My 2022 life remained pretty quiet and close-to-home since I’m still wary of COVID. I quit my job halfway through the year, and since then have been writing a lot and working on starting a freelance consulting business.

Highlights of 2022

• Quit my job!
• Started a consulting business and made my first $1k freelancing!
• Wrote half of the sequel to my WIP novel
• Read a lot of books
• Did a bunch of fun things with my other website, tracydurnell.com

My Creative Practice in 2022

I spent the first nine months of the year working (more off than on) on my novel; during October, I planned its sequel, and during November, I wrote the first half. I spent December rethinking some plot elements, then developing a writing plan for finishing the sequel.

Productivity / Accountability Techniques and Tools I Used

• Cave Day focus sessions
• A Time Timer
• Time tracking with Rescue Time
• Tracking work sessions on my website

Tools I Used

• Scrivener for fiction writing
• Brainstorming and planning in a notebook
• My own chapter checklist (updated for 2022)
• Aeon Timeline for creating and cross-checking a timeline between two books
• Notecards that I could reorganize for evaluating story structure — I know Scrivener has this function but it doesn’t work for my brain

Ongoing Learning: Books I Read

I read a lot of writing and storytelling books:

• Structuring Your Novel Workbook by K.M. Weiland — story structure
  
• The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne — story structure
  
• 2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron (re-read) — writing approach
  
• The Last Draft by Sandra Scofield — revision
  
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maas — craft
  
• Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell — revision
  
• Story Fix by Larry Brooks — story structure
  
• I Give You My Body by Diana Gabaldon — sex scenes
  
• Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl + Cynthia Ward
  
• Finish by John Acuff — finishing projects

Intake

I read 212 books in 2022. See my 2022 reading review and my 20 favorite reads from 2022.

I created a webpage that lists all the birthday playlists I’ve made myself since 2002. See my 2022 listening report.

I did a lot of baking and brunch in 2022 😋 This lemon blueberry bread was a new winner.

Friends and Family

I am still being cautious about COVID, and am not seeing people indoors. I did fit in some outdoor fun with friends and family. I saw my parents for the first time in a year. Not seeing people indoors made walking a great way to hang out — and get exercise at the same time 💪 On top of some fun local activities, DH and I visited Kubota Garden, Green Lake, Golden Gardens, and Carkeek Park in Seattle.

Household

We finally had our Yardzen landscape design installed in September!

Meta

I continued doing quarterly reviews this year, although I adapted the format from past years. I’ve simplified this year’s annual report.

I wrote weeknotes during my “sabbatical” for 13 weeks after quitting my job. I stopped for a couple months, and am trying to pick them up again on my other website.