As I draft this year-end update, I reflect not only on the last year but on the last 3 and a half years. That is how long I’ve been serious about my writing. It’s also about how long ago I finished the first draft of my first novel. I’ve written four full manuscripts and have 27 or so other novel-length works at various steps of the process with a couple that I have written as much as 40k words, twice. (Yes I wrote 40k and then started over and wrote another 40k before setting it aside. It is as ridiculous as it sounds.)
Like many writers, I tend not to celebrate the wins as much as I should because there is always something bigger. There is always another goal, but I have made considerable progress in the last year or three. As you can see from the stats below, I spent most of the year on one novel. It is a beastly thing that I am afraid I am still not finished with. However, it is not the only thing I’ve worked on, it is just the one I’ve been most consistently working on throughout the year and is long enough to win out most months as my most written project.
Did I Reach My Goals?
The goals I set for myself at the end of last year are as follows: publish in the summer, write at least three novels, and average at least 1k words a day. I have not met a single one. What I have done, however, is much more valuable and in line with what I want going forward. I consider that a win. I wrote about 320K words which is 45k short of my 365k goal. This is because I took two months off and revisions were a bit more time-consuming than I had expected. 320k words is still respectable and I learned how to revise which is significantly more valuable than the missing 45k words. The biggest achievement of the year was doing a complete and in-depth revision of Mushroom Dragon and the fact that it did not, indeed, kill me as I believed it might.
I changed my self-publishing route for a myriad of reasons. I plan to query Mushroom Dragon when it is finished, which means publication will not be on my timetable.
Monthly Stats
January
Wordcount: 55,382
Daily Average Word count: 1,786
Mainly: Drafting (54%)
Main Project: Vanya
February
Wordcount: 41,787
Daily Average Word count: 1,492
Mainly: Drafting (79.5%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon
March
Wordcount: 9,985
Daily Average Word count: 322
Mainly: Brainstorming (62.6%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon
April
Wordcount: 34,510
Daily Average Word count: 1,150
Mainly: Drafting (85.6%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon
May
Wordcount: 42,153
Daily Average Word count: 1,359
Mainly: Drafting (83.2%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon
June
Wordcount: 50,084
Daily Average Word count: 1,669
Mainly: Drafting (93.2%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon
July
Wordcount: 18,143
Daily Average Word count: 585
Mainly: Outlining (79.4%)
Main Project: 2.0 Draft Notes (MD)
August
Wordcount: 4,023
Daily Average Word count: 129
Mainly: Drafting (61.6%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon (Anu)
September
Wordcount: 4,727
Daily Average Word count: 167
Mainly: Drafting (100%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon (Anu)
October
Wordcount: 17,508
Daily Average Word count: 564
Mainly: revising (96.1%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon (Anu)
November
Wordcount: 24,707
Daily Average Word count: 823
Mainly: Revising (77.2%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon (Knox)
December
Wordcount: 17,309
Daily Average Word count: 558
Mainly: Revising (47.8%)
Main Project: Mushroom Dragon (Poe)
Year Total: 320,318
How I’ve Grown and Developed as a Writer
As all of my years have been as a writer, this one has been instructive. I’ve learned a lot about myself, about my writing, and about the process as a whole. It can be challenging to look at your writing and discern whether it is good or bad. I am fortunate to have a writing group that can tell me when they do or don’t think I got it right. This is extremely valuable.
The biggest thing I’ve learned this year is how to revise. I hadn’t done a serious revision on any of my three previous manuscripts, at least they were nothing like the Frankenstein job I did to Mushroom Dragon. I was never worried about the book being hardy enough to handle dissection and reassembly, but my resolve did come into question. The revision and editing process is far from over as my writing group critiques no doubt remind me daily, but I will know how to do it next time and perhaps I won’t be too nervous to dive right in.
The second thing, which is something I am currently working on learning, is how to shore up my weak points as a writer. I need to make my characters a bit more human. They tend to read as flat because I am not a person who picks up on mannerisms very much. This makes it hard to put them into my stories. This is a major part of my next step in revision. I hope to do a bit more work, as I did with this last revision to level up as a writer in this particular area. That way when I go to draft the next book, I can do more character work as I am writing rather than having to fix it in later drafts.
The Year Ahead
There are so many things I want to do and yet forecasting the future is exceedingly difficult. So much has changed since I made my goals last year and I’m sure many things will change by the end of 2024. I doubt I will be published but, who knows, I could have an agent and even a publishing contract. Maybe the New Yorker will pick up one of my poems waiting for them in their inbox. Anything could happen.
What I would like to do in the next year may be a bit different from what will happen. Regardless, I plan to finish Mushroom Dragon and send it to agents. I plan to write at least one new book, and I’m keeping my goal of writing at least 1k a day on average for the whole year. Perhaps this year I’ll hit it and exceed it.
Next Month
The next month is a bit more manageable of a timeline to set goals for. My big goal for this coming month is to do the bulk of the second round of revisions on Mushroom Dragon and perhaps even finish it, though the way it’s shaping up, I’m not sure how much time this character revision will take. If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that everything that could push my timeline back will.
I also have a short story that I’m planning to submit to an anthology by the 7th and I have a couple of other side projects that I’m working on. I don’t know how to stay completely focused on only one thing, ever. However, I think that is more of a strength than a weakness.
Overall, it’s been a good and productive year. I am feeling much more stable in other areas of my life and I have a schedule that allows me to write when I am most able (in the mornings) and that is such a blessing. I look forward to all that the next year has in store and where my characters might take me and what they might teach me.
Happy New Year!
