Season's Greetings!
For this final #WIPWednesday of the year, my combined 2020/2021 retrospective #YearInReview.
Books
In February 2020, tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind was featured in West Suburban Living magazine.
Books
In February 2020, tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind was featured in West Suburban Living magazine.
At Death's Door, the anthology by Pixie Forest Publishing featuring my flash fiction story, "If Only," was released in paperback and e-book in February 2020.
In November, I was informed by the publisher that tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind was a finalist for the Poetry: Narrative Best Book Award by American Book Fest.
And I have not abandoned any of my previous WIPs – I just haven't worked on them for almost two years. I do hope to get back to at least one of them in the coming year.
Essays, Articles, Short Stories, and Poems
In the past two years, I published fifteen essays and had a few syndicated on Love What Matters, The Mighty, Yahoo! Lifestyle, HrtWarming, TODAY Parents, For Every Mom, and The Good Men Project.
I was even asked permission to have my essay, "Acknowledging the Trauma," used in a graduate course on clinical trauma.
In November, I was informed by the publisher that tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind was a finalist for the Poetry: Narrative Best Book Award by American Book Fest.
And I have not abandoned any of my previous WIPs – I just haven't worked on them for almost two years. I do hope to get back to at least one of them in the coming year.
Essays, Articles, Short Stories, and Poems
In the past two years, I published fifteen essays and had a few syndicated on Love What Matters, The Mighty, Yahoo! Lifestyle, HrtWarming, TODAY Parents, For Every Mom, and The Good Men Project.
I was even asked permission to have my essay, "Acknowledging the Trauma," used in a graduate course on clinical trauma.
My essay, "My Husband and I Never Say 'I Love You, Too,'"continues to be 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 or syndicated 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 top three pieces have not changed in the past two years, but their views have continued to grow as they still occasionally circulate.
My Top 3 Essays To Date:
(estimated based on page stats and/or social media reactions)
143,766 - 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
19,522 - 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
13,392 - 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, and Appearances
I was part of a Poetry & Art event in September 2021 at which I read my poem, "growth." It was my first public poetry reading.
I was able to grow my mailing list by a handful of new subscribers, even during my hiatus. Presumably because of some of my past work continues to be shared and circulated. Now that my break is over, I've reinstated my quarterly newsletter.
I was able to get the Google search results for tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind and myself as an author untangled (mostly) from another author by the same name. And I'm now featured with my photo in Google search results.
I continue to have social media profiles on all the major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Though, I took a very long and complete break from all of them. I have started to slowly re-engage but I am not going to try to maintain an active presence on all of them. I am most active on Instagram, right now – especially in my Stories where I share little tidbits of my daily life and random glimpses into what's on my mind at the moment. As for all other social media, I post when I have new work to share (or sometimes re-share).
Looking to 2022
As I said in my latest newsletter:
I was able to get the Google search results for tumbling: poetic thoughts from an anxious mind and myself as an author untangled (mostly) from another author by the same name. And I'm now featured with my photo in Google search results.
I continue to have social media profiles on all the major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Though, I took a very long and complete break from all of them. I have started to slowly re-engage but I am not going to try to maintain an active presence on all of them. I am most active on Instagram, right now – especially in my Stories where I share little tidbits of my daily life and random glimpses into what's on my mind at the moment. As for all other social media, I post when I have new work to share (or sometimes re-share).
Looking to 2022
As I said in my latest newsletter:
"The past [two years have] been a lot. For all of us. I'm not sure I believe the next [two years] will be all the easier, but I do believe we'll be able to handle whatever life throws our way. And I have aspirations of having enough to share with you that the Quarterly Newsletter will once again be quarterly.I hope 2022 brings you peace and comfort.Be kind to yourself and others.Thanks for reading and thank you for your continued support though my long hiatus. I appreciate each and every one of you!"