2018 Wrap Up and Into 2019 …

It’s that time of year when many of us look back on what we achieved over the past twelve months, and start making plans and resolutions for the year to come. I’ve never really been big on resolutions, but I do like to set goals for myself. Last year I set quite a few, and there was so much I wanted to get done in 2018. Sadly, a lot of it didn’t go as planned. It’s mid-December, and I now realise I was unrealistic about what I could achieve in the time I had. So, here’s a bit of a run down on what I did actually do this year, and what I hope to work on in 2019.

Writing
I had five writing projects I wanted to complete in 2018. Of those I managed to finish one. I published my YA contemporary three part series, All the Things.

I’m actually not too upset about this being the only project I completed to publication, because I still published three books, and I had more success with them than I have had with any of my other titles. All three books gained number one new release flags on Amazon, and kept them on and off for a couple of weeks. Something did reach number one in Substance Abuse in the Amazon US store, but it didn't sit there long enough for the flag to appear.

I participated in NaNoWriMo again this year and finished drafting part four of All the Things, The Other Side of Me, and I will have more news on that early in 2019.

I was invited to be a part of the Shadows and Spellcraft box set with the first book in the Tate Chronicles, Fall for Me. The set did quite well considering we were not pushing for a list, and the other authors were wonderful to work with. We managed to gain a number one new release flag for this set in the Amazon US store.

There were a number of other projects I started but haven’t completed yet, and these are all at various stages of development. There will be more details as I get closer to finishing them.

I attended two writing festivals: Romancing the Coast in September and West Coast Fiction Festival in November. I had a wonderful time meeting readers, catching up with authors, and talking books.

 

Reading
I wanted to read 30 books this year and I managed around half of that. I split this goal into fiction and non-fiction, and I reached my target of five non-fiction books by the end of February. The fiction didn’t come so easily because I’m currently studying, and a lot of my reading time was taken up with uni texts, which I didn’t count towards my goal.

Study
I managed to keep my grade point average high at 6.39 (highest is 7), and I received three high distinctions and one distinction for the four subjects I studied this year. Those were Art and Books, Visual Communication, Art Technology and Culture, and Italian Renaissance Art.

Design
I pushed my design business a little harder this year, and I was lucky enough to be able to work with some wonderful new clients as well as loyal customers. I also started up a Facebook group for my pre-made book covers, and that has been growing steadily. I worked on quite a few projects for my wonderful author friend and boss, Selina Fenech, and you can read her 2018 wrap up HERE.

Into 2019 …
Next year there are four key areas I would like to work on.
• Writing
• Designing
• Uni
• Family time
These are the areas of my life that are most important to me, and I have mapped out my Passion Planner to try and find the balance I haven’t had in previous years. I want to spend more time with my kids, so I need to be organised with the other time I have to get stuff done.

In terms of writing goals, this is what you can expect to see from me in 2019.
• I have three major projects I will be working on. They’re secret squirrel projects at the moment, and there’s no determined time frame, because I’m aiming to make small progress every day with these. But I can tell you I’m really excited about them, and they involve more contemporary, a lot of fantasy, and collaboration with two other amazing authors who I adore.

• I’ll be publishing The Other Side of Me by the end of February 2019. The completed manuscript is currently with my beta readers, and once I get it back and know the extent of edits I’ll set a release date.

• I’ll be releasing a series set for All the Things. This will only contain Katie’s story so it will be the first three books released in both eBook and paperback around February/March.

• A Novel Idea has had a small overhaul. There’s a new cover and a new workbook edition. I’ll be releasing this in eBook and paperback. It’s currently with my wonderful editor, Lauren Clarke, so I’m aiming for some time in March.

• The Tate Chronicles Omnibus still doesn’t have a paperback edition, so I’ll be working on setting that up and releasing around April.

I wish all of you a wonderful festive season, and here’s to making 2019 your best year.

Kim xxx