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Tuesday, December 31, 2024

My 2024 Writing Reflections


Welcome to The WriMo Blog where I share my monthly writing goals, project progress, and more! It’s time for my yearly writing reflections. I can’t remember when I started doing this, but it is an annual habit now. Join me as I reflect on my 2024 writing achievements and failures. ♥
For the first time since 2018, I actually finished more than one project, and achieved certain writing goals. And I had a few curve-balls thrown my way; being away from home for 6 weeks. I caught sickness at least four times in the span of three months. Among a few other events. Even as I am sharing this, I look back and think "Did I actually accomplish that much?"

Imposter Syndrome, always creeping in. Yes, I did write and accomplish that much.

There's a little sticky note on my computer screen I wrote at the start of the year, and each time I finished a story or a goal, I added the project title. I just added The Fall of Ducuria, because I did meet the goal for that project and I'm still working on it. But I achieved more this year than last year, and more than in 2022.

Open Novella Contest 2024 raised the stakes and my confidence in my writing grew to higher levels. My little novella, THE GIRL WITH SCARS, was one in 800+ entries. Achieving the Shortlist is not always a guarantee. There were other entrees who wrote their complete novella and didn’t even make it past Round 3. And then I was named an Ambassadors’ Pick in Round 2. That was a big deal. It was the first time I’d ever been acknowledged that way. I was later mentioned in the Wattpad Ambassadors Newsletter, among other names, but they shared my book and the cover in the newsletter. Big deal!

I would still like to get back to the second novella I was writing during ONC2023—Protecting Myrtle-Rose, previously “Invisible”—at some point. But my thoughts haven’t been in that story for a while, so I’ll get to it when I get to it. I did make a goal to try and finish this novella, but… since I didn’t, it counts as a minor failure. Just a little one.

I took a much needed writing break during the summer. I stayed with my aunt and her family for 6 weeks, during May and June. That was probably too long of a trip for me. I was very homesick during those final 2 weeks. But I did have a wonderful time with them.

During the month of May, I wrote a 5,000 word short story for a mermaid contest. I was majorly impressed with how I was able to pull it together and still meet the requirements. However, I am very disappointed that I didn’t even get acknowledged in the list of participants. I submitted my story on time, I followed the guidelines. I didn’t get my participant sticker. So I made my own, but I unpublished the book from Wattpad (where the contest was being held).

In the month of September, I was trying to write some bonus chapters for my novella, THE LARK’S PEARL, from the love interest’s POV. It ended up being a full length novella. And I was sick during 2 of those weeks, so it is even more impressive to me that I wrote a full length novella in 2 weeks!

THE LARK PRINCE has officially been in the hands of my “beta-readers” through form of Inkitt and Wattpad. I already have my first Inkitt review and it warms my heart every time I read it.

I do have two additional projects I was working on this year that are a secret. But I will talk about them at a later time. And there were projects that I started, but my goals were to start them, not necessarily “finish” them. Such as Project Humanoid—now called Project Benny.

And I am pleased to say that I wrote a decent chunk of my Christmas adventure story—Project Holiday Keepers. I took my much-needed break from writing during the Christmas week(and I am still, technically, on a break), so I will have to go back to the draft and pick it back up at some point. I will say that I think it does fit under my E. S. Elias pen-name after all. And because I took my break, I won’t be sharing the story anywhere, any time soon. But I do have plans to upload this book to Inkitt in 2025. I just have to see how everything works out.

Finally, my RDCbyHB project (which I spoke about in my newsletter!), The Fall of Ducuria. I drafted 30,000+ words, when my original goal was 25,000. That’s pretty insane. I honestly thought I might be lowering my goal, but I ended up raising it during that final week. The story itself is not done yet, but getting that large chunk written really helps the future of this fantasy world.

I know that 2024 was not the best year for some people, but this was a great writing year for me. And I am very happy with the growth my writing has had. I am very much looking forward to my 2025 writing goals. Look out for that post!

Thanks for dropping in. I hope 2024 treated you well. Stay safe, and stay awesome. See you in the funny papers!

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