Year in Review

Alright so it's a little early for this, but my life is bananas and I have time right now and may not get another chance.  Plus, I was just reading over my posts from this time last year, which are kind of crazy to look back on.  So much more happened this year than I fully appreciated!

For starters, this time last year I had just — JUST– finished SCARLET.  The one that started it all!  So since 2010 was the year of the red, let's look over Scar's journey:

Very end of Dec 09: Scar's finished.  WHOO. Took me about three months to write which still clocks in as one of the quickest novels I've written.

First two weeks of January: Some quick editing.

Last two weeks of January: Querying for Scarlet, during which I got unprecedented response and interest from agents, several requesting a full manuscript.  Also signed Scar up on Authonomy, a great website that I didn't stick with so long but I heartily recommend.

First week of February:  Signed with my incredible, wonderful agent, Minju Chang at Bookstop Literary.

February and March:  Back and forth edits with my agent to get Scarlet looking her best, and then some time where my agent put together the package to be shopped around and the list of editors to submit to.

April, May, and June: My nails were bitten off as we waited to hear back from editors.  First the rejections came in, which was brutal, and then, then! the nibbles and interest came.

July 8th:  We got two offers, one which was better and slightly different than the other, that one being, of course, from Bloomsbury.  I had a meeting at work in the middle of the day and I bawled all the way home in traffic.

After that, not much really happened until, well, about two weeks ago, when I received the editorial letter and edited manuscript, and then a week later, signed the contract.  How's that for a journey?

In terms of other gainful employment, it started off rough: two weeks into January I quit my job being treated badly at a local retailer, and for a few months i didn't really know which way was up.  I was making negative money, I hated the freelancing work I was doing, and I knew I wanted a steady job, I just didn't know what.

Enter my current job at a Boston hotel!  They offered me the job the same day as the Aquarium offered me a job, actually, and as desperately as I wanted to work for NEAQ, they were offering lower pay and fewer hours, so, in an unexpected life turn, I took an overnight job as a concierge.

Which ended up being the happiest job I have thus have the privilege of being at.  And while I'm not sure where my path with this company lies, I hope it's a really long one, because so far it's been an amazing experience.

And as far as my personal life has gone, well, not much has changed.  Love of my life has not yet materialized.  I am still remarkably blessed with an incredible circle of close friends and family that love and support me and have all demonstrated this amply through the past year.  And the weight loss has been very, very slow, but it's still going, and more surprising than anything else, I've learned to be totally ok with that.

All in all, 2010 was one for the ages.  It was a great year, and more than that, it set up a lot of things that could get really interesting in the next year.  For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm going into the new year with my feet firmly planted, and that feels absolutely incredible.

So raise your glass: 2010, you were a lovely, lovely year.