Young Writers Society

Resurfacing once again because I just cannot miss this.

• High school is going great so far (knock on wood)! My teachers and classmates are amazing and I couldn't be happier with where I decided to go. I took the PSAT, did pretty well, and am going to take the PACT in a couple weeks! I'm also leading mock trial and am part of my school's literary magazine this year, among other things.
• I started working at a cemetery near my house. I love it so much and I couldn't see myself do anything else. It is so important to me to care for people in cemeteries and their memories, and I'm super grateful that I can start doing it while I'm in high school.
• I also finally started collecting old yearbooks, which is a little thing, but it's extremely interesting to me.
• According to Goodreads, I read twelve out of fifteen books I set out to read. Maybe this year I'll read all fifteen!
• I got my driver's license on my birthday! I'm so glad to finally be able to drive on my own and have a little bit of independance, even if it's not much.

• I became moldy on January 28th with @FireEyes, @ForeverYoung299 @LizzyTyler, and @RandomTalks. I've enjoyed being a mod and helping with events so much so far, and I hope to continue doing so in the future. Thank you @lliyah and @Shady for being the best Resources Crew leaders ever!
• I did Last Ship Sailing again this year! It was so much fun and we were even able to finish our storybook (LSS: The Last Word) during the tsunami week, which was awesome! Thank you so much to @Plume, @Elinor, and @MailicedeNamedy for being the best crew in the whole world.
• I did NaPo! (vfx: car on fire) I didn't do that much, as always, but I had fun reading everybody's poems and going to all the write-ins!
• So.... I wrote six months of 22in22 and kind of just.. stopped. But that's enough for me!
• I also am doing Last Man Standing (LMS VI: The Halls of St. Julian's) and have written a thousand words for sixteen consecutive weeks (hopefully seventeen, if I hurry up and write this week's submission). It's been so much fun and has really kept me on track writing-wise. Thank you @Omni for running it this year! (I know I haven't been much help lol)
  
  
  Goals
  
  
  
  • To write at least one review every two weeks! I think I only wrote ten reviews this year (yikes) and I'd like to at least get my next review star, if not complete the gold set!
  • To finish LMS and start editing/posting my chapters from there!
  • And to read fifteen books, as I mentioned before!

Welp, that's all from me. Have a lovely 2023, everyone! I hope we all make the most out of it.



EDIT 1/2/2023:

Somehow I forgot that I made the new YWS favicon towards the end of this year! It's purty.

Now it's a wrap!

Feel as though I ought to do this, heading into the new year.

I feel as though I've spoken about everything I've done in 2022 ad nauseam, but it's still nice to be able to reflect.

My relationship with YWS this past year has admittedly been different as I've gone into full retirement mode and have mostly just hung out on the people tab. As of right now, I have no plans to ever be active in the way that I once was, but this community still holds a very special place in my heart, and it always will. In June, I will have been a part of it for fourteen years, which means YWS has been one of the longest constants in my entire life. Other than my immediate family, nothing else has been around as long.

I finished middle school, started and graduated both high school and college, moved to LA, moved back to Milwaukee, made two short films, did a podcast, and so, so much more.

So... thank you.

A few highlights--

-- On the same day (February 10th) I passed my road test, the final step in me becoming a driving instructor, and I found out I was cast in The Glass Menagerie. That play, and the experience of doing it, will always stay with me for so many reasons. I remember telling my boss and she said "Wow, this is a good day for you." And of course even though there have been challenges, being an instructor is something I do find value in.

-- I loved doing The Last Word with @looseleaf, @Plume and @MailicedeNamedy. It was another challenge that helped me with writing consistently, and the world we created was so much fun. Since it ended, I always get a little misty-eyed any time I come across something relating to the 1920s, Chicago, prohibition, or some combination of the above.

-- In April, I did both NaPo and Camp NaNo. The poetry was fun, and while I don't consider myself a poet, I always welcome opportunities to get out of my comfort zone as a writer and forcing myself to sit down and write something every day for 30 days is also very helpful for discipline. As for Camp NaNo - All Our Yesterdays has been in a drawer since I finished it, but that should be changing in the near future.

-- I made Time in a Bottle, after writing the script last November and deciding in January that I was going to do it. It's kind of crazy how things coalesced when I think about it, and it really is a magical thing to write something dow and then see it come to life. Writing and directing film is my ultimate calling, and I don't think I realized how much I missed it. I'm even more excited for Under the Apple Tree in 2023.

-- In May, I went back to LA for the first time since 2019, and again in October. As you all I know, the real life time with Boy I hold very close, but beyond that, it was immensely helpful to have a perspective shift and realize that I need to go back there.

-- I finished adapting The Castle from novel to miniseries, and we read the remaining four episodes after reading the pilot last year, and in its own way, it's out in the world now. Same thing with Starlight, the feature script that I've been working on since 2017 and actually predates Eagle Rock.

-- I moved out of my Mom's house in August! Things are so much better now, and I can manage her much better in short bursts, but her house feels so small and constrictive now and I wonder how I lasted there as long as I did. Either way, that chapter is done, and it's behind me now.

-- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner of course, was another fantastic experience at the same theater where I did The Glass Menagerie.

I'm sure there's lots I'm forgetting just because so much happened this year. I don't really have specific shoutouts, but I'm so grateful to everyone on this site for making it what it is.

As far as writing in 2023 is concerned -- making Under the Apple Tree is going to be goal one, revising All Our Yesterdays goal two. I have a few other ideas floating around that I'll address as is appropriate, but I'm going to keep adding to my portfolio.

Onward and upward.