Happy New Year. 2018 awaits.

To recap:

2017 Goals (from my New Year’s Post, 1 year ago)

I will finally publish the STILL FUCKING UNNAMED book I’ve been working on all year. Sometime in February or March, I imagine.

I did, by the skin of my teeth, manage to achieve this goal. I published Lupine Road in September.

Hidebound, Book 3 of the Thaumaturge series, is coming along nicely. I’m a quarter of the way through the first draft.

Hidebound is still just over a quarter of the way finished. I tried to pick it up for Nano, but my heart wasn’t in it.

I’m going to work on three novellas, and get those edited and released. One is about ghosts, one is about time travel and one is about monsters from another dimension

These are in various stages of completeness. Monsters from another dimension needs to be beta-read, the ghost story is in final edits, and the time travel one is the least developed. First draft done, that’s it.

I’m working on a book about a young trans man who gets involved with some magical stuff.

Fully outlined, the first few chapters done.

I’m also outlining another book about monsters, set in the 1960’s. Think suburban American gothic.

This one is still floating around in my head, but hasn’t solidified into an outline yet.

I’m sharing this because 2017 wasn’t a great year for me, and I’m totally fine with it.

No, that’s a lie. I struggle with it. Seems like a lot of other writers kicked ass in 2017. Book deals, audio books, multiple releases, best sellers. I barely found the motivation to write. I published one book, a book that I started in 2015. I struggled with every part of the process, from writing to editing to marketing.

I lost my dad, and my grandmother this year. She died in February and my dad in August. I feel like I’ve been swallowed by grief and it hasn’t yet spit me out.

I quit my job (which was a healthy decision, though it was difficult for me to leave), started a new job, quit that one, and am now at an internship that I hope pays off. I hope. Ultimately, those were all good decisions because the job I was at was full of toxic people and I wasn’t happy there. But it has been difficult from a financial standpoint.

But, though 2017 wasn’t a great year for me personally. . . . it wasn’t that bad either. I had a wonderful summer of working horses and fixing trails. I spent nearly all of July and August on horseback deep in the Montana wilderness. I feel like I shed dead layers of myself when I’m in the woods, like the real me stretches and breathes and is alive again under great blue skies. My broken heart began to knit together again at the edge of a high mountain lake.

Physically, I’m feeling better. I participated in a Crossfit competition, the first since I fractured my neck two years ago. I didn’t reach the weightlifting goals I had set for myself last year, but I have reached and surpassed where I was two years, pre-injury. So I’ll give myself credit for that.

This year, I’m being more practical. Kinder to myself. My goals for this year are:

1.) to be more organized, in all areas of my life. To achieve this, I’m going to attempt a bullet journal (something my super-organized husband swears by). As part of this organization, I’m going to attempt to organize my writing life more effectively, by:

a.) outlining projects before I begin writing them

b.) setting realistic weekly word goals, instead of the old “write every day” advice

4.) Publish the three novellas I wrote this year.

5.) Finish at least the first draft of Hidebound

6.) Let myself write for fun.

That’s it. I’m not going to GRL this year. While I had a good time in Denver, the 2018 GRL is on the other side of the country from me, and it’s not financially possible. Instead, I’m going to try to plan to go to Read with Pride Northwest, which is held in Seattle. That, however, depends on my job situation. So for now it is just a tentative plan.

I’m going into the New Year with cautious optimist and hope. I know that it is been difficult, in terms of politics and watching the United States fall apart. I’ve felt that keenly, and I know that we have many more battles ahead. Last year, I said to keep fighting. To move ever upwards. This year, I guess my plan is to just keep going. Just push on. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Thank you to everyone has read my books, reviewed my books, spent me an email or DM or message. It means the absolute world to me that you take the time to do so. I appreciate every single person who contacts me. Thank you.

Happy New Year, all. I wish the best for you.

Cal