2014 Accomplishments – 2015 Goals

Wow, what a year.

I struggle to live in the moment, because in most moments, I fail to recognize what I’m accomplishing and what I have accomplished. My wishlist is always much longer than my completed list. So it’s important to sit back and take stock, lest my self collapse under the weight of might-have-beens and ought-to-dos.

• Of course my biggest accomplishment was publishing Recovering Agency: Lifting the Veil of Mormon Mind Control. This has been on my bucket list for nearly ten years, and “write a nonfiction book” has been on the bucket list forever. It was the culmination of 15 months of concentrated effort, in addition to the years of research I’d done prior. It’s sold over 650 copies, and sales are still steady. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with eighteen 5-star reviews on Amazon, and a glowing review by Richard Packham, who is a prominent voice in the exmormon community. It’s helped hundreds of people. I’ve been personally told by dozens of people about how it’s helped their struggle after leaving Mormonism.

  So for all my doubts about interrupting my fiction career to veer off in a completely different direction, this is one of those things that I was meant to do. And so I did it.

• In the midst of promoting Recovering Agency, I had a few accomplishments that would be worthy of note all on their own:

• I was interviewed on 3 radio shows and podcasts. This is the first time I’d been interviewed, and I found I really enjoyed it.

  Sunday Night Safran radio interview. This show is a big deal in Australia.

  Logicast podcast interview. One hour wasn’t enough.

  Women Evolving podcast interview. (This podcast is recorded and scheduled to launch this year.)

• I had multiple guest posts accepted at popular blogs, with much help from my friend M. Dolon Hickmon, who had the right contacts and also helped me edit the posts up to snuff for these high-caliber publications.

  The Woman’s Place is on a Pedestal at No Longer Quivering, a Patheos blog for ex-members of the Quiverfull movement and other spiritually abusive environments.

  The Not-So-Magical Power of Mind Control at Hey Book Lover.

  A Scientific Measure of Spiritual Freedom at Camels with Hammers, a Patheos atheism blog.

  God is Dead, but Faith Never Will Be at Freethinker, a prominent atheism blog and magazine that’s been around since 1881.

  It’s True: Dungeons and Dragons Will Ruin Your Life at Homeschooler’s Anonymous, a blog to help those recovering from abusive homeschooling and religious family environments.

• I attended the Exmormon Conference in Salt Lake City, where I met many wonderful people and made great contacts.

Luna Lindsey (link: http://www.lunalinsey.com) is an indie author of speculative fiction. Her blog covers many topics, including books, writing, feminism, humor, geek culture, political philosophy, weird photos, and random musings.