What's been happening so far in 2019?

Not a whole lot of posts, that's for sure. It's crazy how life (health, job, family, pop ups) can redirect the best of intentions. I really thought I'd be posting at least once per month this year. (Oh, well.)

I did manage to do some writing in the midst of the chaos, though. With my 2019 SMART goals in place, I began merging scenes of three stories into the appropriate files. It's much like working on a thousand piece puzzle three times over. (Ha!) This, I have discovered, is one of the side-effects of being a panster. (Remember the typing I did from all those loose sheets and notebooks back in 2017?) See my Accomplishments in 2017 post.

I've also been shaking up my tweets a bit, some by way of my FaceBook Author Page. It's been challenging, but fun, to think up new things to say besides quoting scenes from my published works.

Then, I had the opportunity to travel to St. Croix for the 2019 USVI Literary Festival and Book Fair in April. Teaching students about self-publishing and visiting Arthur A. Richards Junior High School were the highlight of that trip. My visit to the school was cut short due to plumbing issues that still plague the islands post the hurricanes in 2017. I also participated in Career Day at the Samuel M. Ridgeway School in June 2019. Reading scenes from a couple of my stories for the students was a blast.

And, during my trip in St. Croix, I landed an impromptu in-person interview at WSTX radio in Gallows Bay. How fun was that!

For the not so great news, two of my stories were released back to me. That means the contracts were cancelled. And that other story I'd hoped would land a contract? Well, that's not happening. Time to figure out what to do next.

In the meantime, I continue to enter writing contests, hoping for another winner. I took a chance late March on a SciFi 2030 battle scene in Battle of Kitee and made it to the semi-finals. I only had one week to pull it off, so I wasn't even going to bother until two co-workers convinced me to go for it. Receiving positive feedback from folks in the military made my year. As for a win with another story? We'll see.