As 2022 comes to a close, I like to look back at the goals that January Morgan thought she’d accomplish and laugh. Or maybe cry? Either way, I’ll definitely be eating more of the chocolate truffles I was gifted over the holidays. Welcome back to Morgan’s Writing Tips and Writerly Musings, with writing tips from the pros, and, of course, my own writerly musings. I’m your host, morgan hazelwood, and today, I’m here with Morgan’s 2022 Retrospective, part 1. Despite kicking off 2022 with a short story sale, I found myself completely de-motivated from putting myself out there for much of 2022. Between the failed Simon-Schuester merger, the news that a significant percentage of agents and publishers were leaving the industry, and my form rejection pile, I took more breaks than not. But, that’s not to say I ignored all of my goals for last year. I attended 5 in-person conventions, revised last year’s NaNoWriMo project, rough-drafted a new novel, and even wrote some poetry. Between various writing groups, RavenCon, Balticon, Imaginarium, WorldCon, and CapClave, I was ON 23 panels/presentations, attended 25 panels, and won a cosplay competition. Outside of cons and panels, I attended 3 different writing groups, participated in the #authortube community, and hit my local open mic nights for writers almost regularly. Live conventions kept me hopping, but I didn’t completely neglect my writing. I love comparing numbers, so let’s look at them. NOTE: This year, I’ve broken out my Social Media stats, so check back later for those. My Writing Goals Last Year As always, I made sure to set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound) goals. As always, ordered by priority. 2022 Goals Revising – Do a quick edit on my Space Fantasy, get it to my Alpha Reader in time for her Spring break. Do a revision, then send it to beta readers. And revise 2 short stories from 2019. Bonus for revising the middle-grade school play story. PARTIAL CREDIT (66%) – I got the Space Fantasy to my Alpha Reader as expected, she got it back quickly. The revision took a while, and was out to betas in the fall. But I didn’t revise anything else. Reading – Read 52 books, with at least 12 being physical. WIN – While I didn’t read that many physical books, I knocked that target out of the park and then some. GoodReads is sitting at 139 books, and that’s definitely not all of them. Querying and Submitting – Submit 3 polished shorts stories quarterly, unless accepted. Consider sending out my YA again, or retooling as adult. PARTIAL CREDIT (33%) – I submitted 3 pieces all year and queried my YA Fantasy 6 times. Writing– Write something new for NaNoWriMo, 1 short story, and at least 6 poems. WIN – I drafted probably the first half of something new for NaNo (winning), no short stories, but 18 poems. Between the poetry and the blog essays, I feel the ‘short story’ requirement got fulfilled. Blogging and Podcasting – Don’t miss a week for the blog and the vlog. Only take one week between seasons for podcasting, and only skip 1 livestream a quarter, unless at a con. WIN – I didn’t miss a week with the blog or vlog, had my podcasts ready to go (although occasional audio tech delays), had 45 livestreams, and did 10 query rewrites live with Patrick Hopkins. Plus, an anniversary post and a live stream with a new Authortuber. AND? I made Twitch Affiliate! Conventions | Writers Groups – Be on panels at 3+ cons, attend 6+ open mic nights, 4+ monthly writer meetings, and 3 NaNoWriMo events (kickoff, 1 write in, and the all-nighter till 11pm). Plus? Staff Balticon and maybe another virtual con. WIN: Paneled at 5 cons, attended 8? 9? open mic nights, 6 (I think) monthly writer meetings, the NaNo kick-off and end party, plus 3 November Friday write-ins (although there was no scheduled all-nighter), and I staffed Balticon. Additionally! I presented virtually for 3 additional writers’ groups. Beta-Reading – Read no more than 3 fulls for others, and get some beta readers for your own short stories. WIN?: I read maybe a couple of shorts. But did find a good batch of betas for my Space Fantasy. And give myself a pass if I don’t get anything accomplished in December. What was that whole Vlogmas thing, Morgan? Again? And the December Author Spotlight Flood? EXTRA CREDIT!! Things outside this list I achieved? Became a Twitch Affiliate! Published 60 Author Spotlights! That’s over an author a week. And the weekly round-up was, while not always on time, a regular new feature. In Conclusion I didn’t do as much as I’d hoped. As always. Some of that was external. Publishing didn’t return to normal, including an anti-monopoly case and a boycott. Some of the issues were the consequences of decisions. I’m still running multiple Facebook writer groups and a part of the #authorTube community. I helped run one convention and paneled at 5 cons, 2 online groups, and 1 Authortube event. I decided to do my best to keep up with at least 5 different types of social media. I really like 9 hours of sleep a night, even if 7 is more standard. I still have scheduled social time with friends on Tuesdays. Add in my blog post writing and a heavy Author Spotlight backlog and uploading Wednesday nights and con meetings… As always, I’ve been prioritizing keeping up with my self-imposed schedule over actually writing. While I made a point of not trying to work every convention this year… I paneled at more. After my focus issues escalated, I reached out this summer and got an ADHD diagnosis. We’re still working on finding the right treatment options for me. However… I DID get some writing done, finished first-round revisions on my Space fantasy, drafted 50k of a new story, grew my vlog and podcast, worked one convention, paneled at 5 conventions, and read an average of 11 books a month! Plus, you know, there’s that short story I sold. I may have fallen short on some things, but… as I quote Les Brown every year: “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” How well did you do on your goals? Did things opening back up affect you?