I’d planned to post this Year in Review at the beginning of the month, but January has obviously gotten away from me. Although we aren’t in 2020 anymore, there’s a lot of lingering feelings from the year, and most of them aren’t positive.
In last year’s yearly review post, I talked a lot about the beginning of a brand-new decade. What the 2020s would have in store for us, what word the historians would use to describe the decade—à la “the roaring twenties—and how I wanted to feel when I looked back on it.
Needless to say, it was a more surprising start to a new decade than any of us could have imagined. Between the pandemic, the outcry against racial injustice, and the seemingly never-ending presidential election, it was a slog. And I mean that in every possible way: mentally, emotionally, sometimes even physically.
And now that we’ve grappled with an insurrection in the first week of 2021, it’s looking to be business as usual around here. While I wasn’t naïve enough to think that adding a 1 to the end of the year would immediately change everything, I can admit I was hopeful about the year in general.
Way back twelve months ago, I settled on thrive as my word for the decade, and I like to believe that, considering the current circumstances, I am thriving. There were a lot of uncertainties and I shudder to think about the collective traumas we’ll all have to deal with whenever the world reaches some sort of equilibrium again. But I ultimately think I took what the year gave me and worked with it to the best of my abilities. And I’m prepared to call that a win!
My Resolutions for 2021
I’m not really into new year’s resolutions, and I’m trying to start the year out with kindness, especially to myself. So instead, here’s a list of less rigid goals—we’ll call them guidelines—to lead my daily life in 2021:
- Keep up my daily meditation practice
- Start a daily journaling routine
- Send more snail mail
- Buy all my clothing secondhand
- Practice yoga regularly
- Be mindful of my meat consumption
Keep reading for my blogging, reading, and writing recaps from 2020 plus goals for 2021 in each area for this year. I’m also sharing a bit about what you can expect from me over the next year, from this blog and my Instagram.
Year in Review: Blogging
Posts Published: 25
Words Written: 35,960
Most Viewed Lifestyle Post: 30-Day Self Care Challenge
I was so pleased to dig into my analytics for this year in review post and find that this was the most viewed lifestyle post! I created this challenge after a month and a half of working from home. Quarantining was still new, and I needed something to get me out of my constant news-watching, never leaving my house funk. I’d heard from others who felt the same way, and thus the month of self care challenge was born!
This self care challenge wasn’t just a fun post to put together; it also got me back in touch with so many friends from work, college, even high school! It also made me focus on self care in a creative and deliberate way.
If you’d like to see another self care challenge in 2021, leave a comment and let me know. Of course, you can always use this post for ideas, no matter the date!
Most Viewed Book Post: Every Pride and Prejudice Adaptation, Ranked
This post was another fun one to put together. I’m a big Jane Austen fan (and have been for years), so when I felt myself slipping into a reading funk, I decided to try as many Pride and Prejudice adaptations as I could.
This reading list is diverse and includes a number of newer books that I really enjoyed. I also ended up adding film and television adaptations because why not? If you’re a Regency fan who has already devoured Netflix’s new Bridgerton series and the books, you’ll probably find something you’ll like on this list!
Most Viewed Writing Post: Four Weeks to Your Best NaNoWriMo
This year, I debuted my free Preptober workbook to help writers prepare for National Novel Writing Month. Hundreds of you signed up to use it, which was incredibly humbling and exciting for me!
You can still sign up to receive the 60+ page PDF workbook for free, and I hope it helps you get to know your characters, setting, and plot, no matter if you’re prepping for NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNo, or any other drafting period.
In 2021, I’d like to be consistent with my series posts.
Last year, I did a better job about posting consistently than I have in so long. Most months, I at least posted twice, and one of my favorite to plan and write was my monthly favorites post, the Friday Finale.
This year, I want to continue to post these recommendations for you, and I also have a few other series that I’m excited to share with you soon.
Year in Review: Reading
Books Read: 40
Pages Read: 13,099
I just barely met my Goodreads goal of 40 books this year, but I did it! And I’m honestly really proud of that. As with all things, 2020 included periods of intense motivation and just as serious lethargy. One month, I’d read six books, and the next I wouldn’t even want to pick up a book.
Finally, though, I think I’ve rediscovered my reading stride, and I’m going to keep myself motivated with the promise of a new series for the blog: themed book lists. First up will publish later this week with my favorite reads in 2020. (You can also find my Goodreads yearly recap for more book inspiration, and be sure to send me a friend request!)
Since I don’t want to spoil too much from that list, I’ll just leave my absolute favorite book of the year, which came as my October Book of the Month, a monthly subscription box that I cannot recommend enough.
Favorite Book of the Year: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
In 2021, I’d like to read 50 books.
I can already tell that this is going to be a stretch goal. The most books I’ve read in one year since college was 43 books in 2017. But, I feel like I’m up to the challenge, and I’m looking forward to discovering all sorts of new titles this year.
Leave a comment with your favorite read from 2020, and I’ll add it to my tbr for the year!
Year in Review: Writing
Words Written: 50,314+
Once again, I was truly terrible at tracking my writing throughout the year. I know that I wrote just over 50,000 in November for National Novel Writing Month, and the rest is a mystery!
I was very proud of the quarterly timeline I put together for my writing goals in 2020… and then the pandemic happened. I felt completely blocked creatively with everything going on in the world, which is probably why I turned back to this blog and posted more frequently than I have in years! Writing bite-sized blog posts was easier than working on a novel.
For 2021, though, I’d like to work on getting to the next step on a few different projects I’ve been juggling.
Q1: Rewrite the main storyline for Imbolc
I think I finally have a good sense of my two characters for the main storyline of this book that I’ve been working with on and off for years. I’d like to finish telling their story in the first three months of the year, so I can give it some space to breathe before jumping into the second draft.
Q2: Edit the first draft of Diachrons
This book was my NaNoWriMo project for 2020, and I really enjoyed picking it up again after pretty much abandoning it in 2017. It’s YA, which is very different from my other project, and I’d like to edit down the massive first draft that I have right now.
Q3: Write the next draft of Imbolc
Once I have the main storyline down, there are multiple secondary ones to work with in the next draft, and then I’ll see about passing it along to some trusted writer friends.
Q4: Write something completely new for NaNoWriMo
It’s been awhile since I gave myself the freedom to jump into National Novel Writing Month with a completely new story that I haven’t touched. So I’ll use my Preptober workbook to prepare myself for the month and then see about writing 50,000 words in something totally new and different.
You can visit my Writing page to read a little more about my current projects and check out my inspiration boards on Pinterest.
So, what can you expect from An Aspiring Heroine in 2021?
There’s so much that I plan to share with you this year on the blog and through my Instagram. Mostly I’d like to be a consistent space of inspiration for you and others on their heroine’s journey.
Whether that means dropping in for a book recommendation, some new self care practice, or a writing hack, I want An Aspiring Heroine to reflect my personal tenets of empathy, conscious living, and storytelling. A weird little mix, I know, but it works for me, and I’m hopeful it will provide you what you need to get through 2021, too.
What are you hoping to achieve in 2021? Are you also reusing some of last year’s resolutions in the hopes that 2021 will be a bit easier on us all?
P.S. Check out all the best books I read in 2020 for a little inspiration for your tbr list!
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