As part of my review of 2024, which is mostly a personal thing, I took a look at some *writing stats for 2024 (a big improvement over 2023).
In terms of writing new stories and working on current ones, there wasn't a huge difference, but I had decided last year to be more proactive with my writing and be brave by actually sending out more stories and risking more rejections. After all, if I send out more stories, instead of waiting for conditions to be perfect and instead of letting self-doubt rule, I have a better chance of having more accepted. Zero stories out = zero chances at acceptances, or in the words of Wayne Gretzky, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take." It makes sense, but sometimes it can be hard to follow through.
So, here are my 2024 stats, along with the previous years (not all the years, just the last six) for comparison.
2024: I sent out 25 stories. I withdrew one, sold four, and am waiting to hear back on three others.
2023: I sent out one story, which was rejected.
2022: I sent out nine stories and sold one.
2021: I sent out six stories and sold zero.
2020: I sent out nine stories and sold one.
2019: I sent out one and sold one.
Hopefully, the number of stories sold this year will be greater than last, and maybe I'll be able to sell some to paying markets as well. That would be extremely helpful to me financially, but even if I don't, I won't stop writing. Whether I'm writing stories, letters, typing up a blog post, scribbling ideas on scraps of paper, making lists, or jotting thoughts in a journal, I am always putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. It's been a constant since I was a child. I can't not write. Even if no one reads or enjoys what I write (and I hope that someone will), even if I'm the only one to read my words (as is often the case - writing only for myself), I won't stop. Writing can be difficult. It can feel like I'm just spitting out random letters and rooting around in them to form what I hope are sensical words. It can often resemble a bizarre word salad, but writing is a part of me. Writing = joy.
That said, fingers crossed 2025 shows even more progress. =)
*Writing, for the purpose of this post, refers to writing stories and submitting them in hopes of publication.
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