Hey everyone! I haven't posted a bunch since I've been sick with the flu and then Christmas season was busy and I honestly just haven't gotten around to any blog posts. But, it's the end of the year. 2018 is within sight, just a couple of days away and I'm kind of freaking out a little bit. I've never really been nervous about a new year, but for some reason I'm nervous about this year. For now though, here's my 2017 in review!
2017 Writing: This year was a very good writing year.
I feel like I grew a lot this year as a writing. Since writing and publishing Weapon Icean, I've done a lot of practicing. I wrote a lot of short stories at the beginning of the year that I think really helped strengthen my writing in general. And I mean, seriously, I'm a published author! Weapon Icean is one years old this year!! How crazy is that?! Not to mention, I published my second book and my first short story collection Of Magic and Mayhem which I am insanely proud of. They may be shorter than the average short story, but I'm really proud of my writing in them and I feel like a few of them are some of the strongest things I've written. I wrote the first book in a trilogy that has seriously changed me as a writer. Golden has been one of the best experiences I've ever had with a book. I've never been so passionate and in love with a world and cast of characters before and I want to do them justice and make it the best trilogy I can before publishing or even letting the books see the light of day. I think Golden was also one of the fastest books I've ever written. It took me about five, six weeks to finish it! Which is crazy since I haven't written a book that fast in years and haven't since. Silver took me forever and is still taking me forever to revise, but it's been worth it. Anyways, Golden with Renee and Jax and Zayde will always hold a special place in my heart.
After I wrote Silver, the sequel (are you getting the theme yet ;) and that's been a huge learning experience for me. I know this may sound weird, but I've always have had a hard time wrapping my head around a structured character arc. Like plotting in general and planning ahead is super hard for me and my brain is just not cut out for it. But with Silver, the first draft was so messy and unstructured that it forced me to do a ton of research on character arcs and plot arcs that I've learned a lot how to balance a larger cast of characters and how to give them each their individual character arcs and manage to incorporate all of their needs and wants into the same book without bogging it down. Or at least attempting to perfect that method as best I can.
Then for most of the beginning of the year I worked on revising and editing the short stories in Of Magic and Mayhem and getting that ready and published. That was a good learning experience too and I think as I publish more it'll get easier and faster and more organized with each book I release cuz I learn so much with each publication.
For Nanowrimo I rewrote the sequel to Weapon Icean. Last year I had planned for it to be released this winter, but that didn't happen. After Weapon Icean and then the first few different drafts and versions of Project Khione, I needed a huge break from them. But now, after I finish revising Silver, I'm going to get onto Project Khione and make it the best it can be. Even better than the first book because I think I have the potential and ability to do better than I did before.
So, yeah. 2017 has been a really, really good writing year. I've learned so much and it's been really amazing, not to mention I am truly just so happy and excited about Golden. That book and even Silver, with it's many hours of revisions, have brought so much happiness into my life that I really needed. It never feels like too much of a chore to dive back into that world and refine it and the characters as best I can.
2017 Books: I sort of already wrote a whole blog post about that, but I'll just say some of my favorite books I read this year. Here are my six favorite books of the year from most favorite to less favorite:
It's going to be hard to say goodbye to the world Julie Plec created with The Vampire Dairies and I really hope there will be a spin-off series or something. The last season of The 100 and The Shannara Chronicles were both really good this year, I can't wait for the new seasons to come! I also watched the Inhumans, which I'm afraid was probably a short lived love for the show. I'm pretty sure I also discovered one of my all time favorite shows and one of the best written shows that deals with time travel I have ever watched (sorry not sorry Doctor Who fans): 12 Monkeys. Hands down one of the best shows I've ever watched. So, go watch it!
Also The Gifted which is in the world of the X-Men aired and I'm in love with that show! Speaking of the X-Men and incredibly amazingly written shows, Legion aired earlier this year. That show is right up there, if not above 12 Monkey's. It is fantastic and I've never watched a show so well crafted and well done and as deeply layered as that one. Then there's The Runaways, which I didn't think I would like, but I'm now seriously hooked. But I think my best find this year has been Being Human. My dad loves that show and has been telling me to watch it for years! So, I finally caved and I really liked it. Love it actually. It's right up there with TVD. So yeah, that and of course all of the DC shows, except for Supergirl, I've been watching. Supergirl got too PC and the writing got really sucky, not to mention Kara has become super whiny and overly full of herself. Kind of like Buffy around season 5, Kara needs to be knocked down more than a few pegs and the show needs to stop worshipping her because she's female. I'm sorry, but that fight between her and Superman was the lamest thing I have ever watched. Superman is, well a man, if you haven't noticed and is way stronger than Kara. Supergirl was originally a sidekick character in the comics and Superman should have been able to beat her in that fight. But anyways, that's another conversation for another time.
2017 Movies: I actually didn't see a lot of new movie this year. I saw
2017 Life Stuff: Well, 2017 was definitely full of lots of life stuff. We went to Disney at the beginning of the year. That was lots of fun and even though there were a few rough patches, I still seriously love Disney. It's my happy place. I survived and even aced my first Spanish class and got through some of the most difficult classes I've taken yet. Me, my mom and my brother went to a rockin Skillet concert and one of the best nights ever! It was seriously epic! I got my first job. It was very hard, but a good learning experience. My mental and physical health has been up and down and hard to control all year. At least I can manage my mental health, but my physical health has been all over the place.
My body just decided to completely freak out at me this year, but thankfully I'm going into the new year better able to manage both my mental and physical health better than I could at the beginning of this year. There have been other scattered things here and there that have been good and bad. I turned nineteen which was scary, but not as scary as turning twenty.
So yeah, that's been my 2017 more or less. There are a few things I didn't accomplish this year, but I have a whole new year to accomplish them now. 2017 was good and full of lots of learning experiences. Now to get ready for a new year!
2017 Writing: This year was a very good writing year.
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| me all year |
I feel like I grew a lot this year as a writing. Since writing and publishing Weapon Icean, I've done a lot of practicing. I wrote a lot of short stories at the beginning of the year that I think really helped strengthen my writing in general. And I mean, seriously, I'm a published author! Weapon Icean is one years old this year!! How crazy is that?! Not to mention, I published my second book and my first short story collection Of Magic and Mayhem which I am insanely proud of. They may be shorter than the average short story, but I'm really proud of my writing in them and I feel like a few of them are some of the strongest things I've written. I wrote the first book in a trilogy that has seriously changed me as a writer. Golden has been one of the best experiences I've ever had with a book. I've never been so passionate and in love with a world and cast of characters before and I want to do them justice and make it the best trilogy I can before publishing or even letting the books see the light of day. I think Golden was also one of the fastest books I've ever written. It took me about five, six weeks to finish it! Which is crazy since I haven't written a book that fast in years and haven't since. Silver took me forever and is still taking me forever to revise, but it's been worth it. Anyways, Golden with Renee and Jax and Zayde will always hold a special place in my heart.
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| me writing this trilogy |
After I wrote Silver, the sequel (are you getting the theme yet ;) and that's been a huge learning experience for me. I know this may sound weird, but I've always have had a hard time wrapping my head around a structured character arc. Like plotting in general and planning ahead is super hard for me and my brain is just not cut out for it. But with Silver, the first draft was so messy and unstructured that it forced me to do a ton of research on character arcs and plot arcs that I've learned a lot how to balance a larger cast of characters and how to give them each their individual character arcs and manage to incorporate all of their needs and wants into the same book without bogging it down. Or at least attempting to perfect that method as best I can.
Then for most of the beginning of the year I worked on revising and editing the short stories in Of Magic and Mayhem and getting that ready and published. That was a good learning experience too and I think as I publish more it'll get easier and faster and more organized with each book I release cuz I learn so much with each publication.
For Nanowrimo I rewrote the sequel to Weapon Icean. Last year I had planned for it to be released this winter, but that didn't happen. After Weapon Icean and then the first few different drafts and versions of Project Khione, I needed a huge break from them. But now, after I finish revising Silver, I'm going to get onto Project Khione and make it the best it can be. Even better than the first book because I think I have the potential and ability to do better than I did before.
So, yeah. 2017 has been a really, really good writing year. I've learned so much and it's been really amazing, not to mention I am truly just so happy and excited about Golden. That book and even Silver, with it's many hours of revisions, have brought so much happiness into my life that I really needed. It never feels like too much of a chore to dive back into that world and refine it and the characters as best I can.
2017 Books: I sort of already wrote a whole blog post about that, but I'll just say some of my favorite books I read this year. Here are my six favorite books of the year from most favorite to less favorite:
- Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
- The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd
- Nightfall by Shannon Messenger
- The Undertow series by Michael Buckley
- Traitor to the throne by Alwyn Hamilton
- Starfall by Melissa Landers
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| The Originals are ending :(:( |
Also The Gifted which is in the world of the X-Men aired and I'm in love with that show! Speaking of the X-Men and incredibly amazingly written shows, Legion aired earlier this year. That show is right up there, if not above 12 Monkey's. It is fantastic and I've never watched a show so well crafted and well done and as deeply layered as that one. Then there's The Runaways, which I didn't think I would like, but I'm now seriously hooked. But I think my best find this year has been Being Human. My dad loves that show and has been telling me to watch it for years! So, I finally caved and I really liked it. Love it actually. It's right up there with TVD. So yeah, that and of course all of the DC shows, except for Supergirl, I've been watching. Supergirl got too PC and the writing got really sucky, not to mention Kara has become super whiny and overly full of herself. Kind of like Buffy around season 5, Kara needs to be knocked down more than a few pegs and the show needs to stop worshipping her because she's female. I'm sorry, but that fight between her and Superman was the lamest thing I have ever watched. Superman is, well a man, if you haven't noticed and is way stronger than Kara. Supergirl was originally a sidekick character in the comics and Superman should have been able to beat her in that fight. But anyways, that's another conversation for another time.
2017 Movies: I actually didn't see a lot of new movie this year. I saw
- Thor: Ragnarok: It was really good. I laughed a lot, but it definitely isn't my favorite in the Thor trilogy. I just feel like they tried too hard with the humor and afterward, yeah I felt like I had laughed a lot, but I also felt like they could have done better. That movie had a lot of potential for character growth and the writers didn't fulfill that.
This is probably one of the most used gifs of the year - The Man Who Invented Christmas: This is my favorite movie of the year, second only to Wonder Woman. I loved it! It's an instant Christmas classic and I can't wait to buy it and watch it over again. If you didn't get a chance to see it, I would definitely recommend buying it. This movie is worth the money.
This movie needs more gif because as a writer this whole movie was so relatable - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: I thought this movie was Ok... mediocre at best. I really, really loved the first one and had high hopes for the second one, but it fell a little flat, not unlike Thor: Ragnarok. It had a lot of potential for character growth and the plot and writers held those characters back in a big way. There was way too much humor. Don't get me wrong, I love a good laugh, but I also don't mind some serious stuff. A good balance is always a good thing and I feel like Marvel was having a bit of a problem with finding that balance this year.
Baby Groot was the best part of this whole movie - Wonder Woman: Best movie of the year by far. I loved it! I saw it twice and I loved it even more. This was a masterpiece of a movie. Perfectly written, the perfect balance of humor and seriousness. There was an actual theme and real plot and stakes to the movie. I loved it and I highly recommend watching it.
This movie was awesome from start to finish - Spider-Man: Homecoming: In contrast to Wonder Woman, this is my least favorite movie of the year. Thankfully I didn't waste my money seeing it at the theaters, but we did rent it from Redbox. I didn't realize how much I love Spider-Man and the cast of characters that surround him, until I saw this movie. One of the first superhero movies I ever watched was the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire. People will say that, that wasn't the real comic book Peter Parker. Not the high school version, but I don't really care. To me, those three movies were amazing masterpieces. Some of the best superhero movies I've ever watched. They had the perfect Peter Parker, the perfect Mary Jane and the perfect Harry Osborn. Throughout the trilogy they had the Green Goblin (besides Loki, he's probably one of my most favorite comic book villains), Doctor Octopus, and Venom. That trilogy took and utilized and perfectly captured three of the most important and iconic villains in the Spider-Man world. To me, to have Spider-Man means to have Mary Jane with her red hair and pale skin (or blond haired, blue eyed Gwen Stacy), best friend Harry Osborn, an appropriately aged Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Spider-Man: Homecoming had none of it. It was a total drag and I was bored half way through. The stakes were super low, I could care less if the Vulture stole a bunch of Avengers equipment. I know some people loved it and good for them, but I won't be watching this version of Peter Parker. At least not in the theaters.
2017 Life Stuff: Well, 2017 was definitely full of lots of life stuff. We went to Disney at the beginning of the year. That was lots of fun and even though there were a few rough patches, I still seriously love Disney. It's my happy place. I survived and even aced my first Spanish class and got through some of the most difficult classes I've taken yet. Me, my mom and my brother went to a rockin Skillet concert and one of the best nights ever! It was seriously epic! I got my first job. It was very hard, but a good learning experience. My mental and physical health has been up and down and hard to control all year. At least I can manage my mental health, but my physical health has been all over the place.
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| Me for most of this year lol |
So yeah, that's been my 2017 more or less. There are a few things I didn't accomplish this year, but I have a whole new year to accomplish them now. 2017 was good and full of lots of learning experiences. Now to get ready for a new year!
How was your 2017? What goals did you accomplish this past year?
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