2021 Recap and 2022 Goals

As almost everyone is aware, 2021 was a strange year. My husband and I (I get to say that now!) signed on our first house on December 31st, 2020, and spent 2021 learning what it means to be homeowners. We befriended neighbors, paid taxes, suffered through the repair of our air conditioner and an electrical outage, and bought couches during a supply shortage. We learned the way the sun shifts through our windows during different phases of the year. We also god married!—and I am so grateful that we never have to get married again. On top of all of that, I read 100 books in a year: 51 romance novels, 28 fantasy books, 9 other works of fiction, and 12 non-fiction books. 

Despite the lack of routine, I managed to do a lot of writing during 2021: 

• Winter: Drafted a 10K short story (which I think could eventually be revised into something more meaty), and finished the third draft of The Wedding Crown. 
• Spring: Took a couple weeks to rest, and then finished draft four of The Wedding Crown. I finally started to understand stakes (it only took a dozen manuscripts to figure out!) and developed a new method of tracking that really worked for me, in which I use a color-coded map to indicate how much work is left on a scene to feel “finished”. 
• Summer: I outlined two new story ideas using the Story Genius method. I dove into writing the first one, before realizing that I wasn’t in the right head-space to do the characters justice. I set that aside finished draft 5 of The Wedding Crown, and sent it off to beta readers. Then I outlined the second new idea, and made it four chapters in before I realized I need to really understand the world-building before I can move on. I threw that idea on pause too as beta feedback came back in. 
• Fall: I finished the sixth draft of The Wedding Crown, after processing beta feedback and finally found the joy in killing my darlings. I always interpreted that phrase to be at the sentence level. Instead, I learned to rip out the seed scenes that grew the book. There’s definitely a joy to shredding the heart of the story to forge stronger bones beneath. 
• Then, I started querying! A full year and a half after my last “query-ready” (ha) project, it feels so good to finally be sending something out into the world again. To kick off my querying journey, I attended the Midwest Writers Workshop, where I got to pitch my book live and meet a lot of really interesting people. 
• While querying, I had the bright idea to start yet another new project (number four for 2021!) … which, of course, petered out halfway through the first quarter. I do have a good excuse for pausing this one—I got married, and spent every non-work moment for a full month (goodbye, Nano hopes) planning a wedding.
• In December I remembered how to draft again. It took me a full three weeks of staring at a screen to get myself back into the flow of story to page, and I’m thankful that I was able to push through the rough start. I also went to another pitch conference and met a bunch of really nice agents, while continuing to send The Wedding Crown out into the world. 

Overall, I made good progress on my writing goals: 

1. Beta-ready draft of the Wedding Crown by mid-March. I sent this out to betas in September instead of March, but done is done! I consider this a check mark.
2. Three zero-drafts (January, May, September). This goal I did not meet. The last new draft that I finished was in January 2021. While I have three solid other new story ideas well documented, I didn’t finish drafting any of them.  
3. Learn how to edit and lean into craft without getting caught up in word count and deadlines.  This year I found a way to track progress that doesn’t allow me to put down words without considering whether I’m happy with them. While “learning how to edit” will be a life-long process, I feel good about the lessons learned this year. 
4. Arrange for a dedicated writing desk. Accomplished in March and documented here!

During 2022, I’m embracing routine. I’m looking forward to weekends at home and week nights spent refilling the well instead of hunting for furniture or trying to plan a wedding during a pandemic. And with the lessons learned in 2021, I’m ready to set new goals for 2022: 

1. Three zero-drafts (February, June, September). Last year, I got too caught up in exciting new planning tools and forgot the purpose of this goal, which is to sprint out a new idea. The point is to find excitement in writing, especially during the long stretches of revision. This year I hope to find a better mix of planning and playing while fast-drafting. 
2. Get one draft in good enough shape to share with beta readers. I won’t name this draft yet—maybe it’ll be my current project, or maybe it’ll be something that’s still a seed. 
3. Once a month, write a craft-book prompt away from home. This goal serves two purposes: with omicron looming, I want to make sure that I occasionally leave the house for reasons beyond groceries. Maybe this goal will take me to new library seats, or to new parks once the weather gets nice. Second, I want to make sure that I’m spending time not only working on dedicated projects, but also practicing craft in the wild. My collection of craft books is growing, but I never make the time to try to prompts they contain. This year I want to change that.