December is one of my favorite months despite the inevitable descent into winter, the long nights, and the dreary leafless trees here in New England. It’s my favorite because 1- my birthday is this month, 2- I love Christmas (despite said birthday’s very close proximity), and 3- the end of the year brings a kind of refresh to everything.

Realm of Camellia Series

My biggest writing achievement of 2019 was getting The Starless Girl picked up by Limitless Publishing, and having it published in May. I decided to take the plunge and attempt traditional publishing with this series, and so far it has been a success. Yes, writing and being an author is still a lot of work, but I love it.
Just the other week I submitted the sequel to The Starless Girl to my publisher, and I have high hopes that it will be accepted and published in 2020. Fingers crossed! The working title is The Storm King.
I’m now working on fully plotting book #3, which I’ll begin writing in January.

Arcera Series

It was a long time coming, but I finally got the Arcera prequel, Sylvia in the Wilds, into paperback. At the same time, it got a lovely cover refresh. This book made me want to write more short stories–even standalones–because it was wildly popular at events. Probably because of its short length!

Events in 2020

I already have 5 events lined up for 2020, and they are going to be amazing! I was honored to be invited to Boskone in February, alongside some incredible authors. I’m currently in the works with them on my schedule, and I’m looking forward to being on some awesome panels and programs. I’ll also be attending ConnectiCon again in July, as well as a brand new convention close by– the Springfield Comic Con. I’ll have to come up with some cosplays!
Check out my whole schedule here.

New Project

I have a brand new project that I’m itching to share with the world. You might have heard about it if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram–it’s a writer’s notebook. Part guided journal, part blank notebook, it’s meant to help writer’s plan their stories by organizing their notes and guiding them with several plot structures. After years of bullet-journaling, and planning 7 novels (5/7 have been written, and 4 published), I’ve had a lot of time to get myself organized to tell a story. The writer’s notebook is currently being beta-tested by some writer friends of mine, and I can’t wait to get it finished.

I’m also working on a website to go with it. I’m planning on providing some resources for writers to coincide with the notebooks. Yep, I said notebooks, I’m planning on several other notebooks with slightly different content: for teens, for brand new writers, and one for fantasy writers.

Want to know more? Sign up for the mailing list, and check out the My Writer’s Notebook Facebook page.

Side Hustle– LD Writes & Designs

Some of you may also know that I have an Etsy shop where I sell bookmarks. Well, this year I made hundreds of bookmarks.
They went to 36 different States (California and Texas having the most), and
7 other countries (including Australia, France, Italy, UK, and Greece).
A few of my bookmarks have gotten a little “Bestseller” flag on Etsy, which makes my little author heart smile.
I’ve also had awesome custom and wholesale orders from local bookstores.
I’m looking forward to a new year with the shop, and adding new designs!

But mostly

I’m super happy with my new work/life balance. I wasn’t sure how juggling full-time-parenthood was going to go with my writing career. No, it hasn’t been easy, but I love it.

Having a creative outlet is the best thing I can do for my brain! A lot of people (even before I had my son) ask me, how do you find the time to do all of this? And I shrug and laugh, but really, I can’t not do all these things. I have to.

I love having projects and creating things, either with my hands, my brain, or my computer. I don’t find the time. I make it.

Cheers to a great year behind us, and to a great year before us.
Happy New Year’s to you all!