Highlights of 2017
Best of nine photos are all the rage this time of year on Instagram so here are my #Bestofnine for 2017.
- Presenting author at Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (aka Dubai Literature Festival)
- having my sister visit me in UAE
- visiting my cousin in Portugal
- celebrating the life of my brother Roury
- spending last moments with my publisher Sheila Barry
- playing Mas' at Cropover in Barbados
- celebrating my 40th birthday
- my 2nd picture book Malaika's Winter Carnival (aka book #4) launched in August, accepting an CLASP Americas Award honor for Malaika's Costume and making a speech at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
- Highlights Foundation retreat in Fundamentals of Writing Biography in Honesdale, Pennsylvania
- spending time with niece and nephew in NYC
- desert camping
- travel to 12 countries (see below)
- started dating again
- attending the #teamsoca wedding of Njeri and Tomee
- getting closer to signing more book deals and an agent
- getting closer to finishing writing projects started years ago
- getting bookings for author visits
- new teaching jobs (one in Dubai, one in Vietnam which I eventually turned down, and now one at home in Toronto)
- spending time with friends and family.
- losing my job
- moving from Abu Dhabi to Dubai
- moving from UAE back to Canada
- grief in losing my publisher Sheila Barry and my brother Roury
- finances
- dealing with loss.
God guided and supported me through it all.
- UAE
- Sri Lanka
- Egypt
- Spain
- Portugal (and Portugal)
- Trinidad
- Barbados
- US (in Washington DC).
Not pictured but also trips I took in 2017 which also include border crossings and layovers of flights where I actually left the airport:
- Kuwait
- Germany
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent
- US (NYC, Philadelphia/Pennsylvania, Baltimore),
- Portugal (the Azores)
- Oman
My Writing Goals 2017
- 12 manuscripts (4 picture books, 1 mg, 4 young adult, 3 non-fiction)
- 1 book award
- find an agent
- Malaika... book # 3
- finish Malaika... play manuscript
- 5 book contracts
How did I do with my goals as of today (December 31, 2017)?
- 5 manuscripts (3 picture books on submission, 1 non-fiction manuscript Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter set for publication by HarperCollins in 2019, 1 young adult at 36, 000 words)
- 1 Americas Award Honor by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP) at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC for Malaika's Costume (acceptance speech below)
- began manuscript submissions to agents and so far received a few positive responses
- Malaika... book #3 is one of the 5 manuscripts listed above and currently in development
- currently working on Malaika... theatrical adaptation (again) in a playwriting course (the same one I took 2 years ago) and currently at 8 scenes
- 3 book contracts in the works (after receiving 3 rejections, 2 of which are turning to work on other projects)
- I applied to arts grants to assist me in covering the research and living costs to completing these
- Malaika's Winter Carnival, sequel to my first picture book, was published by Groundwood Books in August 2017 and completed the book trailer in November 2017
- joining as a presenter with Authors' Booking Service News
- getting more bookings this year and in 2018
My Writing Intentions for 2018
- 2 young adult novel manuscripts (1 ready for submission to publishers, start writing the other)
- 1 completed Malaika... play manuscript
- 5 picture book manuscripts signed for publication
- attend a weeklong writing workshop (either VONA or Highlights or both)
- 2 literary/writing conferences (to attend)
- sign an agent
- Social media strategy:
- 1 blogpost weekly
- 1 newsletter bi-monthly
- 1 youtube video for my channel monthly
- 2 tweets daily
- Instagram and Facebooks posts regularly
- 1 blogpost weekly
- Research:
- Jan-Jun 1-3 hours each week
- arts grants/funds to allow me to do 2 international research trips
- Jan-Jun 1-3 hours each week
See you in 2018!