Almost every month, I have participated in the Absolute Write blog chain. This month, we’re talking about our 2009 accomplishments. My first is right there! To quote myself, “almost every month, I have participated in the AbsoluteWrite blog chain.” 🙂 It is an accomplishment because before May of this year, I’d NEVER thought of writing as a career path.

Sure, I wrote as part of my day job, part of my responsibilities to my company, but hadn’t put forth thoughts that could sit in the form of short stories, flash fiction or that ever elusive novel. I didn’t write for deliberate purpose — to tell a story or make someone feel something that was just for ME — I did it all the time for my company (and if I say so myself I was pretty good at that.

And yet, somehow, despite being a mom of three, a wife of one, a business owner with ten employees, a professional photographer, a project consultant and avid reader, I wrote the equivalent of two novels (and read about 25 — and yes, yes, I read all the Stephenie Meyers stories because that’s just who I am).

Getting back to that novel comment, I finished one (edited four times with 33 rejections and another round of queries planned for 2010) and two others got to the 1/4 or 1/2 way points, to be ditched and started anew. And that was a revelation — to find out, after so many words, that it stunk and should be a do-over (or in their case, a combine together).

As the blog chains have progressed a number of people have asked me how in the world I can do all that. Time management is a big thing. I still sleep about 8 hours a night, get all three of my kids up and to school, work out, work a full day and still write. I literally waste no time whatsoever. (Honestly? I’m not sure I know how to waste time.) I multi-task more than anyone I know. I don’t sit idle, and I type about a hundred words a minute. Ok, that last part is probably the real reason.

So are all these accomplishments? Sure they are! Do they make me who I am? Absolutely. Am I proud of them? Certainly. Would I do it differently in 2010? I don’t know.

But probably not.

In looking back at 2009, I see the flaws along with the successes. Am I a published writer? Yup. I’ve gotten a number of articles out to magazines some published in 2009 and a couple coming out in early 2010. Do I have a best selling novel? No, but I wrote a full one (111,000 words then cut to 89,000) and still love that one story more than anything else I’ve written to-date. It was my Christmas gift to my Mom this year.

The better question to ask is this though. What were my goals?

Honestly?

I had none!

No writing goals that is, because I didn’t see myself as a writer until May 2009. That’s when I started my first novel and that’s when writing kicked into a passionate hobby much like photography did five years ago (and is now my full time profession).

Yup, that’s right. My stories have been hidden, stuck only in my head — in the deep dark recesses of them apparently — for the last ‘x’ number of years and through nothing but a spark of interest (an idea in the car one day), I started to produce.

The lack of goals may have actually pressed me forward. Go figure, hunh? No goals = accomplishments? I even finished Nano 2009 with 50,108 words and a day to spare. Something’s working right. Granted that story has been trashed. I didn’t fall in love with my characters like I did my original story.

So, next year. Goals? I don’t think so. Just fun, enjoyable writing for personal pleasure. And who knows? Maybe that’ll mean a best seller. 😉

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year friends!

Thanks to all the other participants in the blog chain … go check them out!
Lost Wanderer – http://www.lostwanderer5.blogspot.com
Claire Crossdale – http://theromanticqueryletter.blogspot.com/
coryleslie – http://corrinejackson.wordpress.com/
bsolah – http://benjaminsolah.com/blog
DavidZahir – http://zahirblue.blogspot.com/
RavenCorinnCarluk – http://ravencorinncarluk.blogspot.com
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com/
shethinkstoomuch – http://shethinkstoomuch.wordpress.com
Lady Cat – http://www.randomwriterlythoughts.blogspot.com
truelyana – http://expressiveworld.com
misaditas – http://misaditas-novels.blogspot.com/
collectonian – http://collectonian.livejournal.com
laharrison – http://lesleyharrison.wordpress.com/
beawhiz – http://beawrites.wordpress.com
razibahmed – http://www.blogging37.com
FreshHell – http://freshhell.wordpress.com
AlissaC – http://alissacarleton.blogspot.com
Aimee – http://writing.aimeelaine.com (<----me!)
Forbidden Snowflake – http://queryshark.blogspot.com/