Category: Year in Review

Categories
Internet Work in Progress Year in Review

Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2010 + 2011

Circa 2005 at George Mason University

Well, I certainly disappeared for the month of December, but you know how the end of the year goes with the holiday frenzy. I had wanted to participate in National Novel Finishing Month, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be for this month. I added on only 300some words to my February 2009 novel, but I will add more in this next year.

This year in writing has been meaningful to say the least. I attended a few online classes via Gotham Writers’ Workshop to learn a little more about freelancing and blogging (albeit I’ve been in the blogging world for 10-11 years now, but I wanted to see what the instructor could advise upon).

I discovered the world of Fiverr and have landed a few small gigs via that website; have resulted in one customer giving me continuous work for short stories for an ESL class. The pay isn’t much but I have really enjoyed working on my writing as opposed to being stuck at an office as a minion (oh, but really, no offense to my previous employer at all; they are wonderful people there).

I also entered into my first writing contest, perhaps the first ever (I can’t recall whether or not I entered any writing contests in my adolescence). Granted, I didn’t win, but it was still a good experience working through my submission and having local friends critique the piece for me.

For 2011, I will do much more with my writing: complete the two drafts that have been unfinished for 1-2 years now (started those drafts in 2009), read more books (only completed 13 books this year due to the incident from late January), find more clients to write for, and, well, who knows where else I will go with my writing?

In other realms of my life, 2010 taught me a lot and perhaps was a year of enlightenment in more ways than one. 2011 is already shaping up to be another grand year with my entrance into business school and another big move on the way.

As I reflect on my life from this decade, I see I have really come a long way from the teenage years. We all realize this at some point in our lives, but I notice this year has been a huge step for me. Onwards I go into this new year!

(Oh, by the way, I have also created blogs at Tumblr and Posterous. My Tumblr account so far consists of amusing conversation tidbits, the occasional picture, and some poetry. If you are interested in joining me on my “One Word, One Picture” Project for 2011, check out the Posterous site!)

Happy 2011 everyone!

Categories
goals life Novel 1 Year in Review

2009 Reflections & 2010 Goals

I might as well write my “remembering 2009” entry now, as I may not have much time to reflect during the last days of the year. I’m currently far away from a place I used to call home, and I’ve been contemplating a lot about what this next year, 2010, has in store for me.

This year has been a good year for me, writing-wise, but of course, with any progress, there’s always a few steps taken backwards as well. I launched my domain, helenekwong.com, earlier this year to be ambitious about my writing, to get the word out. The website has drawn a decent number of viewings, but I admit that it’s pretty plain in terms of design. I’ve posted short stories on my website and through other outlets such as Scribd and GoodReads; was featured on Scribd for my story, “From Riches to Rags”, which really helped my online presence. Later in the year, I was featured on the “i live here:SF” project. I’d say these two instances were great accomplishments through the online world.

Aside from these recognitions, I’ve also kept myself busy online with contributions to Muni Diaries, blogging on “Cinnamon Juice” (my food blog; currently on hiatus), and writing reviews on Yelp!. I’d say indeed that it has been a busy year on the Internet for myself.

In terms of my writing progress: I began 2009 with a lot of vigor for editing and revising my first novel. However, as is typical of some writers, I began to get distracted with other projects (writing and non-writing related), and have put my editing on hold. I hit a dry spot in inspiration early in the year, and attempted to muster up that Muse through writing exercises found in books. I’ve written a few short stories through online prompts and daily observations, but have yet to get around to finalizing the stories for public reading. NaNoWriMo this year was difficult for me, as November was a really trying time for myself in my personal life. My novel is still unfinished, but I do not feel as sad about it as I thought I would; I understand sometimes that other priorities must take place in my life, and that, sadly, my writing has to take a backseat when it comes to these other priorities.

Do I regret not writing as much, not featuring as much, from this year? No. Life happens, and, as much as I’d like to focus more on my writing, I understand that I have other dreams and goals that must take my full concentration at times. I already have some plans for 2010 though:

  1. Really, seriously, edit and revise Novel 1 and get it ready for agents. Out of all the first drafts I have written so far, Novel 1 is the most promising for the public. The other novels are still promising as well, but they have a lot of kinks that I need to work out over time. However, ever since writing Novel 1 two years ago, the plot still holds onto me as I think about the story and how it unfolded when I first pounded out that draft. I had begun the process of editing/revising earlier this year, and I had hoped to have the book ready for agents before June. As we all know now, that didn’t happen; I will seriously focus on getting this draft ready by April 2010 at the latest. I’ll track my progress here so you all can keep me on track.
  2. Write/Edit/Revise/Post one short story per month (12 all year). It seems like too little, but it’d actually be a lot for me to do this. It’ll be something to look forward to each month, right?

There will be more goals along the way as the year starts out; for now, I hope you, my readers, will keep these two in mind and help keep me on track.

In the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful end-of-2009 and many great things in 2010.

Categories
Year in Review

End of 2007.

So, only a few more hours left until 2007 is out, and 2008 is in–and my oh my, it’s been quite a year.

I feel like I say that at the end of every year, but hell, a lot does happen in one year, regardless.

Definitely a lot of changes happened over the course of the year–a lot of good and bad. Births, deaths, marriages, graduations, etc. Life has been interesting.

And now, to look forward towards 2008–I sense it’ll be another big year in many years. Apparently the economy is kind of in a recession (well, with subprime rates and all), so…we’ll see how the job search goes for this next year. Hoping to do more traveling this year, especially back to Japan–we’ll see how everything pans out.

I kind of wish some money would fall out of the sky right now.

Oh, so tomorrow, 1/1/08, begins my Blog 365 journey. I’ll be blogging for 365 (+1 day, Leap Year!) days this whole year. Be prepared for many entries of random babble. I promise to keep you entertained though.

Good evening to everyone and hope you aren’t partying too hard.