Annual Writing Report

 

Here we go, almost the end of another year, so it's time for my annual writing report. This post will be a little longer than normal, since I have a few categories to cover. In summary, though, I'm happy with the way things went this year in my writing life. I've spent a lot more time writing, thanks to the support of other writers and teachers. 

I'm sure some people think that writing is a solitary venture, and it does involve a lot of time spent alone, but without the support of the writing community, I would get almost nothing done. So--thank you to all who have accompanied me on my writing journey this year! You know who you are!

Submissions: I had a goal to submit 50 times this year and I managed 46...so far! There's a few days left in the year, though so I still hope to reach this goal.

Short Stories Published: It was a pretty lean year, with only one story published. I can trace this to a paltry submission rate in 2023, when I only submitted 23 times. (Hence this year's more generous goal!) Thank you, Gone Lawn, for publishing my strange little story, We Have Always Lived on the Earth.

Books Published: I'm very proud to report that my first science fiction novel was published this year. The Kiss Catastrophe came out in paperback, hardback, and e-book form in early June. You can buy it in all three formats on Amazon, but the paperback is available on Bookshop where you can order through your local bookstore. I also have signed copies if you'd like one! Just send me an email (raima.larter@gmail.com) or find it in my online store.

Time Spent Writing: Last year I noticed a distinct and disturbing downward trend in the amount of time I'd logged writing. I keep track of my writing time, as I do for other things that it's easy to fool myself about, so I knew that my sense that I wasn't writing, even though I wanted to, was real. I have done better this year, as can be seen in this graph. There's still a ways to go to get back to those impressive numbers (achieved during the covid pandemic....probably not unrelated!) but I'm happy with the upward tick in the trend.

Reading: Writers must read; there's no way around it, and reading books was also something that fell off for me in recent years. So, I've made an effort to read more and my local library has been a huge help in that regard, since I'm out of bookshelf space at home! I signed up for the Goodreads Challenge this year with a goal to read 25 books--and I crushed that goal. 32 books read so far, with another about half finished and likely to be added to the total before the calendar turns over to 2025 in a few days. Some favorites this year have been City of Dancing Gargoyles, by my friend Tara Campbell, a strange post-apocalyptic world peopled by some odd but very engaging characters (yes, some are gargoyles); Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel (finally read it and wish I had done so sooner! Fantastic time-travel tale); and a whole slew of books by Alexander McCall-Smith who I'd never heard of until this year when I stumbled on his books at the library. These very cozy reads were just what I needed this year, and help explain how I smashed my reading goal. If you like humorous BBC programs, you'll love these light tales.

Other Writing-Related Activities: I continued my volunteer work as Nonfiction Editor for Utopia Science Fiction Magazine. We are still going strong and were excited, this year, to increase our pay rates for writers to what is considered the "professional level" for scifi magazines. I also took a few classes, mostly at the Lighthouse, Denver's fantastic writers center, but also a few online. And I've spent quite a bit of time meeting (usually via Zoom, but sometimes in person) with several groups of writers for help critiquing each others' work and just generally supporting one another on the journey. Thanks to all of you; you know who you are!

In the Works for Next Year: I am currently working on copy edits for a novella, Silver Rush, which I plan to publish next year, probably early summer. This novella is a spin-off featuring characters from my earlier novel, Belle o' the Waters, and follows the saga of Maggie and Silas McPhee as they travel the US in the 1850s, each seeking a different goal (hint: Silas is looking for silver!) I will have more to say about this project soon. 

That's it! Sorry for being so wordy...but it was a pretty good year, at least in my writing life. I hope your year was good, too. On to 2025!