2008--A writer's year in review

Because we have company--my niece and nephew are visiting from the Philadelphia area, doubling the number of children I have in my house. Which, by some strange warping of the time/space continuum, means about six times the amount of food needed and about eight times the need for planning activities--I thought I would take a few quiet minutes and look back at my year in words.

First, for the business end of writing:

Queries for novels sent: 21
-----Requests for fulls: 2
-----Requests for Partials: 3
-----Responses outstanding: 7
-----Form rejections: 12
-----Personal rejection: 2
-----Outstanding Fulls: 1

Short Stories sent: 5
-----Form rejection: 1
-----Personal rejection: 1
-----Responses outstanding: 3

Writers of the Future quarterly contests entered: 4
------HM: 3
-----Response outstanding: 1


I was far less aggressive in sending out queries this year. In 2009, I will do more to get my work out there and find the right match for an agent. On the plus side, I did write 4 short stories and am in the process of trying to find 'homes' for them.

On the Writing side:

Novels:
Completed "Heal Thyself"
Edited "The House of Many Doors"
Edited "MindBlind"
Began "The Between" (YA Urban Fantasy at ~12,000 words)
Began Untitled Urban Fantasy (~3,000 words)

Poetry:
Poems written and/or substantially revised: 62
Poetry collection organized and edited: 1

Non-Fiction:
Writing related ebooks: 2

My goals for 2009 are:
1. to return to my 1,000 words/day or 5,000 words/week pace
2. to allow myself the freedom to work on a crappy first draft
3. to find a 'just right' in person writing group

Good luck in '09 to all my writer friends.