2019 has been a pretty good year. I feel like the first half of it was epic then the latter half still had good moments but the majority got kinda weird. Things happened that made me cry in absolute joy and then others that made me sob in grief and worry. So I’m very split when it comes to my overall opinion of the last year of this decade.
What I did
1.) This month: So at the beginning of this month I got some critique from my agent and she suggested a lot of big changes for Red Hood. I didn’t mind the critique. I mean I’ve gotten tons of critique but I wished she’d looked at it earlier because I felt like I wasted a whole year submitting a book that could be better. So I grappled with that feeling for the majority of the month. Now I’m at the point where I’m figuring out a new game plan for next year and I’m going to be rewriting the first five chapters so I can get the book back out there at least while I try to revise the rest. I’ve been discussing with some friends on how to proceed and I think I’ve got a good idea of what I want to do with it.
I’ve also been revising a pitch for my agent for a big rewrite of Starbloods now called In Darkest Starlight. Would this story interest you guys?
A young sorcerer suffers under a curse that enslaves his will to a tyrannical sorceress and he must manipulate two innocents into killing her for him or spend the rest of his life as her henchman.
I’ve been plodding along with Silver Hood. I really like the plot if I can just get the darn thing written. I’m almost there!
This year: Well, first and foremost I got an agent which has been amazing and validating. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since I signed with the agency. My agent has been sending my book out to publishers I couldn’t dream of reaching on my own and though I haven’t gotten a yes yet I’m trying to be patient until the right publisher comes along. I got the right agent. Now for the right publisher.
I was also published in an anthology and devotional!
2.) This month: I did some Christmassy things this month like seeing the Garden of Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, baking Christmas cookies, and attending a Christmas Tea at my aunt’s house. ☺️
This year: So much went down this year. The mostly non-nerdy biggest highlights were going to the Statue of Liberty with my best cuz, visiting freaking Iceland, attending Realm Makers, and going to Animal Kingdom with friends in Florida.
3.) This month: I’ve been reading Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young and The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett and Link and enjoying both!
This year: I’ve read 18 books because I’m a slow reader, but I read a lot of great ones!
4.) This month: Though I’m still with Think Christian, I quit Geeks Under Grace and CBR. It was really tough like a breakup, but I was doing too many side gigs and not focusing on actual novel writing and platform-building like I should be. So though I did cry and it took me a week to get over, I feel a lot less stressed out.
This year: I wrote a bunch of articles for Think Christian, several for CBR, and edited dozens for Geeks Under Grace. I’ve definitely been productive lol.
The Geeky Department
1.) This month: I have been watching My Hero Academia and RWBY mostly. I am loving the new season of My Hero, so much so that I’m going to cosplay as one of the newly introduced characters!
This year: I’ve watched …
Gravity Falls – I am now a big fan.
Some Naruto Shippuden – I will be watching more while working on my new cosplay. It’s a good show to watch while artsing. 35 more episodes to go!
BBC’s And Then There Were None – I adore this series. An amazing book adaption!
Fruits Basket 2019 – Loved it. It was amazing. Cried so much.
Carnival Row – The worldbuilding is amazing, but why did it have to have so much adult content? It didn’t need it.
Stranger Things Season 3 – Loved it!
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 3 – This season felt drawn out. I hope it wraps up soon before the plot dilutes.
Attack on Titan Season 3 – MINDBLOWING!
Game of Thrones – I watched it for cultural reasons and I’m not watching it again.
2.) This month: I finished Horizon: Zero Dawn and oh my gosh guys, it is one of the best games I’ve played in my life. It’s in my top favorite games now. Fantastic game! I’ve now started The Witcher: Wild Hunt which I’m just not into right now so I switched to another game some friends gave me Final Fantasy XII which I’m still getting into but I love the worldbuilding so I think I’ll end up liking it. We shall see!
This year: I’ve played …
Okami – The art was neat, but the plot felt anticlimactic at times and I couldn’t stand the sidekick.
Ori and the Blind Forest (Nintendo Switch) – Gorgeous game and much easier to play on the Switch!
RiME – Not a big fan. Wasted worldbuilding for a metaphor.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – So cute!!!
Assassin’s Creed III – I haven’t finished it yet for some reason, but it’s a fun game so far.
Forgotton Anne – Awesome plot, awesome worldbuilding, awesome characters. I ship Anne and Fig so hard!
Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright Trilogy – A fun mystery game with good twists and quirky characters! I enjoyed it!
Shadow of the Colossus – A very beautiful and emotional game!
All of the Kingdom Hearts Games – LOVE! My favorite games are Dream Drop Distance and Birth by Sleep!
The Last Guardian – Fun worldbuilding and Trico is so cute!
Shadow of Mordor – An awesome fanfic game!
Final Fantasy XV + Episodes – So. Beautiful.
3.) This month: I watched Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker with family. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, but I saw it because culture and it was all right.
This year: I watched …
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – I didn’t expect a Mr. Rogers movie to be trippy. Not my favorite.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor – Loved this documentary. I cried like a baby.
Tolkien – I would have edited this a lot differently if I made this movie. Not my favorite.
Shazam! – It was an okay superhero movie.
Avengers: Endgame – That last battle scene is worth the whole movie.
Captain Marvel – Goose and Fury forever.
The Great C – My first VR movie! A cool experience!
How to Train Your Dragon 3 – Toothless babies!!!
4.) This month: I got to see Of Monsters and Men live in concert which was a dream come true!
This year: I got to meet a ton of celebrities on my bucket list! I met Lindsay Jones (Ruby from RWBY), Barbara Dunkelman (Yang from RWBY), Arryn Zech (Blake from RWBY), Katelyn Eberle (Weiss from RWBY), Patricia Summersett (Zelda from Breath of the Wild), Jim Cummings ( The Official Voice of Pooh Bear), Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen from Arrow), David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who), Christopher Lloyd (Hacker from Cyberchase), Chris Sabat (All Might from My Hero Academia), Clifford Chapin (Bakugo from My Hero Academia), Justin Briner (Midoriya from My Hero Academia), Sam Astin (Sam from The Lord of the Rings), Jason Lebriecht (Yato from Noragami, Dabi from My Hero Academia), David Wald (Hannes from Attack on Titan), Jack De Sena (Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender), and the one and only Rhett and Link!!!
I also got to go to New York City and see a crap ton of the J.R.R. Tolkien’s original art and notes! SO RAD! I wish they allowed pictures! And I got to finally see Wicked! And I loved it!
5.) This month: I am working on a new cosplay! I’m so excited about it! I’m going to be doing Tamaki Ajimira aka Suneater from My Hero Academia! He came in at the end of the last season, but after his focal episode, he touched my heart. I can relate to him so much and I knew he had to be 2020’s new cosplay. I’m going to be trying my hand at foam armor making!
This year: I got to cosplay as Yuki Sohma from Fruits Basket and Namine from Kingdom Hearts! Namine I mostly cosplayed because I look like her and needed a KH cosplay for Project Kingdom Hearts, but Yuki I really relate to. I get what it’s like to feel like you’re wearing masks all the time. He was a great first crossplay!
What I’m Going to Do
1.) Next Month: I’m going to keep plodding along to get this dumb draft of Silver Hood done. 😂 Then I’ll also be revising the first five chapters of Red Hood to resubmit to my agent so she can shop out to publishers.
Next Year: My big writing goals are …
- Revise Red Hood but start with the first five chapters
- Finish Silver Hood and get it to betas
- Start planning and first draft at least In Darkest Starlight
- Finally move to my own URL
- Get my Instagram platform up to snuff. I’m going for 1K followers minimum.
Lots of goals but I have 366 (CAUSE IT’S A LEAP YEAR) to do them!
I’m also starting a mail list (cause dat’s what author’s need to do), launching on January 6th! I’ll be sharing excerpts from my writing, more in-depth details about my writing process, tips as I learn them in my writing journey, and my biweekly life happenings. If you’d like to sign up use the form below!
2.) Next month: I’m mostly going to be working and recovering from the holidays. 😂 But I am taking off a week at the end of the month to just get a bunch of home projects done and concentrate on writing. I’m really looking forward to that. I’m also going to finally go to a Chinese New Year event! At last!
Next year:
- In February, I’m visiting my lovely friend Cadi in Orlando and we’re going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Squee!!!
- In April, I’m going to MegaCon Orlando with Casey and Amy! ALL FOUR HOBBITSES ARE GOING TO BE THERE!
- In May, I’m going to MomoCon for perhaps a day since Mickey Mouse’s official voice actor will be there! I may also be going to a writing retreat. We shall see.
- In July, I’m going to Realm Makers and I’ll be visiting family in New York and New Jersey!
- The rest of the year I’m not really sure what I’m doing yet. I am going to Canada again at some point in the summer to visit Cassia and go to Drumheller though!
3.) Next month: I’m going to finish Sky in the Deep and The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek and start The Progeny by Tosca Lee and the Queen’s Resistance by Rebecca Ross.
Next year: I for sure want to read all of these parts because I own a bunch of these and I like to read what I own lol.
- The Elf Stones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
- The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson
- Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo
- The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
- The Awakened by Richard Spillman
- Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
- Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill
- The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
- Reclaiming Shilo Snow by Mary Weber
- Scythe by Neal Shusterman
4.) Next month: I’m going to apply for more PAYING writing gigs so I can work less with non-writing day jobs.
Next year: I really want to work hard at making money with writing even if it isn’t novel writing because I feel like in the long run I want to work from home so I want to really concentrate on that goal.
Last Month on Wanderer’s Pen …
Monthly Wanderings: November 2019
Canada 2019 Report
A Book Review of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Writing Lessons from TV Shows: Gravity Falls
The 20 Question Book Tag!
Coming Soon to Wanderer’s Pen …
January 14: Why Retconning is a Writer’s Deadliest Sin – I really hate retconning. It’s killed so many great shows and books and I want to discuss why it’s poison for stories.
January 17: ScribeTunes: Peaceful – I am so excited to announce ScribeTunes! This is a bimonthly series where Cassia and I release playlists of music to fit the moods you need for writing! All of
January 21: A Book Review of The Blood Spell by C.J. Redwine – I’m finally getting to this review! I’m excited to squee over another Redwine book!
January 24: Writing Lessons from Video Games: Forgotton Anne – I adored this indie game and it had so many good writing points!
January 28: ScribeTunes: Soft Action – You know those scenes that aren’t all-out battles, but they can be tense conversations or walking in a tense area? Then this is the playlist you need!
January 31: Monthly Wanderings: January 2020 – Like this but for January!
Overall, I enjoyed 2019 and I’m excited about what 2020 will bring! Happy new decade and happy new year!