✦ Refrakt: 10 — Finish Strong
Welcome to the 10th edition of Refrakt; the last of the year. Somehow it’s the end of the year. Even for someone who values diligence and consistency as much as I do, I’m ready for a break. I keep feeling like that meme that’s increasingly scribbly, with the character continuing to tell themselves, “I just need to get through this week.”
Each year, around this time I start feeling a certain way. It’s sort of nostalgic, tied to memories of my childhood (almost every year around now, I start a new game in one of the Bethesda games or start a new land in Minecraft; always short-lived!). It’s reflective, looking back on everything that happened this year; and optimistic, as I look forward to hitting the ground running next year to do it all again.
I wrote a bit on the blog about what the year was like for me, but here I want to focus on the creative aspect. At the time of writing this, I wrote around 47k words of fiction, across several short stories, and of course my novel manuscript. My goal at the start of the year had been at least 100 words a day—36,500 for the year—so this was a big success. Next year, I hope to step this up to 500/day, 2500/week, and 125k/year.
I’m still waiting on my first publication for my fiction, but I was accepted to the StoryBoard writing workshop, which was a lot of fun and very helpful. I met a lot of great writers there, and was able to continue to revise a story in particular, and improve my writing abilities even further. I’d love to do another workshop or two next year, though maybe online given my upcoming move.
While I didn’t have any of my stories published, I did submit quite a few of them, totaling ~30 submissions for the year. I’m not sure if this was too selective, or I simply didn’t find the right reader yet, but one of my big goals for 2025 is to get one of my stories published somewhere.
Of course, my biggest goal for 2025 creatively is to finish the first draft of my novel manuscript. It’s a milestone I’ve reached before, though I feel like what I was doing then and what I was doing now are miles apart. I hope to finish a draft by early Summer, take a few months, and then start a rewrite that Autumn. Still a long way to go before I’ll have a novel, but I’m working on it day by day.
With my writing, with my submissions, I feel deeply empowered right now. It’s all on me to do the work; I just need to keep doing it. Often, I’ve felt limited creatively by some restriction or another, but not right now. Everything feels within my grasp, which is a cool and daunting feeling. I have days where I sit down and the words come easily, and others where I feel totally stuck; but I sit down and do it regardless. If I miss it in the morning, I do it in the evening. I’m just focused on trying to write as best as I know how, persevering, and believing in myself to put in the work necessary to make it sing.
Perhaps this is regency bias, but the past couple of years have felt pivotal for my life, and my creative life is no different. After a number of false starts and good intentions, I’ve found my way back into writing fiction. While it hasn’t borne fruit yet, the process itself has been fulfilling, and my goals seem closer than ever.
I’m looking forward to a break, even from writing. And even though I know the book lies beyond the horizon, the work is ever present. So let’s keep it going.
