Normally this is my favorite post of the year. The moment when I look back on all the work I managed to get done and begin planning out the next projects. I look forward to it. I make notes of things I deviated from, new projects started, projects scrapped, and generally remind myself that I do enjoy this whole writing process.
This year…
I am learning to be forgiving, both of myself and the people around me. Because I know we’re all struggling to find our footing on what feels like slippery slopes.
So instead of looking at what I tasked for myself this year, I’m going to hone in on my major victories, give them a brief nod, and move on.
My number one victory this year was putting out Enemy Souls. It has done quite well and continues to accumulate positive reviews, which I have to admit I love. For those unaware, it is a sci-fi romp through Saturn that highlights the Barlow family as they struggle to carve out a living while on the run.
My second victory was completing National Novel Writing Month. But I have to admit that the very last week of the month, the day before Thanksgiving, I lost a beloved dog and switched projects as a matter of dealing with the grief.
Sad, yes.
Still a victory.
Because when I am finished with this project and it makes its way to readers across the globe, everyone will know who Molly was and what made her special.
Which brings me to the whole moving on portion of the post.
With the world still unsteady, COVID still ravaging the population, I have decided not to make any future goals beyond the novel in front of me. The goal is simply to finish this book, and I’ll figure out where to go from there.
For my fellow authors out there, I hope you have managed to hoard your writing time this year. I hope you have still gotten words on the page, even if it’s only 500 a week like me. And I hope that in the coming year, you are able to add to those words every day.
For all my fellow humans, I hope you stay safe. I hope those you care about stay safe. And I hope that, if you have already lost someone, that peace makes its way to you.
AJMaguire 
I think many of us, writers and non-writers, will wonder how to sum up our year. My own experience was weeks of disbelief followed by a surge of creativity that saw me write and sell two pocket novels. The 2nd is published tomorrow. there have been positives such as lots of walking around Edinburgh without traffic. Sadly, the number of funerals we could not, were not allowed to, attend is large. I think that’s one of the things that will linger as the society left behind shakes out. Who is there? Keep safe, AJ, anne
I hope you and yours stay safe as well, Anne. I am hoping the coming weeks find a resolution to this crisis, and that we all are able to move forward.