At the Closing of the Year: Considering 2013

So, like lots of other folks, I see 2013 as an interesting mix. The Map of My Dead Pilots came out in paperback and has done pretty well with steady monthly sales. I was hired as a freelance aviation reporter and contributor to the Alaska Dispatch Bush Pilot blog and [drumroll please] formed Shorefast Editions with my longtime pal Katrina and we republished The Flying North, the first of many more books to come.*

So that's all good!

I also attended ALA Midwinter, which was a lot of fun and gave me the chance to meet a ton of folks I only knew previously via emails and twitter. In September I traveled to Haines, AK for the AK Historical Society/Museums AK conference and presented on The Flying North, meeting lots of other great folks (and falling hard in love with Haines). And in October I worked a table at the Pacific NW Booksellers Association for Shorefast and met a bunch of booksellers from the region and got to see how publishers pitched books.

That was very very interesting. (And I really should blog about ALA MW & PNBA because as an author and publisher I learned a lot, both good and bad.)

Bonus moment: I achieved a writerly goal by having an essay published in ALASKA magazine (September); something I long hoped to achieve.

In December I wrote my 100th YA column for Bookslut which was really startling. I can't believe it has been this long. I can't help but wonder if I am becoming too distant from what teenagers enjoy - if my choices are still a good fit. But I'm still enjoying it and the people I have met through the column. So I'm hanging in there and right this moment writing reviews for both February (graphic novels) and March (science-based adventures) (lots of Tesla in that one, oddly enough).

On the downside, while I was preoccupied with all of this (and still reading and reviewing for Booklist of course), I did not make any real headway on my next book. I submitted an essay on my research ("Lost and Found in Alaska") to Bloom out of desperation; it forced me to sit down and think about what I am trying to accomplish with the fragments of book that fill my laptop. (And I think it came out pretty good and I was delighted when the ran it.)

I'm not conventionally stuck on this book - not blocked - but rather tired. There is nothing I can give up, all of my other writing sustains me in ways financial or emotional or both, but I have to work better at compartmentalizing and just working through a schedule that includes time for the mountain book. (Which I could also call MAP part 2 as it includes thoughts on the literal creation of 20th century maps of AK by early pilots.)

This is such an ordinary writerly problem; it's almost embarrassing to admit. I'm not giving myself the time I need to write the book because there is no obvious place to sell the book. No one is waiting for it, no one is asking about it. My agent has left the business, my editor left my publisher. MAP sells on its own (although I'm working on helping it out a bit in 2014), but no one is waiting for more from me.

This means, like back in the days of looking for an agent, it's all up to me. (How did this happen AGAIN????) Without anyone asking about it's progress, I've let it go. This is the only true writerly disappointment I have for 2013 but it's a huge one and weighs on me a great deal.

I have to do better, and that is my whole 2014 resolution: I just want to do better.

*You can buy a magnet of The Flying North cover! And if you like, you can sign up for the Shorefast newsletter and we will let you know as new books are available next year.