Thoughts on 2022

At this time of year, I always to take a moment to reviews the highs and lows of the year, and to assess what I’ve actually achieved over the year.  I must say I’m glad to see the back of 2022, as it’s not been an easy one. But then when is life ever easy these days? It started badly, attending the funeral of my youngest son’s friend on my son’s 18^thbirthday. Two other more elderly friends died and I spent a lot of time supporting the bereaved at the beginning of the year. 

I was looking forward to February as I had planned a weekend in London with my husband for his birthday. Unfortunately, a hurricane stopped all train travel and we had to postpone at the last minute.  We did get to go in March though, and the weather was so much nicer so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. 

 

In February my eldest son left home to join the army. I was sad to see my first born fly the nest. I wasn’t one hundred percent behind his decision but it’s what he wanted to do so I supported him. Ten weeks later he was back home after having decided it wasn’t for him after all. I’m glad he tried it though and made that decision himself. He’s since found himself a good job and seems much happier so that’s something to be grateful for. 

 

In April we were supposed to be going to Ireland to visit my husband’s relatives but after two years of dodging the bullet, we both got COVID. I’d been worried about catching the virus as the medication I take for my Psoriatic Arthritis means I have low immunity. Thankfully the vaccinations protected me and the illness wasn’t as bad as I had feared. We finally got to Ireland in May.

 

 

The first half of the year was tricky for my youngest son. I spent a lot of time helping him learn to drive and supporting him through three driving tests. When he did pass I spent several months biting my nails whenever he went out int he car. And then were the A-Level exams which were also stressful. He's now at university studying history.He was really looking forward to going but has ended up more homesick than he expected, but I'm hoping in settle in more next term. 

On the plus side my husband and I had two happy holidays in Spain at our apartment, so the year has had its up-sides too.

 

 

And through all this I have been trying to keep my writing going. 

 

In 2022 I completed Book 1 sent it to several agents, either heard nothing or got rejected, edited it again and sent it to the publisher, ChocLit. Its currently going through assessment via their reader panel, the result of which I’m hoping to hear from soon. 

 

I’ve been learning as much as I can about self-publishing. If Book 1 doesn’t get taken up by ChocLit I’m going to bite the bullet and publish it myself. I’ve spent many years submitting things and either getting rejected or being ignored so maybe it’s time to take control of my writing destiny.

 

I’ve done some serious editing and redrafting of Book 2. This came into being during NaNoWriMo so was a very rough 50,000 words. I got more or less to the end of this, deleting and creating so that it was 70,000 words, then I got a bit depressed because it still wasn’t quite working. So, I went back to square one, did a lot more plotting and planning and am halfway through the process of re-writing. Hopefully by the end of this draft I will have much deeper characterisation and a sound structure and my next edit will be more a case of fine tuning.

 

I’ve dipped my toe into the world of Twitter and done some extensive research on how to develop my own website. I’ve also been reviewing and editing some short stories as I have decided to self-publish a couple of short story anthologies as a way to introduce myself into the world of independent publishing. 

 

After a slow start to the writing year, I’ve ended on a positive note and am fully motivated to make sure that 2023 will be the year I finally get published (one way or another).

 

What were your best bits of 2022 and what are you looking forward to in 2023?

Falling At The First Fence

One of my New Year's resoloutions was to blog more regularly.  Seeing as its now the 17th and this is my first blog of 2013, I'm not doing very well am I?

It's been a bit of a unusual start to the year though. It's a poor excuse, but the only one I have. Before Christmas I scratched my eye. That healed up but then it became infected, so I've been on antibiotics and now all is well again.  For a while though, I couldn't even open my eyes, let alone read or face a computer screen. Thank goodness for my Ipod, I think its the only thing that kept me sane.

At the start of the year, when everyone else is getting back to normal, we start with another celebration which is my youngest son's birthday on 5 Jan.  Poor thing having a birthday so soon after Christmas, but he was due on Christmas Eve, so it could have been worse!

This year was the first year he didn't have to go back to school after the holidays on his birthday and, as it was a Saturday, and like the rest of the males in my family, he loves Leeds United, we paid another trip to Eland Road, stayed at a hotel and had a meal out in the evening.

Although I'm not a footie fan, I must admit it is beginning to grow on me.  It's a great atmosphere walking towards the ground with the fellow fans, and the family stand is full of different generations, grandads, dads, mums and offspring, all united in a common cause.

As it was his birthday, I was a bit worried that the score might not go the right way, especially by the way Leeds were playing (1-0 down at half time) and the fact that it was a knock out round of the FA Cup.  In the end, after a valiant effort by both teams, it was a 1-1 draw, resulting a replay. Thank goodness that didn't spoil the celebrations!

The reply was on Tuesday, and again, after being 1-0 down at half time, Leeds pulled it off winning by 2 goals to 1.  The next round, against Tottenham, is at home on 26th Jan and there are mumblings in the house about getting tickets. I'm not sure my nerves can stand it!

The boys only went back to school the following Tuesday and then on Thursday we took them out for two days (naughty, naughty) to pay a visit to the Emerald Isle.  My other half has a lot of Irish reletives so we vist regularly, and this was a 50th birthday celebration.

I'm not entirely sure that it's a good thing to go to Ireland in early January, it just adds to the excesses of Christmas, but a good time was had by all.

This week I thought it would be back to normal, but on Monday was struck down with a heavy cold. It's not man flu, so I can keep going, but as you can imagine, not much writing has been done recently.

I have, though, been catching up on some work and general paperwork, and am determined to get into a good routine soon, both with working from home and with the writing.  Wish me luck.

I hope you all have had a good start to the New Year, and now I would like to wish you, rather shamefaced, a belated happy New Year.

I'll be back again soon, I promise!

Linda