Ahhh… a year in review post, only two months late. Here’s the thing: in December my mental load was at capacity and every tab in my brain had that mac spinning wheel icon. While I sat myself in the shade with ye olde pen and paper to reflect on the year, I never actually wrote it up. Given it was such a monumental year for me, I figure it deserves a spot in my corner of the internet. Let’s dive in.
January:
I found out my debut novel, Summer, in Between, set for a 2026 release, was brought forward to be a 2025 release. September, to be specific. I had to rejig my marketing and promo plan timelines significantly. I’d already decided 2025 would be the year I’d get out of my writing cave, so added bookish events in my monthly tracking. An idea for a new YA (I’m calling it Captiva LTZ) struck me like a lightning bolt, and I plotted it on a giant piece of paper, then drafted a slab including a pivotal scene in a flash of fever. I also started properly tracking my writing, transferring my scribbles in a notebook into a real, grown up spreadsheet scenario. #holdme
Word count: 0
Bookish events: 0
February:
I did indeed venture from my writing cave and loved (almost) every minute of doing so. I met the #DebutCrew25, online and in person, little knowing that some of these people would become fabulous new friends. It was a big admin-y month. I planned and plotted out the year ahead, including revisiting a 2023 YA WIP. I set a goal for a new YA novel first draft by year’s end (the aforementioned Captiva LTZ). Thus my 2025 goals were to launch one novel, rewrite a second, and write the first draft of another.
Word count: 0 (I plan and plot by hand)
Bookish events: 10
March:
I wrote a note to myself: All I can control is my output. Let’s make it good. I stuck it on the wall behind my monitor as a constant reminder. I entered the RWA Opal Award for an unpublished manuscript with an adult romcom drafted while in the midst of grieving the loss of my aunts, twins who died within 30 days of each other. I wrote a detailed synopsis for the 2023 YA WIP ahead of a solid couple of months of rewriting. I also climbed a mountain this month, which included a midnight sprint back down a smidge to avoid hellish gale force winds.
Word count: 0 (I plan and plot by hand)
Bookish events: 3
April:
I had a 2.5 day retreat at home around Easter and school holidays to get some momentum on my YA WIP. It felt like I was firing on all four cylinders. Kinda…
Word count: 27,615
Bookish events: 4
May:
Preorders for Summer, in Between went live, and it struck me for the first time that actual humans beyond editors and publishers were actually going to read my book. The vulnerability washout was real, let me tell you! I also got out a massive sheet of paper and did a bit of an And/But to work out the pacing on my YA WIP.
Word count: 21,083
Bookish events: 8
June:
Right before school holidays descended I squeezed in final proofs of Summer, as well as doing the bare minimum each week against my YA WIP timelines, knowing the months ahead would be crammed.
Word count: 14,005
Bookish events: 4
July:
I flew to Brisbane to meet my publisher (ahhh… heart eyes on overdrive) and to sign pre-orders. I saw the wall of books for signing, representing the love and support of so many people and promptly burst into tears. I also had my Summer pre-launch launch in Brisbane, where fellow Hawkeye author Jo Skinner welcomed me to published author-dom in a fabulous q&a session, where I met so many writer friends IRL. Bliss!
Word count: 5661
Bookish events: 6
August:
I flew to Tassie for a fabulous weekend for the RWA conference, where I found out my romcom that distracted me from grief took out second prize in the Opal! I also wrote a note to myself for my YA WIP: Just. Keep. Fucking. Going!
Word count: 24,558
Bookish events: 4
September:
I finished my YA WIP a week before I launched Summer, in Between, which, as per this, was the launch of my dreams. I applied for a KSP Fellowship for the YA novel I conceived back in January, Captiva LTZ.
Word count: 5626
Bookish events: 2
October:
After all the excitement of launching my debut novel, with events and podcasts and PR, oh my (none of which included in my bookish events tallies), it was time to get analogue again and get some work happening on Captiva LTZ, the YA novel I wanted to knock over the first draft of by year’s end. I scribbled pages upon pages of handwritten notes, feeling my way into a story and characters which had evolved surprisingly little from my initial burst.
Word count: 0
Bookish events: 4
November:
Man, was fatigue catching up with me! I wrote frenetically on my new WIP, but also had an all new low word count day of 68, which I was determined not to beat myself up about. I hiked Wilsons Prom for three days with a friend, and I won a KSP Fellowship for Captiva LTZ! I also submitted my final assignment for my Graduate Diploma of Information Management (Libraries), and finished a 10 week placement in a gorgeous school library that subsequently offered me work as a Real. Live. Librarian!
Word count: 18986
Bookish events: 5
December:
Somehow in all my planning (which I revise monthly and quarterly) I forgot that December isn’t a full four weeks where one (ie me) is free to do nothing but write. Oops. I didn’t meet my goal of finishing a brand new YA novel first draft. I had a moment of self-loathing, and shook it off. What a year – my debut novel’s launch was everything I could have hoped for, and more, I wrote a solid second draft of another YA novel, and a decent slab of a first draft of a new novel, with writing that won me a fellowship. It was time to cut myself some slack and eat some trifle.
Word count: 19,771
Bookish events: 0