What an amazing year! Each December, I take time to reflect over my year and the goals I set for myself the previous December. I always find that taking time to reflect helps me determine if my goals were on target, and it helps me figure out my steps for the next year. The biggest part of this though is a celebration. A celebration of what I did, learned, and accomplished.

So here’s my year in review:

Writer

• Finished writing my young adult historical fantasy. This is in the final revision stages with my agent. (This book required a massive amount of research and is going on its 3^rd year of work.)
• Finished writing and revising my middle grade mystery/adventure. This book took me way longer to write (2 years!) than I expected, but I’m so pleased with the result.
• Drafted over half of a new young adult contemporary. This has been a fun book to write.

Author/Speaker

I was thrilled to speak and teach at:

• OCLS Writers Conference
• SCBWI Workshop
• Trinity Prep Author Festival
• Winter Park Book Festival
• Cape Coral Literacy Festival
• OCPS Battle of the Books-Judge/Speaker
• Lit Mag Judging
• Keene’s Crossing’s Sunshine State party
• Oasis 30 Con
• Page 15 Young Writer’s Camp
• Florida Writers Conference

Reader

I’ve lost track of how many books I read, but it was a LOT. I decided for next year, I really need to add the books I read to my Goodreads page so I can keep better track. I did expand my reading list to include adult books and graphic novels in addition to my young adult and middle grade stacks.

Traveler

As a family we headed out to:

• The Florida Keys—I’m obsessed with lighthouses so we stopped at a number of these along the way. I definitely want to use some things here for a book. I took plenty of video and pictures.
• Iceland—I fell in love with Iceland! The untouched beauty amazed me. It reminded me so much of New Zealand, and I’d really like to use a lot of its setting elements in the contemporary fantasy that I’d like to tackle someday.

Blogger

I started a new series on my blog called Teach and Write. It has been far more successful than I’d been expecting, drawing a huge readership. I’m thrilled to be able to help so many teachers and media specialists with tips and ideas for their classrooms and media centers. Also thank you to all of the authors, teachers, and media specialists who contributed. I’d love to continue this series into next year!

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The What If & Revision with Amy Christine Parker

Found Poems with Rebecca Behrens

Professional Writer

I work as an Engagement Writer for FLVS so I’m constantly being pushed to try out new mediums of writing that I’ve never done before.

Projects I worked on:

• Video scripts
• Graphic novel style storybooks
• Picture books
• Non-fiction stories
• Fiction pieces

Learner

I’m a believer that one never stops learning. So this year, I took 7 Masterclasses, which were full of all sorts of nuggets of wisdom and inspiration for my career as a writer.

I can’t wait to see what next year will bring!

“Imagination sees the things that are invisible,” Olafur Eliassan