In May 2022, I shared a small goal on this blog: to write five personal essays by the end of June. Before that, I had a tendency to write intermittently and hop around with my subject matter and form.
In focusing on a single type of writing, I hoped to do a few things:
Begin the process of finding a writing niche
Get back into the routine of posting consistently
Establish some amount of accountability
While I fell short of my goal to publish all five stories by the end of June (the last one dragged into September as other preoccupations demanded my time) I did get them done:
For my second "season of writing," I'm going to post three new stories between now and the end of the year. Originally, I was going to set a goal with a longer time horizon — a dozen stories by September 30, 2023. But I think, for me, shorter goals and more frequent check-ins are better.
Here's how many stories I've posted to this blog, year-by-year, over the last nine years:
2022: 5* stories posted
2021: 1
2020: 6
2019: 3
2018: 1
2017: 4
2016: 6
2015: 3
2014: 2
*Year is incomplete, and I'm not counting the two meta "Season of Writing" posts
With a few writing seasons spread out over the next year, I think my output will be greater than what it would've been with one larger, year-long goal.
The focus for my second writing season: humor. The first story will be out next week. Thanks for reading!
Stories Posted
11/29/22 — “Trade Schools Are a Fantastic Option for Many High School Graduates (But Not My Son)”
12/14/22 — “Let's Drop the Whole JFK Assassination Thing, OK? By a 1960s CIA Operative”
12/20/22 — “I Bet I'm Not Looking So Bad Right About Now, Am I? By Mark Zuckerberg”
1/11/22 — “A Memo From MTV's VP of Programming Regarding 1,004 Episodes of "Ridiculousness” (published on McSweeney’s)