2023 Writing Reflections and Goals for 2024

(And please eat a treat every time I mention avoiding burn out in this post)

My bullet journal looks nothing like this, but I’m impressed this person is making lists in multiple languages. Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

Today’s post is part of my “Writing Resources and Tips” section. Friendly reminder that if you are not interested in writing topics you can adjust your subscription preferences by visiting this link and toggling off any sections that don’t interest you.

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At the end of the year, I like to take stock of how I did on writing goals for the year, and plan (scheme?) for the year ahead.

I have a bullet journal I use which is mostly just a book of sloppy lists (although I am impressed by those of you keeping Pinterest-worthy bullet journals). At the end of the year, I like to go through it and see how I did on this year’s goals and set some new ones for the next year.

For the past several years I’ve also turned these reflections into end-of-year posts (which used to live on Medium and now on Substack), in part because I always enjoy reading other writers’ wrap-ups like this.

So here is the 2023 report…

How I did in 2023

• Pitch report: I have an Excel sheet that I use to track pitches (fun fact, the first entry on it is from 2001 and there are now over 1300 rows). Looking at it, I definitely slowed down in pitching this year. It looks like I sent 28 pitches/submissions in 2023 and last year it was 58. This is partially an intentional slowdown to focus on other things (like a book proposal and Substack) and an attempt to avoid burnout. But I also made a low goal of only sending 20 pitches for the year so #winning.

• Acceptances: It looks like out of the 28 pitches that I sent I got 6 acceptances. Some of the places I had pieces run this year included New Yorker Shouts, McSweeney’s, The Strategist, The Belladonna Comedy, Jane Friedman’s blog, and Brevity’s blog.

• Rejections: I got rejections or non-responses to 22 submissions/pitches. Just *some* of the places I got rejections from this year included McSweeney’s, Writer’s Digest, Travel and Leisure, Fodor’s, Electric Lit, and Shondaland.

• Goal report: I used to set goals like “get published in X publication” but a few years ago switched to goals that I had control over like “submit to X publication,” something I will continue with. I did not hit all of these for 2023, but I also think that what I want to work on is often a moving target and it’s okay to change some goals throughout the year, so it is not a huge miss.

• Substack report: I also slowed down a lot of my social media time this year and focused more time on Substack, which I have been finding more enjoyable than a lot of other social media. I started the year with around 250 Substack subscribers and currently have over 1100 (Thank you for being here!). I wrote a bit more about some things that I think helped with Substack this year here.

• Writing community: I’ve also found a lot of enjoyment through just talking with other writer friends about the highs and lows of the writing life this year. Some of these conversations have happened virtually and some in real life via conferences or coffee meet-ups. I think finding a community of writers who are in a similar place to you in your writing career who you can vent to about rejections or talk through ideas with is really helpful. (Thanks to those of you reading this who are these people!)

Some goals for me for 2024

• 2024 pitch goal: I’m setting the same 20-pitch goal for next year and have a list of pubs I’d like to try to submit to (with the knowledge that I likely won’t hit them all, but if I hit a couple will be good). Some of the ones on my list include (The New York Times, which continues to be my own personal white whale; The Girlfriend; Slate; and Shondaland). Will I actually pitch to all of the pubs on my list? Probably not. But I will attempt at least some.

• 2024 writing mantra: I tend to have more writing ideas than I have time for so something I recently read in Emma Gannon’s Substack The Hyphen has stuck with me. She discussed the idea of asking yourself what you would want to spend time on even if you knew you would fail at it. It’s a question I’ve been applying to some writing ideas I have. Thinking about what I would work on just because I would enjoy the process is a helpful way to think about what to focus on. Sometimes my answer to this is starting a social media account for funny cat content, but you know, yours might be different.

• Teaching/coaching: I am hoping to teach a few one-off classes next year (one is already on the books, more info coming soon) and I am mulling doing some 1-on-1 writing coaching. I am trying to figure out how best to do this with my teaching day job and not burning out. If there is a particular kind of class or coaching you would like to see me offer, let me know!

The most helpful writing book I read this year

I read a few craft books this year and the one that has stuck with me the most is 7 Figure Fiction by T. Taylor. You might be thinking, Julie, do you even write fiction? And I would say, *not yet.* I would like to write a novel eventually but I am still in the mulling stage (which apparently takes years for me).

Taylor’s book describes the idea of universal fantasy in terms of why some books are compelling for lots of people. A lot of her examples are romance but it can be applied to a lot of different things (like working certain types of jobs or suddenly discovering you have magical powers). I have found it to be a useful lens to view books I enjoy through and thus think about books that I might want to write that others might enjoy. I can see it applying to other things too (even Substacks).

I first heard about the book via this episode of the #AmWriting Podcast which is worth a listen if the concept interests you.

Coming up for Humor Me next year

• In terms of upcoming posts, I’m going to run a humor writing challenge in January (you’ll only get the posts for it if you have opted into them), but then will be back with another Writing Resources and Tips post in February. I’ll also keep up the monthly posts with links to things I’ve been enjoying.

• I have been sending the newsletter twice a month this year and have debated trying to increase the frequency but for now have decided against it. It feels like a frequency I can keep up with without burning out. As a reader, I have some concerns about newsletter overwhelm for people as more and more writers are writing newsletters (thanks in part to the hot mess that is some social media!). As a reader, I generally don’t mind when something comes less often (and a newsletter coming too frequently is sometimes a deterrent to me signing up). So twice a month is the plan for this newsletter for 2024 too.

That’s a wrap on this wrap-up.

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Question for the comments: How did you do with your 2023 writing goals and what goals are you setting for 2024? And if you have an end-of-the-year writing report post, share it in the comments!

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