Every January I make the teens in my Teen Writing Club at the library to reflect on their writing from the past year and to come up with goals for the new year. I find it’s important to look back at what we accomplished so we know what to do moving forward and also have something to work towards in our writing. So I’m going to post my answers to the questions so I can look back and remember as well.
2022 Writing in Review
What do you consider your greatest writing accomplishment for the year?
Writing three short stories I actually like and want to publish
What were some of your other writing accomplishments during the past year?
- finishing the first draft of a novel
- Editing my YA contemporary novel multiple times
- writing a few poems I like
- editing/rewriting an essay to make it better
What is something writing-related that you learned in 2022?
I learned how to write screenplays and comic book scripts, specifically looking at the 15 beats of a story.
What were some difficulties or challenges you faced in your writing this past year?
- Confidence: being confident that my writing is good enough
- Direction: trying to figure out what to write/work on, what to do with it, staying focused, etc.
- Criticism: taking feedback and not letting it hinder or harm my writing or mental state surrounding writing but trying to let it help make it better.
2023 Writing Goals
Where do you want to be at in your writing a year from now?
I would like to have an agent and figure out a better process for writing/editing each draft of a novel.
Where do you want to be at your writing five years from now?
I want to be published.
What do you want to accomplish writing-wise in 2023?
- Write that query letter(s)
- Edit my YA fantasy. novel
- Publish 1 short story
- Finish my poems about the months of the year
What do you want to accomplish writing-wise in January 2023?
- Organize agents to query list and write a query letter draft
- Reread my YA fantasy novel and figure out what needs to be edited
What is your greatest strength when it comes to writing?
This always fluctuates and I have several strengths, but recently, I’ve been thinking about how I always have a lot of ideas. So if one of my ideas doesn’t catch someone’s attention for publication, I have other things I can work on and try.
What is your greatest weakness when it comes to writing?
Again, there are probably multiple I could mention but I’m bad when it comes to world-building details (really incorporating them into the story in an organic, understandable way) and also having confidence in my writing.
What is an area of writing that you want to improve in 2023?
- World-building, aka putting those details in a way that makes sense
- Also figuring out how to research stuff and weave that into the story organically too.
What is one practice you can adopt in January to help you improve your writing in 2023?
- Figure out a semi-consistent writing schedule each week
- Actually spend time researching stuff and taking notes
What is one practice you can do all year to help you improve your writing?
Give myself weekly and monthly goals to accomplish
Who can you ask to keep you accountable to keep up with your writing in 2023 and give you helpful feedback on improving your writing?
My writing group, but specifically Kristen and Kelly
What do you think you could help someone else with when it comes to writing?
- Figuring out how to be disciplined in your writing (aka nagging people until they write or do what they need for writing)
- Giving feedback and helping with editing/grammar
Which authors do you want to write like?
- For my YA contemporary, I hope it’s similar to Emma Mills, Jessica Brody and Ashley Poston
- For my YA fantasy, I hope it’s like Leigh Bardugo and Adrienne Young
- And just in general, I would love to have prose that’s like Maggie Stiefvater because she’s fantastic.
How many books do you want to read in 2023?
200, though this is just a goal to exist. I really want to focus more on what I’m reading and getting through my physical TBR.
What is a new genre you want to read and/or write in 2023?
More non-fiction, more mystery and horror, more poetry
Any other goals, ambitions, etc. you want to do with your writing in 2023?
I want to keep up with the Inktober52 prompts on my blog and also come up with other ideas for blog posts beyond book spotlights and Top Ten Tuesday prompts.
Keeper of the Wood Between Worlds 