2011 Recap

My writing goal for 2011 was simple: finish this latest draft of my novel Believers.

Well, with two more days to go, it’s safe to say I’m not going to make it.

I’m trying to not beat myself up about this. I’m trying to look at the positive.

This is the positive:

I’ve made a lot of progress on my novel in 2011, more than I have in the past 2-3 years. I feel engaged with the book, I feel like the changes I’m making have improved things immensely, and that I’ve been able to successfully integrate older material with newer material (I’ve been working on this book on and off for several years). This is probably the most challenging (and exhausting) thing I’ve ever done fiction-writing-wise, and it’s possible that it’s working out.

So yes, there’s that.

There’s also the fact that an excerpt from Believers was published in The Sun in July.

I was also lucky enough to be a featured writer at an event sponsored by the New Short Fiction Series and the Annenberg Foundation.

And I did a reading back in February.

And several short stories found a home.

Plus there was this nice interview.

Yes, the positive. That’s what I’m focusing on.

My writing goal for 2012, then, will be the same as 2011: finish my novel. I’ve given myself three more months, even though it will probably be more like six.

And that’s OK.

Because these things take time.