From 2017 to 2018
Every year I write up a review of what I did in the past year and what I'm looking forward to in the next. These posts are tagged annual review if you want to take a look back.
Things Published in 2017
This year seems to have lasted forever and I'd forgotten, until I sat down to write this post, that I had essays come out in two anthologies earlier this year! In case you missed it, my essay "A Sort of Fairy Tale" was published in Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living edited by Manjula Martin (Simon & Schuster), way back on Jan. 3. Then, on Jan. 24, my essay "Forever Feminist" appeared in Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World, edited by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin).
I had two works of fiction published last year: first, the print edition of Tremontaine Season 1 on May 2 (Saga Press). And then on Oct. 17, my fifth novel, A Line in the Dark (Dutton).
I learned a lot when writing this book, and the reviews were really interesting, too. It's fascinating to me that so many readers are astonished that I (or any writer, really) is capable of writing in more than one genre. It's also fascinating to see how the boundaries of genre limit and focus what readers are looking for in a story. Just like fairy tales, genres come with expectations, and my favorite thing to do is to play with those expectations.
It's been interesting and gratifying to see where A Line in the Dark has made its mark. It's been named a Kirkus Best Book of 2017, and it's also my first novel to receive two starred reviews, one from Kirkus and one from Shelf Awareness. I'm thrilled that Vulture listed it as one of its top 10 YA books of the year. I'm proud of this book. I think it's a good one.
Things That Will Be Published in 2018
I listed some of these in a post earlier this month, but to recap:
On Feb. 27, my story "New Year" will be published in All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages, edited by Saundra Mitchell (Harlequin Teen). On May 1, I have an essay included in How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation, edited by Tim Federle and Maureen Johnson (Wednesday Books). And on Aug. 14, my story "Meet Cute" will in published in Fresh Ink, edited by Lamar Giles (Crown Books for Young Readers).
I also have more things coming! I can't tell you about them yet, but I'm hoping to have a new short story out relatively soon. And I imagine (though I haven't yet confirmed) that A Line in the Dark will come out in paperback later in the year.
What I Will Be Doing in 2018
I'm still lining up events for the new year, but right now I know that I'll be at the North Texas Teen Book Festival in April.
Other than that, I plan to spend much of 2018, especially the next few months, writing my next YA novel, Last Night at the Telegraph Club. I've spent most of 2017 thinking about it, and I've already written a chunk of the beginning. I'm about to dive into the meat of the story. My characters are alive now, and they have demands. I've been off Twitter since early December, and I plan to stay off it (except for news announcements) until I'm much further into the novel.
Other than writing, I plan to make time to support Democrats running for office in 2018. I'm not sure what that will be yet, but I'm excited about the possibilities.
Happy new year!