I didn’t think I had it in me to do a reflective post – my head is full of the copyedits – but reading other people’s has inspired me.
Firstly, the Noughties themselves. I got married in January, 2000, so that has been the defining aspect of this decade compared to the previous three. They say most people get a honeymoon period of around seven years before reality really hits home – we barely made it three months before Hubby got ill. Our lives have pretty much been dominated by his health concerns ever since.
In 2000, I also quit teaching after more than nine years, and so began on the road that has eventually led to my publishing contract.
As a writer, it’s been a long learning experience. I had my first short stories accepted for publication in 2000, but they’re still something that I’m working on getting good at. I finished a novel for the first time also in 2000, and since then have written somewhere in the vicinity of fifteen novels (unfortunately, in various computer moves I’ve lost that original novel – a shame, I’d like to read it to see how much I’ve changed as a writer).
I had major crises of confidence in my writing ability and decided to see if I should be an editor, which led to The Outcast and Issue 25 of ASIM, which were both fantastic experiences. I hope to one day have the time to edit again.
In 2003, I decided to try my hand at freelance writing, to start earning some money from the gig. That led to a part-time job at the South Coast Register, where I ended up editing in all but name the South Coast and Southern Highlands Senior Lifestyle magazines, along with The Shoalhaven and Nowra News. In 2006, I decided to go fulltime and moved to Canberra to work for the Chronicle, which I did for nearly two years. Here, I was acting editor of the third-largest free weekly newspaper in Australia four times, an experience which taught me that I really didn’t want to be a newspaper editor. Overall, I also learnt journalism isn’t the job for me, although I learnt a hell of a lot from it.
In 2006, I also re-committed myself to my own writing. In February 2008, I left the Chronicle and started to work on the novel that had been critted in the CSFG novel crit group – Love in Control. In July 2009, I sold that book and the rest of the trilogy to HarperVoyager and so I finish the Noughties as a professional writer of fiction, the thing I’ve wanted all along.
I’ve moved six times – I hate moving – from Sydney to Sussex Inlet, bouncing around Sussex before heading to Nowra and from there to Queanbeyan, where we’re on house number two. Hopefully, we can stay here for a while. The longest I’ve lived in any one house since I left home in 1988 is three years – and I’m over it.
I’ve changed a lot. My weight has shrunk and ballooned again. I’ve been a redhead, black and am now rocking a blonde do – all thanks to the genetic lottery that saw me going grey in my mid-20s. My eyesight has worsened, as has my hearing – yes, I’m getting older. Most importantly, I have changed – I’ve come to accept who I am, to like who I am, and to start to push myself on the things that I can do but I’ve been telling myself I can’t. Having confidence in myself is a strange and mythical land that is proving interesting every day.
So, in 2009, my life changed in a way that I had always hoped for, but hadn’t ACTUALLY believed would happen – I sold a novel to a major publisher. Three novels, in fact. In the space of just twelve short months, I went from committedly writing but having no real pressure to having deadlines out the wazoo. This all coincided with a really intense learning phase for me as a person. The result – I’m finishing 2009 more self-aware, stronger and more excited about my life than I ever have before.
2010 therefore is the year of publication. Love in Control hits the shelves in July. Around that is copyediting, proofing, marketing and the like. And later in the year I’ll get stuck back into Battle for Odana, which I had to drop in July but which is going to be the next project I shop around.
2010 is also the year I hit the big 40 – I’m soooo looking forward to the party. And it’s probably the year my sister gets married, so that’s something else to look forward to.
As far as the next decade is concerned, the big focus is going to be on turning the opportunity I’ve been given with the Balance of Power Trilogy into a career. 2011 is when the next two books come out and thus far, that’s it. So right now, I’m working my arse off and will continue to to show the publishers I’m an author they can rely on and continue to work with and hopefully I’ll be able to start getting readers as well.
Personally – the old work/life balance thing needs some attention, particularly in terms of quality and quantity of time spent with Hubby, family and friends. As I become more comfortable with the requirements of being a professional author, I’m hoping I’ll get this sorted and so they’ll get the time and attention they deserve as well.
Yeah, would love to lose weight, get fitter – and they are important for health if nothing else, so need to factor in time for that as well.
Wow. Major times gone, major times ahead. Can’t wait to see what the future and I can create.