2011 Retrospective

I hope everyone had a “good slide” into the new year! We’ve been busy social butterflies the past few weeks, leaving not much time for blogging, writing, or even reading, as evidenced by my 2011 Reading List. This is the first year that I’ve kept a log, and while I’m certain I’ve accidentally left a few books off the list (both read and unfinished), it’s still a fascinating way to look back at the year.

The first thing that jumps out at me is the fact that, for both reading and writing (and blogging!) the first half of the year was by far more productive for me. Once school was out for summer, life got busy and, contrary to my hopes and expectations, the pace didn’t let up even after school started back again in August. This lack of writing time has led to lots of thoughts about how to make the most of small snatches of time, since it’s now obvious that there are going to be times when family schedules skewer my best intentions. I’m hopeful in the new year to implement a new approach to organizing my writing projects that will make them less vulnerable to the seemingly ever-increasing demands of family and social obligations.

As to what I read during the year, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a “binge reader,” and once I find an author I like, I tend to read everything else they’ve written. The Reading Log bears this out. Beyond author trends though, I also tended to have genre trends, with the first part of the year focused on YA and MG, and the latter part of the year most of my reading was books aimed at adults.

April was my “self-published” reading month, and it was also the month with one of the most popular posts of the year. From the self-published books I read this year, the one that resonates with me still is Radium Halos. This novel is based on the true story of the Radium Dial Girls, who, unaware of the significant dangers to their health, painted on clock hands and faces with radium paint. I highly recommend this book.

At the end of 2010, I had resolved to participate in the 2011 Debut Author Challenge. Alas, I started strong but ended up not reading and reviewing my full quota of debut authors. I’m currently about a third of the way through another debut book, Warped by Melissa Guibord, and have others waiting for my attention. I think part of the reason I lost momentum with the challenge was my shift mid-year towards reading adult books.

One reason (but far from the only one) for my shift to adult books later in the year is that a friend and I have started a book club! This is my first time to participate in one and I’m really enjoying it. It’s fascinating to see how we all pick up on different aspects of the books we read. One thing I’ve noticed is – no surprise here! – I often comment not only on plot and character development, but on the writing itself. I’m the only writer in the group and I also seem to be the only one who repeatedly comments about word choices and phrasing.

I finished most of the books that I started this year. My reasons for putting a book aside unfinished usually had to do with predictable plots or characters that weren’t engaging enough for me to want to follow their journey to the end. For the books I have finished, it’s been interesting to compare what I thought about certain books to a broader base (ratings on Amazon or critical reviews). There were definitely cases where a book was perhaps a 3-star read for me, while the rest of the reading world rated it 4.5 or 5 stars. Analyzing why I didn’t like the book as much as others (or conversely, liked it more) is an interesting and informative exercise for me as a writer.

So that’s a look back at the past year. While I’m not where I had hoped to be in terms of the amount of writing I’ve gotten done, it was still a more productive year than 2010, and I’m full of ideas about how to make 2012 even better.

Thanks for your visits and comments at the fictionforge in 2011, and here’s to a happy, healthy and creative 2012!

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