The sun is setting on 2019 and on the 2010s, which leaves me feeling equal amounts excited and vaguely nauseated. This has been a crazy rollercoaster year and an even bigger rollercoaster of a decade.
At the beginning of 2019, I still had an unfinished novel and now at the end of the year, the novel is finished and has been sent to a handful of agents. In 2010, I was still 16 and in high school and now at the end of the decade, I’ve graduated high school, gone through university, and graduated almost 5 years ago. Not to mention getting into the creative writing program at Humber, writing a whole 83k word book, getting a real adult job, and everything else I’ve done in the last 10 years. It’s been a big decade.
I’ve definitely accomplished a lot in the decade, but here’s what I’ve accomplished in 2019!
Accomplishments
- Finished editing my book, meaning it was 100% done!
- Started querying agents
- Got my first rejections
- Got paid for writing the first time by writing on Medium
- Participated in my first PitMad
- Continued to grow my online audience
I’m including a few items that aren’t perfectly positive (the rejections and the Pitmad… which was basically just rejection via Twitter) because they were major learning experiences for me. This year I’ve learnt a lot about my work and the process of trying to get it published.
I’m certainly glad that I finished some of the goals I set out for myself last year. Maybe that’s an accomplishment that should go on the list!
Favourites
It’s time for my long dreaded favourites section of this post. If you read my 2018 blog post, you’ll know that I’m quite bad at picking just one favourite. This year I’m going to try my best at just choosing ONE thing for this list.
Book:
This was a late addition to my read list this year and actually pretty spontaneous. I’d bought the box set last year when it was on sale, but hadn’t read it. Then I saw it on a list of portal fantasies and (since I’m querying a portal fantasy) decided to read it.
Wow! I knew I would enjoy it, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I wasn’t even done and I decided that this was going on my favourites list.
I was going to mention Winter of the Witch, but I won’t because I said I’d only pick one.
Movie:
Doctor Sleep
This movie was also one I saw fairly late in the year, but it really stood out. It was one movie that I really just enjoyed watching. Simple as that!
I’m already a fan of Stephen King, though I hadn’t read this book yet. But I really enjoyed this movie, so I’ll have to give the book a read!
Food:
Burritos!
While last years’ winner, soup, is still a beloved food, this year has to go to burrito.
I love Mexican food (or at least the Mexican food you can get outside of Mexico) and last years’ runner up was tacos from my local Mexican restaurant. Earlier in the year, my dad and I would treat ourselves to very yummy “fast food” (just ready fast) burritos. And as I experimented with different fillings, I even got a little spicy with it, which is saying something because my spice tolerance is not very high.
Anyway, thanks burritos for being so delicious!
Show:
The Good Place
The Good Place had its final season this year and while I was sad to see it go, it wrapped up in such a good way. I always appreciate a show that has a plan and knows when to stop.
The show is amazing and is so clever with its concept and execution. And if you like moral philosophy, it’ll definitely tickle your fancy.
These were a few of my favourite things!
Goals
Instead of having a hard list of goals I’d like to achieve this year, I’m going to have a vague umbrella goal which I’m hoping will encompass all the other things I want to accomplish in 2020.
I want the coming year to be about creating. I want to write more, paint more, photograph more, make more music, everything.
To be more specific, I’d like to learn more about photography since I have a super nice camera that I don’t really know how to use. I’d like to get back into practising my ukulele!
I spent too much time in the second half of the year worrying about getting my book out, trying to get people to read my stuff online, trying to be noticed, instead of doing what makes me happy: the writing itself. So now that I know what querying is like, it’s not going to get to me as much and I’m not going to worry about anything else. I’m just going to create pieces I’m passionate about and everything else doesn’t matter.
Wishing you the very best for 2020 and I’ll see you in the new year!
Jenna Goldsmith 
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