2019 In Review
This has been quite a year. Some of it good, some of it bad, but on balance I would say more of it fell on the better end of the spectrum.
Back at the start of the year, I had no idea that I'd be writing this, or that I'd even have a blog, let alone post to it weekly. I had no idea I'd resurrect my penchant for writing. Honestly, all that was really on my mind most of the time was planning my trip to Disney, with occasional thoughts straying to this novel idea that kept popping up to wave at me. Well, and the issue of recovering from minor whiplash and concussion, but by the time 2019 rolled into existence, that recovery was pretty well in hand.
In February, I turned 43, but more importantly I took the vacationI had been planning; a mother daughter trip with my Mom and I to the most magical place on earth for a week. It was glorious. Rides were ridden, good food was eaten, and I even met a lovely lady named Pammie for whom I had recently offered to help run a Facebook group that functionned in support of her youtube channel. Pammie runs a channel dedicated to themeparks and travel for people of size or those with physical, cognitive, sensory or other accessibility issues. It's wonderful, and so is she.
After the trip, life settled back into normalcy. Back to work, back to reality. I did begin moderating that group, but otherwise things seemed to be fairly humdrum. Until May.
May is when it all started. That idea I mentionned earlier? It would. Not. Leave. Me. Alone. Ever since the previous Thanksgiving, I'd been thinking about this thing. Sort of a Narnia for adults. Where a woman was meant to go through a portal in a lake as a kid and enter a fantasy world and then need to try to save it. They were waiting for her. Unfortunately, a responsible adult saw a kid about to fall into a lake and di the responsible adult thing and pulled her back. That world kept waiting, and now she's all grown up.
I wished someone else would write something sort of like it. Seanan McGuire was writing about the children who found doors into magical worlds and what happened to them when they came back, and they are wonderful books, but they were still about kids. Or teens, anyway. I wanted something about an adult. There was only one way to make that happen, though. I had to write it myself.
The decision to start was abrupt. I was listening to a podcast for creative types - I don't remember it's name, because I got distracted by what came next and didn't subscribe - and it said to stop procrastinating with elaborate preparations and just start writing. So I did. I wrote every day. Sometimes, just a paragraph, some days several chapters. Three weeks later, I had a rather short rough draft finished. Super short, it was only about 35000 words. But I'd done it. About this time, I started this blog, too, in furtherance of this newfound writing thing, and decided to post every week. I chose Wednesdays as posting day, because I have Tuesdays off, so even if I leave a post to thelast minute, I'll have a non-work day to see to it.
Then, my sister enrolled me in this crazy writing challenge where I had to write one short story a day, in response to a prompt, for the entire month of June. It was insane, and it was glorious.
However, at the same time I was also facing health trouble. My thyroid was in overdrive, which sent my metabolism haywire. I was tired, constantly dizzy - not a good state for a blind person - and my spatial sense was nowhere to be found. Doctors decided to treatit with radiation and essentially kill off part of the thyroid, which we eventually did, but I had to wait for it. I kept writing, though.
In July, I began working on a second draft of the novel. This one was roughly twice the length of the first, thank goodness, as35000 words isn't really a novel. More of a novella. Or novelette. I finished that in August, and put it into beta reading.
By the fall, my thyroid levels were finally dropping. Of course, they fell below the normal level, but that was expected and more easily dealt with.
Meanwhile, remember the Pammie Plus Parks youtube channel? She decided along with the rest of the moderator team that she needed a website, with articles, and so www.pammieplusparks.com was born, and yes, you can find several things written by yours truly there. It's a terrific resource.
Finally, the place I work for decided that they needed a blog, and put out a call for freelance bloggers. Needless to say, I jumped on that and was accepted. So now I'm a freelance writer for them. Paid work 3/4 of a year past when I decided to actually make a real try at a writing career isn't bad. And I'm partway through a sequel to the first novel, as I hope to try to sell them as a pair for hopefully better luck finding an agent and publisher.
Not too bad for a year. Sure, the health issues weren't fun, but at least they were issues that could be dealt with. Taken altogether, the good things absolutely outweigh the bad ones.
Makes me wonder what the next year will bring. Or the next decade, for that matter. I'm entering both with optimism.
Want to follow or interact with me on social media? Find me on Twitter by following @jennifermorash or head over to https://www.facebook.com/jennifermorashblog. I post blogs every Wednesday.
Back at the start of the year, I had no idea that I'd be writing this, or that I'd even have a blog, let alone post to it weekly. I had no idea I'd resurrect my penchant for writing. Honestly, all that was really on my mind most of the time was planning my trip to Disney, with occasional thoughts straying to this novel idea that kept popping up to wave at me. Well, and the issue of recovering from minor whiplash and concussion, but by the time 2019 rolled into existence, that recovery was pretty well in hand.
In February, I turned 43, but more importantly I took the vacationI had been planning; a mother daughter trip with my Mom and I to the most magical place on earth for a week. It was glorious. Rides were ridden, good food was eaten, and I even met a lovely lady named Pammie for whom I had recently offered to help run a Facebook group that functionned in support of her youtube channel. Pammie runs a channel dedicated to themeparks and travel for people of size or those with physical, cognitive, sensory or other accessibility issues. It's wonderful, and so is she.
After the trip, life settled back into normalcy. Back to work, back to reality. I did begin moderating that group, but otherwise things seemed to be fairly humdrum. Until May.
May is when it all started. That idea I mentionned earlier? It would. Not. Leave. Me. Alone. Ever since the previous Thanksgiving, I'd been thinking about this thing. Sort of a Narnia for adults. Where a woman was meant to go through a portal in a lake as a kid and enter a fantasy world and then need to try to save it. They were waiting for her. Unfortunately, a responsible adult saw a kid about to fall into a lake and di the responsible adult thing and pulled her back. That world kept waiting, and now she's all grown up.
I wished someone else would write something sort of like it. Seanan McGuire was writing about the children who found doors into magical worlds and what happened to them when they came back, and they are wonderful books, but they were still about kids. Or teens, anyway. I wanted something about an adult. There was only one way to make that happen, though. I had to write it myself.
The decision to start was abrupt. I was listening to a podcast for creative types - I don't remember it's name, because I got distracted by what came next and didn't subscribe - and it said to stop procrastinating with elaborate preparations and just start writing. So I did. I wrote every day. Sometimes, just a paragraph, some days several chapters. Three weeks later, I had a rather short rough draft finished. Super short, it was only about 35000 words. But I'd done it. About this time, I started this blog, too, in furtherance of this newfound writing thing, and decided to post every week. I chose Wednesdays as posting day, because I have Tuesdays off, so even if I leave a post to thelast minute, I'll have a non-work day to see to it.
Then, my sister enrolled me in this crazy writing challenge where I had to write one short story a day, in response to a prompt, for the entire month of June. It was insane, and it was glorious.
However, at the same time I was also facing health trouble. My thyroid was in overdrive, which sent my metabolism haywire. I was tired, constantly dizzy - not a good state for a blind person - and my spatial sense was nowhere to be found. Doctors decided to treatit with radiation and essentially kill off part of the thyroid, which we eventually did, but I had to wait for it. I kept writing, though.
In July, I began working on a second draft of the novel. This one was roughly twice the length of the first, thank goodness, as35000 words isn't really a novel. More of a novella. Or novelette. I finished that in August, and put it into beta reading.
By the fall, my thyroid levels were finally dropping. Of course, they fell below the normal level, but that was expected and more easily dealt with.
Meanwhile, remember the Pammie Plus Parks youtube channel? She decided along with the rest of the moderator team that she needed a website, with articles, and so www.pammieplusparks.com was born, and yes, you can find several things written by yours truly there. It's a terrific resource.
Finally, the place I work for decided that they needed a blog, and put out a call for freelance bloggers. Needless to say, I jumped on that and was accepted. So now I'm a freelance writer for them. Paid work 3/4 of a year past when I decided to actually make a real try at a writing career isn't bad. And I'm partway through a sequel to the first novel, as I hope to try to sell them as a pair for hopefully better luck finding an agent and publisher.
Not too bad for a year. Sure, the health issues weren't fun, but at least they were issues that could be dealt with. Taken altogether, the good things absolutely outweigh the bad ones.
Makes me wonder what the next year will bring. Or the next decade, for that matter. I'm entering both with optimism.
Want to follow or interact with me on social media? Find me on Twitter by following @jennifermorash or head over to https://www.facebook.com/jennifermorashblog. I post blogs every Wednesday.
Great summary of an eventful year Jenn!
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