2021: Year in Review

At the end of each year, I like to look back at what I’ve accomplished in my writing world, measuring that against the goals I set for the year. Given how screwy life has been for the past two years, I’m not sure how valuable an exercise this is, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Last January, I set out my Writing Goals for 2021. So, how did I do?

  1. Finish my new novel. I had hoped to finish a draft, polish it, and begin querying agents with it by early fall. That did not happen. Thanks to a late-year residency, I did complete another draft (to be honest, I’m still inputting to the computer copy changes I made on a hard copy during the residency), but it’s not ready yet. I need another draft or two before I will consider it done.
  2. Write a personal essay. Nope. Didn’t even start one. Damn.
  3. Write a short story. Well, I did this, although I’m not happy with it. I was briefly a member of a critique group and needed to write a story for the group, so a hurriedly wrote one. Later, I was asked by a magazine editor to submit a story for consideration, so I did one revision of the story and sent it in, but I knew it wasn’t good enough yet and it wasn’t accepted. More work to be done on that story.
  4. Write poetry. Hmm. Nope, didn’t do that either.
  5. Write book reviews and interviews. I published quite a few book reviews in 2021 and one interview. Also in this category, though, I submitted myself to interviews in support of the novel that was published in May. That counts, too, I think.
  6. Update the Literary Magazine Rankings. Did that in December, and here they are.

I wouldn’t say the year has been an unmitigated success, then, although “progress was made.” For some reason these goals don’t include the fact that my latest novel was being published in May, and there was a fair amount of work surrounding that event, including online events, a few in person happenings, and doing interviews.

So much for 2021. On to 2022!

About the author

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.