Wow. This year really was something. Let's start at the end quickly and then jump back. I love musicals and I especially love Cabaret. Fun fact: this musical was inspired by Christopher Isherwood's novels. I adore his writing and if you like beautifully crafted sentences and real historical settings, treat yourself to The Berlin Novels!
And what better way to end a marvellous year but with this marvellous musical? I saw it the day before New Year's Eve and as always I thoroughly enjoyed it from my first-row seat and stayed until the beautiful orchestra finished their solo. Why do I keep saying marvellous? Because I can't get enough of this marvellous song:
Now let's circle back. In January, I started a new job. It was after several turbulent and a few boring months in my previous one and moving to a new space with new people and new challenges was a much welcomed change. After two weeks I started writing my debut novel. It feels like a pattern. In 2022, when I quit working at a start-up and moved on to my first agency job, I started writing again after a few years of a writer's block. Anyway. Writing an actual novel was a spur-of-the-moment idea. I wrote a longer article about that journey here. Later that same day I went to see Simple Plan – one of my all-time favourite bands, one that I started listening to at 12, back when I first started writing. How symbolic.
I had no clue what would come out of that little document with outline points, snippets of scenes and bits of dialogue. The next few months flew by and my word count grew steadily. I was following politics daily, not only out of interest but also for inspiration. I went to political events, listened to political podcasts, travelled to my home country for elections... it was a lot of politics, a lot of dirt, and I needed breaks every now and then. But I never took a break from writing my novel and when I set up my TikTok and started publicly talking about my characters in April, I knew I meant business.
At the beginning of June I went to see Cabaret again and a few days later I joined Page One. I haven't been a part of a writing community for quite a while at that point and this decision completely changed my writing process and had great impact on my life. I'll write another article about the importance of a community for a writer and link it here. My word count was about 50 000 words at the time and almost doubled over the next two months. Joining Page One was like a gush of fresh wind. I met a bunch of amazing, talented and supportive people who helped speed up my writing and motivated me to continue every single day. I even started going to a library for more focused evening writing sessions.
In July alone I wrote almost 30 000 words. I was in the library almost every day (it was so nice and cold inside, I hate central European summers...) and at the end of the month I took a quick inspirational trip to Berlin. This city is very important for my main character and a part of the book takes place there.
I stayed in a lovely hostel, visited all the spots mentioned in the book, had the best kebab of my life, saw the remains of Berlin Wall, took a selfie with the bust of David Bowie... and I wrote everywhere I could. The bus ride took 5 hours each way, plus some change-of-plans wait time at a parking lot in Dresden on the way back, so I had plenty of time and pages of notes from my trip. Check out the pics in my Instagram Highlight!
In August I bought notebooks for my new WIPs because I just can't do only one thing at a time and started outlining 2 new stories. And I went, as usual, to Pride. I got to see one of my favourite politician (a human rights and marriage equality advocate, among other amazing things she does) later that day, and at one point I found myself dancing to some of my favourite queer anthems in front of a few party-poopers (Christians with hateful banners) with a group of people I didn't know. 😹 That was fun!
In September I took a week off work to finish my first draft in line with the original plan – by my birthday. And if you've read my article about throwing the goals out of the window, you know that I haven't, but it's fine. Around this time I fell out of my workout and meal planning routine because I was so set on finishing on time, which I regret and I'm hoping to get back to now. There were other things happening in my life that threw me off balance as well, of course, but everything is settling down now. I finished my first draft at the end of September with the word count of nearly 144 000 words. Which is an insane number for a debut novel and I do not know how I'm going to shorten it before I start talking to agents. 😅
Shortly after I finished it, I became a member of the moderator team on Page One. In fact, Kendall, the incredible founder of Page One, asked me to become a mod a few days after I announced finishing it. What a coincidence! 👀😁 Needless to say, I agreed immediately. I love the server and the community, and actually considered applying for the role before.
In October I started donating blood plasma. Apparently I have fragile veins, which I guess is better to hear from a nurse than from a vampire, but it still worked, yay! And my printed first draft arrived! 400 pages. It was intimidating to say the least. 😱 But I just marked the chapters and locked it away for a few months while I took a break to write some relaxing fanfiction.
At the end of the month I went to a local Beatles cover band concert (yes we have a local Beatles cover band and they were fantastiiiiic, I'll go again for sure!) and visited Glasgow. I'm hoping to move to Scotland one day and this almost a week-long trip was to check it out and see how I liked it. Safe to say, I did. I went to a few events such as Queer Theory (if you ever get a chance go, it was great), or a Halloween night at the Barras Market, did a tour of thrift shops, second hand book shops and museums, and tested the public transport. I was not entirely impressed by the last one, but the rest of the trip was great and inspiring – a part of my WIP sapphic summer-ish romance actually takes place in Glasgow!
November brought Write One – a great writing challenge at Page One, AKA the controversy-free and supportive alternative to NaNoWriMo. I started preparing for it on my way to Scotland, since that was a very long journey and I had plenty of time. Did I mention that I wanted to take a break and write something relaxing? Yeah, that didn't exactly happen. I completely outlined the sequel to Lessons in Power Play and wrote about 8000 words, oops! But then I really went back to my fanfiction for the rest of the challenge. And at the end of the month I entered Eurobest – my second advertising competition of the year! The first one was Young Lions back in March. Both were so much fun! I also wrote a letter to my future self, to be opened 3 years from today, and did a wonderful photoshoot with my friend.
December was wild. After WriteOne, I fell into a writing slump. I was busy, but I also felt sort of unmotivated. I wrote a bit, but nowhere near my previous speed and enthusiasm. Maybe I just needed a proper break after writing so much.
Did I mention that I do book binding? For Christmas, I rebound (gosh I hope that's the right form of that word) my friend's favourite book series and gave it to her when we met the day before Christmas, on my way to visit my mum's side of the family. And after I came back, I started sticking wallpaper to my new furniture that I bought for my new flat. In a few weeks I'll be moving and when I'm settled in, I'll finally start editing my first draft after having it locked up for a little over 3 months. Hence the preparations – I cannot wait to start!
Last night I updated my moodboard with some new pictures and a to-do list for my WIP Lessons in Power Play for 2025. I'm ready to cross them all off one by one. 💪
Happy New Year!
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