I started writing novels when I was 14, and let me tell you, I did not want to be published. I was terrified of the idea of other people reading my books – a fear that only grew stronger as time went on, anxiety began to make a cozy home for itself inside my soul, and a very different career in the world of engineering unfolded before me. I never in a million years thought I would ever make any steps toward building an author platform, sharing my love of writing with the world, and eventually publishing a book.

But I have made steps this year – and big ones.

This year, I decided I wanted to be an indie author. I made friends with a wonderful group of writers, and I’ve been sharing snippets of my work with them – an absolutely magical confidence-building experience. I started posting about writing on social media. I set goals and deadlines, and even met a few of them. And most importantly, in March of 2022, I started this blog.

I’ve had so much fun here over the past nine months or so, shouting my writerly opinions and advice into the void. I’m grateful every day for the space I’ve carved out for myself here – a space to talk about one of my biggest passions in life, and share it proudly with people who love it as much as I do. As we come to the beginning of a new year and give 2022 one last wave out the rear view window, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of my favorite posts this year. Some of these went up before I had much of a social media following, and are thus currently collecting dust in the algorithm’s junk drawer. But I’m proud of them and think they deserve another brief moment in the sun, be they new or old.

So here we go – my top five blog posts from 2022!

• Stupid Advice Saturday! I’m already cheating, because this isn’t really one post, but rather, four of them. Stupid Advice Saturday was a regular feature on my blog during Nanowrimo this year, where I debunked four of the worst pieces of writing advice I have ever received. It was a ton of fun to write, I feel much more at peace with the world now that I have aired my grievances with these nuggets of non-wisdom.
• An engineer’s guide to writing realistic sci-fi. It’s not often my day job and my writing career intersect, but it’s super cool when they do, and this post was one of those times! (Also, spoiler alert, I’m planning a part two on this topic which will arrive hot and fresh on your local writing blog very soon!)
• The alpha reader post! On which my beloved and wonderful alpha reader, a nurse who works night shifts, commented about how great it is to have an alpha reader who is a nurse who works night shifts. She was and is entirely right. But for real, alpha readers are a critical and criminally under-appreciated part of the writing process, and I’m glad I was able to bring them some more love.
• My post on diegesis. What started out as an innocent google search of a term I kept hearing thrown around but never really fully understood spiraled into a multi-week research project, culminating in this post. Diegesis has become one of my favorite literary topics, and this is definitely one of my favorite posts.
• My 5,000-word dissertation on Legally Blonde: the Musical. I got to rewatch both one of my favorite movies and one of my favorite musicals several times each, and then talk about how great they both are for 5,000 words. Is that way too long for a blog post? Yes, yes it is! But it was fun, and I think when it comes to passion projects like this blog, that’s really the whole entire point.

If you’re reading this, thank you for following along on the first few steps of what I hope will be a very long, exciting, and wonderful journey. I’ve got some great stuff planned for the coming year, so stay tuned.

But for now, happy writing — and happy new year!