Tag: encouragement

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year…To Reflect on Your Accomplishments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

To reflect on our goals and all that we’ve accomplished, so loved ones will hear!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Many times when we are working by ourselves, at our desk, with our words, we find ourselves deep in the minutie and seeing only all the things we have still left to do.

We may not have met any of our aggresive goals each month, or even each week, as life intrudes on a daily basis for us all.

Yet, there are things we do that we should say, “yes, I did that.” And feel good about it.

For me, I’m rounding into my eighth year and still haven’t published my book. (I started this journey in 2012). If I focused only on that one thing, I would be frustrated, disappointed, and inclined to throw my hands up and say that I’m done. 

But if I count 

• Webinars I’ve attended
• the magazine articles I published this year, 
• my monthly blog posts at A Slice of Orange, 
• my blog posts on my own website, 
• the conference I attended and taught at for the first time, 
• the monthly meetings where I got to talk shop with other writers, 
• and all the emails and social media posts I read and shared over the past year, 

I’ve actually done a lot. 

Not to mention the weekly critique meetings with my two lovely critique partners, where I’ve gotten some fantastic feedback on my manuscript, and the helpful feedback I’ve been able to provide in return. 

Then there’s the pitches I’ve submitted for teaching at more conferences for next year and the deadline dates for contests I hope to be ready for.

All of that tells me I’m making progress. 

It may be slow, but progress is progress.

And I wouldn’t be able to track my progress, if I didn’t take the time to write out these things I’ve accomplished throughout the year.

So, I encourage you to take a step back and think about what you have accomplished in 2019.

• Did you write any new words?
• Did you edit any words?
• Did you publish a book?
• Or an article?
• Or a blog post?
• Did you attend a meeting? 
• Or a conference?
• Take an online class?
• Read a reference book or a craft book?
• Listen to a webinar?
• Listen to a podcast?
• Ready a blog post or newsletter from another writer?
• Did you meet up with a writing buddy?
• Do you have a website?
• Or a newsletter?
• Did you post a social media post related to writing?
• Or read a few?
• Did you read a book for fun?

There’s a lot of things we do to put words on a page and turn them into a great story. Don’t discount any of it. Whether it just fills our soul to inspire, or gives us tools we can apply to our writing, it all helps us continue on our writing journeys.

Have a very Merry Christmas! I’m thankful for you all.

Here’s to another year of writing related stuff in 2020!