This is the season for year-end reflections and today does mark one year from the day I first had Covid symptoms, but at the same time, I’m tired of talking about it, as I’m sure, you’re tired of hearing about it. I’ve written 4 blog posts this year (5 if you include this one), and all of them have been about my life dealing with my new norm of Long Covid. It seems Writing has disappeared from my life. But it hasn’t vanished entirely.

At the end of last year, I was almost done editing Smells Scents of War and I did finish those edits at the beginning of this year. I even started to think about querying agents. Actually, I’ve queried 2 so far and I submitted to Pitch Wars which I didn’t get. But the thought of finding the right agents to query is too much. My brain just shuts down at the mere mention of it.

So instead of pursuing publication, I’ve tinkered with new story ideas. I started to participate in NaNoWriMo and wrote 7,000 words of a new story before I switched to doing more research for it. Now, it’s just sitting on the back burner. But I do have a new short story idea that I think I will actually write one of these days and maybe even submit to a short story magazine. The problem is I’m just tired. All the time. I haven’t stopped writing all together, but I am content to let it hide in the bushes for awhile while I read and play the piano and clean my house whenever I’m feeling well enough to do anything.

So far this year, I’ve read 42 books and am currently reading 7 more which means I might actually make my goal of 50 books for the year! At least 3 of the 7 are almost done and I have 9 days left.

Let’s see… I’ve read old books and brand new books. I’ve read classic and obscure books. I’ve read books written by friends and books recommended by friends. I’ve reread books I loved and finished books I didn’t. I’ve read YA, fantasy, science-fiction, dystopian, contemporary, mystery, horror, middle-grade, autobiographies, biographies, inspirational, theological, and educational books.

My favorite book by far this year was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I think I read it three times since it came out in May. My least favorite was Book 10 of the Wheel of Time series. If you ever decide to pick up that massive series, you can totally skip book 10 and not really miss anything.

How about you? What have you been up to this year? How many books have you read? Do you have any recommendations for me to add to my list? Also, do you have an opinion as to what I should do with Scents of War? 1) find an agent 2) look directly for a publisher 3) self-publish 4) Post it for free on my blog one chapter/scene at a time or 5) hide it in a trunk in the attic and forget it even exists.

I can’t promise when my writing will finally reappear especially concerning this blog, but I will be around this next year even if erratically. Who knows, I may end up posting my book as a serial here in which case my blog may not be so erratic. Thanks for sticking around and reading what I do write!