2024 in Review

Hey! I’m back already!

I know you weren’t expecting me until January, but I thought I’d do a quick recap of 2024!

Writing 2024

It’s kinda funny how much your mindset can change within a year. At the beginning of 2024, I thought I’d be able to finish The Phoenix Pendant completely by now as well as written the 1st draft of another book. Spoiler: neither of those things happened. But with where I am now, I know that was a overambitious expectation. This past year I’ve learned so much more about writing, publishing, and how I work.

What I accomplished:

• I reached one year of posting on The Introverted Writer and reached 150 subscribers!!!

• I finished the first and second drafts of The Phoenix Pendant.

• I completed and printed out Thawed - A Snow Queen Retelling.

• I finished a novella and started two more (I’m at about 15,000 words in each).

• I won NaNoWriMo, writing both the most words in a month and in one day that I ever have.

• I wrote 278,265 words in total (not counting December which I guess will be about 10,000-15,000 words).

What I’ve learned:

• Goal setting: setting goals too far in advance doesn’t work for me. So much can change in a couple months so only planning a little ways in advance works best. Also, like I mentioned in the December 2024 Newsletter, daily word count goals work better for me than monthly word count goals.

• Outlining: My first draft outlines need to be pretty loose and allow room for the story to progress naturally while still having clear character goals and plot points. But, when it comes to the second draft, a very detailed, chapter-by-chapter is great!

• Writing craft: I’ve learned so much about writing in general that I can’t fit it in one newsletter (plus I can’t summarize as well as the people I’ve learned it from). If you want to learn more about the craft of writing as well, you can check out the list of writing resources I’ve compiled and you can learn from the same amazing people I did!

Reading 2024

Number of books read per genre (YA unless otherwise specified): 84

• Fantasy: 28

• Romance: 28

• Middle Grade: 6

• Classics: 3

• Historical Fantasy: 4

• Other: 15

Favorite reads of the year:

• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (YA fantasy)

• The Last Legacy by Adrienne Young (YA fantasy)

• 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons (YA romance)

• Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis (YA contemporary/heist)

• This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson (YA fantasy)

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (YA fantasy)

• The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther (YA romance)

• What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez (YA historical fantasy)

• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA contemporary/mystery)

• The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni (YA Fantasy)

You couldn’t really expect me to narrow it down to less than ten, could you?

Books I read this year that will make it onto my all-time favorite list:

• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

• What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (The first book definitely does, but I’m not sure about the second…)

If you want a comprehensive list with star ratings, email me and I’d love to send it to you and talk about what you read this year! By the time the year is actually over, I’ll probably have several more reviews to give you!

Life 2024

Though the reading and writing areas of my life have been pretty eventful this year, my personal life has been even more packed/chaotic/insert shell-shocked emojis. 2024 has probably been the biggest year of my life and a lot of things that happened this year I know will change the rest of my life.

I’m not going to share all of it on here, but I’ll go over some of the highlights.

• I moved off of the farm in rural MN that I’d lived on since I was three and to the Twin Cities.

• I left the continent for the first time.

• I learned how to drive/got my license.

• I started my junior year of high school! 🤯 

What I’ve learned:

• God is so much bigger than I thought and so, so good.

• I can actually drive on the freeway without dying.

• Dancing isn’t one of my core talents.

• I can do hard things even when they’re uncomfortable.

Thank you!

Thank you all so much for being a part of my writing journey! You have no idea how much it means that you took the time to subscribe and open this newsletter! ❤️ 

What’s your favorite book you read in 2024? What have you learned this year? Let me know by replying directly to this email or leaving me a comment of the website that corresponds to The Introverted Writer!

Thank you so much for reading! Have a great rest of your day!

Abby Henderson

P.S. Next month, I’ll share some of my goals for the new year! (Oh, and the giveaway winners will be announced!)