2023 Year in Review

Crazy to think that we’re almost through with 2023. It feels like 2019 was yesterday, but here we are, full steam ahead into 2024.

Since I had a very busy 2023, and this might be the first time I had an overall good year since high school, I wanted to take a second to recap what I’ve done, and outline some of my goals for the new year.

What I Wrote

This year, I made a lot of progress, but since I’m in the editing stage, it feels like I spent this year going in circles with my WIP.

My current WIP is a novel about a young man who can talk with ghosts, and it’s going through some major revisions. I mean major, as in: “trashing the whole second half of the story and reconstructing the main character and changing the entire storyline.”

It’s going pretty well so far. Incredibly and painfully slow, but hey, progress is progress. Also, last night I had one of those revelation moments, where you get an epiphany about how to solve all the plot holes at once. It helped me get excited about this story again. I think if I really push through it and get a lot of writing done, I can finish this draft by February.

What I Read

Honestly, this year wasn’t a big one for reading, but I still managed to read a couple of books and graphic novels.

So far, my favorite series this year has been “Spy x Family,” a super cute manga series. It’s the perfect series if you like found family, because that’s the entire premise of the story.

Also, in October I bought a super fancy special edition copy of “The Fragile Threads of Power” by V.E. Schwab. This book is a continuation of the Shades of Magic trilogy, and I absolutely love it so far. It’s familiar enough to keep me interested, but there are quite a few new characters and plot lines so it feels like its own story.

I haven’t finished reading this one yet, but I’m sure it will stay good all the way through.

What I Watched

At the beginning of the year, I started watching “Spy x Family.” It’s very cute, but I’ll wait for it to come out on DVD at my local library, so I don’t have to pay for any subscriptions to watch it.

Also, I went on a giant trip this year, and on the plane, I watched season 1 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Loved it. Now I have to wait until I can get season 2 from the library so I can keep watching it.

Where I Went

This fall, I went on a giant trip for four months to Ireland, Scotland, England, France, and Spain.

It was an incredible trip. I travelled on my own through Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Paris, and Barcelona. Along the way, I worked at a few volunteer jobs that I found with Worldpackers.

Was it the hardest thing I’ve ever done? Yes. But I made a ton of great memories and gained a lot of self confidence in the process. It was worth every penny!

What I’m Doing Next

I have too many goals for the new year.

I always have new story ideas bouncing around in my brain, but I don’t want to start any new novels until I finish the draft I’m currently working on. So I want to finish my current draft, and then start outlining a new novel.

Of course, I’d love to save up my money and go on another trip again… we’ll have to wait and see what happens, because all this traveling is definitely not cheap.

And I really want to keep up with this blog, at least one post per month. We’ve almost reached four years with this blog, and still going strong!

Thanks for reading! It’s been a while since I wrote a blog post, but I look forward to writing more blog posts in the upcoming months.

Do you have any goals for the new year? Leave me a comment and let me know!

See you next time 🙂