Upstream Updates: A 2019 Retrospective!

Oh glory! Well, here it is near the end of December, of 2019, of the 2010's decade... whichever!

All in all it's been a pretty good year. In some ways, I haven't quite made the progress that I thought I would at the beginning of the year... and in other ways, I've made more progress!

I'd like to take this moment to look back over the year, by way of these "Upstream Updates", and compare where I was at then to where I am now, with the projects involved. You'll be getting a more thorough update on current standings and future plans in the Upstream Birthday post in a couple weeks, but just to avoid redundancy, I've chosen to keep this a "retrospective" type of post.

Writing Projects Finished

First of all, I really want to acknowledge the thing that I'm most proud of succeeding at this year. If you've been around this blog for the last few years, you know how significant is my penchant for starting ideas and then just not finishing them, and thanks to The Shelf, everyone here can see for a fact that my ratio of "Project Ideas" to "Finished Projects" is sadly skewed... But this year alone, I managed to finish not ONE but FOUR short stories that began the year "as yet unfinished" (or, as in the case of the first one, "nonexistent")!

It started in September/October, when the group that brought you Cracks in The Tapestry announced that they were going to produce another anthology, this one with more of a sci-fi theme. I didn't have a story readily on hand, but thanks to the "Flashes of Inspiration" series, I had at least one that I could expand and tweak a bit, that ended up well within the word count limit (something I'm quite proud of as it doesn't happen often!) and I submitted it before the deadline! Still haven't had a recent update on that one, though, so stay tuned for when/if it's going to be released!

Then in November, I managed to finish two short stories and a novella. "The Prince And The Rose" made a shocking return after I mentioned it once or twice at the beginning of the year and then spent the rest of the year ignoring it completely until October, and "Red, The Wolf" was one I started back in January in the hopes that a bit of engagement would help me confirm the direction for the project, as I was writing it for an anthology submission.... Failing that, I got a bunch of helpful input from the anthology's editor, wound up submitting an "abridged" version, and then stalled on it (at the editor's request) until after the anthology launched, at which time I finally figured out what I was going to do with the serialized version, which wrapped up on Saturday. (in fine style, I might add!)

The novella, of course, was the third installment in the A Writer's Tale series, the Wild-West-themed one known as The Sheriff's Showdown. I had hoped to be able to finish that one and write (or at least get a healthy start) on the next one during November... but I can't win them all, so it ended up taking all month long to finish The Sheriff's Showdown (plus all the other side things I was writing, just to make up the word count!), and The Corsair's Deception (pirate ships, people!) remains just-barely-started.

Which brings me to my next Point Of Accomplishment... Blog Hops!

I managed to jump onboard for three month-long blog hops this year, thanks to Jo Linsdell and The Bookish Blog Hops team! One in June, one in September, and this latest one in December is, of course, still ongoing! In fact, it was the last few questions talking about "blogging resolutions" and "blog goals" that prompted me to write this post, in spite of all the other things I should be writing by now... I love the blog hops not only for the boost in viewership I tend to get when these things roll around, but also the neat and unique questions I get to answer. I love the opportunity to plug my favorite books, whether they are mainstream, find-them-at-a-bookstore-or-library types of books, or the more elusive independently published titles--The Upstream Writer recommends great literature, wherever she finds it!

Next up, I had the privilege of seeing TWO anthologies released this year, containing stories written by me!

Forest of The Fearless was only a temporary publication (it's since been pulled... but it was a good run!) that included my story "Serenity's Light", but it was fun to learn that a story that began as a random string of inspirations from random people that had little to nothing to do with each other actually could become a cohesive story that was good enough for publication!

The second anthology, Dreamtime Damsels and Fatal Femmes, was produced by the same group that brought you Dreamtime Dragons, and that was the one that inspired me to at least plot out the concept for "Red, The Wolf"--although by the time the submission deadline rolled around, I knew I didn't have a prayer of keeping it within the prescribed word count limit, so I opted for an "abridged" version for the anthology, and I saved the "longer" version for my blog. That anthology (and the others I mentioned earlier!) are still available on Amazon!

Then, my most proudest moment of all: ONE NOVEL BROUGHT TO COMPLETION. I finished The Last Inkweaver, my first full-length fantasy novel, by the middle of September. In January I'd been a bit stymied about the flow of it, I'd been pretty proud of myself for clocking in at 140,000 words (just slightly longer than a Dickens novel) and not even done yet... but I can tell you, what came after, in the next 30,000 words I wrote to the end, kind of revolutionized the story I was trying to tell, a bit, and gave me answers to questions I didn't know still lingered from the first draft! Draft 1 took me roughly 2 years to write 85,000 words... so I was pretty proud when Draft 2 saw me DOUBLING that number, in just UNDER 24 months!

As far as word count is concerned... I did quite poorly this year.

According to this chart, the only months I actually ACHIEVED my word count goals were January and November!

When I started last April, I had thought that my goal of 25,000 words per month was quite modest. I was able to at least achieve 20K every month of 2018. This year, for some reason, I struggled to even amass that much! My average--including winning NaNoWriMo with 50K this year--was just under 22K... So what happened? Hopefully, with all the plans I have for next year, I'll be better equipped to knock out the goal!

Wattpad

All 35 works, as of this year! (With room for more)

This was a good year for Wattpad, for sure! I added several new stories, and updated others. Some of them are short and sweet, like Double Blind and The Prince and The Rose. This year I started out with only the first novella in the A Writer's Tale series, now there are three to choose from: The Dragon's Quest, The Commander's Courage, and The Sheriff's Showdown. I tried out submitting my twisted fairy tale The Dragon's Mark for the Watty's this year, thinking that with the new application system, it might stand a chance--but no dice. I also took the opportunity to add two very old projects to my profile, Clay Heroes and Once Upon Love. The former I finished, but the latter I only got two chapters added in before I was much too mortified by the atrocities of dialogue I committed... That story really needs help! Yeesh!

In case you were somebody who has been through all 35 stories on my profile and is still trying to find something "perfect" to read that I've written... never fear! Next year is a year of "Finishing Things" so I'll be doing my best to see how to finish those in-progress stories I never returned to (here's looking at you Sound of an Echo!) and adding new (finished) things to those "shelves." Stay tuned!

Reading

My reading habits slacked off a bit too. I managed to get through 17 ebooks for my "Reader's Reviews"! My Top 10 Indie Reads for this year are: The Tannis Project by Daryl J. Ball, The Queen of Diamonds by Patricia Loofbourrow, The Arena by Santana Young, Angel Tormented by C. L. Coffey, TYR by N. R. Tupper, You Left Me No Choice by Kelly Blanchard, Notna by J. D. Cunegan, Starstruck by S. E. Anderson, Blood Debt by E. A. Copen, and Time Tree: The Emergence by Lisa Rae Morris.

Then also there were the 16 library books I read, bringing the year's total up to 33. Out of those titles, my Top 5 would probably be: Pride by Ibi Zoboi, Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson, The Book of Ti'Ana by Rand Miller, The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz, and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

Just a sampling of what I bought and downloaded....

I also added more than a dozen books to the TBR list--books I'd wanted to get for a very long time, and only just now got around to it--and oh boy! By the looks of it, I'll be neck-deep in 2022 before I get to the end of it now! And who knows how many more books I'll still be adding between now and then? 

Of course, I still have a couple titles I've purchased at book sales that I haven't even read! What gives? I blame work stress. I was about halfway through my first year in a new building at the beginning of 2019, and I suppose part of me hoped that Year 2 would be a lot easier--NOPE. So much happening that really affects how I do my job, and it doesn't look like it's going to slack off any time soon, so yay.

My goal of intentionality in writing should also apply to reading, as well--so that means I have new goals for 2020, which I'll get into in that birthday post!

All in all, it's been a pretty moderate year. Several successes, and many... not-quite-up-to-pars. But never fear, I have plans for the next year! Can't wait to share those with you next week!

As always...

Catch You Further Upstream!