The beginning of a new year is a great time for reflection, for stepping back and taking stock of your goals for the year, or years, ahead. I’ve been feeling a lot of writing-related pressure lately. Between finishing a draft of my novel to having a few successes in short fiction last year, I feel like I have to keep up my momentum to continue growing my career as an author.
But I keep reminding myself that being an author is a marathon, not a sprint. After all, my favorite strategy has always been to play the long game.
So, I took a step back from writing in January to focus on my other projects. That isn’t to say I didn’t write at all; I finished two new pieces of short fiction and I started edits on my novel. I kept an eye on submission opportunities. But I dedicated the majority of my working hours in January to my other goals. Namely: Tomeworks!
Starting a small business has been a frightening prospect, even working alongside four fantastic, dedicated people. I know the actual work will be fun; I’ve always loved editing, being able to take an imperfect draft and hammer it into a more cohesive, pleasing shape. But everything else that goes along with running a business feels daunting. Our website is set to go live on March 1 of this year, and I’m feeling caught between anxiety and excitement. We’ll see how I feel after we get everything launched and settled into a routine, but for now, my brain is on overdrive.
Looking forward, I hope to spend the new year continuing to develop my writing craft. My main goal for the year is to start querying agents with my novel (another daunting task; don’t ask me about the process of finding agents to query, I don’t want to think about it yet). I also have a sequel to start drafting and a partial draft of last year’s NaNoWriMo project to finish. But I also want to continue writing and submitting short stories. I have several drafted stories waiting for edits, ideas that need developing, and more stories out on submission rounds than I ever have before.
Overall, I’m hopeful for what 2023 will bring for my writing. I’ll just keep working and reminding myself that I’m playing the long game. Everything I’m doing now is just laying the foundation for my future.
I plan to update this blog more regularly this year, and hopefully I’ll have some exciting announcements and other cool things to talk about down the line. For now, I wish you all health, happiness, and success in the year ahead.
<3 Anna