Every time I think about all the writing progress I’ve made this year I think about showing up here and sharing it, before realising something else is more pressing and I let the moment pass. Life is busy, I’m trying to put way more of my time into writing, editing and researching writing related stuff than I am on social media but the pull to share is still there.

I’ve had my head down, focused on writing for a lot of the year. That and Spanish lessons have been the main things I’ve worked on this year and the results are showing now.

In January I had a rough first draft of a novel. By spring I had a second draft and then a third by July. I sent it out to beta-readers and to the Romantic Novelist Association’s (RNA) New Writers Scheme (NWS) in August so I’m waiting to collect up all that glorious feedback and see where my fourth draft will take me. (I’m posting this the day after my report came in and processing everything. Another post will be coming.)

Given that a) knew nothing about editing in January and b) was petrified to get feedback even four months ago, this progress is monumental. I now have the confidence that I can edit and improve my work with every pass and that it’s worth reading. I’m committed to querying in 2025 and, in the mean time, I’m back working on an old WIP (the first first draft I ever wrote) and I’m loving how much more I know this time around.

(Always happiest writing in a cafe with a coffee or wine nearby.)

Spanish wise, it’s a similar story. Having made huge leaps and bounds in my health, I’m thrilled at being able to plan and dedicate time to structured lessons so I give over between 4 and 10 hours a week to taking live classes and, what do you know, I’m improving massively. My goal was to reach comfortable A1 level this year and at the rate I’m going, I’ll be at A2 level by Christmas, and moving my focus to French A1 in the New Year.

I’m ticking off tons of other goals too, things I wrote about back in February. I’m half way through Couch 2 5K and now running with a huge smile on my face, I’ve completed a month of Yoga with Adriene and I’ve “taught” myself to DNF books. That might sound crazy that I had to work on that, but boy was it needed! I’ve always been terrible at it, but I was wasting too much time on things I wasn’t enjoying so I set the goal of DNF-ing 10 this year and so far I’m on 18 so it’s fair to say I have mastered it.

Although it’s daunting to talk about how hard I’m working on my writing and how much I want this, (What if I never get published? Wouldn't it be easier if no one knew how much I want this?) it’s more authentic to just be honest and I want to have a space where I share and keep a snapshot of my progress. Hopefully I’ll have publication news to share one day, and until then, I’ll keep writing and enjoying feeling like I’m doing what I’m meant to do.

What are you proud of this year?