Out With The Old And In With The New... Year

Here's to 2012! Time to kiss the old year goodbye, and for some out there it will not be a friendly kiss.  2012 was a year of incredible hardship for many Americans ending with the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  If you are a victim of one of the many hardships in the world this year, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

For me, 2012 was a wonderful year of new friends, new heights and new challenges.  Last January in my post My New Year's Revolution, I spoke of how instead of making New Year's resolutions that will be forgotten in a few weeks, I'd make plans.  Looking back on my plans from 2012 I can proudly say I've hit the mark with many of them. Both of my 2011 Novels, Boyfriend From Hell and Earth Angel spent many months on Amazon top 100 seller lists in 2012. 

This resulted in The Falling Angels Saga being optioned by Jamie Kennedy Entertainment for a television series or film (Jamie and I announced the deal at Comic Con last summer.  Yeah, that's us on the panel next to Shaq).  Nothing has come of it yet, but the project is being shopped to studios and TV networks by top industry writer Davah Avena.  Fingers and toes crossed.

I had two books published in 2012.  The first book in the Hollyweird series The Zombie Always Knocks Twice by my new awesome publisher Imajin Books, and Heaven Sent, by my other awesome publisher, White Whisker Books.  I stated in my New Year's post last year that I wanted to make Heaven Sent the best Falling Angels book ever.  So many series fall off after the first few books, and I was determined not to let that happen with mine.  From the reviews so far (Amazon/ Goodreads), I have succeeded.

I had a few misses last year with the movie versions of my Sal Conte horror short story The Toothache Man and my ALA Award nominated novel, Never Slow Dance With A Zombie.  The projects aren't dead (yet), they just didn't move along as I'd hoped they would.  I had even less success with book club and school visits, but all-in-all, I had an awesome year.

One of the unexpected highlights of last year was creating my fran club The 25.  The group is still in its formative stages, but I can tell you I've met some fabulously helpful people last year and many of them are now members of The 25.

Before I move ahead, I do want to take a moment to thank everyone responsible (too many of you to mention but you know who you are) for helping make 2012 such a fabulous year for me.  I hope I was able, in some small way, to help make it a fabulous year for you.

So what's ahead for 2013?  More writing, of course.  I plan to expand on The Falling Angels Saga by possibly spinning off one of the peripheral characters into a new series.  The idea is still in the bubbling stages, so I don't know where I'm headed yet, but I plan to bring out something brand, spanking new around falling angels and demons.  White Whisker plans to publish the final book in The Falling Angels Saga ( currently entitled Falling) in November. There will be another Hollyweird book as well, but I'm not sure I can get it published in 2013.  I will try.

I plan to do more with The 25 and grow its membership to 100. Baby steps.  My overarching plan of turning my books and short stories into entertainment across many platforms is well under way, and I plan to grow that business even more in 2013. I'd still like to participate in more book club and school visits.  If you know of any book club or school that would like to host a visit from me, please write to me at info@evanlowe.com and let me know.

On the personal side, my son, bassist Latif Van Lowe, had an awesome year, too.  His band Year Of The Dragon opened for The Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Staples Center and Bad Brains at The Henry Fonda Theater.  I plan to continue attending his events, no matter that I will be the oldest person there ;)   I also plan to spend more time hanging with my friends and family as well as more time writing.  I don't know how I'm going to accomplish all this--better time management, I guess.

So that's where I'm headed and where I've been.  I hope you take some time to lay out your plans for the coming year.  You'd be surprised what can be accomplished when armed with a written plan.

Have a fabulous 2013 everyone.  Guess I'd better get to writing, huh?  Peace.