See ya 2019! Howdy 2020!

My aim for these blog posts is two fold.
Let me explain…

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This blog post is actually kind of a merging of the two.

I’m writing this as the clock is about to tick over from 2019 to 2020. So, I thought that this is probably a perfect time to take stock of:

• What I achieved in 2019
• The people I met who became important to me
• And what I hope to do in 2020

Let’s start with by wrapping up 2019.

Now leaving 2019…

Okay, so, I’m going to cheat a little here and backtrack to the end of December 2018, just before New Year.

I’d started a Facebook page to do essentially what I’m doing here… track my progress on my journey. It was last minute Christmas shopping that really fired me up to finish this adventure.

We were in Waterstones (a UK bookseller) and I was browsing the shelves for books, when it hit me.  I WANTED my book on these shelves. So, I took a picture and put it up on my blog. It’s a picture I’ve looked at frequently since to keep me motivated.

F for Ford.

My book should be in that slot on the shelf. That’s the target. That’s the goal.

It came at a demoralizing moment in my life. I’d just been to the doctors about a busted up knee (an injury sustained holidaying in Florence) and an ongoing battle with potential surgery and rehab. (It’s a long story not worth telling here!)

I entered 2019 in a weird place. Fighting age and injury, but determined to get the job done on my book. So I threw myself into the FINAL edit….

Or what I thought would be the final edit.

By January 25th, this is what I was writing on my Blog:

At this point the manuscript was down to 190k words (from 260k) and I had 60 more chapters to edit. I’d been thinking that I’d get the book down to 110k words, but that was proving to be more and more unlikely by the day. I adjusted my expectations and plotted a course for around 140k. I figured I could get to that!

By February I was down to 160k, and had culled out 34 Chapters. I felt like I was making headway, but I was now re-editing chapters I’d already edited. 

May, though, was where things started to kick into high gear…

Because May was when I started engaging on Twitter.

From there I met a whole bunch of other people, but more on them later!

In August… Shit got REAL!

Wifey printed out my manuscript onto that white stuff called PAPER!  Wow!

There’s something surreal about seeing your book in PRINT for the first time. Actual pages, not just typed up on a screen. It wasn’t a book yet, not published. But the dream was tangible for the first time. I was covered in goosebumps and had butterflies!  

It was also the first time Wifey was going to read it, and I was nervous! Of everyone, she was the one I wanted the most to validate my work. If she hated it, I’d be broken! 

Fortunately…she loved it.

(But then she has to say that ’cause she’s my Wifey!)

Two things happened late in the year.  Firstly, I decided I needed this website. Secondly, to go hand in hand with it, I decided I needed to expand my social media footprint.

So, I got involved in the #WritingCommunity and the #ArtCommunity and found some amazing people.

You can find more details on many of them by visiting my Artists and Writers pages.  But here’s a quick recap!

First up, the lynch pin to the #WritingCommunity was J D Greyson. Once she started to ‘lift’ me in the Community, the followers started to come and I met loads of other amazing people. While at first it was – admittedly – a cynical move to get more followers, it swiftly became more than that. It is a fun and interesting community to share idea, thoughts, concerns and… FUN!

I met Nikki (who’s been super supportive and hilariously funny!), I met Dr Maggie (who’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met!), I met Barry S Brunswick (who constantly amuses me with ‘Bottom’ gifs!), Veparion (who I’ve witnessed on a fantastic art journey), Zeiyth (who’s just one of the nicest artists you’ll ever meet!), Cassy (who is extraordinarily talented!), Lemon (who has gone out of her way to help teach me)… I could go on, but there are way too many.

I’m knocking on the door of 2000 followers now and it’s due to these guys and many many more.

Anyway, 2019 ends on a real HIGH. I’ve loved being a part of the fun of this community…which brings me to…

2020

Here’s what I want from this year:

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So…now you’ve read all about me, what is it that YOU guys and gals want from 2020?
Comment below and tell me what you’re looking for from this new year.

Happy New Year everyone.  Here’s to a FANTASTIC 2020

Love & Books