Another month has come to a close and so has 2022. For many in Australia 2022 was another extremely hard year in a string of hard years with ongoing floods affecting much of the east coast. If you’ve been reading my monthly recaps you’ll know we’ve been hit hard by repeated illnesses throughout the year as well, and I know we’re not the exception here. Life can be hard, lately it’s seemed harder than usual. We all deserved one hell of a Christmas break this year, and I hope you all got one (however you celebrate!)

Without further ado, let’s look at my stats for December, and keep reading for an overview on my year as a whole.

Freelance

Pitches sent: 0

Follow-ups: 0

Rejections: 0

Commissions:

Projects completed: 1

Money made: $0

I told you I was going on leave until January, didn’t I? Well turns out, as hard as it is to not write, I managed it. I wrote the one article that was commissioned last month and not a lot else. When I couldn’t resist temptation, I did play around with some children’s nonfiction ideas but that was it!

Fiction

Stories written: 1

Stories edited: 0

Stories submitted: 0

Stories published: 0

Money made: $0

I took a step back in the fiction arena too. Again, I couldn’t completely resist and played around with a few story ideas that I’m keen to work on properly in the new year and completed one draft of a children’s story. I’ve also been reading a lot of children’s short stories, for pleasure and research. Primarily, I’ve dipped in and out of Paul Jennings Unreal collection and Terry Pratchett’s The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories. For fun, I’ve been reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett and it is officially the first Discworld novel I’ve read that made me cry.

What I did in 2022

• Left my job
• Moved house
• Joined two critique groups
• Secured a corporate client
• Had one article published and one article commissioned
• Completed 4 courses
• Wrote 10 new short stories
• Wrote 2 children’s chapter books
• Plotted one adult novel

Income from writing: $1045 (100% corporate freelance)

My 2021 income from writing was $300 (100% articles) so I’m happy with the growth and my target for 2023 $5000.

For me 2022 was all about laying the groundwork, investing in myself and giving myself permission to write. In all three of those areas, I’m really happy with my progress.

I’m excited to launch into the new year and have lots of plans laid for how I will approach it. Would love to hear how your 2022 turned out and what your plans are for 2023 too!