And just like that, 2023 has come to an end. It was a year of career highs, existential lows, and finding the balance of contently existing and consistently creating.
As I write this, I’m currently in Dallas visiting family, having celebrated the milestone of a nephew’s college graduation, the holiday season, and the birthday of another nephew, preparing for the turn of another year.
As with most of the world and what’s trending on social media, thoughts turn to the year that was and the promise to make a change for the year ahead. I’m not immune and find myself thinking about what I want to take into the next sprint of time.
As I approach 2024, I find myself optimistic and intentional.
The world is just as much of a mess as it always is, and by looking at cable news, trying to outdo itself for inhumanity towards our fellow man. This year, lots of conversations with friends and family have centered on the world feeling bleak and broken, characterized by meaningless moments and the drudgery that can be daily life. Looking out, it’s easy to believe that all that exists is debt, darkness, ignorance, and strife.
In my spirit, though, I still believe, just like Pandora’s box, that hope, light, and opportunity still exist and can be carried forward into the new year. As I have grown this year, I’ve looked around and found more people and voices that believe that we can have the lives we want if only we knew what they were and had the belief that we can get there. This year in review is about the key things I’ve learned, the work I’ve done, and my plans for the future.
This substack is my public Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, where I’m documenting my writing journey, building connections, and being transparent in a way that hopefully inspires others to get clear and start living lives of their own choosing.
That said, it’s just the facts of what I did and have no bearing on what another person can do or achieve in their own timespan. There are others who wrote far more than me and achieved far greater writing/publishing heights.
Good for them.
Good for us all.
We all run our own race, and these are just my personal times. I’m not especially special or unique. I’m a wife, mom, and full-time educator who generally tries to be a good human, who is working on my creative contribution to the world.
This is only about what I was able to do once I got clear on my ability, beliefs, consistency, and systems (More on that below and in the new year). What follows is merely a reflection point of the year and a helpful tool that I hope to come back to next year as I tinker with my ever-evolving creative process and the reality that is life.
From the chart, you can see how many hours I spent across the number of sessions and the session length for the month.
I track using a modified tracker I got from The Spreadsheet Wiz. I highly, highly recommend it. Seriously. I CANNOT recommend this enough. If you follow the link, you can see the features of the document word count, analysis graphs, leaderboards, and data galore.
I’m a planner, and once I could see my progress, it encouraged me to keep up my progress.
If this is not you or gives you anxiety, please ignore.
You can see my most productive month was in July, followed by January, both when I had hard deadlines for the completion of a project.
I’ve learned I love a deadline (thanks education system/capitalism) and need them for the kind of work I want to do and the life I want to have.
It’s not ALL bookwriting!
Some of these words also included my Monthly Reflection Doc, which acts as my planning/journal, where I make a plan for the day, reflect on how it went, and include pictures to remind me of the good in life. (here is the link to copy the January 2024 Template)
Sample Journal Day These words also include the planning for books, various outlines, one-page synopsis, and anything related to my creative writing.
It also includes the 100 days of prompts I started in 2021 to practice consistency in writing while using the Daily Prompt app.
In 2022, I took a cozy mystery class with Jane Kalmes and worked on a project entitled Zero Stars. I worked on the outline and class for 8 weeks and took the end of 2022 to draft it, finishing in January 2023.
I have been working on another upmarket book, which was my first attempt at adult, and have grown so much in the process. I believe I found my voice this year, with the shift in audience from middle grade to adult, and have been intentional in continued skill development.
I hope to have more news on this in the new year :)
To keep busy during the sub process, in November, I returned to cozy mystery with the intent of self-publishing in order to give myself a sense of control.
Publishing can take a LOOOONG time, even waiting for feedback and edits, so this project was good to keep me centered and creative.
I built a Google sheet based on the tools from a variety of sources (Jane Kalmes, Story Solution by Eric Edson, and the work of Ellie Alexander, Elizabeth Spann Craig, and Tonya Kappes) to help plan and get clear on the most important elements.
This year, I really focused on improving my systems for outlining books, tracking my progress, and documenting the work.
I was diligent about updating the big themes of each week across the buckets of my life. (You can get your 2024 copy HERE)
I went through all my projects in progress (even the long abandoned ones) and wrote up 1-page overviews of the project, and created a new system for organizing my work so it’s easy to see where I am in the process and what needs to be done.
I started a book bible for the cozy mystery that has all the bits of the characters, the plot, and the full outline. I do hope to share it once the book is up and walk through the process of creation.
I’ve also simplified the process as well. From making the cozy mystery planner/tracker, I know some things are nice but not essential, and now believe I can jump into the process quicker for the next project.
Now that I’ve shared what I’ve done, here’s the simple goal of where I go next. I’ve been leveraging my personal ABCs this past quarter and have found it helpful for the buckets of my life.
Continue to read and study craft books and business foundation books
Complete the Author Accelerator Program
Explore the romance genre with a practice piece with UberGroup.
Begin a regular family spiritual practice
Continue to consume mindful creation content
Continue to be present and mindful across the buckets of my life.
Write a weekly substack documenting writing, the week, and tools that improve my writing ABCs
Complete Cozy Mystery Book 1 and 2
Complete new Project
Leverage created tracking systems and refine them for simplicity
Continue to develop simple home systems to allow for writing and ease.
Decluttering
No spend months
Focus on experiences over things
What is a highlight from your year, and what do you want to accomplish in the next one?
Let me know below. I’ll be cheering you on.
Happy Writing-
Bri
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