Hello 2019! + 2018 Wrapped

In my opinion, 2019 swept in with less of a "I'M READY TO GO" feeling and more of a "oh look, Savannah is somersaulting into the New Year IS SHE ACTUALLY READY THOUGH, WHO CAN TELL?"

(hint: she wasn't ready)

But I'm super excited to get into the swing of 2019, with all it's bright and shiny new-ness. Which means new things will be happening on this blog! So I thought I would do a quick wrap-up of 2018 before waving hello to 2019 and getting your opinion on what's going to be going down here this year. Ready?

Let's do this.

2018 WRAPPED 

Bookishness

I read 85 books this year! Which is teensy compared to what I read in 2017, but this year was much busier, so I suppose it makes sense. Only 6 of them were five-stars reads (Circus Mirandus, Siren's Song, A Thousand Perfect Notes, Fawkes, The Dire King, and Reclaiming Shilo Snow) - but I'm SUPER picky about handing out five star ratings, so I'm pretty good with those 6 five star ratings. 67 of those books were new to me, which I'm super happy about - 2017 had a lot more rereads, so it was awesome to find some many new favorite authors and books in 2018. (was this possibly because I delved deeper into bookstagram and blogging? Perhaps. My TBR is suffering GREATLY ;D)

The Writing World

I was published six times in 2018 (seven, if you count the small piece that went up on Writer's Digest), and wrote WAY more short stories, novellas, and flash fiction than is good for anyone xD. I also delved deeper into the writing/publishing world by becoming the submissions manager for Illuminate YA, the creative writing columnist for Pursue magazine's website, and the associate editor for Havok Publishing (and part of the web content team for the same).  

I expanded my Snow White retelling novella, Forgotten, into a full novel, submitted it to an agent, and did too many rounds of editing on it to count. Still not done with it, either ;D. I did some work on a few other novels, too, but none so much as Forgotten. I co-wrote my first story with the ever-amazing Soleil Bourdon, which was so much fun. I did the Go Teen Writer's 100-for-100 challenge again, too...and it kind of turned into the 1,000-for100, but I mean, what can you do? xD I participated in and won Camp NaNoWriMo in April, which is always a ton of fun, and I also went to my first writing conference! Which was definitely the best experience of the year. Definitely.

On the blog (and other places)

The five most popular posts on Inspiring Writes posted in 2018 were the Silmaril Awards posts (that event is always so fun) the Get To Know Me Tag: Writer's Edition, and April's edition of Ask the Author. But my personal favorite posts that I did in 2018 were all the Featured Creator/Author posts - it was so awesome to get to chat with all the amazing authors and creators that were kind enough let me interview them. So much fun. 

I also started up on Instagram and YouTube toward the end of 2018. It's been so cool connecting with another side of the writing/bookish realm, and I've been having a blast! Definitely looking forward to expanding things over in both those places.  

How did I do on 2018's goals?

- comment on blogs more often + post more consistently  ✓ ❌  

So I did a good job with this at the beginning of the year? But then stuff started sliding towards the end of it. I honestly feel bad about how many comments have gone unanswered *hides under the smol rock of shame*. But I intend to do MUCH better on this in 2019!

- read 150 books ❌

HAHAHA *dies*

- publishing something ✓✓✓✓✓✓

Kind of laughing at beginning-of-2018 Savannah right now, who had no idea that she wouldn't only have something published, she would have six somethings published. That was really cool.

- pitch a project at Realm Makers ✓

I did it! I did it, and I didn't die! xD It wasn't the best pitch ever, but it was a pitch, so I'm proud that I accomplished this one (and didn't chicken out xD).

 2018 In Overview

- January: rewrote some of Killing Snow and buckled down hard on schoolwork (not that I can remember how much I actually got done because that was LAST YEAR)  
- February: lots of card games (I think my sisters and I were going through a phase?) and started writing The Chained Circus
- March: finally saw Fantastic Beasts and got published for the first time (in Splickety's Dystopian Disasters issue) and read my first Stiefvater book
- April: went to an orchestra concert and got to meet up with a writing friend. Was published in Havok (the Extraordinary Exploits issue) , and worked on some novellas for a SpringSong Press contest
- May: lots of driving practice, got a beautiful bookish gift from one of my dearest internet friends (Legendary!), worked a ton on the expansion of Forgotten
- June: visited with relatives, celebrated some birthdays, submitted The Genie Bone to the SpringSong contest and Forgotten to an agent, was published in Splickety (the Heirs and Spares issue).
- July and August: I. WENT. TO. REALM. MAKERS, dove deeper into my sketching hobby, became the creative writing columnist for Pursue and the submissions manager for Illuminate YA, got my first reply email from an agent, and finished the first round of edits on Forgotten.
- September: celebrated my birthday (and my parents gave me the gift of RM 2019!!!), did more edits, and the illustrated version of Uncharted went up.
- October: finally saw Infinity War, took a chill from writing
- November: went to a Rend Collective concert, started bullet journaling, had a small piece of mine posted on Writer's Digest, and was published in the Project Canvas book
- December: visited with relatives, was published in Splickety (the Christmas abroad issue), became an associate editor for Havok, and sent off more submissions and did some editing    

2018 was seriously a GREAT year. So much happened that I never thought would (or could!) happen for me at this age, and if I could sum up 2018 in one year it would probably be "growth". But I'm also totally ready to bring in 2019 and see what surprises are hiding up its sleeves. So I guess it's probably time I say...   

HELLO 2019!

 Goals for 2019

- comment more consistently

Because you guys always make me grin when you leave your lovely comments on my posts (like clockwork!), and so I'm making it a goal to reply back (and comment on other blogs) more consistently. This will happen. xD I miss connecting with y'all as much as I used to! 

- read 80 books

2019 is gearing up to be a VERY busy year, so I bumped my reading goal down a little bit. But I've found that my writing suffers when I don't read enough, so I'm not bumping it down too much. And I mean, my TBR is so high right now that if my goal is anything below 80... *sounds of Savannah being drowned by books can be heard*  

- attend Realm Makers 2019 

I get excited just looking at that goal ;D. Realm Makers 2019 is in only 7 months, and it both feels REALLY far away and way close? I'm INSANELY STOKED to go back and get to learn more and see more people. It's going to be a blast!

- publish more stuff 

Six pieces published in 2018, and I really want to beat that in 2019. We'll see what happens!   

- bullet journal consistently

I think bullet journaling is really going to help me stay organized and juggle life + writing stuff. It's a new thing I'm trying in 2019, but I'm hoping to keep up with it and do it consistently. 

- start college (and not die)

It's insane to type out (or even think) that I'll be starting college this year, but there it is. Hopefully I won't die in the process, yes?

- query agents

This one is slightly more tentative, but I'm hoping to be able to start querying more agents for Forgotten in 2019. Forgotten still has a ways to go, but I'm ready to take it there.

- start a newsletter 

Because apparently these are important for aspiring authors seeking publication xD. Even though this year will be busy, I'm going to try and carve out the time to do this.  

What's coming in 2019? 

Well, I have a LOT planned. Tons of fun stuff coming. But before I make anything set in stone, I want to get your opinion on what should go down here on Inspiring Writes in 2019. So I put together a quick survey (am I the only one who loves filling out beginning-of-the-year blog surveys? Yes? No?) that you can take RIGHT HERE. I'd appreciate it greatly if you would! Your feedback is always super important to me and helps me make the blog what you guys want it to be.

THANK YOU guys for helping to make 2018 the epic year that it was, and thank you for sticking around even when life gets busy and I can't be here as much as I'd like to be. I'm looking forward to sharing more posts with y'all in 2019!

Keep being epic, my friends! <3

~ Savannah Grace 

what was your biggest accomplishment in 2018?

what's your biggest goal for 2019?