Last year was a mixed year for pretty much all of I would say. I'm no different. It was both the best and worst year of my life, from an amazing high to a low I didn't know existed. If you're a reader of my blog at petergermany.com you'll know I'm not going to go into details on those moments. I talk about them because they did have an impact of writing. As you will see from the words I wrote and edited last year.
So, let's get down to business:
January - 9011 words written
February - 11171 words written
March - 5691 words written
April - 562 words written
May - 1454 words written
June - 517 words written
July - 4524 words written, 39962 words edited
August - 14641 words written, 55323 words edited
September - 20471 words written, 7495 words edited
October - 15773 words written
November - 50615 words written (NaNoWriMo)
December - 13698 words written, 4477 words edited
Totals - 148128 words written, 107257 words edited
I only started tracking the words I edit in July which is why there are no numbers for them before that.
I was also published in three anthologies:
Corona-Nation Street from Burdizzo Books
Beneath The Leaves from Burdizzo Books
It Came From The Darkness from Red Cape Publishing and Phillip Rogers
I am so proud of these stories. My story in Corona-Nation Street, The Wank Diaries, had been written with this anthology in mind but I didn't like the ending and with everything in life I'd forgotten about it until I'd seen a reminder pop up about it. So I rewrote the ending, which totally changed the tone of the story and I bled into it a lot. In hindsight maybe a little too much, now that I think back to it. But what it adds to the story I think gives it an impact that wasn't there before.
The other two anthologies are ones I was invited into, with my story in Beneath The Leaves written long before life took a hard turn. My drabble in It Came From The Darkness was easy to write, almost impossible to get it down to the required 100 words!
Looking back now I've got the numbers right there, yeah, I'm incredibly happy with how much I achieved as a writer in 2020. There was a moment late in 2019 that I quit, then during the darkest moments of 2020 I didn't make a decision but writing wasn't going to be something I ever did again. When I started pulling myself clear of the dark hole I'd slipped into the words started coming again. I remember when I started blogging again last year, I talked about how I was struggling to get the words out again. The Wank Diaries got me going again. There was a deadline and I got it done in time.
That story got me back to doing what I needed to be doing, writing. Many things have helped me to get to the good place I'm in now, but that was a very distinct moment. Writing to me isn't just a career. It's part of my soul. Written into my DNA at the most primal level, and I'm never going to stop.
(this post will be an exclusive Buy Me A Coffee post until the 1st of March 2021)