2016 in Review

Photo by "Nelos" of Adobe Stock

What a year! Hopefully not one I'll ever have to repeat. We moved, worked on remodels for 2 houses (one of those continues), battled illness in the spring, and a couple of serious injuries that took me out of commission and hampered brain function (thank you, pain and exhaustion!).

Each January, I've been reporting on my goals and progress for the previous year and setting my goals for the new year. Despite all that's been going on, I made most of my goals for 2016, so I'm calling the year a SUCCESS.

My goals for 2016 were:

Write 400,000 words
Publish 5 paperback books
Complete 3 old projects (stories started prior to Jan. 1, 2016)

How'd I do?

I wrote 335,011 words. Almost 65K short of my 400K goal, to be sure, but I'll take it! Considering all the things that hampered writing this year, I see it as nothing short of a miracle that I got so much done. By the time October rolled around, I had fully expected to have MAYBE 200-250K written for the year, so I'm very happy with what I accomplished.

I published 5 paperback books and 19 e-books. I started the year publishing Destiny (medieval fantasy short novel) and ended with Protective Instincts (romantic urban fantasy long novel).

I completed 3 old projects, which met that goal. On top of that, I wrote 12 entirely new ones from start to finish. Those included 6 short stories (up to 13K each), 4 novelettes (13-18K), a novella (20-40K), and a short novel (41-60K). I also started 3 stories that I haven't yet completed. In addition to completed and/or started projects, I made significant additions (5K+) to 2 novels and minor additions (less than 5K) to 2 novels.

See what I mean? Productive. I'm grateful for every milestone reached and even the goal that wasn't.

Of course, finishing up 2016 means setting goals for 2017 as well. I decided to reset my goals for 2016. So for 2017, my goals are:

Write 400K words
Publish 5 paperback books
Complete 3 old projects (stories started prior to today, Jan. 1, 2017)

Happy New Year!