2024: Behind-the-Scenes of My Writing Life

The highs and lows of 2024.

Dear Reader,

We’re a few days into the new year and I’m not yet ready for all the newness. I like to take my time when it comes to reflecting on the past year and I don’t start recapping anything until the year has truly come to an end.

I know many of my readers are fellow writers and/or moms, so I thought I’d pull back the curtain and share a behind-the-scenes look at my 2024 writing journey as a self-employed mom in the thick of toddlerhood.

I started the year off with my first poetry acceptance! And then had a few more.

My first acceptance was in February this year at Ink and Marrow Lit, who published my very personal and raw poem, Equinox. I had submitted a handful of poems in 2023 to various lit mags, with crickets in return. Receiving my first acceptance so early in the year gave me the much-needed validation to keep going.

In the summer and fall, I had two poems (here, here) published in

Coffee + Crumbs

, a long-time-dream come true! My husband and I even went out to dinner to celebrate. I closed out the year with a poem in

MER - Mom Egg Review

in December and an acceptance by Wildscape.lit (coming out mid-January) 🎉

I struggle/d a lot with Mom Guilt and the role of writing in my life.

I don’t feel like a real person unless I have time to write. Often, the thought of writing is what gets me excited to roll out of bed in the morning. But I question whether I’m allowed to do this. Does it benefit my family enough, even if I’m not briging in money? Is it okay to spend hours on this craft when I could be putting those hours toward something that directly impacts them? At the end of the day, does any of this even matter?

The answer, of course, is yes. It matters because it matters to me. Every person on the planet deserves to create, play, enjoy and experience life. My husband encourages me whole-heartedly, and I’m a better person and a better mother when I write. Still, I struggle from time to time with the idea of needing to be a martyr in motherhood. But that could be its own post.

I joined the Ventura County Mom Collective as a contributing writer.

Though I had a smattering of Substack subscribers at the time, writing for this website was the first time I knew my work was being read widely by a LARGE audience. The position is unpaid, but I’ve received perks in the form of tickets to pretty awesome local events. I was able to take Alex on a date to the Imaginarium, bring our family to the circus, and spend New Year’s Eve at a really fun party. Being able to give something to my family through my writing felt really affirming.

I had an article printed in the newspaper.

This started as a low that turned into a high.

As a writer at the VCMC, we’re given full autonomy to choose the topic of our monthly articles. One month, I chose to interview a local business that hosts story times featuring local children’s authors. This was my first interview and I loved the process. I worked on the article for a month, speaking back and forth with the business owners and gathering photos from events. Once I submitted it, the VCMC editor told me she couldn’t run the article (conflict of interest kind of thing). She offered to take a few bits and pieces from my article and add it to something else, but I was really proud of the entire piece and knew I didn’t want to let go of it in its entirety.

I had the ballsy idea to cold-email the local newspaper, and lo and behold—the editor wanted it! The following week, my article was published in a newspaper read by 72,000 readers in 4 different cities.

I became a reader at The Turning Leaf Journal.

I recently joined the The Turning Leaf Journal as a poetry reader, where I’ll read submissions and help the editors select which poems to publish. The journal currently has two issues, which you can read here. The EIC, Megan, has been a dream to work with and I’m looking forward to getting to know the rest of the team, too.

I started an Instagram and did not experience “rapid growth” of audience.

For roughly 25 years, I wrote poetry, essays, and journal entries for myself. With the exception of a few writing contests in elementary school (#nerd) and some blogs in college, I did not share my writing with anyone. For those decades, writing was cathartic and necessary and personal. In 2023, I decided life was too short and I wanted to share my work, even if it meant putting myself out there. Strangely, I went from not wanting anyone to read my work, to wanting a lot of people to read my work. I started a new Instagram account for my writing and was discouraged when growth felt very slow or when I spent hours working on something that was read by very few people. Writing is funny like that and I’m still figuring out how I feel.

On the flip side of that…

Three different people told me one of my poems made them cry.

One was a friend, one was an editor of a lit mag, and one was an Instagram follower. There is no better feeling than knowing my words touched someone to that degree.

I decided to write a book.

After numerous friends and family members encouraged my writing and said things like, “You should put these into a book,” I decided I should put my poems into a book. I am an all-or-nothing kind of person with hyper-fixation tendencies, so my hypothetical book became my sole focus for the last few months. There were days I thought of and worked on nothing else. There were nights I couldn’t fall asleep because I was too excited. There were weeks I researched and bounced back and forth between the age-old question of querying vs. self-publishing and found myself at the bottom of many rabbit holes.

I ended the year a little burnt out on the whole thing. I pulled an oracle card in November that made me realize I was approaching the entire thing with masculine energy. For now, I’m trying to let my lens be more feminine, with a gentle and nurturing approach rather than a fix-it and go-go-go mentality.

To anyone who read any of my writing this year, thank you! I feel brave and real and more myself than ever.

In the comments, I’d love to know:

• Did any of this surprise you? Could you relate?

• What’s a high and/or low from your 2024? Writing-related or not!