Borrowing the tag #inspire15 from my friend Amanda at capture30days I’m reflecting on the writing year that was and the writing year to come. I plan my year around adventures and today I’m focusing on writing adventures in 2015.
Each year, I aim to take part in at least one big writing adventure. In 2013 I went to summer school at Oxford University.
Christ Church Oxford
In 2014 I went to Tuscany for The Art of Writing Retreat. http://www.the-art-of-writing.com
The Art of Writing—At The Dinner Table
Both of these adventures led to making some wonderful friends around the world, experiencing a completely different writing environment and personal and professional growth. I’m looking at options for 2015—do I go to England or Tuscany again or do something completely different? It’s so exciting that I have a choice.
Writing Year Past
2014 was a great year for my writing. I published my second YA novel, Love, Justice and finished the first draft of my third, Amazing Grace. In September at The Art of Writing retreat in Tuscany I worked on developing a general market novel, The Solo Traveler. I also attended another writing retreat in Victoria and met up with writerly friends from all over Australasia.
#inspire2015
As I begin 2015 I’m editing my next novel, Amazing Grace. It’s about a girl struggling with her sexual identity and will be released later this year. This has been a complex and challenging topic to write about, but the bottom line is that love wins.
I’ve begun the fourth novel in the series, Scarlett Love and hope to finish it by mid-year.
I began the novel,The Solo Traveler in 2010 in Tuscany and I’m hoping that I can finish it in Tuscany during the course of the year.
In Tuscany. A photo of the day I began The Solo Traveler 8/10/2010. It’d be great to finish it in Tuscany by 8/10/15.
#inspire 2015 is not all about traveling around the world, it’s about what we do in the everyday. Each day is an unwritten page and it’s what we do every day that adds up to a great year. I have the privilege of living in a place where it’s peaceful and quiet and where I can write uninterrupted. Out of this solitude comes books that go out from here into the ether. It’s somewhat scary in that the words you committed to the page now fly away to who knows where and are transformed by the imaginations of those who read them.
Roll on #inspire2015.
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. | C.S. Lewis
