things of 2015

December 14, 2015

If 2014 was the year of traveling, 2015 has been the year of author events. I discovered, somewhere along the way that there’s a lot of great book community activity around me and I jumped into the middle of it. Even made a new friend on New Year’s Eve.

The other part of this year has been editing my audiobook. I had no idea, when I started, everything that would be involved or how long it would take. My goals for the year were laughable. I was going to publish the audiobook of Tattered Heart by March and publish Enchanted Storms (which didn’t even have a title yet). I was going to complete the first draft of Arizona by June. Then revise and query Arizona in Sept.

I like big goals. And I would have come a lot closer to them if I’d devoted myself to finishing the audiobook more. But it would have meant sacrificing more of my life than I was willing to. It’s a grand project and I’ve learned so much. So Much. It’s been daunting and rewarding and I can’t wait until it’s finished, not just to be done with it but because it’s going to be awesome. And yet, I wouldn’t let it dominate my life (and also work wouldn’t let me). So, I spent some weeks editing for hours and hours and some weeks not touching it at all. I talked about it a lot, because except for writing Enchanted Storms, nearly all year long when I thought of, “what do I need to do?” the answers was always – finish my audiobook.

It will be done by the end of the year. And in the meantime, I’ve lived a bit and met some very cool people.

Year of

His Restoration. Everything that was robbed, taken from you, God will restore. This didn’t play out the way I thought. Or hoped. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t true but realizing that I need to reexamine what in my life needed to be restored. Not man’s restoration. When man restores it’s never the same as the original. When God restores it’s greater in quality or quantity or both. Joel 2:25 says God will restore to you the years that the locusts has eaten.

Isaiah 42:22 says “no one says Restore” because if you say restore you have to believe God is a restorer.

Restore your soul, mind, emotions if they’re out of sync with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps that’s where my restoration happened. Not outwardly in what I thought the locusts had stolen but internally getting something sync’d up properly.

things of 2015 banner

January

This Shattered World. I decided to write a blog post because there’s a whole story.

February

Los Angeles. We did Midnight Disneyland (starting at like 9pm until the park closed). It’s a whole different experience and a lot of fun. But next year we’re getting a hotel by the park because the drive is insane.

Then San Francisco for work and friends and family.

March

Toronto for a few days. The hotel I stayed at had a black out one night from a storm. Well, the whole section of town had the black out and so finding dinner was… interesting.

NovaTeen to see Alethea Kontis again, have Dearest signed and find out that The Woodcutter series will continue (because I need Monday’s story). It was also fun to hear other authors like Tracy Clark, Sarah Raasch and Morgan Rhodes who was hilarious and I kind of adore even though I couldn’t finish Falling Kingdoms.

Then Leah Cypess for Death Sworn and Death Marked. If you haven’t read Leah, her novels don’t fit any fantasy mold which makes them interesting.

New Jersey happened but wasn’t that much fun. Dinner at the Bookstore could have been fun.

April

Oklahoma City. I saw one side of my extended family for a few days which was great. People I both love and like and hadn’t seen in years. We always say we should do it more often for different reasons. One of these days we will. I also finally got to see the Survivor Tree in person which was neat for me.

May was unusually quiet.

June

AC Gaughen on tour for Lion Heart. The Scarlet trilogy is maybe my favorite series of the year and she was so sweet and so much fun.

Miami was a quick trip with the first of the instagram battles that never happened. Which means, of course, that I won.

July

Colorado and a lot of old friends. We said we’d all do a better job of keeping in touch and now five months later I intend to.

August

The outskirts of Chicago so nothing really interesting. Just dinner one night outside beneath a heat lamp because we weren’t willing to wait an hour. But it was still pretty chilly for August.

September

Andover, MA which is not quite Boston. That instagram battle I actually won and then had a good steak dinner.

Atlanta again. My favorite fish weren’t at the entrance to the aquarium for the first time. But we made some new friends so it was a good night.

October

Jodi Meadows for The Orphan Queen. I pre-ordered The Orphan Queen for the calligraphy quotes Jodi sent out (how cool is that for a pre-order campaign?!). But then I had an unsigned book in my collection kind of taunting me so I was glad I had the chance to meet Jodi and have it signed. She was inordinately fun answering questions on the panel.

And of course Rick Riordan.

I also participated in my first twitter chat for Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (thanks to Charlene). I had quite a bit of fun.

November

Leigh Bardugo. Shadow and Bone has its own story too but I haven’t written a blog post for it. In part because my Grisha Trilogy experience is not yet complete. Leigh was hilarious and interesting. But when you try to tweet things like, “How much time have you spent looking for a lady-friend” outside the context of being asked at sci-fi/fantasy conventions why she includes so much romance in her novels, it’s not quite the same. Also, her explaining that Six of Crows will be a two book series but she won’t call it a duology because she hates that word. “It sounds like a facecream. I use Duology.”

December

Their Fractured Light. It’s kind of fun that I both started and ended the year with Meg and Amie.

Friday playlist

My Friday playlist for the year features the first song added by someone other than me. The question is, can you guess which song?

I also did a rather remarkable job of almost posting a blog entry once a week thanks to my fairy tale legacy series. 10 posts in the series and insisting that I have at least something in between them kept me writing and posting. I also learned last year with SciFi Nov that writing posts out while traveling and then editing and scheduling them made the whole thing much more feasible. Let’s see how well I keep up the momentum in 2016…

Posted in: Arizona, Enchanted Storms, Life, Tattered Heart ~ , ,

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10 responses to “things of 2015

  1. Ooh, what a busy year! And I think it’s awesome how you can detail what you did and who you met each month. hehe. I CAN NEVER REMEMBER STUFF. Gah.
    Me: *waves vaguely at the past* STUFF HAPPENED. (And that’s about the strength of it. XD)
    Good luck for finishing off your audio!! and that is aWESOME that you met so many epic authors. I’ve yet to meet an author but….bucket list, right?! 😛

    • Annie

      Oh I relay heavily on my calendar when composing this post each year 🙂 And there’s a lot of, “Did that happen this year or last year or…?” Authors make fantastic bucket list events! Also, flying trapeze lessons 🙂

  2. Wow this is a great year recap! You were so busy! I love that you went to Disneyland at night too – it is definitely a different experience, and still so much fun. I’m sure doing a hotel stay will be even better though!
    So many books you’ve mentioned I haven’t read yet, but I intend to. Especially Six of Crows! And thank you again for participating in the twitter chat – it was great to talk to you there! 🙂
    Good luck with all your projects – it’s exciting that you have so many things going on!

    • Annie

      I still haven’t read Six of Crows either! I had no idea Disneyland would be so different at night but it’s like this underground, totally different version 🙂

  3. Yay for Leigh Bardugo! I don’t really love the word duology either, it’s sort of odd. I think I assumed Six of Crows was a trilogy, but I’m kind of glad it’s just two books because quicker resolution and all. Also, having read it, it didn’t feel like the start of a trilogy, but there definitely needs to be one more book!

    • Annie

      It’s funny, I don’t like the word duology either 🙂 I get how it’s constructed as a word but it’s just a weird, awkward word.

  4. WOW you were insanely busy this year! So awesome that you went to disneyland at night – must of been MAGICAL. Also, very awesome that you started and ended the year with Meg and Amie – and their books are so amazing!
    Great post, Annie <33

    • Annie

      thanks! Disneyland at night is totally magical but also Disneyland for adults. Still magical and fun with but a nightlife edge. Like, they had a rock band playing in the middle of Tomorrowland and stuff. It was cool 🙂

  5. Wow, your year sounds amazing! So much happened, it seems. And I’m really jealous of you because you’re able to meet so many cool writers – no-one ever comes to Europe these days… (and even if they did, Slovenia isn’t really on the list of most visited destinations for American authors).
    And congratulations on keeping up with your blog – it’s always good to look back and see what you’ve accomplished, isn’t it? 🙂

    • Annie

      It really is fun to look back at the year. If you went far enough back in my blog you’d see for a long time I was lucky to post once a month so this is an achievement 🙂 I was amazed that so many authors come through here. I’ve lived here for years with no idea 🙂 If I were on a book tour, I’d totally want to come to Slovenia. The pictures you post make it look amazing!