Christmas is different this year,
With so many friends and family missing from our table.
So many stories left untold,
Lives left unlived.
Things lost that can never be returned.
Still we sing Christmas Carols,
Wish good tidings,
And quietly pray for a better year ahead.
Finish To Have A Heart
I finished the first draft of the novel in December! I finished a day early too!
Now, it’s time to figure out what my next project is!
Publish more online
I have published a lot online this month. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished over the last few weeks. I took a week off between Christmas and New Years (to write the rest of my novel), but I am excited to get it going again.
Looking forward to more opportunities in 2024!
Publish something
This year, one of my goals was to publish something. Technically, I do have something published (a poetry book that never took off or ended up on Amazon). It’s been a year of learning and growing, but no true publishing yet.
Next year is my year to publish!
Write Every Day of 2023
I managed to write every single day of 2023! 365 days of some kind of writing (and a lot of days it was a lot of words!)
I could not be happier and more proud of myself. I thought 2023 was going to be the year of edits, but it was still the year of writing too. I wrote and edited a lot this year. This is the year I truly felt like a writer who had my life together. I can only hope it continues.
Edit Three Novels
2023 was supposed to be the year of edits, and I gave it a good shot, but didn’t quite get 3 novel edited.
-Book of Poetry (edited in March/April)
-MAC/Book 1 (About 10 chapters left to edit)
Thankfully, I got a taste for editing over the year and now I know how to improve my craft over the next year.
Edit Twelve short stories
9/12 short stories edited this year. I made an effort, and made some progress. I have plans in 2024 to take the next step with a few of the stories. Stay tuned for exciting updates in 2024!
Read Twelve Books
19/12 books. I overshot this goal and I am so glad I did. I’ve read a lot of series this year and finished a few I started in 2022 or earlier. The joy of reading has returned after years. I feel such delight when I read a good plot twist or learn something new from reading. I only hope to produce the same in my readers some day.
Publish Something (Either Traditional or Indie)
When I created this goal, I wanted to publish a book, a novel, but that didn’t quite happen this year. Instead, I decided I would put out a short story on Amazon (self published) but I rushed it, so I ended up pulling it back down.
While I didn’t publish a novel, and I pulled down the short story, I did start a substack (Music That Shaped Me) and I’ve been more consistent writing on Medium and here on the blog. While it isn’t exactly what I had planned for the publishing goal, it technically is publishing. I’m really proud of the consistency I’ve found in 2023.
Participate in Most (If not all) NYC Midnight Writing Contests.
2023 has been one of my best years yet. A lot of amazing things have happened, both writing and non-writing related and I am so happy with where I’m ending this year and starting the next.
Happy New Year!
See you in 2024!
This past week, writing has been hard. It’s after November, so the post November writing slump surprised me yet again this year.
The goal was and still is to write “The End” in the novel I started in November by December 31st. The plan was to write 1.5K-2K a day until finished.
But last week was rough. The joy of writing toward a goal with friends in November was gone (the competition always seems to dry up in December). I reached the approximate middle of the novel (the muddy middle). Writing began to feel like a chore.
“I’ll do it later” was the excuse I told myself almost daily. “I’ll slog through it after work between 11pm and Midnight.”
I missed the goal on the 3rd of December and that set me off on a spiral of “Ugh’s”. But, despite missing the 1.5-2K goal, I did make just over 1000 words.
So rather than giving up and slogging through a larger goal, I gave myself a boon. I allowed myself to write 1000 words or approximately 30 minutes instead of my 40-45 minutes per day. I was gentle with myself, allowed a small break for a week, and the results were staggering.
After that week, a new inspiration came. A new drive to get to the end of the novel and make December the best writing month in years. I made it through several middle scenes that were intimidating, I added in a new plot I was playing with but uncertain about, and I made it through a few chapters at a more leisurely pace.
But, in order to make my goal of 50-60K for the month, that means I’ll have to write a little more in the next upcoming weeks and push myself a little further.
The new plan is 2K a day, or 60 minutes of writing broken up in 15 minute chunks throughout the day.
Thankfully, the little break motivated me to keep pushing forward and helped me find more joy in the project again.
It looks like this year, I will make my goal of writing 365 days a year. The excitement is palpable as we all reach the finish line.
See you next week!
