All in all, 2021 was a slightly less raging trash-fire than 2020. I’m feeling a lot better at the end of this year than I did in December 2020, and I am so incredibly grateful for that. The intention for 2021 was COMMIT… which I then wrote on my whiteboard as “reCOMMIT” because my creative output was so inconsistent. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I don’t know if I really recommitted this year, but I feel committed as of this writing?
So… a win? Mixed Success?
All right. So what were these goals I was supposed to commit to?
- Revise Tavi
- I want to call this book DONE no later than October 1, 2021. That’s nine months to revise and rewrite and polish. I feel like that is plenty of time
- Read 52 books (1 writing craft book/quarter)
- Pretty straightforward. I want to read more this coming year and refocus on my craft.
- Submit 3 NEW short stories
- This seems big, but I spent this November writing short stories. I have two ready to revise and polish, and two more in various drafting stages. I should be able to do this no problem.
- Start Roxana Lewis novel
- I had a new idea for a book this year that tried to run away with me in November. I need to do a lot of research and brainstorm a bit, so I don’t want to work on it until October. I’ll spend the month consolidating research and outlining (or something like it) and then work on the book for Nanowrimo.
How’d I do?
- Revise Tavi
- Yes? It was on its second draft at the start of 2021 and it’s now on the 4th draft. I’ve also joined a critique group through Willamette Writers to help me polish and prep and get this book “done”. So, a mixed success.
- Read 52 books (1 writing craft book/quarter)
- Yep! As of this writing I’ve read 53 books. I tried to make it to 54, with my fourth craft book of the year, but I didn’t get it done in time. Oh well.
- Submit 3 NEW short stories
- Well, I only sent out two new stories this year. Not three. So, again, mixed success? I’m not mad about it, especially since I had a story release this summer (That Which Illuminates Heaven) and got my first professional sale! It was a decent short story year. Another mixed success!
- Start Roxana Lewis novel
- This is awkward. I did not start this book this year. I still participated in Nanowrimo, just with Victoria, the Frankenstein retelling, instead. So, I did not meet this goal, but I’m satisfied with the alternative. So… Mixed success?
Total Word Count: 41,136
Yikes. That word count… Is SO bad. I think it is the lowest I’ve logged since I started tracking my productivity. The proof is in the pudding folks — my mental health was at an ATL (that’s an “all time low”) in 2021. I expected to feel embarrassed or ashamed of that number when I hit enter on the calculator, but I’m oddly okay with it. It’s not surprising, I know I didn’t write much this year. And, as a quote in The Writer Magazine told me, “fallow periods lead to unexpected harvests.”
So what did I do in 2021?
Well, I had five stories out on submission, had one publish and another sell (for release in Fall 2022). I did two revision passes on Tavi. I wrote 15k+ words in November alone and wrote a flash fiction piece over the summer. The word count might be low, but there was still a lot of good things happening in the writing life.
I went on eight hikes! Still not as many as I’d like, but it’s more than last year! I bought a car and went on three road trips. I spent so much time with family. I whitewater rafted and kayaked for the first time. I rode in a seaplane and saw Orcas in the Puget Sound. I baked a cake from scratch for the very first time. I cut off about a foot of hair and tried a whole new style. I started a podcast! I witnessed one of my best friends marry her best friend. I met the McElroys and ate a dinner so divine it made me cry while looking out at Elliott Bay in the dark.
I guess this all adds up to say, I really lived in 2021. In 2020 so much of my time at my desk was painful and slow. The words fought me tooth and nail, no matter what I tried. It wasn’t working. But with COVID lockdowns and no vaccines, I personally felt obligated to stay home as much as possible. My only escape was at my desk, and it wasn’t working.
So, in 2021 I took every opportunity to get out of my office and into the world (safely), desperate that doing so would open up something inside me. And it did. I came home from all my summer adventuring and felt renewed. Fresh. I’d stopped trying to force the words and just focused on being me, in the moment. And the words came back. I started writing again on that road trip across Washington, and slowly but surely more and more words have found their way onto the page.
It hasn’t been easy. It’s felt like learning how to write, figuring out my dreaded “process” all over again. But, as a fellow Willamette Writer told me, when the writing gets hard and it doesn’t “feel like me,” that usually means you’re growing and about to bloom into something new.
I really hope that’s true.
So, what’s next in 2022?
Well, first things first. We have to set an intention. This year my mantra, the word that will guide my writing life is…
*drum roll*
*drums still rolling*
*who is playing these drums and why won’t they stop?*
REACH.
I like this word. It feels good. It feels right. It means trying more, taking risks, and ignoring my imposter syndrome. It means growth. After what feels like a couple of stunted years, reaching out and growing and taking risks all sounds very appealing.
If I’m reaching, if I’m stretching out to do new and wondrous things, I need to set some wondrous goals.
2022 Goals
- Finish revising and query Tavi.
- This is a two-parter because one can’t happen without the other. This is a big goal and should be the bulk of my winter and spring seasons. I’ve joined a critique group with the specific goal of getting this manuscript ready to submit. I know what big changes still need to happen, there’s just some polishing and tweaking I’d like other eyes on. I imagine querying will take a long time, because it’s just like submitting short stories, but scarier. I’m at once terrified and excited for this stage of my writing career.
- Finish Santa Sarita.
- I want this giant fanfic series done. I want to kiss Sarita and Reyes goodbye and move on. I don’t need them haunting me anymore. I’m focusing my “extra” writing time on these two until I can write “The End”.
- Finish Victoria rough draft
- This is my second big goal for the year. I’ve got (as of this writing) just over 15k words on this novel. I want to get it done, but I also don’t feel a need to rush. I’m working on figuring out a writing schedule that gives me decent progress while also giving this project space and giving me time to work on all the other things happening this year. Right now the plan is two hours at the desk, two nights a week. If I can commit to that then any extra writing impulses are just additional words, or can be devoted to Sarita.
- Submit two new short stories
- This should be do-able. I have a story written that needs revised, and I have three more that are still in progress. Getting two out of the four submission ready should not be too difficult, especially if Tavi gets query-ready on schedule.
- Read 52 books.
- I considered upping this goal, since I surpassed it this year and in prior years, but I think a book a week is a comfortable amount of reading for me. I know lots of people, especially pro writers read over one hundred books a year, but I can’t do that. I have a day job and a spouse and some semblance of a life. There are things I need to spend time on that aren’t found on the page.
Thoughts
In my notes, these bullet points didn’t look like all that much. Looking at them typed up they suddenly seem like a lot. But I’m not scared. I’m not even daunted. I’m… excited?
Wow. I missed this feeling.
There are other things in 2022 I need to think about, but aren’t quite goals. Hmmm. What to call these? To dos? Housekeeping? Bookmarked thoughts? Point is, things in 2022 I need to consider:
- Apply for the Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship
- I meant to apply in 2021, but time got away from me over the summer. I need to be intentional about applying this year.
- I meant to apply in 2021, but time got away from me over the summer. I need to be intentional about applying this year.
- Apply for Clarion West (chickity-check, babeyy!)
- I’ve talked myself out of applying for Clarion West for three years now. I’m done self-rejecting. Full stop.
- Willamette Writers Retreat?
- This isn’t confirmed, but their social media accounts have been posting about various retreats and hinted that a WilWrite Retreat might happen in 2022. I want very much to keep abreast of any such news.
- Willamette Writers Conference
- I didn’t get to attend this year because I was celebrating a friend’s pending nuptials that weekend. It was totally worth it to skip, but I want to carve out the time to attend/volunteer this year. (Put it on your calendars — Aug. 5-7, in-person AND online!)
- Promote Life Beyond Us
- My story The Lament of Kivu Lacus will be released in an anthology this fall and I will be promoting the heck out of it. Sorry, not sorry.
2022 is poised to be a big year. Still not normal — not a return or a comeback — but a rebirth? I don’t know. Basically, I am not the writer I was in March 2020. I am something else, not entirely new but different. And I’m ready to tackle new projects and steps in my writing life. Finally.
What are you looking forward to in 2022? Any exciting things on your horizons? Let me know!
I’ll be back soon with a weekly goals update and a sort of introduction to my projects and where they’re at.
Until then,
BZ
