I remember saying at the end of 2020 that people were putting a helluva a lot of pressure on 2021 to be ~better~ than 2020. I think it’s pretty safe to say that 2021 did not deliver on that front, and I don’t think anyone is harbouring any of the same illusions about 2022.
In my case, I was more affected by the pandemic this year than last. In 2020, I still went into the office two days a week and we were never really in hard lockdown where I live. In one week of August 2021, we had more cases in our region than we’d had in the whole of 2020.
On the writing front, well… I looked at my January 1 goals post earlier and all I can say is “wow!” I acknowledged at the time that it was ambitious, but I have no idea how I ever thought I’d get through even half of that!
But let’s look at what I did achieve:
- Completed a first draft of a new urban fantasy novella, Lucy Williams Is A Witch.
- Completed two drafts of Enchanted Sleep (Drosselmeier Industries #2). I’m on track to release this in March.
- Submitted two short stories to Deadset Press‘s upcoming anthology Where the Weird Things Are (still waiting to hear back on either of those – cross your fingers!)
- Kept a pretty decent Instagram schedule, posting about what I was reading as well as snippets from what I was writing. I also ventured into the world of Instagram reels, though I’ve got plenty still to learn on that front!
I think the most important thing, though, is that I’ve really spent some time figuring out what sort of writing schedules and methods work for me. I will be able to use that to my advantage going into the new year! I’ll be back tomorrow with a (admittedly much less impressive) goals post for 2022.
See you then!
Emily Wrayburn 