Verity's Book 2.0

2018 - My Year in Writing (and New Year's Goals, Yes, Yada Yada)

Happy New Year, y'all! How's your day? Mine came in with a foot of snow.

2018 was a huge year for me writing-wise.

January - March: I finished The Claw, adding 62,294 words to the six chapters already written.

March - August: I finished The War, adding approximately 90,086 words to what was already written (I have to ballpark with some of this because I have pre-written material interspersed throughout)

August - September: I finished Sorrow and Song - Winds Rise, adding 15,897 words to the fourteen already written chapters.

October - December: I began Sorrow and Song - Path of the Tempest, which is still in progress and currently at 61,734 words.

Add to this 15,351 words of one-shot material, and my total word count for 2018 comes out to 245,363 words.

Size isn't everything. Word count isn't everything. (In fact, looking at that word count, I kind of zone out, like... really?) But it's an incredible encouragement to me, who before this year could barely squeeze out a couple hundred words per day, who took four years to finish her first two books, and who didn't expect to finish the Ceristen Series before 2021, to see what I've accomplished in twelve months alone.

And I want to thank all my readers, every single one, no matter what story of mine you've read, because it's your enthusiasm and support that helped launch me into this wild new velocity.

Of course I've got some goals for 2019. Who doesn't?

- Finish Path of the Tempest. I'm already more than halfway through it (counting what's not currently published), and I can see wrapping it up mid-February if things go well.

- Write Starlight Under Clouds (part 3 of Sorrow and Song). This one will probably be in a similar league length-wise to Path of the Tempest, so hopefully I can finish it in the summer.

- Get started on -- and maybe finish, who knows -- The Fury of the Gale (part 4 of Sorrow and Song). I have the vaguest idea of how this one's length will end up, and also expect to be very busy toward fall, due to The Journey's release in October. Still, one can always hope!

- Edit The Village gradually over the course of 2019.

- Maybe just maybe would love to if I have time - Write Silmarillion fanfiction. After rereading The Sil this past summer, not to mention reading Silmarilz1701's shout-out-worthy Silmarillion fanfics, I'm gone hook, line, and sinker. Every couple weeks the urge comes swimming up to nip me, and I stare longingly at the realm of First Age Middle-earth and Quenya and Morgoth and angst. If I get a solid idea and a quiet moment, you just might see some unusual subject matter popping up from this here author.

- Not writing related, but I need to find endorsements for The Journey's book jacket. Bleh.

And, well, I guess that's it! How's your January 1st so far?