Another year gone. And 2018 literally flew for me.

If you were around my blog this time of the year, you would know that I intended to publish or rather self-publish one fiction and one non-fiction book in the year 2018. Needless to say, I failed miserably. I have a semi-finished draft of the non-fiction book and some 25 flash fiction stories on my drive as of today.

Of course, a work in progress is much better than nothing, I take it as a failure to meet my goals. We freelancers can hardly be blamed for not meeting our goals because to us life happens every third day, throwing our schedule and short-term goals in complete chaos.

Being a freelance writer, I am no different. And I am proud of the fact. I chose a freelance life because I wanted to live life as it comes, not missing out on anything just because something else needs to be done more urgently.

Everything said, 2018 was a very hectic and fruitful year both professionally and personally. And this post is just a review of that.

Personal achievements

While talking of goals, I cannot ignore the fact that building an extension to our house was on our to-do list since 2016. We could finally achieve it in 2018. Building an extension and renovating the existing parts of a house are no mean tasks. So, I wish that charitable ones among you would pardon me for not meeting my other goals like publishing a book!!

Hey! not everything was a failure professionally

I connected with Shradha Anand the founder of Aura-books through LinkedIn and did what I love doing the most – writing Computer Science textbooks. I wrote some 7-8 books between the period of April and October. Even if I am not sure about their publication, given the chaotic state of text book publishing industry in India, I feel satisfied. And that is the one thing that counts.

And in the process, I have also gained a good friend in Shradha – a bit crazy, a bit worked up, but all the way loving and caring!!

For the past few years I had been rigorously taking stock of the year gone by in terms of both financial and creative satisfaction. This year I did no such exercise. I might do it sometime during January but I am not very sure or keen about it. Because, in my mind I am crystal clear about what I want to do this year. Read more and write more.

2019 has started on a good note

I have started my reading with Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. A great start, I daresay.

And, I started my writing with this blog.

I have been collecting newspaper pages doing 2018 book roundups from Hindustan Times and Times of India to read through the year.  

I have also signed up for Goodreads to help me read more. Though, I must confess I was too lazy to go beyond step 2, where I had to select my favourite genres.

Now, I usually read whatever I can get my hands on, plus I did not want to lose out on some good books simply because I did not put a tick in a box. Eventually, I got confused and clicked the cross button of the browser.

And I need your support

Pray for me that I may be able to read more and write more as I want. I plan to keep updating about the books I read here.

I wish you luck in meeting your expectation of yourself this new year 2019 too. Do let me know what are your expectations in the comments below. I refuse to call them resolutions, because the word itself makes me want not to follow it!!

Post Script: I will post about my analysis of year gone by soon, in case you are interested in knowing. Please say yes even if just not to break my heart.