The Year Ahead: What I Hope to Learn About Writing in 2018

by Naomi L. | January 3, 2018 | Blog, Creative Writing | 4 comments

Happy New Year! It’s the first week of 2018, which means it’s time to dive into our New Year’s resolutions! A new year means a fresh start, right? So for my first creative writing post of the year, here are a few of the goals I’m setting for 2018 (and beyond). Enjoy!

To take my blogging to the next level

What exactly does this mean? That’s an excellent question. To be honest, I still only have a vague idea of how I want to achieve this goal, but I am aware that my blogging has been relative static over the past couple of years (thanks, grad school) and I’d like to start taking it more seriously. Of course, talk is cheap and fear is powerful, but even simple steps like growing my mailing list and experimenting with guest posting could make a big difference in the months ahead. Once again, we’ll see how this year goes!

To become a published author

I mentioned last year that I finally finished the rough draft of my first fantasy novel, so I’m closer than ever to achieving my dream of being a published author! The editing will still take a while to complete, but in the meantime, I’m planning to self-publish some shorter stories to build up my author profile and work my way up to self-publishing novels. It’s a long road ahead on my creative journey, and I’m more excited than ever!

To make a living from my passion(s)

Writing fiction has been my greatest passion since childhood, so it’s no secret I’ve been dreaming of making a living from it my whole life. Interestingly, I discovered last year that aside from writing, I’m also cut out for editing and proofreading work; in fact, most of my income since finishing school has actually come from editing blog posts and web content. This year, I plan to continue focusing on these passions of mine until I become completely independent! Here’s to an even more productive year!

What about you? Any new resolutions for 2018? What are your plans for your writing?

The Year in Review: What I’ve Learned About Writing in 2017

by Naomi L. | December 27, 2017 | Blog, Creative Writing | 6 comments

Welcome to my final creative writing post of 2017! The last week of December is a great time to look back on our resolutions from January and how much we’ve accomplished in the past year. So to finish off 2017, here’s another review of my New Year’s resolutions and what I achieved in my writing this year. Enjoy!

Did I get published in a scientific journal?

Not yet, but the paper has been submitted and is currently awaiting review. It ended up going through several major changes as we tried to decide whether it should be a full paper or a brief note, and the revision process took a bit longer than expected (though that’s bound to happen when the co-authors live in different parts of the world). In any case, we’re closer to publication than ever before. Hopefully the upcoming revisions will be the “easy part”!

Did I make a career out of my writing?

Yes, in a way. While my original plan at the beginning of the year was to get into freelance writing, I soon realized that when it comes to working for others, I have a better knack for editing and proofreading than for writing.

In the year since I started working through Fiverr, I’ve become a Level Two seller, earned dozens of 5-star reviews, and gained a pretty good reputation as a blog post editor. I also finished the first draft of my fantasy novel earlier in the year and have been editing it ever since. On the side, I’ve been working on some short stories for publication on Kindle to build my author profile (which frankly I should have done a long time ago). So much writing to do in the new year, and I can’t wait!

Did I continue growing my blogging network?

Yes! It’s still a bit of a slow process, as always (I’m calling super shyness and “fear of success” on this one, not that they’re valid excuses), but I’ve taken some big steps this year to learn how to grow my blog even more. I’ve been planning to make some significant changes to my blogging style, such as growing my mailing list and experimenting with guest posting, which will hopefully expand my network further in 2018. Here’s to a productive new year!

What about you? What have you accomplished with your writing in 2017? I hope you had a productive year and that your 2018 will be even better! Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!