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2022 Yearly Round Up
2022 Yearly Round Up
Here we are at the end of another year, so it’s time for a yearly wrap up!
This year I followed what seems to be becoming a pattern for me in terms of what I create, with four major projects for the year (two books written and two colouring books designed), plus all the other side projects and work around those.
Books Published -
This year was the solo release (after it’s inclusion in an anthology) of A Cage of Gold and Lies, and the fourth and final book in the Beshadowed series, Everdark Cursed, marking the completion of four completed fiction series! I also released a whopper sized art book of Early Works that will replace the smaller art collections currently available (they will be removed from sale at the end of the year).
A Cage of Gold and Lies also had its French language release and audiobook release this year.
Also in audiobooks, the Empath Chronicles full series set was released in audio, plus the first two books in the Heartsblood series. The first book in Beshadowed has also been produced in audio and will be released early next year!
I also wrote a Cinderella retelling, which will be released next year as part of an anthology.s
In colouring books, I completed two new major releases, Mermaid Magic and Winged Magic, plus a bundle of 100 mermaid designs and a new pocket sized minis.
Artworks Painted and Released-
Somewhat less than last year, but still a few good ones in the mix!
New artworks include: Temperance, Lioness, new Heartsblood covers, Golden Orb, Dark Treasures, Beshadowed chibis.
Artworks completed in 2021 but released this year– Solar Energy, Lunar Energy, Transformation, Make a Choice, Overwhelm, Friendship, Lilac Enchantment
Events Attended-
I upped my attendance of signings and conventions this year after the slower early pandemic years, attending Books By The Bridge, Supanova, Central Coast Comicon, and Book Fair Australia. I also had a book launch night for the last book in Beshadowed (see my speech and reading videos) as part of the Words on the Waves writer’s festival. I also attended a writing retreat with my favourite local authors and knocked out 13,000 words over a weekend.
Additional random things-
My daughter changed schools, and we had some other big family news (which I can’t discuss publically at the moment, but was big, and cool!). I got myself a Wacom MobileStudio which has been awesome, and restarted my Patreon. My husband turned 50 (!) and I also had my first birthday event for myself since well before my daughter (now 11(!)) was born.
We had a crazy amount of rain and storms and we had to get our whole roof repaired and have been living with the remaining leak holes in the ceiling since (all booked in for repair with some other renovations in January!).
My family and I have also still managed to dodge covid for another year!
Notes from last year–
Last year I wrote on my wrap up blog that “I also need to work out how to be a better employer/manager of others and bring more people into my business to help out, because I feel like that would really help out.”
Yeah… that’s still a big one on the to-do list. I really do need more help in my business in lots of aspects of it, especially the marketting and management side (I do have one awesome assistant that keeps my Etsy store running and helps with publishing processes).
I also wrote that my plans were to finish the Beshadowed series (TICK!), and do another mermaid colouring book and mermaid bundle book (TICK and TICK!).
I wasn’t sure at the time what I would do after those were done, but then I ended up with an obligation (in a good way) to write something for another anthology, and wanted to do another colouring book, so they filled out the rest of the year.
Since then I’ve made my decision on the next major fiction series I’ll be working on … probably for many years to come, as it’s going to be a big one. More news on it as I continue development! I’m working with a mentor for this new series, which is I suppose me getting the help I’ve wanted! So I’ll be following all of my mentor’s recommendations for every part of the development and release of this series, which will be an interesting process but has already been informative and exciting. Fingers crossed it all comes together and I’ll have more to share soon.
Alongside the fiction series project, I also have another big release in March that I’m excited to share soon, and will be creating a companion colouring book for. The Beshadowed series omnibus needs creating and release, and I’m hoping to do another two colouring books as well (bumping up to 3 in total of new major books for the year).
Thoughts on the world going forward…
The world is changing so much, and so fast, with the introduction and rapid advancement of AI technology.
Honestly, I don’t know what the future holds for my career at this point, because AI art and writing generation software will make it easier than ever for content creation farms to flood the market with AI generated art, colouring books, novels, and more. I’m sure I will always continue creating in some way or another, but I know it’s going to get a lot harder very soon to get my work found and chosen amid an ocean of infinite AI creations. Making a living as an artist may soon be impossible.
These AI programs can create work faster than any human artist, creating almost instantly something that would take me weeks to paint.
In some ways I like the programs. I enjoy using them myself to see what they create, and find them inspiring. But their existence has also put me into what I feel is a mourning period as I grieve for what I feel is almost certainly the end of mine and so many other artist’s careers.
All this to say, I will approach next year as with any other and create what I can and hope for the best, but the world is changing so fast, I am unsure where even this next year will take us.
1 thought on “2022 Yearly Round Up”
Just love your colouring books want to get all of them