2019 started with the best laid plans. I was going to concentrate on book coaching, blog about survival tips, do a little ghost writing, and finish (and polish) my middle grade manuscript before sending out query letters to agents.
2019 had different plans.
While working on a ghost writing project this spring, a second ghost writing project rolled in. Then a third. Then a fourth. A fifth. A sixth.
I ended up taking on three ghost writing projects this year (full-length memoir-type books) and assigning two members of the Click Clack Writing team the other three. I’ve completed two of the books, and am just beginning the third.
But, to borrow a phrase from the shopping network, “…and that’s not all!”
I also tackled some editing this year, wrote blog posts for some of my legacy clients (I’m not taking on any new blogging assignments), and juggled a few smaller writing projects.
Needless to say, my personal writing took a hit and I didn’t manage to blog on KateBitters.com as much as I intended (though I did manage to write six different survival-related posts, which relate to my novel research).
A few things I DID manage to do include:
- Getting a short story published in the Saint Paul Almanac
- Getting a short story published in Talking Stick, vol. 28
- Assist-organizing Word Brew, an annual spec fiction event
- Finishing my middle grade novel and giving it a first-round edit
- Reading 50 books (so far…)
- Hosting a promotion for He Found Me, my nonfiction book about Dobby, my Panamanian rescue dog
- Coaching six different people on their writing
- Teaching community education for Minneapolis and Edina
I also visited a friend in El Paso, attended my sister-in-law’s wedding in Savannah, climbed some mountains near Banff, enjoyed a few quiet bonfires with my husband, and baked some stuff (the ginger-molasses stout cake with lemon-molasses icing and the Cthulu berry pie were WINNERS).
What will 2020 bring?
- I hope to finally pay attention to the Click Clack Writing online class and improve the content. My colleague, Jessica, is going to help with this one!
- More book coaching, probably
- Definitely more ghost writing, as I’m ending this year with a BIG project that will likely last until next fall (I’m SUPER excited about it, but can’t share details…yet).
- More fiction-writing, I hope. I’d love to start shopping around my upper middle grade novel (about a 13 YO girl who starts an apocalypse survival web comic). I’d also like to write a few more short fiction pieces.
- Lastly, Jessica and I have a really cool project cooking that involves making writing more accessible to more people. Stay tuned!
If you’d like to hear more from me, feel free to give me a follow on social media:
Enjoy these final two months of the year, friends. Stay safe, take care of yourself, and eat the occasional slice of pie.
-KB
Author: KateBitters
Kate Bitters is a Minneapolis-based author and freelance writer. She is the author of Elmer Left, Ten Thousand Lines, and He Found Me. One of her proudest/nerdiest moments was when Neil Gaiman read one of her short stories on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater.