2014 in a Nutshell!

Amar en Meleth

Now that 2014 is over, it's important to take stock of what I achieved as a writer. It completely took me by surprise to go back and realize that much more than I expected was actually produced.

Let's see.

I started the year committing to a challenge, to write 500 words a day. This challenge, no doubt daring, was nevertheless the opportunity to push forward and create a very interesting body of work.

*For the website iRez (non-fiction about writing and virtual worlds)

    1. Of Stories, Writers and a Virtual World
    2. Immersive Writing

*For the Virtual Writers Inc. website (non-fiction with suggestions for stories and virtual inspiration drawn from sims in Second Life)

    1. A Story Waiting to Happen, Collins Land

    2. A Story Waiting to Happen, Gehena Vampire Clan

    3. A Story Waiting to Happen, Hazardous

    4. A Story Waiting to Happen, Annwn Willows

    5. A Story Waiting to Happen, Taka no Sakura

    6. A Story Waiting to Happen, The Far Away

    7. A Story Waiting to Happen, Milk Wood

    8. A Story Waiting to Happen, MOSP

    9. A Story Waiting to Happen, Toshigi Japan Cybercity

   10. A Story Waiting to Happen, Amar en Meleth

*100 Word Stories Weekly Challenge (fiction drabbles; this has been an invaluable creative opportunity that has kept me aware of how fragile writing can be and how much each word matters)

*500 Word Stories (fiction)

*Twisted Stories (fiction drabbles)

*Black and White Spring Challenge (fiction, stories up to 1000 words)

*Writing resources for my own blog (non-fiction about the writing process)

*An interview conducted via email about my writing path

*The novel "A Month of Sundays" written during the NaNoWriMo (fiction, thriller, to be revised)

*Poetry (one single poem; I think I'm shifting away from writing poetry)

*A very short story in the form of sentence-snapshots (photo caption style) called "I Met a Guy" (fiction, unpublished)

*A short-story called "True Love Never Fades" (fiction, unpublished)

*I also did quite a bit of writing while taking these MOOCs:

    1. Start Writing Fiction - Fiction writing, focusing on creating characters. - Review
    2. Forensic Psychology - Obtaining evidence from eyewitnesses in police investigations
    3. Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics - The form and function of the human brain
    4. Introduction to Journalism - Key principles in journalism within an escalating story
    5. How to Read Your Boss - Linguistic techniques to enhance business communication
    6. How To Read a Mind - Application of cognitive science to literary reading

*Finally, I hosted a weekly write-in in the virtual world of Second Life within the context of the 500 Word Writing Challenge, Saturdays at noon SLT/8pm LisbonPT

For those of us who work better when setting goals and working towards them, the aim was to reach 182500 (500 words X 365 days). I managed to write 167745, which means I was about 29 days short of reaching the goal. Considering that there are 104 weekend days in the year, I think I did a pretty good job!

Looking back, I cannot help but think that this was an amazing year for my writing path. The goal to develop my ability to write longer pieces was achieved. I also wanted to start creating a few stories, apart from the novels, that I would keep in the back burner for publication in the future; that was also accomplished.

One aspect I failed miserably in was revising last year's NaNoWriMo novel "Obscure Connections". Oh, well... 2015 has just started and now I have TWO novels to revise BEFORE November (if I decide to go for a third round of the NaNoWriMo, that is)! *evil grin*

A final word. Thank you, you know who you are. Despite everything we went through, you were there with me all along. You pushed me forward when I wanted to give up. You praised my work when I thought it was a piece of garbage. You comforted me when my sorrows were far too overwhelming to continue to write. And you believed in me when I doubted myself. Thank you.

And let 2015 unfold!

"And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name."

A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare