At year’s end, do you ever stop and reflect on the year gone by? I like to take a moment to see where I’ve been before moving on to the next phase. To see if I met my goals, so that I can determine what new goals to set for myself in 2023.
This was a tough year for me–with several highs and lows—so I’m not too heartbroken to see it go. Keeping things light and positive, though, I’ve constructed a brief summary of the high points I experienced over the year, and goals I reached that I had set in January of 2022.
We started our year on lockdown, which actually helped me achieve a few goals right off the bat seeing that I had sudden time on my hands. I created a book trailer for Gatekeepers of Eden, which was quite the endeavor for me, being technological impaired. But, somehow I pulled it off! You can view it on my main website page under the Gatekeepers of Eden blurb. I also started my own monthly newsletter, which kept me posting more regularly. This month will be my twelfth letter sent out… which means I kept on track! (Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would). Thank you to everyone who subscribed and read my blog posts throughout the year. I truly appreciate it, and hope you received some inspiration, motivation, and helpful writing tips!
Next up, I had a virtual book tour for Gatekeepers of Eden, where my book travelled across several amazing blogs. These gracious bloggers placed my new release in the spotlight, interviewed me, and posted excerpts and reviews from my novel. It was a fun experience, and I met so many new readers and garnered valuable feedback from them on how my novel was being received by the public.
In March, Gatekeepers of Eden won two awards in the Reader Views Reviewers Choice Awards… bronze in the Science Fiction category, and bronze in the Fantasy category. This contest is one of my favourites, so if you’re contemplating entering your writing into a literary competition, I strongly urge you to try this one!
Throughout the year, I was working on my fifth book, Code of Reanimation, and finished writing it in October! What a wonderful feeling! This book is a high octane paranormal thriller/horror, filled with zombies and cyborgs and all sorts of mayhem. I am planning to query agents with this manuscript so I didn’t publish it yet. This was the first year in five years that I didn’t publish a book, and I’m not going to lie… I missed it. But I’m eager to get this one traditionally published so I’ll have to be patient a while longer. I finished writing my manuscript at an inopportune time–most agents don’t sign new contracts over the holidays, or so it seems–so I’m waiting for January to start querying. Wish me luck!
November brought NaNoWriMo and a new project that I’m working on, Goldenhair. This adult novel is a dark fairytale retelling, which has a creepy old witch in it… one of my favourite tropes. Although the rough draft is complete, it is exactly that… rough! It needs a lot of editing to smooth it out, which will be part of my new year’s goals.
The end of the year was busy with book signings and Christmas markets! After being unable to sell my books in person for the past few years because of the pandemic, it was amazing getting back out there in public and meeting my readers face to face. In order of events, I had a table at ThunderCon, Indigo – Thunder Bay, Geekfestivus, and the Holiday Craft Revival. The local support was tremendous, and I even sold out of two of my books!
There were many smaller achievements along the way, such as boot camps, book reviews written and received, published magazine articles, surviving a bout of Covid-19, and getting a new car, each little positive always celebrated. Because if we can’t celebrate our achievements, then who will? Right? Every day, every moment, is a blessing to embrace and appreciate.
I’m looking forward to the new year, and I’m already working on my New Year’s Resolutions to start the year off strong. I’ll keep you abreast of those in my next blog post!
How was your year? What are some of your highlights? I’d love to hear all about them!
Have a safe and happy transition into the new year, and don’t forget to keep reading!
💋 Lanie Mores
Amazing goals reached Lanie! You are an inspiration to all of us who are trying to do what you are doing! Keep up the good work and keep those books coming!! Looking forward to what you accomplish in 2023!!
Thank you so much, Kevin!
Cheers