Maybe I'll make someone feel better

[ksmith]

Folks are posting 2007 accomplishments. Some of those lists are...long.

Then there's mine.

2007:

Revised ENDGAME (OK, I essentially rewrote it in 5-6 weeks, and was a panicky wreck that entire time. A year's worth of writing angst packed in 12% of the space).

Wrote proposal for GIDEON (hey, it ended well)

On tap for 2008:

Write and revise GIDEON
Write part of GIDEON 2
Whatever else fits.

Comments

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel like a total slacker too. That's why I haven't posted my stats. This year? I think I had maybe 2 short stories published ...? And one book come out.

I signed to do another novella and 2 more stories within the next few months, but still. My list ain't all that special. Odd, since I feel like I've been working my ass off ...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Tell me.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Tell you which ones and what?
Or "tell me 'bout it," in a rhetorical sense?

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Rhetorical.

But I think you should post your list. Add the stuff for next year, like 2008 resolutions.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Ah. It's so hard to infer these things over the 'net. And good, because I don't actually know that off the top of my head :)

My bibliography is here. (http://www.cheriepriest.com/order-the-book/)
That's the whole shebang, for the last 3 years.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Yanno, a lot of people would be thrilled with that list.

Funny how the bar keeps moving.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

Drat that bar!
But yes, the standard for a successful year keeps getting farther away ...

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling like an underachiever, myself. I keep trying to remind myself that this year I'm doing well to still be standing.

standing is good. but better to recline and have someone peel you some grapes.

[lagilman]

Let's face it, Elizabeth Bear and Jay Lake have done enough for all of us the past year -- they've sucked all the writingness out of the ether and et it.

(I refuse to post my 2007 stats, because it just depresses me.)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I feel that way myself. Then I realize that my output in other years doesn't much outstrip this year's. Maybe toss in an extra draft. I'm just slow. I need to accept that fact.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

We're always hardest on ourselves. I look at your list and I don't see a slacker.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

A book a year is the goal, right?

::takes a sip of wine::

You do what you can.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You had a great year. Janni #5 came out, you reached the milestone of the SF bookclub, and you sold GIDEON (yay!) so you know what you're doing in 2008. You're entitled to that glass of wine.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

We should talk all the time. You're sane.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The danger comes when I think, ok, I rewrote ENDGAME in less than two months. Then that becomes some sort of standard. Doesn't matter that it was a rewrite, not a stone cold start-from-scratch, and I did nothing else when I came home from work but write, *and* chewed up the bulk of my vacation in the process.

Then I start thinking, yeah, I can write two books a year. Maybe three. Then the urge to retire starts gnawing at my innards, and I get depressed.