It’s like the countdown on New Years. I’m sad that the end has come and I’ve been thinking about all the truths in my last post about not living in the future. I’m content with the way the year turned out. I will always slip in “I wish I could’ve done more/finished more novels” but the truth of the matter is that what I’ve accomplished isn’t something to discount or minimize.
I’ve written 3 books in a year and there are more to come. I’ve never written anything more than a 20-page paper before this and here I am, sitting on 3 manuscripts that need to be edited, rewritten and flushed out. I had no idea what each month held in store for me but I stuck with it. It may not have felt that way but no one can maintain a break-neck pace in anything; I took breaks and eased off when I needed for as long as I needed, but I was always chomping at the bit to get back into it.
Looking back, I can’t believe the spectrum of genres I attempted. Of course, 12 is a lot but my year went as follows:
July: Antobiography- technically not a novel but it’s been so stuck in my creative mind I had to purge it
August: Western- a success! There has to be at least 2 more to follow this story line.
September: Hard Boiled Crime- by this point, my voice was too well-established to follow the highly stylized format.
October: Horror- I just couldn’t write graphic scenes. Not my style.
November: Sci Fi- my first attempt at abstract thought with highly political undertones. I’ll return to this one, I’m intrigued by it.
December: Steampunk- I had no idea what I was doing so lots of research is needed. I loved the idea though so I’ll finish this one too.
January: Literary Fiction- More trouble with adult themes and language. I saw an improvement. This is definitely another one to finish in 2013.
February: Choose Your Own Adventure- It started off romance (of course!) but I had no interest in writing bodice rippers so I gave myself a pass to complete a novel that’s essentially a collection of short stories. Genius! I’ll be doing another one in this genre, for sure!
March: Adventure- All I could think of was The Land Time Forgot. I don’t think I’ll work in this genre again… at least for now.
April: Chick Lit- This surprised me. As much as I love reading them, I had no interest in writing one. I’ll skip this genre too in 2013.
May: Mystery- The same as April. Maybe this was burn out so we’ll see what happens in 2013 but even with all the “Murder, She Wrote” I watched I never felt inspired.
june: Fantasy- Now this is a scintillating gem. I will certainly be returning to this one. I have at least 4 more books to write with this story line. I think it’s my best, most original work to date.
Sometimes the struggle was a overly complicated storyline. Other times it was the genre. Still other months life got in the way. Well, you know what? This is what happens. These challenges are what life is all about. There were times when I flirted with the idea of throwing in the towel and just fade away but I always returned. No I don’t want to admit how awful this last month was for my story (I wrote practically nothing) but it was still an important 30 days.
It’s taken a long time and a lot of struggle for me to come to the point where I’ve accepted my shortcomings when compared to the goals I set for myself last June. Did I follow through with the journal? No. Did I write 12 novels, each at least 50,000 words? No. Did I write a short story a day if at the half-way mark I wasn’t going to make it? No. There’s more to life than sitting at the computer, typing like a crazy woman. This isn’t my career. At the end of the day, nothing depends on my success.
So, I encourage any and all of you who have a burning passion to accomplish a dream to go for it. The results matter but they won’t be as important as the lessons you’ve learned about yourself. Go ahead and be daring. you have no idea where that road will lead you. Surround yourself with people who believe in you because trust me, their belief will rub off on you and you’ll begin to believe in yourself. Once that happens, wonderful things are destined to occur.
Thank you so much for all your kind words, thoughtful comments, love, support, encouragement and interest in this project. You’ve all been instrumental in my successes and in my struggles, you’ve been lifelines that have pulled me through. I can honestly say that without you, making it to the end would not have happened.
Maybe I’m crazy but I’ve decided to take another run at this but this next year will be interesting because there will be editing and rewriting- I’ll be polishing my works to submit for publishing. I’ve set up a new blog as this one is now finished although I’ll still keep this one up. The link is:
http://another12novelsin12months.wordpress.com
I look forward to seeing you over there.
Sincerely,
Sandra O’Driscoll
12 Novels in 12 Months 