#WriterWednesday: Looking Back At 2018, And Ahead To 2019 - The #Writing Edition

Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.
~Ann Patchett

I told you in yesterday's post how last year was for me in general, and what my goals for 2019 are in most areas of my life. But now it's time to take a look back at how 2018 was for me as an author, and what writerly goals I have for 2019.

Despite the health issues, and everything else I ended up dealing with, 2018 actually wasn't too bad of a year for me as an author, though it could have been better. I didn't do everything I'd planned to, but did a lot of it, and even did a couple of things I hadn't planned to. I think I did OK overall.

You can read full details of my writing goals for 2018 here, but here's the short version of what my writing goals were:

*Continue audiobook production of my backlist.
*Finish and publish that pirate themed adventure story.
*Get my new pet themed poetry collection published.
*Update my website and social media profiles so they mention audiobooks too.
*Change the paperback links on my Smashwords book pages so it lists the links for Amazon instead.
*Just write, and enjoy the process.

So, how did I do?

*I did continue audiobook production, though I didn't get all my backlist available in audio like I'd hoped to. I now have almost all my backllist available in audio though, despite production delays, and the need to dissolve the contracts for some of my books. Those not yet produced are expected to become available in early 2019... I hope.
*I didn't get my pirate themed adventure story finished and published, because real life got in the way. I probably could have squeezed in some writing time some days that I didn't, but I was already juggling so much that I let my writing take a back seat, because I just couldn't do it all. So I haven't made as much progress on the story as I'd have liked. There's progress, but not as much as I'd have liked, and it's nowhere near being ready for publication yet.
*Both the eBook and paperback versions of my new pet themed poetry collection - entitled "Puppy Poems And Rodent Rhymes" - were published in March. The audio version is hopefully coming soon.
*My social media profiles were updated back in January. I added mention of audio books, and took the opportunity to do a slight rewrite on my profile while I was at it. It took longer for the website to be done - and there are a few updates yet to happen on it - but I did send the updates to the person responsible for doing them in January. It's not my fault if he didn't get to hem.
*I change the paperback links on my Smashwords book pages back in January. Thankfully, I didn't have to change them again when CreateSpace merged with KDP during the second half of this year.
*Writing time... Yeah... I really didn't do well with that. During the first couple of months, I didn't get even close to enough writing time for my liking. So many other things were going on, including the completion of many of the tasks on this list. Then I was dealing with medical issues, and spent several months either in hospital, or at home feeling unwell, so let my writing take a back seat in order to achieve the other million things I was juggling. During the last couple of months I was feeling a lot better, but had a bunch of things I wanted to finish before the end of the year, so continued to let my writing take a back seat. So, yeah... There wasn't as much time to just write as I'd planned, or would have liked. I did enjoy what writing time I did get though... Does that count?

As it turned out, I also did a couple of things not on my list:

*Added links to Audible on my books' Smashwords pages, since Smashwords made the option to list where your books are for sale in audio available in June, so I figured I'd make use of it.
*Wrote a story about our Westie girl, Lilie, which was published in August. The story - which is called "Where's Noodles?" - is already available as an eBook, paperback, and audio book.
*Made Kindle versions of my books available. So, now those of you with Kindles can buy your eBooks directly from Amazon, if you want to. This does not make any difference to the versions already available from other eBook retailers, such as Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, etc. Also, Kindle friendly versions of all my books are still - and will continue to be made - available to purchase via Smashwords too.

Like I said, it wasn't too bad of a year, even though I didn't complete all the goals I set myself. I achieved a lot, including some things I hadn't planned, even with everything going on in my life. So I'm not complaining, and am considering it a reasonably good year.

Still, I'm hoping for a better 2019. In particular, I'm crossing my fingers for a year with more writing time in it, since I have a lot of story ideas begging for my attention, and I want to be able to share my animal stories, fairy tales, etc, with you.

So, what are my goals for 2019?

Finish writing, and then publish, the adventure story. I mean it this time.Finish getting the last of my backlist available as audio books.Write and publish at least one other story.Write more poems towards my next poetry collection.

I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.
~Louisa May Alcott

Of course, my upcoming surgery will put a bit of a spanner in the works, especially considering I don't have a laptop at the moment, can't exactly be carrying something as heavy as the brailler around immediately after surgery, don't get on with the document writing thingy on my Kindle, and find it tricky to do more than a very short piece of writing with my phone. This means that writing while I'm in hospital, and immediately afterwards, isn't really going to be an option. At least, no more than a few brief scribbles. But afterwards... When I'm home, and have had a bit of recovery time... I hope, will involve plenty of writing. I'll also be trying to get some writing time in before I go in for surgery.

Oh, by the way... There's still time to register for STORYSTORM 2019, in case you want to do that. Registration closes on January 7th.

Anyway, how's your writing going? Did you have any writing goals in 2018? If yes, how did you do with them? Did you meet your 2018 writing goals? If not, it's OK. Yes, it really is. After all, there is a difference between failure and not meeting your writing goals. No matter how well you did, let me know in the comments, so I can help you look back on all you've accomplished!

This is the start of a whole new year, and another chance to start fresh with a whole new set of goals. Speaking of which, are you making any goals for 2019? If so, what are they? I'd love for you to tell me in the comments. Whatever they are, good luck, and remember these 12 things.