2020 is just around the corner, and it’s about time to assess my progress as a writer (thanks to Bernadette Benda for the idea!). A lot can change in ten years…

Writing

Here are all the novels I wrote this decade:

1. Return to Ravenwood Manor (Nanowrimo 2010)
2. Hitchhikers (completed January 2011)
3. Ghosts of Circus Past (Nanowrimo 2012)
4. My Zombie Girlfriend (Nanowrimo 2013)
5. Dreamwalkers (completed 2014)
6. Scavengers (completed March 2015)
7. Warriors (completed May 2018)
8. Waiting Room (completed March 2017)
9. The Victim’s Ball (Nanowrimo 2017)
10. We Live in the Dark (Nanowrimo 2018, completed April 2019)
11. Mitzi & Oz (completed May 2019)
12. The Silent Grove (Nanowrimo 2019)

And the novellas:

1. The Beast (completed August 2014)
2. The Madman (completed February 2017)
3. The Seer (completed March 2017)

So that’s pretty cool, I wrote more novels than years! And that doesn’t include my novels from Nanowrimos 2016, 2014, or 2011, which reached 50K but were not completed, or The Blood Countess, which is over 40K but also not complete.

It also doesn’t include the fanfiction I wrote, which totalled almost 700,000 words (699,880 words, to be exact – 100K of those words were actually from Waiting Room). These are the novel-length fics:

• Gimme Shelter
• Parallels
• Parallels 2
• Push It Real Good

Querying

I submitted 193 times over the past 10 years, most heavily in 2010-2012 and 2018-2019. Not bad, although there were quite a few years that I did not submit anything.

Publication

Two of those were short story submissions, and led to being published in anthologies! “Seventh Son” was published in Monster Mash (2010), and “His Type of Girl” was published in I’ll Never Go Away (2012).

I self-published 6 novels (Bethany Caleb, The Art Kids, and the 4-book Wolf Point series) and a collection of novellas.

On Wattpad, two of my novels were featured – My Zombie Girlfriend and Hitchhikers – and a third, Waiting Room, hit 1 million views. I was also invited to be part of the Wattpad Stars program.

Reading

Over the past decade, I have read 1,604 books. No wonder I sometimes can’t remember much about a book’s plot! I keep track of my reading over on Goodreads if you would like to add me as a friend. And I’m the #1 librarian on Goodreads, too!

Reflections

Sometimes, looking at my body of work, it can make me feel depressed and frustrated that I haven’t “made it.” I tried self-publishing and it hasn’t been “successful.” I’ve received over 100 rejections.

Other times, seeing it all laid out like this, it can make me feel like a power house. I can take comfort in knowing that I have brought all these stories out into the world, and that should I ever get that elusive publishing deal I will have the practice to keep going and turn that deal into a career.

Happy new decade, everyone!