2019 in review: Books in, books out.

At the end of 2020 I hope to split this blog in two: books read and books written, but this year I’m not home to record and edit a video, and besides that, I didn’t read a quarter as many books as the book bloggers I follow. So here it is:

Best book of 2019: Girls of Paper and Fire. Except the last page, which I’m still pretending never happened.

Honourable mention: Tides of War. A bit info-dumpy in the front but that couldn’t be avoided. Ending was satisfying, penalty of war gave believable stakes.

Worst book of 2019: The Baby. It won the wooden spoon prize at book club too.  If I had to choose the worst fiction, then Normal People. Hands down.

I read some awesome unpublished works too, but I don’t know if I should be talking about them. Would you want to know who’s on my “authors to look out for” list? If I CPed, or BETA read for you, how comfortable would you be with me admitting I liked your draft?

Most of my writer friends aim to traditionally publish, so their books could be years from release, but mate, they come up with gold. The world needs these books. How long are you willing to wait for an author, personally? And do you read Advance Copies? I know for some people getting their hands on ARCs is the biggest thrill and compliment, but I don’t know if I have any of these awesome people following my blog.

In my work life, it’s been a big year for books. I wrote over a hundred thousand words, bringing four manuscripts to completion. And yet I only managed one tiny release after January, the free non-fiction book you can get by signing up to my newsletter. I’ve learned that writing a novel from nothing is far easier for me than finding the peace and quiet to turn those dumpster fires into actual works of art. Am I disappointed? A little. I’d expected to release three novels in 2019. Or at least two. Going into 2020, I’ll be focusing on finding a balance between writing, revising, and editing.

And short works! The thrill of being able to write, revise, edit and release a book—even a short one like Get Your W*tc# Together—in under two months gave me a solid boost. It was thrilling to have something to show for my time with relative ease, so I want to put out more short pieces. Perhaps some scenes that can’t make it into any of my Wicce books.

This year I feel like I got a handle on my social media. How it works, what my readers have fun with and what they don’t care about, consistency and cohesiveness. Facebook and Instagram content can seem so throw-away. Viewed in a matter of moments and forgotten. But in those moments I have your attention, I want to give value. I want to connect with people, uplift them, help them get their day back on track. I’m not all the way there, I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve had several people contact me this year letting me know I’ve made their day and that’s just everything to me. That’s what I’m here for; so we can live our best lives.

My newsletter went from something I dreaded to my pride and joy. I pour all my love into it. It’s like a secret club. A coven. The responses make it worth all the effort. If you’ve hit reply on any of my stuff this year, thank you xx

Onward from here:

• In 2020 I plan to release all the books I wrote this year and begin paid advertising.
• I will stick to a fortnightly schedule for my newsletters, and continue to create daily content for Instagram and Facebook, but I’d like all my FB content to be made in advance; scheduled content seems to reach a much better audience.
• I will consolidate the world-building for Tir Rhaycorda Forsaken, and write the 50k worth of backstories for NaNoWriMo in November.
• I hope to outline at least two more books for my Wicce series, with Poe and Medusa as my main characters.
• I want to read at least a book a month in 2020 and review them all.

Did you achieve everything you thought you’d manage in 2019? And what are your bookish goals for 2020? How do you know if your goal is realistic, or you’re biting off more than you can chew?

Miriam Cumming is an author, wife, mother and witch. When she’s not drinking coffee and squinting at her laptop, Miriam enjoys playing with stickers and yelling “put on your shoes!”