2024, in writing
Big year for writing, because I took a sabbatical from paid work to really dig into this big question of: Do I want to be a writer full-time? What does that look like day-by-day, month-by-month?
Good news for the year:
- Published a poem in Stance on Dance (paid! For poetry!)
- Chosen as a finalist for New Voices New Mexico screenwriting fellowship
- Accepted to Mary Robinette Kowal’s Short Story Cohort
- Accepted to Taos Toolbox, taught by Walter Jon Williams and Nancy Kress
- Selected as a poet for Keshet Dance Company’s Hear Here Festival
- Shortlisted for Small Wonders
- Accepted to speak on three panels at Life, the Universe and Everything 2025
- Appeared in Locus Magazine for the first time (in a picture of the Taos Toolbox workshop)
Those are all the “other people said I was good at a thing” successes.
Then we have the things that aren’t public and yet I am proud of them:
- I submitted 50 times (227% more than any year prior).
- I received four acceptances.
- And 37 rejections (218% more than any year prior).
- Of those 37, 7 were personal/tiered rejections. Woo!
- This year I completed 8 new stories, all of which are submittable. This is an…unbelievable change from previous years.
- I attended two writing workshops.
- I learned how to write fiction, on demand, after 20+ years of attempting to figure this out. Thank you, Mary Robinette Kowal.
- I have two new writing groups! I meet with them three to four times a week. It’s fucking great.
- I wrote over 53,000 words in the sports romance novel.
- Volunteered at Bubonicon (ABQ SFF convention).
- Took so many classes and learned so much from the workshop.
- Revised my Patreon and this website to better reflect what it’s for and what I’m doing.
The answer to that big question I started the year with: Do I like writing enough to do it full-time?
An emphatic yes. Now it’s just a question of how do I make money while I write as much as possible.
In 2025, I’m aiming to complete the sports romance manuscript and shop it around a bit. Possibly I will self-publish it. And I’m shooting for 100 rejections for my writing. Wish me luck!