A new one soon begins…
2023 is pretty much a wrap! I usually do a year-end post around this time of year. It’s hard to believe 2024 is just around the corner. It seems like only yesterday we were cowering in a corner with our canned goods and candles, worried about Y2K! And now I’m certain some would have to use Google to even look up the meaning of Y2K. Sigh. We’re getting old!
This was one of those years where I didn’t get much writing done. I’m simultaneously working on two manuscripts, but it’s slow going. I hope to make progress in the new year. You know those awkward and soon forgotten RESOLUTION thingies? Yeah, well…that. I’m going to make a concerted effort to write every single day. I’ve given myself a goal of AT LEAST 500 words a day. I know when I really get going, this would be nothing. I sometimes write several thousand words a day. I just didn’t want to reach too high after such a shitty year this year. I feel like my writing habits took a huge kick in the face ever since the pandemic began, but I also don’t feel quite right blaming the pandemic for that kick. Was it already coming prior to the world’s heartrending shift to madness? Probably. I just don’t know. I felt like I was just finding my pace when I wrote The Camino Club…but it feels like it’s been downhill ever since.
Look at me, I can’t even write in proper paragraphs for a year-end blog post. Sorry you didn’t get to breathe properly through that huge brick of words I just threw at you!
On a light note, it’s been a wonderful travel year! We started with a cruise in January that took us to Aruba, Haiti, and Curacao. And it ended with an amazing two week trip to Paris! The whole two weeks are blogged here on the site, from the first day to the last. We did EVERYTHING and had so much fun! It is definitely my favourite place on earth.
Though I didn’t write a lot, I still feel I had a few good accomplishments. While participating in my 15th Muskoka Novel Marathon, I wrote part of a novel that would go on to win the 2023 Best Novel Award in the Juvenile category! The mid-grade novel, tentatively titled TYLER FREEMONT WRITES A PLAY, is my 6th Best Novel win!
Also, just today I received notification of an honorary mention in the December Off-Topic Publishing Non-Fiction Writing Contest… for my piece How Jamhuri Day Changed My Life. If this gets published later in January, I’ll be sure to share a link. Here’s a link to the winner of that contest.
I also have my 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon Best Novel Award winning novel (click here to find out what novel this is) out on submission at the moment. Fingers crossed on that one! I have high hopes for it, but I’m not sure of its marketability. We shall see.
I feel like this was a reading year. I am on book number 203 for 2023 right now. How does that oft repeated Ecclesiastes refrain go? Yada, yada, yada, a time to reap, a time to sow…to paraphrase. Well, 2023 was my year of collecting the words of others. Hopefully, 2024 will be my year for sowing the seeds for others. I know I really needed to read this year.
Daily writing goal? Check!
As for reading, I’ve set my goal for 2024 at 100. I hope NOT to surpass that goal. This will give me more time for writing.
Travel goals? We are already booked. Mexico in May and Thailand in November. Stay tuned! Should be an amazing year of wanderings!
Happy New Year to all! May your coming year be amazing and magical!
KEVIN CRAIG 