Good-bye 2015!
As always, there were good times and bad. This past month, we’ve focused on some of the good, some of the lessons learned, and some of the milestones we celebrated.
As a group, the Fictorians accomplished a lot in 2015. We passed our 1000th post, and our site was viewed about 65,000 times.
As individuals, we learned and progressed a lot too. Some of us celebrated important milestones:
Jace Kilian completed a novel! i-finally-finished-a-novel
And in December, I celebrated the launch of A Stone’s Throw, my third major release this year. a-stones-throw-launching-a-sequel
We discussed things we’ve learned about writing.
David Carrico on-being-a-gps-writer, Nathan Barra balancing-the-story-engineer-and-the-mad-man, and I franks-pantsing-doctrine wrote about seat-of-the-pants writing verses outlining, and how those two often opposing approaches to story design can work together.
Time management featured large in our thoughts as we reviewed strides forward. From David Heyman, we learned that any time can be productive writing time, even taking a shower. writing-while-you-condition-and-rinse. Evan Braun discussed building habits to deal with deadlines getting-ahead-of-deadlines, and Vickie Morris reminded us to stop worrying. We’ll find the time for those things that are important. creating-the-time
There’s always time for sharing of wisdom, and James A. Owen reminded us to be aware of what we don’t want as much as we yearn for those things we do. all-the-good-things-that-you-do-not-want
Kim May reminded us to always be ready with your pitch at all times. promotion-at-the-drop-of-a-hat, and Mary Pletsch admitted that networking is important. i-dont-want-to-know-that-sometimes-its-who-i-know
Gregory Little shared insights about the publishing process. everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-in-indy-garten As did Kevin Ikenberry: sometimes-you-have-to-let-go
Jo Schneider discussed the importance of great characters. who-has-time-to-waste-on-people-you-dont-like, and Travis Heermann discussed the importance of making the most out of your scenes. scenes-it-aint-just-the-cliffhanger
Amanda Faith reminded us to take time for ourselves and our personal development. for-me
Kristin Luna reviewed K.M. Weiland’s Outlining and Structuring novels guides. k-m-weilands-outlining-your-novel-part-one and k-m-weilands-structuring-your-novel-part-two
We started presenting author interviews, which will become a regular feature throughout 2016. Ace Jordyn interviewed Jayne Barnard and discussed her steampunk Maddie Hatter and the Deadly Diamond. dueling-parasols-and-creating-a-steampunk-world-jayne-barnard-tells-all and jayne-barnard-on-maddie-hatters-steampunk-society
With so many things to celebrate, we’ll tip our hats to the challenges we overcame and the lessons learned, and we’ll call 2015 a win.
Let’s make 2016 even better.