I’m sure you know the feeling, wondering where this year has gone. It’s been a strange one, finding our feet in the midst of all the changes in the world that challenge our thinking. I’ve seen a few other authors blogging about their year and I think I need to do the same, to try to keep some perspective as I try to build my career in what is a very rewarding job, but a challenging market.
The parts of this job that are the most important to me, the most fun, are the parts that nobody ever sees: plotting and drafting, developing characters, daydreaming while I walk the dog and consuming everything I can find on a whatever random theme or topic has come out of the setting or the story. That’s why I’m going to celebrate this year in writing, not exactly in publishing, although, I’m also truly grateful for all the readers who enable this writing habit of mine! I’m thrilled with how well Italy Ever After has sold and how many new readers I’ve found this year. A Match Made in Venice has also smashed my early sales records and the price hasn’t even dropped, yet, so I’m hoping it will get out there in the new year, especially as Valentine’s Day approaches, which is also the end of that book. But, back to my year in writing.
3. That’s the number of books I wrote and rewrote and edited this year. I started a Match Made in Venice in December 2020, but I’m counting it as this year because I’ve also written part of my October 2022 book this year which won’t count because it’s not finished. A Match Made in Venice came out of a place of deep uncertainty for me and I’m incredibly proud of it, because I still wrote that thing, even though I was going through the crisis of confidence that comes with bringing a first book out.
After sending off a Match Made in Venice to my publisher, I took a break from my contracted books to clear my head a bit and had some fun with an experimental romance with the working title Berlin Calling. I’m hopeful that one will be coming to a bookshop near you shortly, but I’ll have to keep you posted. Either way, it served its purpose, which was to refill my creative well and revive my joy in the writing process, by letting up the publication pressure. It’s the funniest book I’ve ever written and I went completely overboard with the characters.
After Berlin Calling, I wrote We’ll Always Have Venice, fresh from my experiment and with banter just flowing from my fingertips. That’s basically what that book is: banter and only one bed scenarios. Oh, and Venice in summer!
After that, I had to spend the next few months on mum-duty and then editing other manuscripts. I had the structural edits, copy edit and proofread of a Match Made in Venice. I had some revisions on Berlin Calling requested, so I had to do those and I’ve also done the structural edit of We’ll Always Have Venice, now, too. Phew!
Next up was deciding what to write next and pitching my projects to my publisher. We’ve settled on one which I’m loving. It has a unique feel at the moment, more pining and gentler humour, but that was what the story called for, so I’m hoping readers will enjoy it, too. The setting is still a state secret, but I am absolutely losing myself there. Oh, and I discovered it has elements of an Aladdin retelling, which was unintentional, but I love it!
So that was 2021! Now I just need to blog my plans for 2022! I have sooooo many. Too many books to write, not enough time!
Leonie Mack 