paperback!), hardback of Black Boxes came out, Disraeli Avenue should be out any day now and I wrote/finished Like Bees to Honey.
That looks so much better than I am currently feeling about this year. SO thank you :)
Accomplishments? Um... I suppose the biggest accomplishment for me has been finally biting the bullet and sending my first book to agents. Okay, I got rejections every single time but just to have the guts to send it was a major step forward for me. Even though I've currently no plans to send it out again - I haven't given up writing.
Another accomplishment was I completely NaNoWriMo in 25 days - I wrote 50,107words in 25 days.
Another accomplishment was to actually meet other writers face to face for the first time. Prior to the first Novel Racers Meet I hadn't actually talked about writing with other writers face to face. I was always a bit scared I'd say something completely stupid and would feel like an imposter. But all went well and I got to meet more writers at the second Novel Racers Meet. Roll on the next one I say!!
Had a blog post published in Your Not The Only One in aid of War Child, became a freelance writer for Trashionista, started a new cake related blog which I aim to push next year and gave birth to my lovely daughter.
My challenge for next year is to work out how on earth I can write whilst looking after her!
I was one of the winners of the British SCBWI's Undiscovered Voices competition and as a result had part of my children's book published in an anthology, had my first book launch and got to meet a bunch of VIPs of the children's publishing world!
I also completed the first draft (and most of the second) of my first adult novel.
Finally, I moved to the US, sold my theatre company and sold a children's play to a Canadian production company.
Due to ongoing family problems I haven't written much or really submitted anything this year. But I was delighted to be asked to write a short piece for the Picador blog, which was published at the end of October.
I also set up the book blog Bookersatz. Unfortunately that is currently in a short hiatus, as I no longer have a co-editor (anyone interested?), but I hope to relaunch it in January.
Finally, I successfully completed the OU course 'The Art of English', which was facinating and contained all sorts of material pertinent to writing.
Finished 'Thin Reflections' and got permission from Roy Harper, Mike Moorcock, Sebastian Peake (acting for the estate of Mervyn Peake) and the Estate of Michael de Larrabeiti to quote from and/or use their characters. The book has gone through several re-writes and has even been rejected by three agents (and I expect there'll be plenty more where that came from).
My short story "...theprice is worth it." was reprinted in Exterminating Angel and also received a rave reception from Mike Moorcock. The story is what gave birth to the novel.
I blew up a computer and completely failed to repair it (but it was Vista, so no loss to the world).
Started some preliminary work on a couple of non-fiction titles as well as the second Charlie novel 'The Mirror That Is Made'.
Back in early summer a story and characters appeared in my head so I abandoned my first story to concentrate on that. In October I joined The Literary Consultancy's mentoring scheme 'Chapter and Verse.' My mentor is lovely and is providing feedback. The constructive comments are obviously most useful, but the praise for what I am doing right is almost as important as it stops me worrying ... just a bit. The mentoring has also enabled me to develop a better habit of writing.
2008 was my worst year for writing and sales since my first. Started but did not finish three novels and -- because I was focused on them -- did not write/sell any short fiction (and I usually send out at least one short spec story a month in additoin to whatever else I'm working on). November and December picked up nicely with a lot of contract work for game sites and books, but it's all workman stuff with nothing stellar. To Ride the Chimera did come out in February, but that was a 2007 project. Might as well leave me off the list this year.
Completed my first novel, had it professionally edited and wound up as a BubbleCow writer!
Also having it edited by proofreader partner which is handy as he is pretty anal about things!
I've also made a full chapter summary for novel #2 and have written the first 3 chapters (I have various snippets fro later in the book but I am going to keep writing this series in a linear structure, not writing the best bits first, 'cause that doesnt work!
In 2009 I intend to find an agent and a publisher for novel #1 - I hope.
I had my second novel (Over You) published in August and have just sent off the second draft of my third novel, Hens Reunited, which will be published next year. Am 20,000 words into novel 4, yay.
Also had over 20 children's books published under various pseudonyms, my favourites being the 8-book Prince Jake series which Orchard published in hardback this autumn, under my real name (Sue Mongredien). And I have at least 15 more children's books scheduled to be published in 2009!
My biggest professional hurdle was doing a couple of festivals - Bath and Cheltenham. Lots of angst beforehand but I loved doing the events themselves.
And most importantly... I got married and I loved every minute of the day. A cracking year, all in all.
Late again - sorry, been one of those weeks. Achievements this year - turning the corner from being amateur to professional journalist. Had two agents ask to see full manuscript of The Current Beneath. Both said no but third time lucky??!! Had some incredibly positive feedback from one agent though. Also worked on 2nd rewrite of Give Me Time and idea for non fiction book. Who knows what will happen for us all next year?
- Six short stories sold to womens magazines - 3rd placing in Writers Bureau competition - Finalist in the Romance Writers of America Stiletto competition (paranormal chicklit category)
And finally...
Got myself an agent for The House of Wannabe Ghosts and she got me a 2 book deal in the UK (Orion) and Germany (Goldmann) and a one book deal in Brazil (Bertrand Brasil) and Russia (Eksmo).
Needless to say it's been my best writing year EVER!
YAY - bit late with mine :S My short story 'Cutting the Cord' was published in an anthology this year. My aim for next year will be to sell a story or 2.
Fell rather a weak link as although I have finished rewrite for my first novel, just started second and also written and re-written childrens story I am no closer to publication!
23 comments:
Okay, I'll kick off by saying that I've achieved ... bugger all in 2008 :o/
Me, next I guess - rewrote A Cornish House and it's out in the world and have begun next book :-)
Raised £1500 for One in Four through sales of Disraeli Avenue e-book, paperback of ISoA came out, publisher went into liquidation (which is not really an achievement but I link it with the paperback!), hardback of Black Boxes came out, Disraeli Avenue should be out any day now and I wrote/finished Like Bees to Honey.
That looks so much better than I am currently feeling about this year. SO thank you :)
x
Accomplishments? Um... I suppose the biggest accomplishment for me has been finally biting the bullet and sending my first book to agents. Okay, I got rejections every single time but just to have the guts to send it was a major step forward for me. Even though I've currently no plans to send it out again - I haven't given up writing.
Another accomplishment was I completely NaNoWriMo in 25 days - I wrote 50,107words in 25 days.
Another accomplishment was to actually meet other writers face to face for the first time. Prior to the first Novel Racers Meet I hadn't actually talked about writing with other writers face to face. I was always a bit scared I'd say something completely stupid and would feel like an imposter. But all went well and I got to meet more writers at the second Novel Racers Meet. Roll on the next one I say!!
Had a blog post published in Your Not The Only One in aid of War Child, became a freelance writer for Trashionista, started a new cake related blog which I aim to push next year and gave birth to my lovely daughter.
My challenge for next year is to work out how on earth I can write whilst looking after her!
I was one of the winners of the British SCBWI's Undiscovered Voices competition and as a result had part of my children's book published in an anthology, had my first book launch and got to meet a bunch of VIPs of the children's publishing world!
I also completed the first draft (and most of the second) of my first adult novel.
Finally, I moved to the US, sold my theatre company and sold a children's play to a Canadian production company.
It's been a full-on year!
Due to ongoing family problems I haven't written much or really submitted anything this year. But I was delighted to be asked to write a short piece for the Picador blog, which was published at the end of October.
I also set up the book blog Bookersatz. Unfortunately that is currently in a short hiatus, as I no longer have a co-editor (anyone interested?), but I hope to relaunch it in January.
Finally, I successfully completed the OU course 'The Art of English', which was facinating and contained all sorts of material pertinent to writing.
Finished 'Thin Reflections' and got permission from Roy Harper, Mike Moorcock, Sebastian Peake (acting for the estate of Mervyn Peake) and the Estate of Michael de Larrabeiti to quote from and/or use their characters. The book has gone through several re-writes and has even been rejected by three agents (and I expect there'll be plenty more where that came from).
My short story "...theprice is worth it." was reprinted in Exterminating Angel and also received a rave reception from Mike Moorcock. The story is what gave birth to the novel.
I blew up a computer and completely failed to repair it (but it was Vista, so no loss to the world).
Started some preliminary work on a couple of non-fiction titles as well as the second Charlie novel 'The Mirror That Is Made'.
got a book contract (& a fast-approaching deadline--yikes!) for my academic book project. v. scary
decided to completely rewrite novel #1 and have just finished writing a new ch 1 (only 92,000 more words to go!)
My debut novel Café au Lait (Dorchester Publishing) was released in September 2008. I completed the rewrite of the second novel, Give Me the Night. Finished the final edit last week and I'll submit it to my agent as soon as I'm through polishing the synopsis.
Back in early summer a story and characters appeared in my head so I abandoned my first story to concentrate on that. In October I joined The Literary Consultancy's mentoring scheme 'Chapter and Verse.' My mentor is lovely and is providing feedback. The constructive comments are obviously most useful, but the praise for what I am doing right is almost as important as it stops me worrying ... just a bit. The mentoring has also enabled me to develop a better habit of writing.
2008 was my worst year for writing and sales since my first. Started but did not finish three novels and -- because I was focused on them -- did not write/sell any short fiction (and I usually send out at least one short spec story a month in additoin to whatever else I'm working on).
November and December picked up nicely with a lot of contract work for game sites and books, but it's all workman stuff with nothing stellar.
To Ride the Chimera did come out in February, but that was a 2007 project.
Might as well leave me off the list this year.
I was thrilled to have a blog post published in Your Not The Only One in aid of War Child, and sold a piece to My Weekly.
I rewrote novel 3 (and have started to rewrite it again, changing the last third as per recommendations from my RNA NWS report), and started novel 4.
Completed my first novel, had it professionally edited and wound up as a BubbleCow writer!
Also having it edited by proofreader partner which is handy as he is pretty anal about things!
I've also made a full chapter summary for novel #2 and have written the first 3 chapters (I have various snippets fro later in the book but I am going to keep writing this series in a linear structure, not writing the best bits first, 'cause that doesnt work!
In 2009 I intend to find an agent and a publisher for novel #1 - I hope.
I completed NaNoWriMo, and (fingers crossed) will complete the book by the end of the year.
I had my second novel (Over You) published in August and have just sent off the second draft of my third novel, Hens Reunited, which will be published next year. Am 20,000 words into novel 4, yay.
Also had over 20 children's books published under various pseudonyms, my favourites being the 8-book Prince Jake series which Orchard published in hardback this autumn, under my real name (Sue Mongredien). And I have at least 15 more children's books scheduled to be published in 2009!
My biggest professional hurdle was doing a couple of festivals - Bath and Cheltenham. Lots of angst beforehand but I loved doing the events themselves.
And most importantly... I got married and I loved every minute of the day. A cracking year, all in all.
I got a deal with Random House Germany for my second novel, Dance Your Way to Psychic Sex. Will be published July '09.
Late again - sorry, been one of those weeks. Achievements this year - turning the corner from being amateur to professional journalist. Had two agents ask to see full manuscript of The Current Beneath. Both said no but third time lucky??!! Had some incredibly positive feedback from one agent though. Also worked on 2nd rewrite of Give Me Time and idea for non fiction book. Who knows what will happen for us all next year?
I won the Novel Race 2008!
OOops - better add mine!
- Six short stories sold to womens magazines
- 3rd placing in Writers Bureau competition
- Finalist in the Romance Writers of America Stiletto competition (paranormal chicklit category)
And finally...
Got myself an agent for The House of Wannabe Ghosts and she got me a 2 book deal in the UK (Orion) and Germany (Goldmann) and a one book deal in Brazil (Bertrand Brasil) and Russia (Eksmo).
Needless to say it's been my best writing year EVER!
We've all done really well. We all deserve a big cheer!
YAY - bit late with mine :S My short story 'Cutting the Cord' was published in an anthology this year. My aim for next year will be to sell a story or 2.
Fell rather a weak link as although I have finished rewrite for my first novel, just started second and also written and re-written childrens story I am no closer to publication!
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