CYAL8R

It's been a fun week with our Now & Later lists. As you dig into your kids Halloween candy tonight and find those sassy, sweet squares, be reminded of where you've been and where you're going.


PJ Hoover

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Writing 2 new books
2. Releasing my debut novel, The Emerald Tablet
3. Signing with agent Laura Rennert
4. Quitting my day job to write full time
5. Spending more time with the people I care about!

2018 I hope to have:

1. Published 10 more books
2. Met Zahi Hawas
3. A full time housekeeper
4. Someone else to cook my meals (since I rarely do)
5. Regular writing retreats with my awesome critique group

Jen Bradbury

In 2008, my goals were:

1. To revise my wierd mummy book
2. Start our kitchen remodel
3. Blog a little
4. Learn to make really good Chili Rellenos so we don't have to go out for Mexican once a week
5. Not obsessively check my Amazon ranking

By 2018, I hope to:

1. Finish that kitchen remodel
2. Have a new book out every year
3. Have my kids in school so I can maybe teach part time again (we'll need the cash for that remodel)
4. Not hate gardening
5. Have completed a big bike tour with our kids with us on tandems! Europe? New Zealand? We'll see!

M.P. BARKER


Greatest writing accomplishments:


1. Had an actual published book in my hands with MY name on the cover, after 10 years of work and more than 70 rejections!

2. Being a part of the Class of 2k8

3. Pulled off nearly 50 book promotion events (so far!) from signings and discussions at bookstores, libraries and schools, to radio & TV interviews to online interviews and guest blogs--including the Class of 2k8 Southern New England Mini-Tour and slumber party extravaganza all without killing myself (so far, that is)

4. Got good reviews in Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, and was featured in Kirkus First Fiction Special Issue

5. Learned how to make a web site.


In 2018, I hope to:


1. Be making a full-time living as a writer, with a new book written every year.
2. Take at least one super-fantastic vacation to another country every year
3. Finish renovating my house and yard!!!
4. Read more books, watch more movies, listen to more concerts
5. Learn to relax and enjoy life and not run around like a crazy person all the time




We'll be seeing you Now and Later. Happy Halloween!

Day 4: Now and Later

New Year's is always a time of reflection and it's coming quick. As we head toward the holidays we're taking a look at what we've accomplished this year and thinking forward to where we'd like to be in ten years.

MARISSA DOYLE

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Seeing Bewitching Season on shelves and not fainting or doing something else embarrassing.
2. Selling a third book to Henry Holt (erm, well, my agent did but you get the idea)
3. Beginning to learn how to speak in public without too much angst and stumbling over my words. It's a work in progress, though.
4. Learning to navigate in NYC and not be intimidated by its sheer size.
5. This isn't an accomplishment...it's more a source of gratitude...but being co-president of the Class of 2k8!

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. Ten more books out (hey, isn't one a year reasonable?)
2. Learned how to write MG as well as YA because MG readers are soooo cool and just learning how to be truly passionate about books
3. Gotten this public speaking thing down well
4. Three kids successfully through college
5. A smaller dress size

LIZ GALLAGHER

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Publishing The Opposite of Invisible!
2. Realizing that I'm not afraid of public speaking.
3. Balancing a day job and the writing life.
4. Starting my training in kung fu (yes, I spar!).
5. Watching friends publish awesome books!

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. Co-authored a YA novel.
2. Published a few more solo YA books.
3. Stopped needing a day job!
4. Become a blue belt or higher in kung fu!
5. Watched friends publish BUNDLES more books!

TERRI CLARK

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Publishing SLEEPLESS and BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
2. Booking author events and speaking engagements.
3. Making a strong online presence for myself.
4. Strengthening the teen programming and attendance I do at my day job.
5. Keeping my kids from killing each other.

By 2018 I hope to:

1. have built a strong, enduring, successful career as an author
2. be more financially stable.
3. stop needing a day job!
4. see my kids happy, healthy and well-adjusted in their lives (they’ll be out of the house then!)
5. have been to Hawaii and taken other great trips with my husband.

Have you met your New Year's Resolutions yet?

Day 3: Now and Later

You've really got to work Now and Later candies hard before you can enjoy the sweet reward. They're a perfect metaphor for our class, which has worked really hard this year and reaped in lots of sweet rewards. Just imagine the things we'll accomplish over the next decade!

REGINA LUNDGREN

In 2008, my greatest writing-related accomplishments were:

1. Made my dream research trip to England
2. Saw my first YA novel La Petite Four published
3. Submitted proposals on request to an adult romance line and a new YA line
4. Met many of my 2k8 sisters in person
5. Actually learned how to blog, do MySpace, and generally have an online presence

By 2018, across my life goals, I hope to have:

1. Landed long-term contracts with two publishers, both of whom love and respect my work and my writing voice
2. Seen both my sons graduate from high school and go on to education and work in fields they love
3. Published many books in both adult and YA, earning a devoted readership that clamors for my unique characters, exciting plots, and dash of humor
4. Not let writing take over my life, so that I enjoyed time with my husband, family, and friends
5. Continued to grow closer to Jesus my Savior.

LAUREL SNYDER

2008 accomplishments:

1. Published Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains
2. Published Inside the Slidy Diner
3. Actually made more money from my writing than I spent in babysitting!
4. Potty trained successfully! (my son, not me. I've been potty trained for at least a year or two))
5. Wrote my next novel, Any Which Wall!

Hopeful 2018 accomplishments:

1. Manged to avoid a desk job (and/or dress clothes) for a full decade
2. Took an actual vacation to someplace where I don't have family.
3. Healthy! Healthy! Everyone healthy!
4. Actually working out and eating well for the first time ever!5. Spent a month at a writing colony.

STACY NYIKOS

2008 accomplishments:

1. First middle grade novel launches
2. Finished my first ya novel
3. Slept
4. Remembered to eat...occasionally
5. Hung with the Classof2k8!!!!!!!!!

Hopeful 2018 accomplishments:

1. I'm still alive
2. I've been to Asia
3. I've written a few more and better books
4. My husband and I survive our children's teenage years
5. My children - who will then be in college - think I'm not half bad

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Day 2: Now and Later

Today is day two of our now and later series when classmates share what their greatest accomplishments were from 2008 and what they hope to achieve by 2018.

LISA SCHROEDER

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Writing and finishing a mid-grade novel that is fun and marketable. I've always wanted to sell a MG - my agent thinks we're getting close!
2. Selling my second YA novel, FAR FROM YOU, to Simon Pulse. It comes out in just a couple of months.
3. Presenting at the Oregon conference in May, and at three different conferences this fall with members of the class of 2k8/2k9! So much fun!!
4. Watching I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME go into its fifth printing in eight months time.
5. Being a part of the amazing and successful class of 2k8!

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. more time to write as well as do fun things like travel
2. more money to do fun things like travel
3. more books on the shelf with my name on it
4. sold lots of those books with my name on it
5. a 10-year reunion somewhere fun with the class of 2k8

NANCY VIAU

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. deciphering copyediting notes, and realizing how much I love revision

2. signing arcs at national conferences like BEA and ALA, while (hopefully) not making a fool of myself.

3. overcoming my fear of being a debut novelist

4. publication of Samantha Hansen Has Rocks In Her Head

5. personally "rehabing" a major shoulder injury that froze due to Butt-in-Chair-When-It-Should've-Been-At-The-Gym/Physical Therapist Syndrome

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. at least one more MG novel published
2. at least one picture book under contract
3. several chapters of a memoir completed4. gone to the high school or college graduation of each one of my kids, and I hope I'm thoroughly enjoying being an empty-nester
5. enough long term memory loss to forget how long (and hard) it was to get where I am today; enough long term memory to remember how fun it was

ELLEN BOOREAM

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Managing to sleep occasionally and maintain a portion of my stomach lining even though I have an actual book coming out with my name actually on the cover.

2. Writing a second book even though I have a book coming out with my name on the cover.
3. 2k8!

4. Creating a web site and a blog, which I never thought I'd do.

5. Getting ideas for third and fourth books, and maybe a fifth.

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. Figured out how to write better novels.

2. Made at least one reader shout at the page, "No! No! Don't do it!"

3. Heard from a kid that he/she read something of mine under the covers with a flashlight.

4. Figured out how to write a decent short story.

5. Published five-to-seven additional books with my name on the cover.

Are you reviewing where you've been and where you're going?