It's this time of the year again, when every app sends me my year's highlights and my year in review, etc. Wattpad doesn't do that, so I am doing it myself.
It was a crazy active year for me. Because a lot of my writing activity went into challenges, editing, pitches and working on my new upcoming book, it looked different on the surface. Like, lots of unfinished starts, not that many updates. I apologize for that.
However, 2023 was fruitful for me as a writer. Here are the books I worked on this year:
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ONC 2023 was crazy, helping me to rethink one very old idea and, eventually, finish another novel in the Tangorello Crime Family series! I also finally made a short list and was even highlighted for Round 2. It was a great run and huge fun!
Watty's highlight this year for me wasn't my own participation, though I submitted one book--my only book that my 72 yo Mom inexplicably loved--but the amazing story by my mentee through an equally amazing @BootcampMentors program, @KryssaStevenson Cut from a Tattered Cloth. I am heartbroken that it didn't make the Shortlist, but guys, it deserved everything!
Since I mentioned Mom, I am always grateful to her for being a force of nature and a spirit of entropy in this verse. This year, I am particularly grateful to her for fighting Google and highlighting all the difficult words/sentences in my Watty entry and in my next book's very early first draft (more about that darn new book later). Also, for genuinely loving my gladiatorial BL romance set in the secondary world! I'm still ugly-crying when I think of the pure improbability and beauty of this fact.
I loved 2023 because I was a participant in Wattpad's Creator's program, meeting word counts for part of the year, consuming the education resources provided by Wattpad, and pitching four new stories. In addition, I pitched one more story via Wattpad's open Chapter 10(8) Chapters Challenge, that you can see on my profile. These experiences taught me a huge deal about organizing my book ideas in a ready-to-go state. As in, starting each idea off with an expanded logline, then adding summary, then an outline and a sample chapter 1, and--important!--keeping it all in the same damn separate folder!
The feedback I received through Nick's Story Labs and the pitching process, as well as education, made me a better Chapter 1 writer, though, guys, I still get drenched in cold sweat while writing chapter 1! I still revise them million times!
Two of my four pitches interested Wattpad in 2023. One of them became the new series. You'll be able to read the first book for free in January 2024! Kudos to Wattpad for introducing the Originals in 2023, that allow us to offer our books with love and quality, and an inconspicuous jar on the counter, only if you feel like tipping. It is so much more acceptable to me than the locked-out Paid.
My new book is really special to me, because it gave me my first taste of working with Wattpad staff. I can't tell you how much I loved working with both the scout and the editor. Xavier and Katie were honest and kind, a dream for any writer to work with. That first email that said, we love your story! was an ultimate joy. I am so, so grateful for this.
The ugly part of 2023 is that I struggled more than ever with the imposter syndrome.
Whenever it became unbearable, I wrote unedited and unfiltered stuff: Space Spinster on Wattpad and Widening the Pool on Inkitt. To me, it helps to relieve the pressure. And AI is a source of extra fun for such projects, helping me illustrate everything I want (I am aware it's controversial). In the waning days of 2023, it warmed my heart to see Widening the Pool enjoy a bit of unscripted success on Inkitt. In 2024, I plan to use my Inkitt account for smutty stories, mostly RH or MFM.
The pressure on my temples is mounting before the release of my new story on Wattpad, as I face the sad fact that in 2023, I still didn't write a single book good enough to gain 50K reads on its own merits. If I wasn't typing continuously, working toward writing such a book, I would chew my nails to the bone.
So, I'm still here, still typing.
Still believing that the only response to failure is to WRITE MORE BOOKS.
Here is to success, writers!
And, while this blog is all about writing, here is to peace and accepting your neighbors and all others instead of tallying the insults and wrongs, let alone making war on them.
I love you, guys.
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