2019 has been my most productive year of publishing, with 17 total titles published (above plus 2 other pen name titles). 2016 was the winner until now with 13 titles published, which didn’t include any fiction (which takes significantly longer than the colouring books to create). I also hit the milestone of 20 colouring books in my main range now available.

Painting

I only finished one major painting this year, which feels a bit terrible, but I also completed heaps of colouring designs of course, as well as a lot of concept and development art for other projects that I can’t share yet. I also continued semi-regular life drawing sessions which have been great for improving my drawing.

Travel

I was away from home for over two full months this year!
In January I attended the 20BooksBali conference, which was incredible, then went from there to a family holiday in Thailand. Also in June/July we had a one month family holiday in China, Italy, and Malta, and also a week in Melbourne which was part work part holiday.

General Business Stuff

I ended sales of prints and colouring books from my store on this site in February – That means now I no longer ship anything directly from my studio other than original paintings, which has freed up my time and headspace so much and probably helped me achieve how much I did this year.
I got a BookBub – This is a special thing for indie authors. It’s an EXTREMELY selective advertising service that you could try for years to be approved for and not get in. When their ads run, you’re in for an exciting time!
I attended 2 small local events, Central Coast Comic-con + Central Coast Kids Day Out – I’ve been on a bit of an events ban as well as I focus on creating new content instead, but as these were small events and very local, I let them slip into the schedule.
Switched to Xero – Accounting software! Fun stuff! But actually, I’m really loving my new accounting system and feel like it’s making changes and improvements in my whole business. I’ve been meaning to do this for YEARS so finally getting it done is a total milestone.

I was interviewed for the SPF Podcast – The SPF podcast is a pretty big deal in the indie author world, so being interviewed on it was very cool, and also good for helping me get over my shyness.

I sold somewhere in the region of 34,000 books – which is honestly pretty mind blowing still since my brain is unable to fathom quantities over 1000.
I wrote a children’s picture book – But then decided to go a different way with projects so haven’t scheduled in time to illustrate it yet.

The Not Fun Stuff

I’ve had two car accidents this year. Within 6 months of each other. After 15 years of not. Only minor, but still, boooooo.
I’ve had one trip to ER (not related to the car accidents and also not in my home country! Fun times!). My overall health has been a bit up and down all year.
And one spider bite (also not related to ER visit). It was a great big White Tail, so not serious, but it felt like “the real deal”.

The Mum Stuff

My daughter is eight now (where DID those 8 years go??). She’s always been strong willed, refusing to take advice or guidance ever since she was a baby. I swear some of her first words were “I know how to do it!”. But just this year I’ve noticed a change where she is finally actively listening to and even seeking my advice and instruction! It’s so wonderful to have reached this point, and I hope I get a couple of years like this before the teen years hit, lol.
Also, in another milestone, she finally likes my colouring books (specifically the Faedorables Fantasy Beasts, because she only likes colouring creatures, not people). She’s also really been getting into creative writing this year, and I’ve been helping her with her story structure and editing.

Onwards to 2020!

This year has been amazing, but as you might have guessed from the list above, I kind of stretched myself a bit to breaking point with stacking too many projects and deadlines too close to each other. I’m giving myself a bit more room in 2020. I still have ambitious goals, but they should be more achievable with more space between to actually breath and celebrate the thing that was created before burying myself in the next job.
Currently, that plan is looking something like roughly two-to-three all new colouring books and some other minis and bundles titles, and new fiction (I’d LOVE to get a whole trilogy done, but would realistically be happy to get two books written and published). I’ve decided to work on the urban fantasy/paranormal romance/horror/mystery concept titled Beshadowed that I’ve had in my concepts file for years now.

Colouring books and fiction writing are really my main focuses right now. One day I’d like to get back into painting again more, but at the moment, creating these books and publishing them is what is rewarding me the most creatively and financially. I still like the idea of bringing picture books into the mix as this would help bring painting back in as well, but that might be something for 2021 at this point of the plan.

Did I miss anything? What do you think of my 2020 plan?