The year’s writing wins

I love a good December retrospective. I love looking back on the year and creating a highlight reel—favourite books, best swims, most listened to songs, best cake I made, best TV show I watched...

But, as I was sitting down with my mulled wine, reflecting on my writing year, I stared at the blank sheet of paper and started to feel discouraged. I hadn’t put out a book this year. I’d gotten a few pieces published, and a small grant, but far more rejections. What had I accomplished? Was I even a writer? I went into a full tailspin, until I realized I was lumping together publishing and writing. 

Getting publishing deals and grants and residencies and awards is amazing, and it’s easy as a writer to tie our self-worth to these external accolades. But we have very little control over publishing.

We do, however, have much more control over our writing, and so, I sat back down with a topped up mug of mulled wine and decided to look back over the last year, just focusing on the writing wins.

My list so far:

- writing poetry! I used to exclusively write poetry, but then I started writing novels and couldn’t switch lenses, but I found my poetic voice again this year.

- completing a huge rewrite of a novel manuscript. It was a lot of work, and I learned so much about structuring a story, more than I maybe ever have in my writing life.

- meeting with my writing group almost monthly

- doing my first in-person reading in YEARS (and read from a section of my book I’ve never read from before!)

- working on two picture book manuscripts

- writing more non-fiction than ever before

- investing in a three-day writing retreat

- almost completing a *very* rough first draft of a new project. It’s an absolute mess, but oh, how I love a messy first draft

- reading more than I ever have (some fav books included Good Mom on Paper edited by Stacey May Fowles and Jen Sookfong Lee, and Gillian Sze’s Quiet Night Think).

- reading more poetry (and falling in love with Shannon Webb Campbell’s Lunar Tides collection)

- working with a dance artist friend, creating a hybrid way of working on poetry and contemporary choreography together and got really excited about the possibilities

- taking time away from writing in the summer

And when I look at that list, I realize what a full year it’s been and it makes me excited to find out what 2023 has in store…