Hello, happy 2025! I hope the first day of the new year has been kind so far. I went to check my Facebook memories earlier today, and I realize that I’ve always been a New Year person, and I’ve always made a big deal out of it with goals and reflections and recaps and lists and whatnot. But we mellow out as we age, so I only had a short essay on my Instagram and a writing update here.

So here, let’s talk about my 2024 in writing.

Writing for a living

I think 2024 is the year I wrote the most words. Sadly, it’s not the book part (I’ll get to that later), but more work part, because I made a career shift this year. I say shift because it wasn’t a change; I didn’t quit my job or move to a new company. It was a shift because, technically, I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing in my role for years, but it was never formalized until last year. I literally got my new job title and job description before the end of 2024.

It helped that my bosses were very encouraging and allowed me to play with my strength, which is writing. I got to strategize for the first time, make plans, manage a budget, and see my projects to execution. Of course, this meant that it took a lot of my brain power, so actually, most of what I’ve been writing were emails (huhu), but it was fun to be able to do this now.

And also nerve-wracking, but I feel like a massive part of my work anxieties are all because of impostor syndrome, but that’s another story.

Okay, so I did write something — I wrote my first whitepaper! It’s so corporate, but I’m proud that I powered through over a topic that is quite boring. But it wasn’t smooth sailing, as with all of my writing. I remember being in despair for weeks because I couldn’t figure out my angle until I talked to my manager about the outline, and she said it made sense. Then, I was so nervous to share the first draft, because I felt like I got it wrong, but our VP’s reply was: Excellent first draft.

See, sometimes, it is impostor syndrome.

But yes, most of 2024 writing focused on my day job, and there’s more to come. I’m nervous but also kind of excited. And I can say that I write for a living now, I guess?

Book update…sort of

I wish I could say that I finished a draft of something last year, but…I didn’t. Meah’s book is now a monster draft, though, so that’s something.

I must confess something: I didn’t touch Meah’s draft until halfway through 2024. Again, I blame my day job and how it took over most of my brain power. But also, I admit that I ended 2023 not really sure if I was heading in the right direction. You know that part of writing where you’re unsure if things make sense or if it’s even kilig? Yeah, that.

When I finally felt like working on it again, I read it from the start and found I still like it. But because I’m me, working on it meant starting from the top. Thankfully, it wasn’t a complete rewrite. I moved from Notion to Google Docs, rewriting some parts of each chapter and shuffling them around to eliminate the lulls. It was good, and I liked it again!

Then I got stuck. 🙁

Chapters 11-12 were surprisingly tricky. I knew what would happen, and I liked the direction, but it wasn’t quite right. I know the goal is to get the draft done and go back to edit again, but my brain refused to move on, so I kept returning to them. I finally fixed them last week, and by then, it was obvious that I wouldn’t get to The End before the end of 2024 because this book has 19 chapters and an epilogue.

But here’s what I realized: liking what you are writing matters. Again, we can edit later, but this doesn’t mean we should write something we don’t like. It’s not like in my day job where I have no choice but to write about what my company does — and even then, I could still find angles that I’m still mildly interested in. But when it comes to fun stuff like this, what I think matters. What you, as a creator, think and feel about your piece is a big deal. And I think we’re all allowed permission to rewrite/rework it until it’s something you like — not perfect, but just something you like.

And I’m at that stage now, so I’m pretty optimistic. Plus, I started feeling the same thing when I was working on Faith’s book, when the little details that I thought were random at the start suddenly made sense in the second half. I think this is a good sign, so I’m taking it.

What’s next

I’ve been afraid of setting deadlines or making grand proclamations or estimates ever since I said something before and it didn’t happen, haha. But I feel good about 2025 and where this story is so far, and maaaaaybe I can kind of sort of say that this book will be out this year? No promises, but I will do my best and finally finish this first draft so I can move on to the next (because yes…I started other things, too, but that’s for another day). Wish me luck. 😉

Happy New Year, friends, and may 2025 be a kind year for all of us. <3