Wow, lots of news to share! I have had a hectic start to 2022 as I imagine most of us have. I attended DV Con which was super fun! I made some new friends and learnt a lot about the industry. It was genuinely a very warming experience.

I also joined another program for writer wellness called Alignment. While DV Con only lasted for a week, Alignment is a weekly thing where we get journaling prompts and encouragement from the group. It’s actually very restorative to open the emails and check the Discord for updates. Even if sometimes I can be a little shy to comment.

I also started a new course and have been writing for that pretty consistently, though I haven’t gotten too far into it yet. I’ve been experimenting a little with voice, using second-person, something I have never done and also writing a novella, something that I have also never attempted. I’m actually really excited about it! When I sat down to write for it yesterday I had somehow already finished 3000 words in two hours. It is actually shaping up really well!

I also got shortlisted for Flash 500’s Flash Fiction Competition! I’m so very happy, I think I quite literally punched the air when I saw my piece on that list! It was a lovely surprise that definitely brightened my week.

I also finished my latest assignment for my MA and now I’m looking forward to the next assignment which is supposed to be an essay on a particular author or work that has influenced my writing. I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to choose for this one and I have a few different writers in mind. We’ll see I guess.

So I’ve kinda left the month of January still very busy and a little overwhelmed. I was talking about the whole thing to my partner the other day. I’ve never tried this hard to be a ‘real’ writer before and it’s genuinely terrifying. What if I fail? If I fail it means that my best isn’t good enough and that’s demoralising. It was safer when I wasn’t trying, that way there was always the excuse, but I don’t think any writer ever achieved anything by simply being safe the whole time.

Here’s to living dangerously.