Season's Greetings, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas!
For this final #WIPWednesday of the year, my 2019 retrospective #YearInReview.
Books
As you can tell by the title of this blog, there was a time when I thought I'd never write a book. The reasons varied through the years, but the bottom line remained the same.
Nearly two years ago, I thought, "Well, maybe I will," but I proceeded to jump from project to project, never able to see one through to completion.
So, it was with a great sense of progress and accomplishment that my collection of poetry and prose, tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind, was published by Lasting Impact Press in late-November. Its launch was more successful than I could have hoped, with both the e-book and paperback reaching #1 in New Releases for a short time in a single category each on Amazon. And it is continuing to receive good reviews.
Earlier this year, I had a poem published in Sea Glass Hearts, a poetry anthology by Stormy Island Publishing.
I also had a short story accepted into At Death's Door, an anthology which is due to be published in the near future by Pixie Forest Publishing.
I have not abandoned any of my previous WIPs, and, in fact, hope to resume work on one of them early in the new year.
Essays, Articles & Short Stories
Last year, 2018, was an incredible year for me as an essayist. Going into this year, I could only hope to not loose too much of that momentum.
I am grateful to say, I did not.
I became a contributor to 8 more publications, making my contributor badge collection now more extensive than I ever imagined it would be.
This year, I was featured on InspireMore, Medium (including SNAPSHOTS, P.S. I Love You, Hopes and Dreams for Our Future, and Invisible Illness), The Good Men Project, TODAY Parents, Filter Free Parents, The Mighty, Yahoo! Lifestyle, Love What Matters, Her View From Home, Twiniversity, Sammiches & Psych Meds, Scary Mommy, Thought Catalog, Reality Moms, and For Every Mom.
My essay, My Husband and I Never Say "I Love You, Too," became my highest earning piece of writing ever, surpassing my first piece in income (though not in views).
I don't have access to pageview data for each of the sites that published my work (though that would be the best metric to measure each piece's success), but I use a combination of the stats I do have to estimate how each of my pieces performs.
My first essay continues to be my top performing piece, but spots 2 and 3 were taken over by new essays this year!
My Top 3 Essays To Date:
(estimated based on page stats and/or social media reactions)
121,551 - 5 Reasons I’m Going To Continue Being A SAHM Even After My Kids Are In School: originally published on Scary Mommy; syndicated on That's Inappropriate (now Filter Free Parents), & Her View From Home
9,649 - When Anxiety Makes You Feel Like You Are in Danger Every Day of Your Life: originally published on Invisible Illness; syndicated on Thought Catalog, The Mighty, Yahoo! Lifestyle, & InspireMore
7,192 - My Husband and I Never Say “I Love You, Too”: originally published on P.S. I Love You; syndicated on InspireMore, TODAY Parents, The Good Men Project, & Filter Free Parents
Online Presence & Mailing List
Early this year, I decided to start a quarterly newsletter. I'm happy to report that I managed to get each of the newsletters delivered right on time and I was able to grow my mailing list, slowly but consistently, throughout the year. Success all around!
The other biggest addition this year is that I now have an Amazon Author Page (and Goodreads & BookBub author pages, too)!
I was incredibly happy and relieved when my Facebook page name change was finally granted in January after nearly 10 months stuck in limbo!
When it comes to social media, going into 2019, my goal was to organically grow my Facebook page to 500 followers by my birthday in February. Thanks to some fantastic support, I met that goal and, as likes have continued to trickle in since then, have now exceeded it with my Facebook page currently sitting at more than 630 follows.
I continue to have social media profiles on all the major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Though, I do not try to maintain an active presence on all of them. I have continued with my original goal to post on Facebook once a day, the rest only when I have new work to share or time I am able to spend supporting others with my interactions.
Looking to 2020
The past two years have far exceeded my expectations for my writing career. I fear I won't be able to keep up this pace. So, my only goal in 2020 is to finish another WIP – to not give up on it all out of anxiety, fear, and overwhelm, to keep going at my own pace.
