Onward, 2023!

2022 was an intense year. I’m not sure what to expect from 2023 yet. So far, I’ve found joy in learning Spanish on Duolingo, which feels more like a game than an education, and in exploring the pebble beaches of my new home. 

I’m revising my NaNoWriMo novel, working on another novel, and continuing to engage with interesting peer groups, including the NaNo group and the Tower Theatre Writers’ Room. 

I set a one-word intention for myself last year: “outward.” It’s easy, as a writer and introvert, to spend my time “inward,” but I can only accomplish things in the world if I venture out into it! I didn’t do too bad a job of it, either, if I dare say so. 

My mostly-speculative short story collection Dream Signs came out at the end of 2021, and I’ve heard from readers who continue to enjoy the stories. Sadly, it went out of print when the publisher went under, so I’m looking into options for re-release. A few print copies are still available online as of now.

My young adult novel Chasing Harmony came out in July 2022. It’s the coming-of-age story of a musical prodigy. The main character, Anna, is bisexual, and the book featured on Reads Rainbow’s lists of July-December 2022 LGBT releases and Contemporary releases. I had an author interview with the queer website Autostraddle and wrote about the process of confronting the shadow through writing a book for the Conscious Living Center. I was delighted to see Chasing Harmony make CLMP’s end of year list for children’s and YA books of 2022!

In 2022, I published my poem “FetLife” in the Spoon Knife 6: Rest Stop anthology and my dark fantasy short story “Home Bound” in Cossmass Infinities. I wrote for DIY MFA about how to write a coming of age story and a novel with alternating timelines. My colleague Jonathan Hancock and I did an interview for my workplace, Mind Tools, about what it’s like to be published authors. And I wrote some book reviews, including a review of Kevin Mahon’s Radio Ireland for the Miramichi Reader (which also reviewed my book Dream Signs).  

This National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, I finished a draft of a manuscript I’d been working on and started another. The power of this event lay with the peer group I found. The local WriMos did writing sprints in person and online and urged each other forward. I didn’t think I could write 50,000 words in a month – but, reader, I did it! 

To cap off the year, I saw my short play The Pictures of Dora Gray performed twice! First, it was included in a scratch night at the Barons Court Theatre. Then, it was included in the Tower Theatre Writers’ Room’s December showcase, along with four other fantastic plays by members of the group. It was an emotional experience to see two casts perform something I’d written in my living room, and to witness the wonderful direction, music score, and acting that brought my play to life over the holidays.

This year, I’ll continue to put myself out there – while respecting my inward nature, too. Onward, 2023!