2014 Annual Review

For the past several years, I’ve been doing annual reviews of my life and work, based on the format from Chris Guillebeau’s wonderful Annual Review on his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris’s system is exceptionally detailed, more so than I really need, but the gist is there. It’s a great system for those of us who are self-employed and want to do an assessment of our work for the year. I don’t know about you, but I like accountability. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I look back over the past year’s worth of work and see what worked, and what didn’t. Here’s the link to the actual post. Go on over there and take a read. I’ll wait. And if you're interested, here are the links to my previous annual reviews for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The Year in Review - 2014: The Year of Making Do

2014 was the year I was going to slow down. The year I was going to cut back on my writing, limit myself to 2 novels and a short story. And instead, I wrote the most fiction words I have ever written, surpassing last year’s epic word count by 24,000.

And instead of filling me with joy (which it does on many levels, don’t get me wrong), I wanted to cry. No wonder I’ve felt so frazzled. No wonder I’ve felt so overwhelmed. 

You see, as far as executing my goals and sticking with my theme for 2014, I failed. Failed miserably. 

Here’s what I set out to do.

Recognizing how much we have and how little we actually need, 2014 is the year of making do with what's on hand. Not buying new books, but reading the ones I already have. Not buying new clothes and shoes; I already have a closet full. Use the food in the pantry instead of buying more and throwing so much away. Letting the work be focused on quality, instead of quantity. 

My spreadsheet writing goal this year was 200,000. I blew through that in August, and revised upward to 250,000. Early October for that one. I hit 290,114 on New Year’s Eve, and felt guilty when I stopped writing for the year.

Sheesh. I need to realign my priorities. But this is the right kind of problem, isn’t it?

In addition to all the writing, it was a very good year for the books. I released four - WHEN SHADOWS FALL in hardcover and later in paperback, THE FINAL CUT in paperback, and THE LOST KEY in hardcover.

I wrote two full novels and revised two others. THE FINAL CUT mmpbs and THE LOST KEY were big New York Times bestsellers. THE LOST KEY was a lovely critical success as well, receiving a Gold Top Pick from Romantic Times, multiple starred reviews, was named one of Books-A-Million's Best Books of 2014 and a Library Journal Best Thriller of 2014, and tested the boundaries of social media PR campaigns.

I did a major revision on a beloved short story for release in a new anthology this coming June. I signed a new two-book contract with Catherine and Putnam for more Nicholas Drummond novels.

My first solo hardcover, WHEN SHADOWS FALL, released to a starred PW review, a starred Booklist review, an RT Top Pick, was on two end of year best of lists, and is a RT Reviewer's Choice nominee for Best Suspense/Thriller of 2014. Very cool. I’ve now had the same editor for two Sam books in a row, and the continuity has helped my career tremendously. 

I was asked to participate in Brenda Novak’s box sets to raise money for juvenile diabetes, and decided to release CROSSED, the first Taylor Jackson novel that landed me my agent back in 2005 but was never published (with a light revision, of course).

And remember the secret project I’ve been hinting at? I sold my standalone, at long last. NO ONE KNOWS has been four years in the making, and having it finally get the attention it deserves is the absolute capper on a banner year. I worked with my very first editor to make it the best book it could be before it went out on submission, and all that work paid off. I can’t wait to dig into the edits and get it into your hands in 2016.

I met some major goals on the personal side as well. I redid my guest room into a yoga studio, and practiced much, much more. I lost seventeen pounds. I stopped eating wheat, and feel better than I have in years. We did major house renovations and traveled a lot, including a phenomenal surprise birthday trip to Paris. I was a good wife, a good daughter, a good friend and a good kitty mommy. I actually left the house and got together with friends in person, and started attending a fun Friday morning writer’s group at the Coffeeshop. Jameson and Jordan continue to be a blast, making our hearts bigger and fuller than I thought would be possible for another pet after losing Thrillercat. And I realized it was time to hire a local personal assistant to help me juggle the insanity that is 2015. Her name is Amy, and she is utterly divine.

I loved 2014. It was a year of firsts, of great love and wondrous insights. The blessings were innumerable. Looking back, it went so fast, so very fast, and I was very stressed for much of it. I want to fix that this year. 

The Nitty Gritty (aka Nerdology)

My goal was 200,000, and as I mentioned, I blew past that in August. 290,114 is a massive number for me, considering I struggled to make the 270,000 from last year. But that number is misleading, because when I look at the totals, 19,000 of it was in my miscellaneous category. Which means I overwrote and the words were not used in final products. I’m always an underwriter, so I attribute most of this discrepancy to the co-writing, where it’s better to give more rather than less.

Novel-wise, I wrote the second half of THE LOST KEY, all of WHAT LIES BEHIND and the first half of CHECKMATE. I did two major revisions of NO ONE KNOWS, wrote 3,000 words of Sam #5, did a major revision of THE NUMBER OF MAN, adding 3,200 words to the story. I wrote some things I can’t talk about, too, 9,000 words of “other.”

I attended RWA in San Antonio, the Military Book Fair in San Diego, traveled to California to meet with Catherine three times. I spoke to the Alabama Library Association, and met some amazing librarians who are working so hard with so little, and taught the January Jumpstart fiction track for the Tennessee Mountain Writers. We spent two weeks in Colorado for our annual retreat, though much of it prostrate, as CC and I had just finished THE LOST KEY. 

And of course, Paris — and I’ve just realized I haven’t counted the fiction I wrote while there, as for some unfathomable reason (ha-ha) I was completely inspired and began writing another standalone, by hand in a Moleskine, whilst sitting in the cafés of Montparnasse drinking champagne. This is the kind of cliche I want to be! (1,000 words there, and thank goodness I remembered! I need to get that transcribed ASAP.) (And this is why I do this, so I can capture everything…)

I worked closely with Nicole Robson at Trident, Catherine and our team at Putnam to develop an awesome social media campaign for THE LOST KEY. Nicole took my research files from Evernote and photos from my research trip to Scotland to create the awesome collateral. Yet another reason to work with an online capture system like Evernote.

I spoke with several bookclubs and had an awesome launch party for WHEN SHADOWS FALL at B&N Cool Springs, and did a fun event in Nashville at the Cheekwood botanical gardens with Parnassus Books. I also worked a shift for Indies First with my buddies and fellow novelists Ariel Lawhon and Paige Crutcher. I’m not sure Parnassus has recovered. 

All in all, I did a LOT. Wrote a lot, read a lot (55 books) blurbed several wonderful ones, had 15 authors on my blog for interviews, sent 12 newsletters and wrote 100 blogs. The super interesting number is email, which continues to be consistent in the 330k range. That’s 3.3 novels worth of email. Yikes. My non-fiction did grow this year, up 21,000, but can be attributed to more newsletters, the 7 Minutes With blogs, and the speech I had to write for the ALLA keynote. And we gave away tons of books and giftcards on the contest page – with such thanks to Writerspace for all their amazing help!

2014 Word Total: 814,529
Fiction Total: 291,114
Non-Fiction Total: 189,529
Email: 334,000
Fiction Percentage: 36% 

2013 Fiction Total: 270,000 (Fiction 34%)
2012 Fiction Total: 265,000 (Fiction 34%)
2011 Fiction Total: 252,300 (Fiction 35%)
2010 Fiction Total: 198,383 (Fiction 32%)
2009 Fiction Total: 135,738 (Fiction 27%)

The Year Ahead - 2015: The Year of No

2015 is the year I will begin setting real boundaries for myself. As much as I love to say yes, it’s beginning to hurt me. I need to back off traveling for conferences, back down my non-fiction writing, focus more on fiction and being creative at home. I need to work to be more present and more internal — journaling and exercising and meditating regularly. Finding a real writing schedule, the discipline to stick to it, and continue growing great relationships with my readers and fans. Hiring out more professional/business tasks to allow me a deeper focus on my fiction. Be more present, be more creative, read more books, do more yoga, spend more time with friends, and continue working toward my mantra - calm, kind, graceful, focused, strong. And make sure to have more queso dates.

After so many years, I realize these annual intentions are easy to say and hard to execute. This year’s theme is going to be especially hard. I am a yes girl. I love helping others, whether it’s a blurb, or a read, or advice. It’s part of who I am, and I have no intention of changing my fundamental being. I’ve realized I can help people more if I help myself first. I’m not doing anyone any favors being so scattered and intense all the time. It’s stressing me out, and it’s stressing out everyone around me who has to help me reign in and keep focused.

One of the ways I hope to accomplish this is developing a real writing schedule. For many years, my daily goal has been write 1000 words a day, five days a week. WHEN I wrote those words didn’t matter so much as getting them done. If I look at the metrics, writing 260 days a year (that’s 5 days a week) I averaged 1115 words a day. Excellent. On paper, I met my goal. But it didn’t work like that. Some days I wrote 10,000 words, some days I wrote 100, or none at all. Yes, I wrote a buttload, more than ever before, but at what cost?

I had stories that wouldn’t work, books that wouldn’t end, more days with nothing accomplished until 4 or 5 in the afternoon than I’d like to count. As many commitments as I have, I think a little more discipline is in order. I’ve looked to my lovely co-writer as an example, who is a bastion of creative habit skills, and am revamping my day to emulate hers. 

Ergo, I’m going to start writing in the morning. Which means no appointments, no classes, no Facebook and Twitter, no email outside of my VIPs (agent, editors, assistant, CC…) none of that until noon. I want to write from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., five days a week. Three hours a day. Instead of looking to meet a word count, I’m going to work toward uninterrupted, focused writing time. 

Yes, I want my 1000 words, but this way, no matter what, I have words done before the rest of the day begins. If I’m on a roll, I can break for lunch and come back to the page. If not, I’ll walk away knowing I did my best. This seems like a major win-win. I know many writers already do this, and they’re super smart. I’m going to get smarter about how I work. It’s my big, overarching goal of 2015.

Of course, I want to sell more books and reach more people. I’m really looking forward to the releases of both CROSSED and WHAT LIES BEHIND. It will be fun to get Taylor and Baldwin’s meeting out in the open, and the new Sam book is tight and scary and Sam’s really coming into her own. CHECKMATE comes in the fall and will be a total blast, and you’re going to love BASED ON. More on that closer to release. I've contributed a recipe to the MWA Cookbook, and KILLER YEAR will be re-released in paperback in June.

All in all, there is a LOT going on this year, and it’s going to be an amazing 2015. I hope your year is blessed, you reach your goals, and you’re kind to yourself. I know I’ll be trying to do the same.

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In case you're interested, here are the tools I use to keep track of my world:

• Daily word trackers (excel spreadsheets) from graphic artist Svenja Liv
• Scrivener - their Project Target tools allow me to set a deadline and see exactly what my daily word count needs to be.
• Day One - journaling, keeping track of major events and minor triumphs, idea capture
• Squarespace - my web platform, where I host this blog, Tao of JT
• Wunderlist - the very best online To Do list
• iCal - I have both online and paper calendars. I don't like carrying a day planner, so I use my phone when I'm out and traveling
• Journal 21 - my dayplanner, annual planner and logbook
• Clairfontaine and Moleskine notebooks - idea capture, notes, book notebooks, research, planning
• Pilot Knight Fountain pen - beautiful, sturdy, a real workhorse
• MacAir - the all day battery life is essential to my well-being.

2013 Annual Review

For the past several years, I’ve been doing annual reviews of my life and work, based on the format from Chris Guillebeau’s wonderful Annual Review on his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris’s system is exceptionally detailed, more so than I really need, but the gist is there. It’s a great system for those of us who are self-employed and want to do an assessment of our work for the year. I don’t know about you, but I like accountability. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I look back over the past year’s worth of work and see what worked, and what didn’t. Here’s the link to the actual post. Go on over there and take a read. I’ll wait. And if you're interested, here are the links to my previous annual reviews for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The Year in Review - 2013: The Year of the Pencil

I had a lot of goals for 2013 - though on the surface, the whole concept of the Pencil meant drawing into myself, finding ways to refocus my creative energies, and enjoy a simpler life, with simpler pleasures. To have those "perfect" days I dreamed of, the ones in which I rose, exercised, wrote, cooked a lovely meal, then cuddled by the fire in the evening, with a glass of wine and a book.

And I succeeded in this, in many ways. My goal was to be more creative, and I was: I wrote more fiction than last year, and less non-fiction. We implemented no TV nights, when we both read, allowing me to double my reading output - I'm at 70 books and counting for the year. I did track all my reading on Goodreads, which was a goal I set and stuck to. (Any discrepancies are due to contest reading, blurb books, and rereading.)

I did an excellent job of utilizing the programs and apps I already had to make my life go smoothly, namely: Scrivener, Wunderlist, Evernote, Gmail, Word and Excel. I use Svenja Liv's awesome word counters, and began using Feedly for my RSS feeds, which I love. I also added in an app called Buffer, which allowed me to step back from multiple daily visits to Facebook and Twitter whilst still participating.

Automation is my friend. Knowing I can share my blogs, articles I find interesting, and other tidbits without overwhelming my followers and myself is big. This was perhaps my greatest victory of the year, quality over quantity. I've overcome my feelings toward social media as a time consuming necessary evil, and instead, found the joy in utilizing Facebook and Twitter to communicate with friends and fans alike. 

In the last quarter of the year, I began journaling my writing day on the Tao of JT 5-6 days a week. I realized that the more I talk about writing, the better I write, the deeper I go creatively, and the happier I am. Instead of trying to be quippy and witty on Facebook and Twitter, I found that talking about writing, about my process, what works and what doesn't, plus any other observations I'm moved to make, is much more rewarding for me. These short blog entries have become like a ringing school bell to indicate the work day is over, and I don't feel settled until I jot down a few lines about my day, then set my laptop aside. Who knew? I'm not a natural journaler, so the sense of wellbeing I get from this is surprising. I'll continue this into the new year, see how it feels. 

I revamped my entire website, moving to a new platform, instituted a monthly contest, and monthly newsletters. I've seen the numbers to all three of these grow exponentially this year, thanks to the fine work of Writerspace.com, who've been managing the back end on all of this. Their work for me has grown this year, allowing me to focus on the creative, and letting them do the hard part. I am so grateful to have them on my team. 

And of course, 2013 was the year I hit one of my biggest professional goals - landing a book on the New York Times. THE FINAL CUT with Catherine Coulter far exceeded any expectations I had, making every bestseller list, and debuting at #3 on the NYT combined, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal lists. I received that precious call whilst sitting on a rooftop bar in New Orleans, honestly so sick to my stomach worrying about whether the phone would ring I thought I might just hurl over the railing. But the phone did ring, and that call changed everything for me. 

2013 will continue to be special for many years to come - we opened our heart and home to twin kittens, gorgeous silver tabbies named Jameson and Jordan. Rescuing these little bunnies has brought a level of contentment to our house that's been missing for too long. 

The Nitty Gritty  (AKA Nerdology)

I'd set a goal of 300,000 fiction words this year, and while I came close, I didn't make it. Still, I refuse to be upset with that - I wrote more creative words than last year, which is really all I can ask. I wrote on average 2137 words per day, 739 of which were fiction, for a total increase of 4865 fiction words this year, to 270,000. I'll take it.

 I wrote a large chunk of THE FINAL CUT, did a month of revisions, wrote WHEN SHADOWS FALL and another month of revisions, and completed more than half of THE LOST KEY. I wrote a proposal for Sam #4 - WHAT LIES BEHIND, plus a full proposal and outline of THE LOST KEY. I did a major revision on the secret project, but I wrote no short stories this year, more's the pity. I plan to rectify that in 2014.  

I attended two conferences - Thrillerfest and Left Coast Crime, plus the Southern Kentucky Bookfest, and I gave my first keynote address to the Heart of Dixie chapter of RWA in Huntsville, a truly gratifying experience. I spoke to a couple of book clubs, including East Side Story here in Nashville. My goal was to cut back on my professional obligations in 2013, something I'd like to continue into 2014. As much as I love meeting people, the more I travel, the more the work suffers. And my creative output is my priority, not matter how alluring the con. So far, I have a teaching engagement, two signings and a keynote for the Alabama Library Association in April. I'm trying not to schedule anything else, keeping all travel personal, instead of professional. She says, hopeful.

My non-fiction total went up this year, but that was all in email - the actual non-fiction work decreased overall, even though I added in the daily journal. For the 167,750 of nonfiction: 10K was from essays and speeches, I did 9 interviews, 13 newsletters, and 100 blogs, plus Facebook and Twitter. 

2013 Word Total: 780,115
Fiction Total: 270,000
Non-Fiction Total: 167,750
Email: 342,500
Fiction Percentage: 35% 

2012 Fiction Total: 265,000
2011 Fiction Total: 252,300
2010 Fiction Total: 198,383
2009 Fiction Total: 135,738

The Year Ahead - 2014: The Year of Making Do

Recognizing how much we have and how little we actually need, 2014 is the year of making do with what's on hand. Not buying new books, but reading the ones I already have. Not buying new clothes and shoes; I already have a closet full. Use the food in the pantry instead of buying more and throwing so much away. Letting the work be focused on quality, instead of quantity. 

We waste so much. Time, food, resources. This year, I want to focus on a truly internal goal - utilizing what I already have instead of buying new. Yes, of course, there will be things to buy, there always are. But with a bit more mindfulness, I can easily cut out the extraneous and limit this to what I actually need. To whit: I have 315 books in my To Be Read pile. I must make a decision: stop buying new books and read what I have, or continue to overwhelm myself with this unique paradox of choice, which ultimately leads to less pleasure from my most pleasurable activity. A challenge, yes, but it will impact my self-education goals for the year, too.

I'm releasing 4 books this year - WHEN SHADOWS FALL in hardcover and later in paperback, THE FINAL CUT in paperback, and THE LOST KEY in hardcover. That's a lot of promotion and PR work, especially since I need to write two more books.

I've decided that writing two full novels and one big short story/novella this year would be a more realistic goal. Too many times this year, I was on deadline, pushing hard toward the finish line, and there were so many things I let slide - my relationships, my family, truly, my life. This year, I want to hold back a bit. Being more creative is always the goal, and I don't see why that shouldn't continue. But I need to add in time for yoga, and writers lunches, and golf, and a vacation or two, without feeling the pervasive, soul sucking guilt of I shouldn't be doing this, I should be working. 

Maybe it's the fact that I'm suddenly middle-aged, but I want to budget the work time and the life time a little more carefully. I have so much; I am so blessed. I have an amazing husband, wonderful friends, a loving family. I want to enjoy my life, eek every little bit of pleasure and happiness from it. So a better work life balance is needed. Working smarter, like I have been, more focused, on a better, more regular schedule, will allow me the joy I'm seeking.

I have a couple of projects I'm not ready to discuss in the hopper, and there are a lot of exciting things ahead creatively. I have a nonfiction book I want to work on, and I would really like to get a Taylor and Baldwin story together. I'm seeking to find a solid writing schedule, one that allows some breathing room in each day. I have a great example of that in Catherine, so I'll be mimicking her as much as possible. I want to do more yoga, more walking, more reading, more living. 

2014 is going to be a banner year, and I thank you for continuing to join me on this ride.  

_________________________

The Deets: 2013 Writing 

2011 Annual Review

For the past several years, I’ve been doing annual reviews of my life and work, based on the format from Chris Guillebeau’s wonderful Annual Review on his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris’s system is exceptionally detailed, more so than I really need, but the gist is there. It’s a great system for those of us who are self-employed and want to do an assessment of our work for the year.  I don’t know about you, but I like accountability. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I look back over the past year’s worth of work and see what worked, and what didn’t. Here’s the link to the actual post. Go on over there and take a read. I’ll wait. And if you're interested, here are the links to my previous annual reviews for 2009 and 2010.

The Year in Review - 2011: The Year of Depth

A haughty title, truly, if you think about it. Depth is such an amorphous term. How do you measure such a thing? Especially when you make a commitment to live without goals? I will admit to not looking at the list of goals I set last year until this week, but I don't know if I can honestly say I didn't set goals. Instead, I looked for a better balance of my time. And 2011 will go down in my personal history books as the year I did find a certain kind of balance. I started doing yoga the same week I began reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. Funny thing about that book - I checked it out of the library years ago, 2006, I think, a mere three years into my writing career. And I returned it back within a week - it didn't speak to me. It seemed silly, doing all those random exercises. I didn't understand how writers, artists, could fail to show up for work every day.

Boy, have I learned my lesson. In 2010, I experienced a crippling bout of writer's block, and 2011, well, let's just say, I lost faith. Faith in myself, my art, my muse. And that was an awful place to be. So when I tried The Artist's Way again, it spoke to me. Screamed, really. And smacked me over the head with a pole. Ten weeks later, nearly finished, I have recovered. I am me again. I have that swagger back, the ability to create that I used to take for granted. Thank the Gods for that, at least. 

Depth. Yes, I think I understand that term more than ever before. We are all onions, and live on the surface of our lives, not wanting to experience pain, or suffering. But without suffering there is no joy. Without pain there is no comfort. Without depth, there is no life. We must peel back the layers in order to live honestly. Socrates was right: We must live an examined life if we truly want to walk in this world.

The Nitty Gritty (AKA Nerdology)

I did a lot this year. More than last, which is, as always, the ultimate and only true goal. I worked on four books and three short stories, and dipped my toes into the great wide world of series television. I finished two complete novels, started a third, and edited and released two more. I placed three short stories and released a novella of connected shorts with my friends Alex Kava and Erica Spindler called SLICES OF NIGHT. I judged a contest, attended three conferences and toured two books. And the highlight of the year came in July, when THE COLD ROOM won the ITW Thriller Award for best paperback original of 2010. And of course, we finally got to announce the option for the Taylor books. 

Plus I started a new series, a spin-off of my Taylor series featuring the medical examiner, Dr. Samantha Owens. In order to make Sam's world sing, I did morgue duty, participating in four autopsies, an event I spent most of this year reliving. I wrote my first standalone. I lost my editor, the indomitable Adam Wilson, but gained another wonderful editor, Miranda Indrigo. My dear agent continues to help me forge ahead in the brave new world of publishing. I took a hiatus from my group blog, Murderati, and found a way to get my Facebook fan page into shape. And most important, I took my regular Facebook friend page back to only people I know in real life. The last three items were all meant to help me find my focus, to destress, to make life simpler. Which plays well into my theme for 2012. 

And I wrote. 

2011 Word Total: 886,580
Fiction Total: 252,300
Non-Fiction Total: 157,140
Email: 320,000
Fiction percentage:  40%

I wrote on average 2,429 words per day, 680 of which were fiction. 

My fiction total increased by 54,000 words. That's half a book. I am most proud of that figure. Unfortunately, my emails doubled, from an average of 7 a day to 14. Which blows my fiction to non-fiction ratios out of the water. But... the increase was directly correlated to two fiction projects, so... Fiction to non-fiction was 40% to 60% without emails figured in, but only 28% with email. Damn and damn again. 

On a more personal note, it was a good year. Randy and I got to travel the world again, spending time with friends and family in Italy, Taos, Colorado, Florida, New York, Cincy, Santa Fe, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. I am surrounded by amazing people, writers and friends who inspire me daily. My husband rocks. I have a guru. My body bends in ways I couldn't have ever expected. I knocked four strokes off my handicap. I have happiness streaming in the doors and windows. We are content and healthy and understand how blessed we are. 

The one bad thing is Jade's fight with pancreatic cancer. As we watch her shrink, our once husky 17 pound cat now down to a lean 9 pounds, our hearts break. I know it's too much to ask that we don't lose her, but I ask anyway, daily, praying for a miracle.  

The Year Ahead - 2012: The Year of Simplicity

Peeling away the things that don't matter both professionally and personally. Controlling only what I am in direct control of. Getting back to the simple pleasures of my life: writing, reading, loving, exercise, meditation, cooking. Following through on plans, eliminating stress, enjoying silence, my work, and my life. Being a good friend, a good spouse, a good daughter, a good sister. 

Is it bad that I've made a resolution to curtail my use of exclamation points? That I want to declutter my life is understandable, and I think that somewhere in there, I want to cure overabundance in all forms. I am cutting way back on my travel, conference attendance and touring in order to write more - I want three whole books under my belt this year. I plan to read what I want to read, and not to buy new books, instead finally delving into the books I already own, even if I have to go through my library alphabetically for accountability. I've even added a widget here on the blog of what I'm currently reading to help keep me on track. I want to study Buddhism, and get deeper into my yoga training. I will be releasing all of my short stories individually in the spring, releasing two Sam Owens books: A DEEPER DARKNESS on April 17, and EDGE OF BLACK on November 23, and will be in New York in July for Thrillerfest. 

Write, and read, and yoga and cook. Those are the four things I want to do in 2012. That's it. All my goals in a single sentence, distilled down to four words.

Simple. That is my new mantra. Oh, and Oṃ śānti śānti śānti. Everything peace, peace, peace.

May your 2012 be blessed, filled with love and happiness and all good things. May you find joy, and create art, and love hard, and hurt. May you read fantastic books, and share meals with friends. May you take walks and stare at the trees. May all your opinions be shared with compassion and love. May you hold hands with someone you adore, and hug someone you haven't seen in a long time. May you put aside petty differences in favor of forgiveness, and remember that everyone has their own fears and angers. May you smile at strangers, and accept their smiles in return. May you love, and be loved.

As my guru teaches, Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu: May all beings everywhere be happy and free. Namaste, and Happy New Year.

________________________________

The Deets: 

Fiction
Novels	WHERE ALL THE DEAD LIE	10,000
	A DEEPER DARKNESS	100,000
	STANDALONE	95,000
	EDGE OF BLACK	10,000
Shorts
	The Number of Man	10,000
	Gray Lady, Lady Gray	5,300
	Blood Sugar Baby	12,000
	Seminal	10,000
Fiction Totals		252,300
Non-Fiction
Essays	3 critical essays	4,005
Interviews	30@1000	30,000
Murderati Blogs	23@1500	34,500
Tao of JT Blogs	114@500	11,400
Twitter	3149@15	47,235
Facebook	1500@20	30,000
Non-Fiction Subtotal		157,140
Email	3200@100 words per	320,000
Non Fiction Total		634,280
Total Word Count		886,580
Fiction Percentage		28%
Total Words increase from 2010-2011		268,197
Total Fiction Increase		53,917
Total Non-Fiction Increase		14,640
2011 Words Per Day		2,429
2011 Fiction Words Per Day		680
2011 Fiction was % of all words excluding email		40%

2010 Annual Review

For the past two years, I’ve been doing annual reviews of my life and work, based on the format from Chris Guillebeau’s wonderful Annual Review on his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris’s system is exceptionally detailed, more so than I really need, but the gist is there. It’s a great system for those of us who are self-employed and want to do an assessment of our work for the year.  I don’t know about you, but I like accountability. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I look back over the past year’s worth of work and see what worked, and what didn’t. (Here’s the link to the actual post. Go on over there and take a read. I’ll wait.)

My editor gave me the best Christmas present this year. Time. I turned in my book at the same time as four of my compatriots, and my deadline is later than theirs, so I got bumped to the end of the line. For the first time in four years, I had the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. My reward? A week without Internet.

I really did it. I left my laptop at home. I didn’t go online from December 24 - December 30. It was shockingly hard for the first few days (and a family emergency necessitated a couple of quick checks through Randy’s computer) but when I got home, I realized I didn’t want to go online. I liked not having to answer email. I liked not having to check Facebook. I still haven’t been back to Twitter formally, though my feeds are up and running. I guess I needed the vacation, huh?

What I did spend my time on was reading – AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman and HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST by Steve Hely. I hung out with my family, watched too much football to be healthy, played a couple of rounds of golf. I did an accounting of the past year – word counts, goals achieved and missed – and set my goals and intentions for 2011.

The Year in Review - 2010: The Year of Evolution

I was struck on Monday by Lee Child’s comment that he gets melancholy on New Year’s Eve, because the past year has been so wonderful that he can’t imagine how the new year can top it. That’s how I felt about 2010. It had several big lows, as all years do, but the highs – oh, the highs! Blessings abounded in the Ellison household this year. It actually became a family joke – we’re having a good year. A very good year. And it wasn’t about money, or tangible items. As a matter of fact, we gave half of our household to Goodwill. Literally, half. 15 years worth of materiel that had accumulated. No, the reason 2010 was so good was our happiness level. We’ve both found what we’re meant to be doing. We work hard, and we play hard. We’ve reveled in each other’s company, and given thanks daily for our blessings. It allowed me to reach out to others and lend a helping hand too, which made the year all that much better.

And strangely congruent to that happiness, I think 2010 was the first year that I felt my mortality. So much happened to so many of our dear friends, so many tragedies, so much loss, that I realized how very short this life is, and found the keys to making the most of what I have left. Things that used to matter don’t anymore. They’re mostly topical, clothes and makeup and worrying about how people perceive me. Professionally, obviously, I have to care about those things, or else I’d never get better as a writer. But on a personal level, I let it all go, and found my bliss. So in a deeply private place, I achieved the overarching goal for the year. I feel I did evolve, and that translated over to both my professional and personal lives.

More importantly, I achieved many of my professional goals for the year. I even got to check off a five-year career goal. There were many things that went wrong, but twice as many that went right. On the bad side, I discovered writer’s block, true block, for the first time, and managed to overcome it. That taught me too many lessons to count. I missed my first deadline, only by two weeks, but still. Like everyone, sales took a hit across the board, but e-sales increased. Time will only tell if that’s the exception or the trend. I spent too much time talking about writing and not actually writing.

The highlights included a new contract for three more Taylor books, 7-9 in the series, a new audio contract for books 6-9, the release of All the Pretty Girls, 14 and Judas Kiss into multiple countries, and a sale of the first three TJ books to Turkey. I wrote two Taylor Jackson books, and launched two Taylor Jackson books, with attendant tours and publicity, including a trip to the UK. I also put out a collection of my previously published short stories called SWEET LITTLE LIES. I wrote over 20,000 words on proposals for new material. All in all, though I think I can do better in 2011, I’m pleased with my accomplishments this year.

There’s one more terribly special item that I can’t go into, but will in time, that rounded out a pretty exceptional professional year. Now you see why I’m wondering how in the world 2011 could top 2010.

The Nitty Gritty (AKA Nerdology)

Numbers-wise, I did much better than last year. Here’s the top-line breakdown. All figures are approximate, mostly because I don't count what was trashed and rewritten, only final word counts:

2010 Word Total: 618,383
Fiction Total: 198,383
Non-Fiction Total: 420,000
Fiction Percentage: 32%

I wrote on average 544 fiction words per day and 1150 non-fiction.

Last year, my fiction percentage was only 27%. I wrote 112,445 more words this year, 62,645 of them fiction. I wrote 11,500 less non-fiction, and (TRIUMPH!) dropped my Facebook and Twitter word counts by 34,500 words. I achieved that by automating all of my blog entries to go straight to the social networking sites, and by closing down my personal Facebook page in favor of the Like/Fan/Reader page. My emails increased, from an average of 6 per day in 2009 to 7 per day in 2010. I attribute that jump to using email to make more personal connections, rather than the fly-bys on Facebook and Twitter. My non-fiction was managed much better, with the totals growing by 40,800 over last year due to publicity interviews and essays I did for AOL and my personal blog.

If you want to get even more detailed, see the chart below. (remember, OCD chick here…)

The Year Ahead - 2011: The Year of Depth

2011 started off as the Year of Love. That goal seemed too amorphous for me – I love. I love a lot. Passionately. People, life. I didn’t see that it would achieve the kind of transcendence I’m looking for. So I’ve altered course. 2011 is now the Year of Depth. I want to dig into the things that interest me, and leave the parts that waste time and energy behind. From my Planner:

A renewed focus on education, learning and expanding my horizons. Spending more time on pleasurable pursuits like reading, Italian and golf, and much less time on the Internet. More exercise, better eating and more cooking – savoring every moment. Working toward a more Zen attitude toward negativity. Increase fiction percentage to 50%.

I want to write two novels, and start a third. I have two short stories to write for anthologies, and a third I'd like to finish and place. I’m judging a couple of contests, and I want to work hard at reading the books I already have instead of bringing new ones into the house. I have three conferences planned: Left Coast Crime, RWA and Bouchercon. Sadly, a family wedding is interfering with Thrillerfest.

Personally, I will continue to chase the elusive dream of becoming a 16 handicap. It’s going to take some time, but I’m willing to give it all I’ve got. I will finish my Rosetta Stone Italian lessons. I will read the books I have instead of bringing new ones into the house. I will read more non-fiction, and be open to new experiences.

And I will continue to track myself. There is something truly satisfying about setting goals and seeing them through. I wish all of you the same peace and joy that allows us all to be productive and happy.

If I could only find a way to track the words that come out of my mouth, as well as my fingers...

So am I crazy for caring about this level of detail? Do any of you do the same?

Wine of the Week: Veuve Cliqout, specifically at midnight on January 1. A must have.

Fiction
	The Immortals	3,000
	So Close	75,541
	Where All the Dead Lie	88,000
	Random	10,000
	Proposals	21,842
Fiction Total		198,383
Non-Fiction
Essays		8,000
Interviews	15@1000	15,000
Murderati Blogs	27@1500	45,000
Tao of JT Blogs	85@500	16,000
Twitter	2100@15	31,500
Facebook	1500@20	30,000
Tumblr		5,000
Non-Fiction Subtotal		142,500
Email	2775@100 words per	277,500
Non-Fiction Total		420,000
Total 2010 Word Count		618,383
Fiction Percentage		32%
Total Words increase from 2009-2010		112,445
Total Fiction Increase		62,645
Total Non-Fiction Increase		40,800