Year of Words: December — The Receipt

And just like that, it’s all over.

I could just sit here and type away for hours, crafting long paragraphs about how much this year has changed me, how differently I feel about the act and art of writing, how everyone should do something like this once in their lives. But let’s save that for later. First, let’s look at this final month of this year-long quest.

Given the seasonal madness, dashing around to see every possible relative, I’m impressed with my total of 10,623 words in December. To begin with, Project Fringe started to come into shape, and — spurred on by the encouraging comments of some dear friends — I now have a vaguely whole story. Just five scenes, totalling about 11k words, about a complicated (initially unrequited) modern romance. I don’t think it’ll ever go anywhere, but it’s been a while since I’ve been so completely swept up in something brand new.

Towards the end of this month, though, things started to drift a bit. I’ve worked on a few bloggish bits and bobs, chipped away at a few bits of Project Pine, and even tried to add a few extra scenes to Fringe. But I’ve definitely lost focus again — I’m floating between a few different pieces, not quite fully absorbed by any of them. There’s been a couple of times this year that I’ve only kept going because of the challenge. When there’s a streak to keep, updates to write, a tracker to fill in, I can feel the pull. I’m not sure what will happen without that — but we’ll get back to what’s next later.

For now, time’s up. A whole leap year, 366 days, and writing on every single one.

Originally, I was planning to do a long report in a separate post, reviewing each month and what I achieved in detail. But then I actually thought about it, and realised that was a bit stupid. Surely that’s what each month’s check-in is for: to now look back and what Past H thought of her journey, what she struggled with, what she achieved. For posterity, though, I’d like to draw up a quick executive summary. Each word has been counted, each daily averaged calculated, each success and failure documented. Let’s see what actually got done.

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January

Words Written: 10,409 (Avg: 347)

Summary: Wrote the majority of the first draft of Project Rook.

February

Words Written: 9,105 (Avg: 314)

Summary: Finished the Rook draft, then started Part I of Pine.

March

Words Written: 8,708 (Avg: 281)

Summary: Completed Pine Part I, with a short world-building break in the middle.

April

Words Written: 11,431 (Avg: 381)

Summary: Started Pine Part II, and wrote loads of book reviews for a blog post.

May

Words Written: 8,210 (Avg: 265)

Summary: Finished Pine Part II.

June

Words Written: 6,390 (Avg: 213)

Summary: Attempted Part III, but scrapped and restarted, and then pivoted to blog writing, world-building, and planning later parts of Pine.

July

Words Written: 11,160 (Avg: 360)

Summary: Began the second draft of Project Rook.

August

Words Written: 12,077 (Avg: 390)

Summary: Completed draft two of Rook, and then edited to completion, before trying and failing to work on Part IV of Pine.

September

Words Written: 6,794 (Avg: 226)

Summary: Switched between a tough re-draft of Pine Part III and world-building notes.

October

Words Written: 5,488 (Avg: 177)

Summary: Slogged through to the end of Part III, then started working on a short memoir and jumping to a huge re-plan of Part V.

November

Words Written: 11,622 (Avg: 387)

Summary: Continued work on the personal piece, then got swept up in scenes for the brand-new Project Fringe.

December

Words Written: 10,623 (Avg: 343)

Summary: Concluded a five-part piece for Project Fringe, then worked on blog posts and some notes for Pine.

Final Review

Total Words Written: 112,017 (Avg: 306)

Best Month: August (12,077 words)

Best Day: Wednesday 31st July (1,879 words)

Achievements: one fantasy short story (after two drafts), one short fiction anthology, sixteen blog posts, and half of a first draft of a novel.

Just for fun, here’s some graphs which illustrate everything a little clearer!

(‘Misc’ refers to miscellaneous, out-of-project writing, such as lore notes or planning, as well as a handful of days where I worked on multiple projects.)

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So there it is. One hundred and twelve thousand and seventeen words. Ish. I’d say that’s not half bad.

In preparation for writing this post, I went back and re-read all of my Year Of Words updates from this year, in order. There were some brilliant highs and some rubbish lows, but I’ve learnt so much that I can’t quite put into words. It’s like trying to describe how to do any skill better — you can give all the greatest advice in the world, but in the end it’s practice, practice, practice. All I know is that, somehow, I’m a better writer than I was before. Even just comparing the sentences I wrote at the start of January compared to now, I can see some interesting developments. I’m much braver and more precise in my descriptions, my dialogue is better, and, paradoxically, I feel like I have a lot more to say than I thought I did.

The biggest thing that’s changed over the course of this year is that the practical skill of writing is just easier, particularly the trickiest bit: starting. I used to have to dedicate a good half an hour to ‘getting into the flow’ before anything decent got done. But now, all I need is somewhere comfy and relatively quiet and I can get going in a matter of minutes. Don’t get me wrong, noise-cancelling headphones blaring the perfectly selected soundtrack is always welcome, but I don’t depend on it any more. I’m less reliant on needing a spark of inspiration too — after a quick reread of where I left off, I’m finding it much easier to resume a half-completed piece. It’s working through the little practicalities like that, ways to outfox the small obstacles that used to trip me up constantly, that have objectively made my process more efficient and productive.

Furthermore, my obsessive perfectionism is officially dead and buried. As I described in one of my updates, making writing a routine habit has removed a huge amount of the pressure I’d put on myself. I’ve stopped agonising on the quality of each sentence — at least in early drafts — and focussed more on what I’m saying when, and where, and in what order, and why. Writing is about communicating actions and ideas as clearly as you can, and first drafts are the blueprint of that. Who cares if it’s messy and awkward and makes sense to no one but me? It’s supposed to be scrappy and strange. It’s all a grand experiment, an expedition into unknown territory. I still find it hard when to know when it’s done, when to put the brushes down and stop messing with the canvas, but that’s something that can only improve with time.

The best part about this is that now, my ‘bad’ writing is actually rather exciting. I recently re-read some parts of my first attempt at Part I of Pine, and there is so much wrong with it that it physically hurts my brain. But now, instead of despairing, I can see that I have a large pile of mud to work with, to shape and scrape and mix and mould into something better. Instead of fretting about how on earth I tell this story, I have a list of things that don’t work, to avoid and re-do and completely scrap. I can start to see what’s missing, I need to add a character here, cut one there, clarify this, change that. And surprisingly, some of it is actually good. By some, I only mean a handful of sentences, but still — what a joy to discover a diamond of the sentence in the mire of my naivety!

Now, just one question remains: what now?

I’m not sure if I’ll actually go through with it, but I did have one idea: to try and not write. Maybe a few days, for a week, for the whole of January. Give these poor keyboard-worn fingertips a rest. Honestly, I’m just curious how my brain will react. Over the past year, writing has become such an integral part to who I am and what I do, I’m curious to see what happens to that part of me when I try and stop. Will it be a welcome break? Will I fill the time with other habits, for better or worse? Will it revitalise interest in an old project, or find purchase in something new? Without the self-imposed pressure of hundreds of days at my back, will I feel the same motivations to write? And, when I do start writing again, will it be easy to pick up, or difficult? Will it be impossible to stop writing at all? Again, maybe I won’t, but it’s something for me to think about.

Either way, perhaps after a short break, I’m going to continue working on my projects as much as possible. I might need to start a new scheme with myself — something that would warrant monthly or seasonal or at least semi-regular updates — to motivate a new daily routine, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. All in all, I’m over the moon with what I’ve achieved: I’m not burnt out, I’m not bored, and in fact I’m more excited to write than I ever have been.

I’m not going to put a label on this coming year — at least, not yet. Maybe a theme will reveal itself, a new routine will emerge, a new idea come and sweep me off my feet for the next while. I would love to have a fully finished draft of Pine by the end of 2025, but that’s exactly what I said this time last year, so we’ll have to see. Besides, who knows what this new year has in store? The answer, I guess, is Future H, but she’s busy not existing at the moment.

One final note: if you’re at all thinking about getting better at something, do a Year Of It. It's one of the best things I've ever done. I’m sure it must apply in some degree to any skill: cooking, crafting, music, sport, anything. Do it every day, and maybe you’ll find you love it even more than you thought you did. Because now, after this Year of Words, I can confidently say that I am a writer, in the most basic and literal sense of the word: a person who writes. Someone who cannot — will not — stop putting words together, and seeing what happens.

Thank you for coming on this journey with me, and here’s to the many paths to come.

— H

PS: Here's my receipt! A fun conclusion for this rollercoaster of a challenge. I keep staring at that number: 112,017. Past H could never have imagined she'd make it this far.