Last Year

I haven't done a year in review post because I felt like I didn't get much accomplished last year. I haven't been able to sew as much as I wanted, and even though I got two quilt tops down, I haven't had time to take nice pictures or blog about them. 2011 was just a weird year for sewing and crafting.

So, I don't have a lot of super gorgeous sewing related pictures to put in a fancy layout, but that doesn't mean I didn't get a lot done last year. I have no reason to feel unaccomplished, but I found myself feeling that way. To make myself feel better/gain perspective, here are a few things I did last year.

I moved. Three times. Seriously. And one of those moves was basically across the country. That's a pretty big accomplishment I think.



I wrote TWO books! This didn't really occur to me until recently, but it's true. I didn't start working on Awake: A Fairytale (other than that first few thousand words I managed in 2010) until March. I wrote the entire thing (those first few pieces hit the trash bin pretty early in the process) between late March and early June. Not only did I write and edit Awake this year, in November I wrote my second book, Attempting Elizabeth. Yeah, it is in rough draft form and I still have several scenes to add, plus the laborious process of editing, having it beta read, rewriting, editing, etc., but the fact remains, 53k words of that book were written in 2011. (If you add together what I've done this year on the two, it is about 144k words, wow).



I started a pretty cool website. Indie Jane was launched in July and we've had 24 thousand plus page views to date and have had fun establishing an online community. The book club on our message boards is starting a Pride and Prejudice group read this week. Each week's discussion questions are being hosted by an author of an indie P&P continuation or re-imagining. We have some great authors participating and our community members are the best!


All in all, I think it has been a pretty darn productive year and I hope to make 2012 even more so.

Look Who's a Winner

I honestly thought I'd feel a lot more excited about this...

But I guess at a certain point you realize that getting the first 50k is a great milestone, but you are so far from done that it's a little bit "ho, hum, guess I'm still going into the office tomorrow."

And by office, I mean Starbucks.

The middle is looking great. I've still got to write the end...and the hero and heroine's entire relationship prior to the middle (so yes, that would be the beginning, or at least large sections of the beginning).

But, yay for me! I've written the middle of a novel in the month of November!

Now to commence a major freak out about how much is left to do in an incredibly short amount of time if I want it out by August 2012. Ah, good times.

NaNoWriMo is Almost Here!

The insanity known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) is just around the corner! I will be working on my Austenesque novel Attempting Elizabeth as I also try to move and prepare for the holidays.

My daughter, Maddie, loves fast rides. She puts her hands up on roller coasters. She's three. Actually, she's been doing this since she was two. Gadget's Go-Go-Coaster in Toontown at Disneyland? Front row. Hands up. Yes siree, Bob. She also has tackled the Matterhorn at least four times. Her dry comment as we whizzed by the Abominable Snowman? "Oooooh, 'citing!"

This could be partially my fault. I've always tried to have her look at things as exciting instead of scary. I started this really young with Maddie, before I knew that she was a natural born dare-devil. I am now rethinking that particular parenting strategy (do you know kids that literally climb walls? I have one!)

However, I think that Maddie has a pretty darn good outlook on roller coasters, and on life. It doesn't have to be scary. It can be "'citing!" So that is how I choose to look at NaNoWriMo and the whole rest of November. It's going to be an exciting ride!

Front row.

Hands up.

Here we go!