2022 already? Gosh, the year has gone by too fast. Can't you believe it? The year of 2021 has been a challenging one for all of us. But we can look back and see what we've done despite the difficulties we faced. I hope you had good things happen despite the chaos. What are things you have doneto improve and accomplish the goals you set yourself in the year of 2021?
The past year has been up and down for me. I spent time redrafting a novel that I wrote a few years back. A story of an immigrant deaf girl who traveled to America and befriended a man who helped her to find her father. Since I finished the draft I haven’t touched it. Some point I’ll get back into that. Soon after that I began doing some querying and submitting my YA fantasy time-travel novel to a couplepublishers and agents. After almost two months and half, I got no requests. One after one they all rejected, kindly advisedto have people aid and honed the story as possible. Even though my manuscript has gone through some revisions, I put the manuscript on the back burner for now and not submit to more agents or publishers. Maybe sometime in 2022,I'll give this fantasy novel another round in beta-reading and see what I can do then. For now I'm going to focus on other projects.
To be honest this year my writing has been dry. Not completely. I may have rewritten some old drafts(practically two) and two short stories. In recent blogs I've shared some of writing struggles. I didn’t publish anything andfelt I needed time to take it easy on myself. Throughout the year I spent a lot of time reading books. More books then Icould count. Though I wish I could have written how many exactly. I did share some in my quarterly blogs and my thoughts on each one of them. In fact, I’ll share some of the recent here in a second.
Other than writing and reading books, I had good and bad days. But in the last few months there were other things that took a toll on me. I don’t always talk about certain things on my blog about my personal life. But there are things I sometimes need to be honest with my readers. I’ve been dealing with some health issues and thepast few months (since August) I deal with physical issues with my stomach. I struggled with this for a long time. It’s not stomach flu but a bacteria. We all have that, but for my case: it was really bad and it needed to be taken care of. Then I also lost a good friend of mine this past summer. Someone who had been good and kind to our family. Between that, we're dealing with struggles in our family. Church, relationships and health issues. Like I say lot of things happened within the last couple months. Not a long ago, I spoke with a friend and told her I haven't written a thing other old drafts. There were days I get ideas and then lost the motivation. There were times I tried to write but words weren't coming out. I sometimes feelguilty that I didn’t do more. I used to write a lot and this year has been something else. She kindly said that I shouldn't feel guilty or compare to the past and now. Remember the things you did accomplished. There's a saying that everything happens for a reason and there is time for resting and refreshing. Maybe 2021 was a season to rest and take it easy.
Shortly ago, I mentioned I read new books and it’s time for me to share them with you. I’ve written some reviews on these books, and will use them as part of the blog. These are my personal thoughts on the stories. 
While I love reading long fiction, I also enjoy reading Middle grade books like Pax Journey Home by Sara Pennypacker. I saw this book in thechildren's department and loved the illustrations. After reading the blurb and looking inside, I had to read it. First couplepages, I paused and realized this isn’t a first book but a sequel to the first book Pax. But I didn’t care. I was already drawnin the story and my heart ached for the boy and Pax and their friendship. It’s a bittersweet and wreatchy, and healing taleof loss and found. I highly recommend it. 
After reading that book, I dived into reading a debut historical romance fiction Windswept Annabelle Mccormack. Before it came out; I was intrigued by the trailer of the book. It caught my attention and put on my TBR. She had a giveaway and I entered. On her release day. I received amessage from the author and won a copy of debut. It was a lovely surprise and got lovely swags along with the book. It took a little while but I finished on the way to Michigan on Thanksgiving weekend. I really like the main characters Ginder and Noah. They both were good , especially how they cooperated in the story. There were moments I got anxious about them. Toward the end, I panicked, like “Nooo,” and it scared my younger brother. It was an intense moment for me. Without giving away the end, I was able to breathe again. There were some scenes that were a bit much for me butagain, this is historical fiction with some steamy romance. The language wise: there are few swearing here and there. The book is heavily about the war and there are triggers details in this isn't for young readers. But if you like read this type of historical fiction with steamy romance then this is for you.
Another debut I had the opportunity to read before the launch, A Christmas Dare novella by Heather Miekstyn. A contemporary romance writer and author of her first book. I read it in less than four days. I love the cover: it is festive and adorable. The story was cute and short. It was a quick read and I liked how it ended. Some details were unnecessary and it didn't need to be overly descriptive. But other than that, I highly recommend this book if you like ice skating and sweet romance with a bit of Robin Hood vibe.
The last I read Richard
Paul Evans newest book The Christmas Promise. Last year I read his book The Noel Letters, and saw this new book. I read it and enjoyed it. There was a scene where I laughed because it happened to my own character. His main character needed a vacation from working and time to grief for the loss. It is kind of funny how we see other writers use similar ideas and not expect that. While the content was well done I noticed a couple dialog quotations were missing, but I enjoyed it. Especially it's about two sisters and the relationship between them. It's worthwhile to read.
In grand total I read at least more than 30 books in 2021, which isn't bad number. It's more than I expected because I didn't keep track how many (LOL) I didn't set a books-read goal for 2022 but I do like read more than 30 if it's possible. When I do, I'll share them in the next quarterly blog.
Any new writing projects for 2022? After many months of not writing a new draft other than revising, I started a contemporary romance fiction. Long before A Forever Summer, which it’s also a contemporary romance, was written, the draft I’m working on was my very first romance story.
I was sixteen and got inspired by the film August and wrote the story. I had a couple of feedback but then didn't mess with it for a while. A few years later (2014-2021) I read the draft as a reader and saw a lot of holes and errors and problems. To be honest the story needed more than a revision. It need to rewrite from scratch. There were a lot of things won't work if I kept it as it is. At the same time I felt inspired to work on it. While the story is changing from the original, the idea remains the same. A girl loves ice skating, has a daughter, and a man she knows find out he has a kid and wants to be part of their life. I won't say much since still under work of progress. So far, the project passed the 20k words mark and hopefully will finish it in January. I’m hoping to work on more writing projects as I go but I'm gonna take it at my own pace and take one project at a time.
If not writing or reading books or drawing (hobby), I'm will be preparing one thing. It's releasing a debut A Forever Summer. A story that I’ve been working on for the past year and its officially getting out into the world in five months and a couple days. It will be here before we know it. I'll be busy as the launch get closer. If you want to get more details and behind the scenes and be part of the launch, then sign up for newsletter. Click Here or on the button to fill in the form.
I hope 2022 will be better for you and hopefully things will get back to normal soon. For now, we have to stay strong and stick together and support each other in hard times. With God on our side, we must trust Him and know He got the whole world in His hands. And the last before I closed in the blog: I wanted to shout out to you ALL. Thank you fellow readers for being wonderful supporters and sticking with me in 2021. It means a lot to me.
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