See Ya 2016!

I know 2016's been crazy, but for me, it's been amazing!
I've kept up with my blogging, which is some kind of miracle quite honestly. This year I've somehow managed 53 blog posts, which means I've hit my target of once a week.
The most popular blog post this year was the book review I did for India Taylor and her book All Change, which has come as a shock. My book reviews are never the most popular of my posts. Go, India! After that, it was I Am ZA Ready, which I guess means that you guys have been spending the year preparing for the Zombie Armageddon. I don't blame you after the year we've had!

This year I managed to read 32 books, which is a few less than normal, but I've been super busy, as you'll see as this post goes on. I'm still happy though as I hit my target of 30.
Out of those 32, here are the top 10 in the order I read them: 
Next of Kin - Dan WellsGirl of Nightmares - Kendare BlakeThe New Hunger - Isaac MarionThe Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick NessThe 5th Wave - Rick YanceyThe Art of Being Normal - Lisa WilliamsonThe Infinite Sea - Rick YanceyThe Last Star - Rick YanceyHarry Potter and the Cursed Child - J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack ThorneBeautiful Broken Things - Sara Barnard
You should all go out and buy these books right away. They're all incredible!

Reading-wise, this year Rick Yancey stole my heart. I loved The 5th Wave trilogy so much! I promise I won't blabber on too much, but here are a few words and phrases I've used to describe the trilogy: reading bliss, tore me down and built me back up, phenomenal, both killed me and made me want to live, will stay with me always, a masterpiece, This book became me, need a stronger word than beautiful. I think you get the picture!
As well as reading, I also did some writing too! I'm happy to report that I'm back to my usual two books a year target. I have at last reached the end of my After trilogy, with the final book in the series now complete. I'm proud to announce the current title right here on this blog: Everafter. Make of that what you will! It took longer to write than the others, but that's probably down to tying everything up at the end. I'm going to be honest, the prospect of working on this trilogy is scaring me a little bit, so don't expect to see Abia in any book shops next year. I'm going to have to work out what to do with her first! If you want to know what on earth I'm talking about, you can read the first book on Movellas. Be prepared, it's unedited and an old draft at this point! But I like to share what I can with my readers :)

I also, of course, took part in NaNoWriMo 2016, which marks my 6th NaNo done and won! Woo! Also, I hit a total NaNo count of over 375,000 words, which is a pretty mean feat. All I'll say about this book is that Iris Hale is one badass demon hunter, and I love her. Again, this is even less of a sure thing than the After trilogy, so don't expect to hear about Iris for a while! Though you can read the first few (unedited!) chapters on Movellas.
The most exciting thing that's happened to me this year was the release of ZA, my pride and joy. My absolute world. I'm so thrilled with it I'm not sure I have the words to describe it. I've had such amazing feedback from my readers, and I couldn't be more grateful. If you haven't picked up ZA yet, maybe it's time for you to get ZA ready! You can buy it here :)

If you want all the ZA gossip, you should join my fantastic group of survivors! You can find more about all the cool stuff you can discover, such as facts and new POVs, here.

Because of ZA, I had the opportunity to do some truly amazing things this year. I've been on three radio shows (Phoenix FM, BBC Essex, Gateway FM), been a guest on a podcast, been to an author event, had an author event, run a competition, run a Goodreads giveaway, spoken at a writers' group, and had my very own book signing at Waterstones! I feel like the luckiest author in the world that I've been able to spread the ZA/writing/NaNoWriMo love with everyone!


As well as all that, I finished my website, which you can visit here, and my beloved Molten Publishing turned one! You can visit us at our website, which also went live this year! If you send us a submission, we'll give you feedback!

So, what's next? Gosh, I'm not sure how 2017 can top 2016, but I'm going to try and ramp it up even more! Not to mention, in 2017 I'm getting married to my wonderful fiancé who I've now known for 10 years. Wow.

Fingers crossed, next year I shall be bringing out another book, which needs a rather major fix up, so I'm not going to give you any more than that for now. Though I don't like keeping things a secret, so I'm sure I'll make an announcement sooner rather than later!

And of course, I'm going to write more! Again, I've set my goal at two books: one in spring (probably), and another for NaNoWriMo. But as well as that, I'm also going to be re-writing a book, so wish me luck!
Thanks to every one of you for supporting me this year. Whether you follow me on Twitter (I hit 10,000 followers this year), read my blog, listened to me on the radio, came to my signing, bought a copy of ZA, follow me on Movellas, whatever it is, I love you all.

Thank you for an incredible year, and here's to 2017!

Molly x



Molly LoobyAuthor / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready
molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk
Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo