At the opening of 2021, the world looks and feels different from this time last year. So much has happened. BestSelling authors offer their perspectives on the coming year.
D.G. Torrens
2020 felt like an apocalyptical cloud looming over the world at one point! I lost my Grandma last August and due to the pandemic, I was unable to say goodbye the traditional way, at a funeral.
Life was changed considerably. However, once I settled into a new way of living—daughter homeschooling, husband working from home and writing schedule adjusted to fit into with a permanently busy house—I got used to it!
The pros were more time with family, reborn community spirit and the shift of my focus to more important things. I was breathing and my family were breathing, and that is what mattered.
Surprisingly, I managed to publish two books last year. 2021 has started with a positive bang: I recently did a TV interview on an author-dedicated channel, which aired this month. I have a new book coming out late spring, and that is where my current focus is. My daughter’s homeschooling is going well and we are in a good routine.
Nevertheless, I miss lunching with my friends, my monthly face-to-face meetings with other local authors and much more. I remind myself that this is temporary and that keeps me going. Stay safe.
Samreen Ahsan
2020 was like a train you were trying to catch when you realizing you’re standing on the wrong platform. Husband working from home, kids in virtual session, online groceries and pick-ups—life was like a carousel as I tried to manage this chaos, along with my writing.
As a part of my New Year’s resolution, I’d like to focus more on my writing, since the storm inside the house has calmed down. First and foremost, I’d like to focus on my health. Secondly, I’d like to finish writing my time-travel series, and work on a new novel. I’m also in the process of creating marketing plans and connecting more readers globally.
Seb Kirby
I imagined I’d be that much more productive during lockdown because there would be fewer distractions getting in the way. But the year turned out to be one long distraction, making it harder than ever to stay focussed on the task of writing.
2021 will be better, I’m sure.
Elyse Salpeter
My life is definitely different than this time last year. I was so busy from January through mid-February of 2020. I had face-to-face sales meetings with clients, participated in a weekly running club, traveled to Dallas for work, ran an event in Florida for a Facebook Author Fan group, had weekly dinners with friends, and even hosted a Superbowl party. And now, January 2021, is so different. My world has become quiet.
I miss seeing my friends, my relatives, and hugging my mom. I miss traveling. All my client meetings are now over the computer, with the hope they turn on their cameras so I’m not presenting to a dark screen.
But as I reflect on how much I seemed to have lost, there are many moments I will treasure when life slowed down. I am usually doing a thousand things at once and everything just sort of hushed. My kids came home from college, and suddenly we were spending so much time together, and shockingly, getting along. There were walks in the park, game nights, weekly sushi take-out dinners when I wasn’t making new recipes, and there were videos we’d make for social media. I even managed to publish a book and I consider that a huge accomplishment considering everything.
I’m hopeful the world will right itself soon. I want my kids to be in actual in-person classes and not online, and I’d actually like to get my life back, but I’m going to remember how thankful I’m going to be for the time I got to just let my mind quiet down and allow the million inconsequential things simply pass by the wayside.
DelSheree Gladden
For me, 2021 is going to be more focused. 2020 was crazy. The ups, downs and unknowns put a lot of things on hold, or just plain killed motivation and momentum. I’m looking over my in-progress books to see where I can put my limited time most effectively, developing a marketing plan, and opening up new avenues with on-demand writing classes and handmade gifts.
Basically, I’m getting back to the parts of writing and publishing that I enjoy, and scaling back on things that waste time and stress me out.
Scott Bury
Looking back, 2020 feels like the year when several trends that we all knew about boiled over. We should not have been surprised by any of the events, epidemiological, environmental or political.
Standing on the doorstep of 2021, I want to be optimistic. But I want to be careful, too. I got my first COVID-19 vaccination on New Year’s Eve (no kidding!), but as I write this, I hear news reports that the second dose will probably be delayed.
I have a lot of writing and publishing plans: another Hawaiian Storm mystery is almost ready to publish. I have outlined and begun writing a post-apocalyptic alternate history novel, and a third planned at least in my mind. Plus, I hope to start a podcast on the history of the eastern front of the Second World War. Plus, I look forward to editing some books from my favorite writers.
I’m giving away most of my e-books for free for the duration of the pandemic, and there are days when hundreds of people download the books. That’s a source of hope.
I also plan to stay at home as much as I can, at least until I get my second dose of vaccine—whenever that might happen. And I can only advise and hope that the others in my family, and all my friends stay safe and healthy, as well.
I hope that people around the world start to think and act rationally when it comes to their health as well as politics. And I’m expecting to see lots of examples of the opposite.
So, cautious optimism.
David C. Cassidy
For me, I don’t see 2021 any different than the previous year. I took 2020 in stride as well as I could, and plan to do the same going forward. Hopefully things will begin to return to as close-to-normal as possible, but if they don’t, I’ll continue to weather the storm and keep positive that sunnier days will eventually return.
Continue to follow the BestSelling Writers Connect blog every week to see how closely their predictions play out.