My Year in Writing - 2015

This past year I can definitely say I have found my stride when it comes to fitting writing into my busy life. With a day job, an active toddler, and a million things to do every day, I have carved out my time to write, and made the necessary sacrifices I had to make in order to be able to do so (meaning I sacrificed more sleep than I had to give, /tears!). Thus, I was able to write two novels this year. There was a time when I thought work and mommy-hood would mean I might only be able to write one book a year. But two?! That's a precedent I can live with.

It would be nice to be able to have more flexibility with my days, but I do enjoy the fact that many things are scheduled. Finding a specific time and place for certain things means they will definitely get done. Such as reading. The first three quarters of the year I read absolutely nothing! And I was not happy about it. So I scheduled reading time for my subway rides to and from work, and with my trusty Kindle in tow, I have been able to read six books in the past couple months. That's a huge accomplishment for me.

But back to writing. This year I completed the third and fourth novels in my Reanimation Files series. The Ravaging In Between took about seven months to write and was DIFFICULT. In comparison, A Torment of Savages took exactly two months + 7 days and was the easiest book I have written since the first novel, Affairs of the Dead (the second book, Requiem for the Living, was also a difficult beast to write). I think having worked through two hard books back to back,  I learned a lot about how to build and pace my plots, how to handle twists, etc, so I took that knowledge and applied it to the fourth book. Therefore I was able to avoid a lot of the pitfalls I encountered with Requiem and Ravaging. I've been writing for over a decade, but there's always new things to learn! Especially when writing a series. A Torment of Savages restored my faith that the book writing process doesn't have to be difficult or long. Some books will just challenge you in different ways than others.

Moving into 2016, I am looking forward to publishing A Torment of Savages, and working on the fifth book in The Reanimation Files. I have also been thinking about writing a sequel to Black Widow Witch, so maybe that will be my next project. As long as a story comes to me and Reanimation Files #5 doesn't take over and demand that I write it instead!

This was a good writing year. It has made me feel confident that I don't have to sacrifice my writing career just because I am a busy, working mother. So I look forward to the novels I will produce in 2016, and the books I'll read on the train.

Happy New Year everyone!