2022 did not go to plan.
And that’s taking into account the flimsiness of plan I had. Covid struck in March and much of the rest of the year was spent, in one way or another, dealing with its fallout. But that’s taken enough of my energy already so on to the obligatory review of my years progress.
The Hollywood Project
78,154 words. While it’s up on the situation I was in when I wrote my intentions for 2021*, 16k up to be precise, it’s nowhere near where I would have liked it to be by now.
I’ve fully come to terms with how long this first draft is going to be. Historical fiction is usually longer and my original goal of an 80k novel is now a distant dream. It is definitely going to exceed 100,000 words. The good news is I have a far deeper understanding of my characters and, when I implement a small tweak, will hopefully have a much better finished version.
* No, I didn’t set any goals for 2022, a mistake for which my work has definitely suffered.
The Jazz Age Mysteries
My last goals (those for 2021) were to finish the plotting and write a few chapters. I haven’t managed the first but I have written a couple of chapters, a grand total of 2697 words to be precise. Which, unlike THP, is falling nicely into chapters. I’m not sure about the voice I’ve begun with but it is good to get going and see how this feels. As much as I love thinking about my characters and their lives and I try to craft a coherent plot, there’s nothing like getting into the action with my MC to really understand how it all fits together and see what I’m doing.
The Online Life of Sasha Dane
Social Media
My plan was be a regular on both Twitter and Instagram and again I had mixed success with this aim. I’ve been floating around Twitter, reading and engaging if not actively posting, nearly every day; but my Instagram is dustily dormant. Come and find me, I’m @SashaDaneWriter on both platforms, maybe you’ll spur me on to more tweeting 😉
Sasha-Dane.com
My hopes of becoming a regular blogger here on Sasha-Dane.com were dashed pretty early on. After my annual review I managed just two posts. Although I have been working on maintaining and upgrading the backend so it’s not been entirely neglected.
Letters From the Jazz Age
I have had significantly more success in this arena. Although I’m still not up to the full monthly. Primarily, I have to admit, a lot of the missed action here (and on my site) stem from the same root issue: not writing enough to write about. It’s my intention to fix this in 2023. I’ll get to that in another post.
How was your 2022?
Do you like to review how your year went, or do you prefer dive headlong into the new on?
