As we come to the end of 2019, I’ve begun to realise just how far we’ve come since 2009. The eleven years since I’ve been blogging, ten since I’ve been on other social media sites, phones, the internet, how we process every scrap of data we see as it scrolls past out eyes. And for me, I’ve become exhausted.

Exhausted by the internet, although I still think it’s fantastic. Social Media, although it’s awesome for following your favourite band, actor, muso, etc, and running a business in general. But it’s wearing me out. Has done for quite some time which is why I take December and January off blogging and being online for the majority of the time.

It’s refreshing. Gives you time to do other things, read, potter around, watch movies. Also gives you time to get blog posts ready for the next year. But in thinking back over the years, I’ve come to see how much I’ve done, yet how little I’ve accomplished. It all depends on the grand scheme of things and how they go for an individual. For me, they’ve leapt ahead, but gone nowhere.

In 2006 I wrote my first novel under my first nom de plume.

In 2008 I started setting up my jewellery business.

In 2009 I started two blogs and a website.

In 2013 I started writing under my real name.

In 2015 I started writing under T.K. Wrathbone and put my jewellery on hold due to health issues and caring for my mother.

In 2017 I set up my own publishing house to accommodate all three names.

I never imagined then, in 2006 with that first novel, that thirteen years later, I’d be 4 novellas, 9 novels, 41 short stories, and 11 non-fic books down the track, with most being written across 2016-2017.

Technology has come so far it has allowed me to do this, and to blog about it as I went.

But times have changed, and I’m now thirteen years older. Physically, my schedule has worn me out. Mentally, I’m exhausted, but I refuse to stop until I’m fifty for L.J. Diva, and fifty-three for T.K. Wrathbone. So, I have a few more years to go yet.

Because of my exhaustion, I’m cutting back on blogging even more. No longer will I be blogging here weekly as I’ve done for many a year, but it will now be a once a month catch up newsletter style post. A quick blog to let y’all know what I’m doing or about to do. I’ll still do the yearly writing plan and catch ups, I’ll still do the book premiere blog posts, but I’ll be blogging more over at my style site, Jewel Divas Style, so I only have a one stop shop for blogging. Movie and Book reviews will be over there, legal and copyright issues will be over there, unless they are so important I put them here too.

But in general, a monthly post will be the way to go. That will give me more time to plan books, write them, and get them typed up without a publishing schedule. The more relaxed vibe from back in the early days when I wrote a novel two years apart. Although, it won’t be two years apart now.

I have exciting new ideas for novels, and will write what comes in the next couple of years. I will then type them all up, edit them all, and plan a publishing schedule. It will not be the same as the one I’ve had for Porn Stars, a six monthly plan that wore me out.

I want writing to be fun again. Standalone novels fun. And that’s what I’m going back to. In order to do that, I need the time, so cutting back on blogging is the way to go and then I’ll blog in bulk when the books come out.

So, until then, I bid you adieu until next year when I come back with my yearly writing plan for 2020. My god, 2020, where did the time go?

As we come to the end of 2019 and eleven years online, I’m looking at how far I’ve come in writing and publishing and have noticed some rather significant things.

In March 2014 I wrote the blog post – “It’s that time again when I get that cold stabby feeling before I self-publish”.

I think it’s a mix of things like fear, what if it’s not ready, what if I do something wrong, what if I’ve missed something, what if it’s rejected, is it ready yet? I’m not sure what it would be called, but it’s a weird cold feeling that flashes in and out of my chest, almost like fear, I guess. But then what am I scared of? Scared it’s not perfect. Scared it’s not properly formatted. Scared it won’t be good enough.

A cold stabby feeling I haven’t felt in probably five years now. Later in 2014 I released one novel and three non-fiction books, so I was pumping them out and didn’t feel it. Definitely didn’t feel it in 2015, only a year after writing that post. Why? Probably because I released another non-fiction book and also started releasing children’s stories. I was uploading so many things it was ridiculous, so no stabby feeling.

For all you writers out there just beginning, it does get easier when it comes to releasing.

If you’ve edited it to within an inch of its life and had others edit it, then it’s good enough to release. Stop worrying about it. Stop worrying whether you’re good enough, whether the cover’s good enough, stop stressing, stop with the anxiety, see it as a step in the business of publishing and get it done. It does get easier, and becomes second nature. See it as any other job, it needs to be done.

And talking about older blog posts, here’s a few more of interest.

I wrote this blog post in 2011 – “I’m taking control of my own publishing future!” How I wasn’t going to let getting told no, no, no by publishing houses stop me from writing and being an author. Definitely a ground breaker, that one.

In 2012 I wrote – “Do writers get stage fright? I think I’ve got it!” I was prepping a new book and was taking my time, or was I procrastinating due to terrors?

2013’s – “Is self-publishing your e-book different to being picked up by an e-book publishing company?” No, it actually isn’t because we all do the same thing. So why leave it up to someone else when you can do it yourself?

2014’s – “What it takes to be an author and actually release a book” This was me letting you all know about what I’d gone through trying to get it all done. It’s so much easier today, just five years down the road.

“Writing an e-book in thirty days is not possible if you want a well thought out informative book” If you want a decent book and can’t pay staff to do everything else for you, then it’s going to take longer than one month.

““real publishers” aren’t the only “real” real ones anymore” I had read a blog post of someone who said their book has been picked up by a “real publisher”.

To me this is insulting. Newbie authors really shouldn’t be dismissive of self-publishing. Many self-pubbed authors have gotten big book and movie deals out of self-publishing. And by the way, can’t even remember who the hell that blogger was.

“The Success Files: Why Print On Demand books are better” Better for the environment. Nuff said!

“The Success Files: Hitting the Publish Button” Title says it all!

“The ironic full circle of traditional publishing to self-publishing.” How I was now being sold in stores owned by a publisher who turned me down. Ironic!

As I look back on these years here, it’s been fun, funny, and downright bitchy at times. And while I haven’t loved every minute, week, month, or year of it, I will still be popping in on the last of the month to let y’all know what I’ve been up to, and, of course, releasing my books and doing lots of book posts.

See you all in 2020.