Time changes in a way that's hard to pinpoint. One day, you are ten, and time seems so slow as it passes, minute by minute, hour by hour, year by year. Change, when it is happening to you, or you see its affects, slowly, every day, is hard to measure.
You plant a tree, see it every day, and years later it is taller than you, but you never noticed it growing. You get a puppy, and every day, you run with it, play with it, until suddenly you realize that tiny little animal you brought into your life is now a full grown dog.
It is the same with all change around you. Change is only noticed by an outsider, and you and I are not outsiders to our own lives. A year does not feel like a year; it is too packed full of adventure to be a year. And yet, 365 days pass, and suddenly the calendars are changed, and everyone is celebrating and vowing to change something in the new year.
The same thing happens every year, but before moving on and looking at goals for this new year, I want to think a little bit about the past year.
January
2022 didn’t really have a great start—we got COVID (our first time, which was crazy and I can explain more about that & God’s providence if you want). Everyone else had it worse than me, but we were still quarantined so I stayed in my bedroom most of the time. I had a pretty great time out of it, drawing and reading and watching movies. This lasted for a little bit, but after we got over it, we started school again.
In January, we read The Two Towers, and I really enjoyed it. It was my second time (my first time reading being in 2021) and I loved discussing it in class.
February
In February, I finished my first complete project, When the Stars Went Out. I’d been working on the project for almost two years (the two year anniversary was in March) and I was so proud of myself. Even though the total word count ended up being around 40k, which was a lot lower than what I originally wanted (80k), I still was pretty proud of myself for the skills I had picked up along the way. (Plus, the worldbuilding happens to be pretty cool, if I do say so myself.)
I sent the first draft out to alpha readers, and I have not actually finished editing it (or really started. But that’s kinda okay, I think, this project was a learning project, and while I do intend to finish it sometime, I think working on other projects is a healthy thing to do if I want to continue growing as a writer.)
March
My grandparents had their 50th anniversary this year, and even though their actual anniversary was later in the year, we (me, my five siblings, parents, my uncle and aunt, and my grandparents) went to Florida to celebrate. We had a blast, and I may or may not have come home with two new books (100 Cupboards and a copy of Hatchet with a waterproof cover), besides the books I stuffed in my backpack for the road trip.
And what a road trip it was! My family and I drove the 22 hours to Florida from our home in Colorado there and back. There were plenty of exciting, funny, and enjoyable moments in those 22 hours (44 hours if you add the return trip). Suffice to say, we arrived in Florida with only a little bit of lacking sleep and plenty of sanity. Overall, March was a pretty good month.
April
In April, I competed in a mock trial that my classmates and I prepared and worked on over the course of the spring semester. Yes, it was tricky, mentally exhausting, and meltdown-inducing at times, but overall, it was a blast and I loved it.
I also finished a short story and got it published with the rest of my class (currently the book of short stories is sitting on my shelf!).
May
Well, I could go through this really quickly, but I suppose I should write a longer recap of May than one sentence.
I reconnected with some girls I was friends with during elementary school. We also got balloons filled with confetti, and if you’re ever thinking about using anything like that, I will just tell you now—no. They’re a headache to clean up. I promise you, any aesthetic pictures you get posing in front of these balloons are not worth the 20+ minutes you’re going to spend crawling around on the floor because the vacuum won’t pick them up.
June
In June, I started planning the release of my blog! Originally, I was thinking about a launch date of July 22nd, but ended up launching on July 10 and having a blog tour that ended on my birthday (shoutout to all the awesome bloggers I worked with who helped me navigate the first couple of ups and downs of blogging!).
July
In July, I launched this blog, and started to navigate the ups and downs of actually running a blog. Although I had a bit of trouble at the beginning, it overall was a very fun experience. I also celebrated my birthday with some friends. (We got hammocks in July and I greatly enjoyed staying outside and reading in them most of the day.)
August
During the period of time from February to July, after I finished When the Stars Went Out, I was drifting between projects. I dabbled a bit in the sequel to When the Stars Went Out, and other projects, including a duology of dystopian books (which I intend to write into novellas eventually).
Anyway, my point is that I didn’t have a solid writing project in August. In August, though, I started brainstorming a project I called Take These Broken Shards (and make them whole). (More on that project in the November recap.) I had no idea how much this project would change (although I was pretty sure it would change quite a bit), but I was still very excited about this.
September
I started school again, and I had a ton of fun learning about biology and art, especially at my new school. I have never considered art one of my strong points, but for art homework every week, we have to draw for at least 45 minutes. All additional time goes towards house points (yes, we have a house system, which is pretty cool), so that's a pretty big incentive to work towards art. I’ve been getting into the habit of drawing a lot more every week, and, to be honest, it’s been really fun. Aside from blog posts, I didn’t write much, although I worked a little bit on my brainstorm.
October
In October, I participated in the Inktober challenge on YWW. I fell in love with the characters and knew I had to add them into a novel…and then I had a lightbulb moment! I made the story into the backstory for one of the main characters, and started planning out a NaNoWriMo idea.
November
I participated in NaNoWriMo, and even though I didn’t win, I wrote 20k words, and had a blast. I was disappointed that I didn’t win, and I may or may not have avoided posting on my blog to avoid the topic *fp* (don’t do that, guys, you just get more guilt, it’s not good for you).
December
The first week of December, I put away my writing, opened my textbooks, and studied for exams. I think I studied pretty well, and I wasn’t too nervous about it.
Then exam week passed and I felt good about my exams! (And I honestly loved one of my exams—biology. We had an escape room and I got a stuffed animal!) I had a fun time at a Christmas party with a friend, and Christmas break has been really restful, on the whole.
Although I’ve only written 1k on Take These Broken Shards right now, I hope to get that count up before the end of January. I also have been enjoying a stress-free break and I hope to start a new writing schedule in the new year.
2023
2022 was interesting. There were high highs, and low lows, but overall, I think I enjoyed it. Even still, there is something about looking forward to the new year and rejoicing that a new chapter in our life has begun. I had a lot of fun brainstorming goals for this year, and I'm excited to share them with you. What do you think of them?
Writing Goals
In regards to blogging, my goals are: consistency, (my secret project that will be revealed in the summer), and help other bloggers.
In regards to Take These Broken Shards, I want to: finish it, send to alpha readers, edit it, and repeat that process of sending to readers and editing it at least once.
I also want to write at least 100k words by the end of the year, and get published on a project I am working on with some other writers (more to be revealed by the end of the spring!).
Spiritual Goals
My spiritual goals are:
Focus on Jesus more than anything else
Take actual breaks and time to really rest (especially on Sunday!)
Spend more time in God's word every day
Make regular prayer a habit
Read the Bible completely by the end of the year!
Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will be able to share with you how these goals went!
What is one thing you want to focus on this year? Are there any particular goals you want to achieve by the end of the year?
Until next time,
