Realized I haven’t made a goal post yet for this coming year, but nor have I reviewed what I accomplished of my goals from this last year. So lets get started.
2022 in Review
The last year has had its ups and downs for me in writing progress.
- Finished writing From the Ashes for Quantum Bang 2022 – Fix-it and pushed it into editing and beta. This project ended up at just over 60k for the min of 50k for the challenge. I’m super happy about making and meeting this goal/challenge.
- Wrote and finished Birdcage for Big Moxie 2022 – Q1 Canon Divergent.
- I came up with 3-4 solid concepts for Big Moxie 2022 – Q2 Fusion or Sentinel. Unfortunately, I kept getting overwhelmed by the scope of the ideas, so despite getting a lot of plotting and brainstorming done, I didn’t finish a story for Q2. More of my energy went into editing and finalizing From the Ashes for the QB deadline.
- The editing process for From The Ashes ended up draining my writing motivation for a while as I struggled to get back into the rhythm of it for several months afterward. I think I will need to have a story completed and ready before I sign up again in the future to avoid burnout.
- I participated in EAD with the posting of Kitsune no Tsuki for the first time.
My creativity in painting, however, took an upswing this year. Up to and including learning how to use gilding flakes. You can see my projects from this year below.
I also picked up Bingo Challenge Cards for both writing and art. This year’s Bingo theme of a trope plus a Holiday just did not click for me in a writing aspect. Art images, however, were another story altogether. You can view all the fandom pieces I made for my bing card here: Just Write Holiday Bingo [Art Card]. I did manage to get an actual bingo on it, but I think I will keep working to black out the card eventually.
I did not have set ideas for Big Moxie Q3 or Q4 ready to go, but I still have a soulmates idea or two percolating for future use.
NANOWRIMO 2022 was incredibly difficult for me this year. I did not have a set story I had plotted and planned unlike the last two years, so I gave myself permission to just set a 50k total word count goal and work on whatever struck my interest. This started off rather well as I got 2-3k written on scenes on several different projects, both old and new.
Then real life just kept getting in the way. My mother had to say goodbye to her first Chihuahua and I went with for emotional support. Then my little furbaby Tarma, a tortoiseshell domestic short hair, began to have health issues (which actually started midsummer). The vet found a lump in her abdomen when I brought her in for what I had thought was constipation. We got her on meds, but I wasn’t about to put my 14-year-old senior kitty through chemo. This ordeal just tanked my creativity for the rest of the year for writing.
I did create a Fandom gallery for all my story banners this year though. It’s definitely a creative writing-adjacent project I enjoy. Outside of using photoshop, I’ve been playing with PicsArt.
And so ended 2022.
Goals and Plans for 2023
- Finish the story I started for Big Moxie – Q2 Fusions. (and hopefully, get it submitted for this year’s Q2)
- Make some progress and finish at least one other story by end of the year.
- Plan a writing project for NANOWRIMO 2023 in advance.
- Keep doing more painting. I’ve found I really enjoy it and it’s a stress relief all of its own. I’ve been thinking of trying to do a pet portrait of Tarma who I had to say goodbye to on January 9th, 2023.
- Continue with more creative things!
- Continue to keep adapting and improving.
