Greetings, readers and writers of the Blogosphere! Remember me? I took another unplanned hiatus from this blog, Twitter, and the internet in general, so now I get to write a giant update post explaining everything that happened in my absence.
Let’s start with life stuff:
I think we can all agree that 2020 was a weird year. If you can’t agree with that statement, you should probably go read something else. Here’s a quick rundown of my 2020 experience:
- I went into isolation in March due to Covid and haven’t really emerged yet. I’d rather not find out what Covid would do to me when combined with my multiple autoimmune disorders.
- The previously mentioned multiple autoimmune disorders decided to act up after being mostly controlled for a while. It made me pretty dysfunctional for a good chunk of the year, (which is mostly why I took an unplanned hiatus from the internet), but I was able to stop some medicine that I thought I’d never be able to stop, so it turned out to be a good thing.
- I learned that taking three English classes simultaneously, (one poetry class and two literary analysis classes), is a terrible idea, but I’m doing it again next semester anyway. It’ll be fine… my fingers probably won’t fall off from typing so much.
- I have decided that I really, really like online classes. It’s easier from an accessibility standpoint, (I’m blind if you’re new here), and not traveling to and from campus allows for more reading and writing time.
- I started a job which is another reason for my unplanned hiatus from the internet.
Now, the writing update:
2020 was actually very good for my writing. I wrote a lot of words while I was avoiding society and the internet, and I’m actually pretty proud of those words. Here’s what I accomplished:
- I finished another round of revisions on “Scarred Flawless”. I’m not totally happy with it yet, but I’ve decided to put it down for a while and work on other things. It still has some serious issues with world building and tone that I’m not sure how to fix.
- I outlined “Indie Blue”, wrote half of the first draft for NaNoWriMo, and am now in the process of fixing all the plot holes. My plan is to have the second draft done by the end of January. I don’t have a synopsis up on the website yet, but it’s about a killer manatee cult. That’s all you need to know for now.
- I wrote a short story called “Stars Fade” that I am currently submitting to literary magazines. It’s about a girl named Nova who burns her mother’s Tarot deck as a way of grieving her mother’s death.
- I started outlining a short story called “Your Name is Evangeline”. I have no idea how to describe it yet, so more on that later.
- I wrote two poems called, “The Snow Globe Can’t be Fixed Anymore”, and “Bitter Liquid”, that I am quite proud of even though I do not consider myself a particularly good poet. Those are also being submitted to magazines at the moment.
Writing Goals for 2021
I am only giving myself one writing goal for 2021, and that is to finish revisions on “Indie Blue”. I’ve got a couple of other projects that I’d love to finish, but Indie is my priority right now. I’ll be working and taking creative writing classes as well, so I don’t want to create a ton of writing goals that I probably won’t be able to accomplish. I am quite confident in my ability to finish Indie by the end of the year if not earlier.
What are your writerly plans?
Let’s chat in the comments. Tell me about your works in progress, your 2020 writing achievements, and your writerly plans for the new year.
Cheyenne Raphael Writes 