2017 in Retrospect

/ PrimmLife

2017, on a personal level, has been a good but busy year. On a national level, it’s been a disaster, but there are many people talking about that in a much better way than I. It’s a bit early to do a year in review for me. There is a lot of good things happening before New Year’s Eve, but I’m going to look back anyway. Now is a good time to see how lucky I am to live the life I have. It wasn’t all sunshine and smiles, no year ever will be, but overall my life is headed in the direction I want it to go.

Personal Highlights:

Unfortunately, the Primm family said goodbye to a loved one way, way too soon. Rest in Peace, Morgan Primm.

On the writing front, I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes and have let this blog suffer. I need about two more hours every day to get everything I want to do done. I started a new novel. This would be the third that I’ve started. I’ve only finished one so far, and it was bad, bad, bad. The current one stands at 53,000 words, and I’m about 4,000 words behind schedule. BUT I am on track to have 90,000 words written before my birthday next year. This book will require staggering amounts of rework, revision, and changes before I’ll be ready to let anyone see it. This novel, however, is still fun to write. Unlike the other two, I’m not bored with what is on the page. I wrote at finished one character’s entire storyline. I’m currently writing another characters storyline and trying to push through. All I see are problems to the left of me, typos to the right while I’m stuck in the middle with doubt. Luckily, I’ve found a new resource to help with the soldiering on.

This year, I consumed a lot of good art, and it buoyed my spirts. As such, here’s the work that I loved this year.

Best of the Year List:

Best novel is missing from that list because I can’t decide between a number of books. This year, I read a lot of great stuff. On any day, the order at the top of the list could shift; therefore, I decided to just leave that category off the list. This may be a first in my history. For as long as I can remember, one book out of each year stood out over the others.  For example, in 2016 the story collection Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang moved me more than any other novel or book that year. But in 2017, I can’t point to one that separates itself from the amazing things that I’ve read. Rather than rank the books I read, I’ll just link to the list from Goodreads.

Part of looking back is looking at what needs to be improved. My reading list is not as diverse as I would like. Unfortunately, I have some commitments to finish out the year, but in 2018, I will be reading and reviewing books by more diverse authors. Now, some will say that I should read what I want and not worry about quotas/author identity/whatever. The implication in that statement is that I would NOT want to read diverse books UNLESS a quota was imposed. But in my to-be-read pile, I have many, many books. There are many diverse books in the services that I request advanced copies from. All I’m doing is prioritizing authors – who I want to read – that are more diverse. The best part about this is that no one will be harmed. My prioritizing one book that I’m interested over another is something I do every time I open something new anyways. In 2018, I will be more mindful to read stories from people with different backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints than me. I see this as an opportunity to grow. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that I will like all that I read. This doesn’t mean that I will review books simply because they are diverse. One:  I don’t review every book that I like2, and two:  I have an established Review Policy that I will continue to abide by. In reality, I should have done this long ago, but better late than never.

Facebook this year compiled an excellent video that summarizes my year. 2017 was a good year for me. With luck and a lot of work, 2018 will be better.

1.  Yes, the show is problematic, and it’s finding its way. It’s not the best show on television, but it has lots and lots of potential. I’m willing to give this show time to find itself and improve. Not every show creator can be Shonda Rhimes, although image the amazing television if they all were that good.

2.  Though, I would like to. Many reasons exist for why those reviews never get written. For example, I’m still working through the effect Silver Screen Fiend had on me. It’s enough that any writing about it isn’t good enough for me.