RheanaWrites: A Not-So-Fond Farewell to 2012

The old adage goes that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. 2012 has been quite hellish, but I don't think all of my good intentions had anything to do with how this past year passed. I've obviously been very MIA, and most of my writing goals for the year (5/7 to be exact) went unrealized. A bunch of crap is to blame, some of it surrounding personal losses, but all of it got blanketed by the fact that I've spent the past year coping with a crazy little thing called depression. Post-partum depression, to be exact.

I'm not sharing this as a dig for sympathy, or as a means to excuse my lack of productivity this year. But I am sharing it because mental illness is real, and it needs to be talked about. And it needs to be treated. I've been very lucky to have a great doctor, and family and friends who have wowed me with their support. Slowly but surely I'm feeling better, and I'm getting my act together enough to make time for writing again. I'm excited to have a much happier and more productive 2013!

In June (was it June?) I did attend the writing workshop with the literary agent, and it was so excellent and encouraging. My pages were randomly drawn from the pile of submissions, and Kristin read them and gave feedback. Of the maybe 30 excerpts she read during the workshop, mine was one of only three that she said she would consider reading on past the first two pages. Not going to lie, that felt AMAZING.

But then I couldn't get my mojo together to keep at it and send her the partial that she requested from those of us she said she wanted to read more of. CLEARLY, acting upon this is my one and only goal for 2013.

I did attempt NaNoWriMo this past November. I was hoping that the competition and camaraderie of the event would rekindle my writing productivity, but I was obviously delusional thinking it was a wise thing to attempt while still messing around with medication dosages and traveling for 2 weeks out of the month to boot. Needless to say, a win did not happen this year. But I did get around 12K words written (remember that SNI I blogged about way back when that was inspired by a nightmare I had? That's what I drafted for NaNo.), which is pretty darned good, all things considered. I have decided, though, to put this story aside for the time being and get my act together and finish the original WIP.

So, that's my completely lame 2012 year in writing. Bah.