2016: Writer's Year in Review

[pambaddeley]

As with several people here, life has got in the way in the last two years so my plan to self publish has been set back. However, I am determined to get my "first" book out there next year. Still editing away at present and it has been a long slog. NaNoWriMo in November, plus the two Camps earlier in the year provided an outside goad that helped me knuckle down and I have done a lot of work on the MS, just not fast enough which is frustrating.

I joined the Chrons this year! And finally joined FB and Twitter after resisting the constant 'received wisdom' that you need to be on those. It's a bit time consuming esp. FB I find, with being sidetracked into reading and commenting on various group updates. Plus I write reviews on Goodreads of the books I read, and participate in a number of groups there. I do need to manage the whole social media networking and the time it takes up better.

 

[TWErvin2]

Overall I had a productive year...having two novels released within the same calendar year (a first for me). Relic Hunted in January 2016 and Thunder Wells in December 2016. I am not sure if I can manage that again.

I have been invited to write at least one novella or novelette in a to be released Kindle Worlds. The details are being worked out. It will be in a genre outside of fantasy and SF, more along the lines of thriller. So we'll see if it works out.

I have my next novel projects outlined and hope to move forward on them in short order...or as quickly as I can manage, all things considered.

 

[ralphkern]

2016 has been a hell of a busy year!

I've had two novels out, Erebus and Unfathomed. Two short stories, one in Nathan Hystad's Explorations: Through the Wormhole anthology, and one in Nick Webb's Legacy Fleet universe.

Other writing wise, I have around 60K of Endings and 25K of the sequel to Unfathomed done, as well as another short story for the next Explorations anthology.

The Explorations anthologies also had the unexpected benefit of being the basis for our Sci Fi Explorations collective, which is part-writing group, part joint promotional venture. Its going from strength to strength, and we're always looking for new ideas and members to grow the network.

I've got a column on SFFWorld - Ralph Kern Puts the Worlds to Writers (A pun which REALLY doesn't work when I say it! C'est La Vie). This is a kind of popular science piece where I interview writers who tend to be from the harder end of the SF spectrum and we go into a bit of depth around the research they put into their work. I've had the honour of interviewing some of my fave authors on there including Andy Weir, Isaac Hooke, Peter Cawdron and Robert Campbell.

And the latest news, this week in fact, which fell out of the SF Explorations network is that I've been made a producer on Keystroke Medium, a great interview podcast / YouTube channel we've been supporting. This show has really grown from strength to strength. Starting with interviewing little old me, its grown to include such industry titans as Peter F Hamilton, David Farland and Jay Allen.

Most importantly, I've made some really good buddies in the industry.

So yeah, in summary, not a lot of sleep (or in fact actual reading - to count up.... I've read a grand total of 17 books this year which aren't research related, so I apologise to those chronners whose books I haven't got round to yet! @Quellist especially! Hangs head in shame) and sadly I'm not as active here as I would like to be anymore.

So what are my plans for 2017? Well, continuing to help grow SF Explorations / KSM and partners is a big one. Market forces are dictating that I work on completing Expedition and (working title) Osiris next, which is fine by my muse as its flowing along nicely at the moment.

If things go well, I'll start reexamining my work-life balance and maybe throttle back from full-time job hours (Before my girlfriend runs off with the milkman!). I don't think I'd ever entirely leave my job for writing... moooooost of the time I like it too much for that, but it'll be healthy to free up a bit of time and headspace. And I want to get back into my fitness again, which I felt defined me as much as my writing and which has started to slip (although maybe I'm just getting old ).

Anyway, back to it!

 

[LittleStar]

I started my year slashing my work week to just two days, so i could write 9-5 for the other 5 days of the week (no days off for two months). I spent the back end of 2015 planning this series, and Jan/Feb 2016 taught me that I could in fact write as a full time job.
The exact word count was posted at the time elsewhere on the Chrons, but it was in the region of 400k for the two months I think. That was four full first drafts of novels, completing drafts of a series from start to finish, one novel every ten writing days almost exactly as it happened.

Wth that done I had a large break from writing to recharge, and then commenced the editing process for the opener of the series, Beneath Imagined Skies. That went out to my partner for initial beta test and I'm waiting on the last few chapters now.

January also saw my very first 75 word challenge win, which was very much unexpected considering my creative efforts were being put elsewhere at the time.

I have also read through various of my old shorts and while they are unpolished they are certainly things I like and can improve and work on next year, and have begun the planning process for a novel (possibly a duology?) connected to these shorts.

On top of this I have planned to repeat my jan/feb efforts in 2017, though my workload will in theory be a lot less. So to this end in 2016 i have also planned out one novel, two novellas and two children's books to complete, and then edits/redrafts of the four from last year as well as one other old novel that has been set aside after the first draft.
Sounds like a lot, but as I said in theory it isn't. With 2016 word counts the novel should only take 5-6 days to draft, and the novellas only 2 days each... The edits are the unknown quantity though.


2017 will hopefully see me finish these extra first drafts in jan/feb, and starting in march or April I will be submitting the two children's books and looking for new betas here for Beneath Imagined Skies. Then I will be looking to professional edit and do the submission rounds for that. And I want to keep and eye out for anthologies and the like to submit some shorts too, feeling left out as I haven't submitted to Woodbridge or any others yet Then in the Summer I have to start thinking about which novels/stories I want to plan out to draft on my Jan/Feb 2018 writing hermitage.

Oh and a wedding to plan!

 

[ratsy]

This is a great thread. It's really nice to hear what everyone has done/accomplished this year.

For me this was the year I took the dive into the world of publishing. While I started Woodbridge at the end of 2015, I didn't publish Lake Manor until April of 2016. It was a busy year, and though I have The Haunting of Lake Manor Hotel, and Explorations: Through the Wormhole, under my belt, three more awesome books are coming out very soon. The fruits of 2016's labour.

I am also one of the founders of the ScFiExplorations network, and it has been great getting to know so many talented authors over the year. Through these projects I've read a lot of indie SF this year, and have loved being exposed to some new voices.

For my writing, it has been up and down. While I don't feel like I've done a lot, I did complete my first novel, and am in the middle of post-beta revisions. I also am 45K into my second ever novel, which was done when I completed NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row. I haven't written any shorts this year, but I was published in Crime and Mystery, a beautifully produced hardcover of gothic/supernatural stories. And I was also in the recent Aliens: The Truth is Coming collection. Kraxon Magazine was awesome to have me do the twelve part serial this year, and I had a blast writing The First Colony.

So overall, a lot of building in 2016, and I am going to work just as hard in 2017 to grow my business, brand, and my own writing. If all goes well, I may have a self-published novel this year along with all of the Woodbridge projects.

 

[Phyrebrat]

The two biggest writer-themed things for me this year have been reading two books; On Silbury Hill - Adam Thorpe, and The Fisherman - John Langan. Both of these books were personally written for me (I've decided), and both of them came to me by Chronicles members. @HareBrain and @ratsy. To say they have influenced my writing is an understatement. The former has allowed me to bring the Earth and my relationship with Nature into my writing, and the latter has allowed me to write the way I want to without thinking 'this ain't genre!'

Less productive on my own WIP which glowers at me from the file tree like a digital misery-owl, I think my most productive writing has probably been in my chrons blog which I write less of these days as I don't feel I have anything new to say.

I learnt I use ellipses too much, and often incorrectly.

Also, on a big-up to chrons members, I have to mention the ridiculous amount of help TJ has consistently offered with the WIP, and ratsy & TDZ for helping me with my first publishing credit. And socially, I feel like part of mini inklings group with Peat and Dan

...which is nice, bearing in mind the political wahala of 2016, and that it will go down in the annals of history as a Season of Death.

pH

 

[Toby Frost]

Much as I dislike gifs, this pretty much sums it up.