It’s time for WU’s annual hiatus, but I didn’t want to close the year without taking a minute to reflect on what has been and what will come next.
This has been a hard year for many of us. Some have lost loved ones, others have lost jobs. Many of us have experienced a level of sustained stress we’re unaccustomed to living with, which has impacted our ability to focus on creating. If you’ve felt disappointment in your output this year, please join me in cutting us all some collective slack. This has been a long moment. But this, too, shall pass. And something that Porter Anderson wrote yesterday deserves a second time in the spotlight here:
[My] wish for you is that you have the luck to work your way into 2021, as you see fit. May the work help you feel grounded and in touch with progress. May it be something you remember to return to when you’re scared. And may you demand your best work of yourself precisely when things are darkest.
Hear, hear.
Looking Forward to 2021
Several of our contributors will have books releasing in 2021, including some with debuts–including Nancy Johnson and Julie Carrick Dalton! We’ll be celebrating many of these releases via interviews scattered throughout the year, running–in most cases–the Sunday before their release days. I’m sure they’d all appreciate the support through comments, social media shares, and naturally through purchases and reviews of their books. (If you have book releases planned for 2021, let us know in comments!)
A few of our long-time contributors have made shifts this past year, stepping down from frequent postings to less present positions, which means we’ll be introducing you to some new voices in 2021. We’re excited to bring these new folks onto the team, and we look forward to getting to know them throughout the year along with you.
Last but not least, I want to take a moment to congratulate contributor Arthur Klepchukov on his video Aisles of Ideas, which was awarded 3rd place in the Library Film Festival! He’s allowed us to share this 2-minute book-celebrating gem here:
And that’s a wrap! See you back here on January 1st with a post from our own Jeanne Kisacky.
What are you looking forward to in 2021? Did you celebrate achievements in 2020? I’d love to hear about them in comments.
Meanwhile, stay safe, friends. See you on the other side of 2020. And, as always, write on.
About Therese Walsh
Therese Walsh (she/her) co-founded WU in 2006 and is the site's editorial director. She was the architect and 1st editor of WU's only book, Author in Progress, and orchestrates the WU UnConference. Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and Book Riot; and her debut, The Last Will of Moira Leahy was a Target Breakout Book. Sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to learn about her new projects (or follow her on BookBub). Learn more on her website.
I’m excited over my June 1st release from Heritage Beacon/Iron Stream Media. There is more romance than in my previous books. I got a lot of writing done during the quarantine. Where I normally write a book in 9 months, I wrote 2 1/2 full length novels in that time.
Ane, what a great productivity time for you! I’m glad for you, and for your new 2021 novel. Write on!
I guess I should have said my June release is titles On Sugar Hill.
Good riddance to 2020! But really, for my writing, it’s been a good year. In October, I managed to publish my novel, Better Late Than Never, a second-chance multicultural romance set at the Jersey Shore. I’m not sure I would have accomplished that this year without all the weekends when there wasn’t much to do. It looks like I’ll be able to finish my WIP in 2021. I look forward to that. I am very excited about the hope of a summer filled with parties in 2021.
Ada, congratulations on the publication of Better Late Than Never, and on your productivity this past year. All the best to you as you push to finish your wip, and here’s to better times in 2021 — parties and travel and friends and book events. Write on!
Hey, wasn’t that a copy of Author in Progress in the stack in front of the new author in Aisles of Ideas? And then she got pubbed. Coincidence?
I realized this morning that I’ve been officially associated with WU for almost 10 years now. It got me thinking. I was in Scouting for maybe 5 or 6 years, Rocket Football for 4, ran track for 4, went to MSU for 5 (took an extra year to make up for the partying). You get the idea; my point being that my affiliation with this community is among the most enduring of my life. And it’s certainly been among the most rewarding.
This community never fails to inspire me, even during a pandemic or through political turbulence. Maybe especially then. Here’s to the next ten years, WU. Wishing you all a safe, and inspiring, holiday season.
Your eyes did not deceive you. I enjoyed that little AiP cameo! Thank you for all that you’ve brought to WU in 2020, Vaughn. To say that you’ve been a great help would be an understatement. Here’s to a 2021 that surpasses expectations in all (good) ways. Write on, friend.
Thank you, Therese Walsh, and everyone who invests the time in writing these posts. You’re helping me grow. May everyone find the creativity and inspiration to write, through all these challenges.
My 2020 accomplishment is finish another draft of my 3rd novel, brainstorming the 4th right now, and setting the first 2021 goals of writing that draft in 2 months (getting to use all of December to brainstorm all things novel 4). I’m resuming my agent hunt to query book 3.
Happy writing, all!
Thanks to all of you, for being the most consistent pleasure in my blog feed, every morning as I’m gearing up to write.
I’ll have a book out in late January: my urban fantasy *Running the Gauntlet*, the start of a new series. Family secrets, friendship and betrayal, magic armor, and some fights that I’ve tried to make a match for the most exciting out there. Thanks again to WU for always inspiring me to push harder.
Ken, congratulations on the upcoming publication of Running the Gauntlet! I’m glad WU has become a daily habit for you and something that inspires you. Thank you for being a part of the community. Write on!
Thanks Therese for all that you do for WU. I hope to have some more guest posts in the coming year. Blessings, Beth.
Beth, thank you for being such a present community member, always with wonderful comments. And thank you for your guest post this past year! Write on, friend.
What a great video from Art! Thank you Therese for this wonderful community–I learn so much here.
I was grateful to have extended time with my adult children and it was so fun to make some books together about their childhood stories and fantasies. Reycraft also published my first hardcover picture book with dust jacket, darling endpapers, and gorgeous illustrations. Celebrations were low-key.
I’m looking forward to writing and celebrating more in 2021–I have another PB coming out in the fall.
Merry Christmas and happy New Year, all!
Vijaya, I’m so impressed that you’ve written 60+ books for children! How did I never know this? Congratulations on your latest with Reycraft, and on your productivity in general. Wishing you a lovely holiday season. “See” you in 2021! Write on!
Thank you, Therese. I love writing for kids and that’s how the 60+ books came to be, most for the school and library market.
My first impulse is to think I didn’t achieve anything! But actually I did have two stories published and I pulled off serializing a novella. What am I looking forward to in 2021 aside from a new administration? My son graduating from high school. More stories. And I don’t know what else.
Happy All the Holidays and a Good New Year to you and everyone at WU.
I hear you, Marta: This was the weirdest year in terms of… Can we call it ‘reality warp’? Congratulations on publishing two stories, and your novella! And here’s to All the Gifts that 2021 can bring. Happy Holidays to you, friend.
Yes, a big THANK YOU to the WU community! The posts and the comments are a constant source of inspiration, hope and food for thought. I have pasted many of them into my notes, have used the questions and prompts as tools to improve my WIP. THANK YOU!
As for 2020, it was a bitter-sweet year for me. Sadness and hope, dark moments and happiness. But I am grateful for many things, nevertheless. I think 2020 has taught us the value of flexibility, forced us to grow in ways we could not have imagined. It quite relentlessly questioned our priorities.
For 2021, let’s try to hold on to what we have learned, and hope to get back some of the things we are missing now.
Keep safe, everyone, keep enjoying the good things, keep writing, keep hoping! Hope to “see” you again soon!
J, I love your comment. And this:
Yes, and yes, and yes. Thank you for sharing.
Stay safe, J, and e-see you again in 2021! Write on.
Arthur, great video! As Vaughn pointed out, you are a trickster putting Author in Progress in there.
Therese, thank you on top of thank yous (see whipped cream and cherries too, or maybe a frosty Manhattan) for your stewardship of this fine place, a place of collegiality and community, where pointed reflections go to sprout, and never to die. (Oh, and a lot of solid writing stuff happens too.)
As for 2020, good God! I want to issue a recall. No, better yet, move forward.
Tom, I’m all for moving forward. Thank you for bringing your voice to WU this past year and for re-upping for this coming year, too. Here’s to better days ahead, friend. Be well!
It’s been a tough year in some ways, a beautiful year in others. The clock hands have disengaged from the gears, spinning crazily around. Publishing has carried on but we communicate across outer space, images of friends and colleagues seeming to zoom to us from the Moon.
Even fiction itself has felt unmasked, detached from reality, which is to say nothing of reality itself, a nation operating as if it is fiction, malleable and unreliable, the “truth” becoming the story that best appeals.
Here’s the thing, though: weak fiction tells us what we want to hear, strong fiction tells us what we need to hear. There is such a thing as true truth and saying that through story matters now more than ever.
Write on, Therese, and thank you to you and everyone at WU. See you next year.
“Weak fiction tells us what we want to hear, strong fiction tells us what we need to hear. There is such a thing as true truth and saying that through story matters now more than ever.”
YES. You always add such insightful things in the comments. Thank you.
And thank YOU, Therese, and the whole WU community, for always being such pleasant and inspiring company. <3
A big thank you Therese and everyone here at WU!
A mighty fine group of pens in this drawer.
…and here’s to the new year! whatever may come!
Thank you for this opportunity to be a part of WU. So honored.
It’s a beautiful place.
Thank you for being a part of Team WU, Kathryn!