Friday, January 01, 2010

Of Course

I knew I was missing something! Please also buy The Keepers of Sulbreth by Susan Gourley. I think it slipped my mind because I'm getting it tomorrow—my order is already in! :) And while this book starts a new series, Sue also has a series capper out right now, One Good Woman (as Susan Kelley).

I think between Fredrick, Burns, and Gourley, we're covering half of popular fiction! LOL

I said I wasn't looking back on 2009, but I can't help doing my recap post for all the stuff I keep track of.

See this post for the 2008 stuff, if you're at all curious.

Exercise and Weight:
I didn't set goals for either in 2009. I weigh 3 pounds more than I did a year ago, so that's not horrible. It's not good, of course, but it's not huge. I kept track of my exercising but it was pathetic. I'm not gonna bother this year. Keeping track, that is. I'm determined to exercise. Wii Fit keeps telling me I need to be stronger.

Entertainment
Okay, this is sad. I read 107 books in 2007, 95 in 2008, and only 88 in 2009! That's gotta change. I also started but didn't complete 24. That's a lot less than the 40 I didn't finish the year before.

Here's a possible explanation: I saw 33 movies in the theater (including repeats, up from 22 the year before) and 29 on DVD/VHS and 1 on demand. I also watched Roswell seasons 2 and 3 on DVD, as well as Bones 1-3, True Blood, Entourage season 5, the first four seasons of Supernatural, and Firefly (again).

So, for 2010, maybe fewer movies, more books. :)

Writing
Fiction: 147,320
Nonfiction: 8,629

Total: 155,949 and OMG that sucks. That's over 84k less than 2008, which was 60k less than 2007. I don't think I want to analyze that.

My fiction breaks down into:
8 books submitted
3 full novels edited
1 novel completed, one nearly complete

That's actually pretty comparable to 2008, if you don't look at how much less I wrote as new words. Add 47 professional bios (not tracked in the word count) and some random website and marketing text.

I met 3 of my 5 goals for 2009. Here are my fiction goals for 2010:

1. Finish, revise, polish, submit Full Fusion
2. Process critiques for Hummingbird and prep for agent review
3. Revise More Than You Know
4. Revise Zoe (and give it a damned title!)
5. Write something new

That's all subject to change depending on contracts. That's positive thinking. I'm in the first blush of love with 2010, so that's easy. :)

I professionally edited 5,091 pages of various kinds of documents, from novels to nonfiction books to ads and brochures and websites (an increase of over 1500 pages over last year).

I compiled 12 columns for the Romance Writers Report (completely new task) and judged 785 pages of contest entries (nearly three times as many as last year). And finally, I critiqued 2,290 pages for 11 different people, which is about 1200 less than last year, so I think I made some people feel bad. :( I won't list initials this year. LOL

~~~~~~~~~~
One thing I didn't do so well this year... Cindy posted in comments last year that she was going to maintain a more positive attitude. I agreed to follow suit, and failed abysmally. 2009 was chock full of gloomy industry news, portents of doom, and us vs. them debates that made authors into little bugs crushed by the feet of the industry. It was quite depressing, and since I have no intentions of choosing another field in which to toil, there's no point in letting that happen. So if 2010 isn't the year that all turns around (or fails to come to pass), at least I'll do my best to avoid it.

And now, onward! To success and happiness for everyone I know. That means you!

5 comments:

Ava Quinn said...

You are amazing. The record keeping alone would break me. The fact that you did all that stuff is boggling!

And thanks for the well wishes. You have a happy new year, too! Or else!
M3

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Maybe the record keeping is why my word count is down! LOL

Seriously, though, I have that kind of analytical mind, I NEED to keep track of stuff for billing and other purposes, and it makes me feel like I'm making progress--or realize that I'm not, when the Fiction column of my spreadsheet is so dang empty! :)

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I could never keep track of so many different aspects of writing. I'm happiest when I have only one or two choices of what to work on when I sit at my desk.
Thanks for the shout out. You're so great. See you Saturday.

MJFredrick said...

I never keep track like that. Probably a good thing. 33 movies in the theater??? I think maybe...7 for me. Cloverfield, Watchmen, Iron Man, Star Trek, Avatar, The Ugly Truth...there might have been one more.

Words--I don't want to know. You still get an amazing amount done!

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

I have to keep track of the work stuff, Mary, for a few reasons:

1. to bury the IRS in backup materials if I ever get audited

2. billing of my clients

3. so I don't feel like I never did anything! LOL

I started keeping track of books and movies because I knew other people who did and I was curious. We're movie junkies here, we love them. And I won't hesitate to go my myself, which makes a difference, too. :)