Personal writing highlight of the year?

williemeikle

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My personal highlight of the year on the writing front was this one. Dark Melodies is something I've dreamed about since I started writing twenty years ago... a collection of supernatural stories by me, in hardcover, which was all I wanted to achieve when I started out. And here it is.

http://www.williammeikle.com/aboutdarkmelodies.html

darkmelodies.jpg
 

triceretops

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Beautiful cover, willie. And you can NEVER go wrong using Lovecraft as a benchmark.

My highlight: My YA distopian took the first place grand prize in a novel-writing contest, sponsored by a publisher. They offered an advance and publication. I had to decline because of a mix-up. I still have high hopes for this book--my agent has it now--The Girl They Sold to the Moon.

tri

ETA: I forgot. I became a self-publisher and released my first title to Amazon. Quite an amazing feat for this tech dumb writer.
 
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ohthatmomagain

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Very cool!!! Both of you.

My personal writing highlight was signing my first book contract! :) It came out in October and I'm so excited/proud of it.
 

Phaeal

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CGs on the short story collection, Willie. Imma go look at it right now.
 

L. Y.

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Cool! Congratulations!
 

blacbird

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Personal writing highlight for the year? By far, the kind responses I received here from my post about a serious personal family difficulty, posted some weeks ago. I reiterate my thanks to everyone about that.

It's still far from a settled matter, but the comments I received helped, a lot, and i needed that.

caw
 

Putputt

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Personal writing highlight of the year...

-Finally signed on with an agent.
-Found AW, which I would equate with jumping off a platform into a field full of fluffy bunnies and rolling about laughing and grunting the whole time. And squishing a few bunnies in the process.
-Made friends with a couple of AWers, one of whom is now my writing partner...without her I certainly would have failed Nano quite early in the game.
-Completed Nano for the first time evuh!

Come to think of it, 2012 has been the best writing year of muh life. :D
 

ohthatmomagain

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Personal writing highlight of the year...

-Finally signed on with an agent.
-Found AW, which I would equate with jumping off a platform into a field full of fluffy bunnies and rolling about laughing and grunting the whole time. And squishing a few bunnies in the process.
-Made friends with a couple of AWers, one of whom is now my writing partner...without her I certainly would have failed Nano quite early in the game.
-Completed Nano for the first time evuh!

Come to think of it, 2012 has been the best writing year of muh life. :D

Love the hippo :) I'm procrastinating...
 

DeleyanLee

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My writing highlight of the year is getting back to writing novels seriously. I even have a prayer of finishing one before 2012 is over--which would be wonderful. That's something I haven't done in a decade.

My authorial highlight of the year was having someone I'm not related to ask me to sign my story in a copy of Absolute Visions. First time that's ever happened. :D
 

regdog

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Congrats to everyone. Great cover willie.

For me it was the release of A Dog of War. This book has been my heart and soul for so long. It means the world to me and to hold it in print for the first time was something. I will never forget
 

ARoyce

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Highlights?

--getting THE CALL
--signing with an agent (who I lurve!)
--signing a two-book contract (digital-first)

I'm still stunned. And I'm looking forward to the crazy goodness of 2013!
 

Purple Rose

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Good to read about the highlights above. Milestones for all of us :)

A year of highlights for me, for sure, all between January and December 2012 - getting the offer > signing the contract > holding the first paperback (advanced review copy) in my hand > seeing my book on the shelves of Singapore's leading book shops > hearing myself on radio > watching myself on TV > signing books for strangers > exceeding the 1,000-copies-sold mark

Hope 2013 will continue to be a good year. Now I need a real job.
 

TorontoGirl

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Wow, I don't have a "writing highlight" for 2012. I'm still plowing away at my first novel. Its awesome to read all of your achievements. It definitely gives a noob like me the motivation to keep going. Congratulations, all of you :)
 

Susie

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congrats to all! That's super. I won a greeting card contest at Country Wives and will have my card illustrated and receive a packet of them next year. Looking forward to that. Hope 2013 is even better for everyone! :Cake:s! :)
 

Anna Spargo-Ryan

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Congratulations to everyone, there are some amazing achievements in this thread.

Mine was having a (non-fiction feature) story of mine on the cover of a national glossy mag. I've been a big fan of the mag for many years so it was a huge thrill!
 

Kitty27

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Congratulations,everyone!:Hug2:


My personal highlights are the following:
~Seven novels are done with four more in the pipeline.
~Making the momentous decision to self publish next year. Of course,my AW peeps have a wealth of information and knowledge that I am soaking up like a humble sponge.
~Finished a horror short story collection.
~ Receiving a heartfelt email from a young lady who read a sample of my YA novel. I could feel her happiness in every word. Whenever I get down about my YA novels,I read her letter. It fires me up every time.

As we leave 2012 behind,I hope lucky 2013 brings what we desire!
 

Chris P

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Congrats everyone!

My highlight: Paper Thin, coming to e-book readers everywhere on January 4th!

This book started as a retelling of The Tale of Genji, which will be 1000 years old sometime soon; nobody's sure exactly when. In Paper Thin, a business wonder boy who's the darling of the company CEO has a dark secret the CEO and main character are willing to do anything to conceal. And I do mean anything.
 

Chris P

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Oh, and a bittersweet non-fiction highlight: the publication of a scientific paper based on a really cool project a friend of mine and I collaborated on. Sadly, she was killed in a mountain climbing accident on Mount Baker a few weeks after we collected our last data in 2011. I miss you, Sheryl. I wish we'd been able to do that follow up study you wanted to do.
 

KawaiiTimes

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My highlights were seeing Age/Sex/Location come out in ebook, and then receiving paperbacks from the publisher much sooner than expected.

Getting a phone call from my Grandma that she picked the novel up at Barnes and Noble and couldn't put it down... And then having her ask me to write a sequel was a very pleasant and unexpected review.

Writing a second novel between Jan 1 and Dec 28 has been another big highlight. The first one took 7 years to draft and edit!
 

pernickety

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Hi all,
Reading AW for a while now so thought I should finally jump in and post.:D

Highlight for me this year was really getting into the writing habit and starting a writing group.

I live in a non-English speaking country so thought it would be difficult to find English-speakers who are also writers. However I got a reply to my ad and that person knew of a few others who might be interested and we had one meeting in December and the next due in Jan.

In 2013 I'm hoping the contract/agent/publication will be my highlight...
 

AndreaGS

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Congrats y'all! May 2013 be as momentous a year as 2012 seems to have been! :partyguy:

For me, my highlight was winning 1st place in the Writers of the Future contest. My first publication!
 

EMaree

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I just wrote a blog post with a few of my highlights, especially:

  • Getting an agent.
  • Finishing the draft of a new novel in record time
  • Making lots of wonderful new writer friends