The Year in Words - 2024

Embracing the Grind and Expanding my Mind - A reflection

Output

Data

307,743 words (530 pages [108,120] + 210,623 typed)

224/366 days (.612 wrPCT)

Average Words Per Day: 1,374/day

Longest Day: 4/8/24 - 4,026 words

Shortest Day: 7/4/24 - 4 words

Words Added to Manuscript: 22,658

Ratio: 7

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Monthly Data

Synthesis

How the hell do I summarize an entire year?

From all the reflection and weekly synthesis, from all the reading, and the journaling, and the note-taking, came a sense of assuredness. Assured of my voice. Of my process. Of my ability to write—no, of my ability to grow. It is now a long way from the days spent seeking the permission that every young writer seeks—the permission which Silas and Peter unknowingly doled out with every episode til I was clear of the nagging “am I allowed to add thoughts am I allowed to do different formatting things am I allowed to change POVs” stream of anxiety that held me back before. Finally free, finally with direction, finally with focus, I was able to straight up fuckin’ soar last year—the process tightened up, the stats tightened up, and I think some of these behind-the-curtain efforts shone through in Movement and Repose.

This was the year that I figured out how to learn from reading. For so long I wore myself out trying to “engage right,” to try’n get an A in the literature course I’m taking in my mind.

But then I realized something: If the class is in my mind, then that means I am the professor, B! I should be seeking personal meaning by underlining and saving things that apply to my work rather than trying to find every last leitmotif and shit. This has resulted in me highlighting some of the most random shit, but it’s always because I like how it sounds, how it rolls through the brain, even if it is some mundane or small detail. Foucault’s Pendulum taught me that I’m gonna miss some of the themes and metaphors, that things are gonna fly over my head regardless of how much research I do—

And I’m totally okay with it now.

I did away with the fear that someone’s gonna read through my journals and pick through my library only to come away with the thought that I missed the point the whole time. Whatever body of work I wind up with beneath me, published and non, will show that I did my damndest to do my damndest.

That’s what it is: I’m okay with who I am as a writer, and a reader. I am confident that I can tell a story succinctly, both long and short, and that I can recognize ways to learn in the books I read. 2024 was the year I established the fastball: I made it clear that my foundational pitch is landing for a strike, that I’m hitting my spots, that gotdamn is it gonna be a tough night to hit.

My goal for 2025 is to finish the third draft of Avalanche. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, including finishing one storyline and taking two from start to finish, but I know that I’ve got your weekly support. That should help me find my rhythm way easier.

Sic Itur Ad Astra

Thus we go to the stars.

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Input

Total Number of Books Finished: 7

Total Number of Pages Read: 3,256

Reading Log

Stories of the Year

Called Home - A slightly spooky autumn story about a witch's cat lost in the woods

Time is an Illusion - flash fiction about the paradox—

Adrift, Adream, Aweigh - A Flash Fiction Short Story About a Kite

Movement and Repose - Three friends on a hike know the journey back may be very different from the trek up.

Remainder - A sci-fi piece about a young man coping with grief

Mental Stronghold - “Your boss said he wants to go because of the venue,” Chloe says, “Not the band, the venue. Y’really don’t think that’s weird?”

Articles of the Year

Soul Without Body - A Writer's Approach to AI, or: Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Music of the Year

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