Saturday, December 29, 2012

A writer wraps up 2012

Just a quick reflection on the year that was. Being the primary breadwinner, I have to weave writing into the spaces between the day job, family time, domestic duties and assorted pursuits. I think I did a fair job this past year. Not great but not too shabby. I've got multiple short stories out for review. One that "sold" (a donation for a good cause, actually). Progress was made on my primary novel WIP. I'm happy with the story creation process for the most part.

E-publishing got a fair amount of love this year. I count efforts to complete and post e-books on Amazon and Smashwords as well as the outreach (read: marketing) to go with them all in my writer's yearly success column. Again, plenty more could have been done here but, all-in-all, I'm satisfied.

I think I grew as a writer in 2012. That's a big deal to me. Frankly, the better craftsman constantly learns more about their respective craft. That's an inescapable fact. It can come in many forms or via different methods as long as it does happen in some way. I'll take some points here while acknowledging there is always more that could, and possibly should, have been done.

I'll give myself a low score for blogging and other social media efforts across 2012. This is a tough area to find the right balance for. It could easily consume a significant amount of energy and attention and isn't a bad thing in isolation. But it does siphon off cycles from everything else, writing included. I'll wager the challenge for me will continue into the coming year on this.

So in closing I'll label 2012 another good year for my writing. Here's hoping I can keep my track record intact through 2013.