Hello and welcome to the end of 2021!
I’ll be honest, the last month or so has felt like one disappointment after another, right up to the loss of my New Year’s Eve plans. However, as I stay home and wait for the clock to strike twelve, I thought it would be nice to reflect on the ways I have grown over the course of 2021.
A few weeks ago, a stranger asked me if I was a writer. I struggled to answer, in spite of the fact that I write every day. When I look back at how I spend my time, I see myself constantly typing away, working on academic, professional, or personal projects. That’s why, for my wrap-up of 2021, I want to look back on all things I have created via the written word:
A creative writing portfolio
For a long time, creative writing was incredibly daunting to me, and my goal for 2021 was to become more comfortable with it. So, one of the first things I did in the new year was take the Intro to Creative writing course in my school’s English department. I figured that if anything was going to force me out of my comfort zone, it would be deadlines for school assignments. By the end of the spring semester, I had a portfolio of five poems and a short story. Some pieces I wrote just to finish them before my final was due, but some of them I am pretty proud of.
A heck ton of application documents
Throughout the year, I’ve been applying to a lot of internships. Each time, I’ve needed to prepare an updated resume, a cover letter, and sometimes writing samples. It can get pretty tedious and I don’t enjoy doing it, but it’s still time that I spend working on writing.
All my academic papers
As an English major, I write a ton of papers. This last semester, I had fun writing my literary analysis papers for class. Next semester at school, I’ll be taking two English courses, so I hope I’ll be able to keep up with the assigned reading and writing with everything else I’ll have going on!
All of my GraceofStorytelling content
As the seasons changed, I’ve continued to write for GraceofStorytelling on multiple platforms: Goodreads, Instagram, and this blog site. In 2021, I wrote eleven blog posts, read 48 books (most of which are reviewed at https://www.goodreads.com/graceofstorytelling), and posted countless bookish photos on @graceofstorytelling on Instagram! I am looking forward to continuing to write for all of these platforms in 2022!
And now, to announce about my biggest writing project from 2021…
I started writing a book!
I first came up with the idea for this project in Summer 2019, but I officially started the manuscript this fall, for yet another writing class at school. This course was a small, advanced writing/editing workshop in which each student worked on a long-form writing project over the course of the semester. It was a lot of hard work and stress, but by the end of semester I wrote 40 pages! I still need to write some more to finish up my requirements for the class, but I am optimistic about the project!
For those of you who are interested in more specifics about my book, I'll tease it a little: It's a genderbent, contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice in which teenage Darcy is loyal and witty, yet incredibly anxious and awkward. I'm really excited about it!
After all of this review, I am proud to say that I am a writer, and I plan to be writing for a long time. Thank you, GraceofStorytelling readers, and my dear friends for supporting me in all of my endeavors! I am looking forward to growing and creating more in 2022!
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