It's January 2022--last post was December 2020. That says everything there was to say about 2021: not much.
In 2021 I sold a couple of inspirational essays to www.chabad.org. One came out this week tied to the commandment to honor our parents. I'll continue to write inspirational essays from time to time.
I worked as a writer for months for a local alternative medical practitioner who tried to turn me into a copywriter. I discovered I dislike that kind of writing.
After that I spent several months thinking about and researching going back into the freelance/contract nonfiction work that I did for a long time when I was younger. Today that falls mostly into the category of "content writing." Discovered I've been out of the business world too long. Everything has changed, most importantly for a writer the style of writing and even the language used. My writing is stodgy by today's standards, and if I am going to put hours into ramping up my writing skills, those hours are not going into B2B or B2C.
I did work on improving my writing, though. Many of my skills are sharper than they were a year ago. Perhaps most importantly, as a member of Katie Davis's mentoring group, The Writers' Block, I learned that many of my themes are middle-grade, but what I really love, as far as the craft of writing itself, is the playing with words that is necessary in picture book writing. This means writing for a younger age group.
This year I am completing Storystorm and finding it inspirational. I also joined 12x12 Picture Book Challenge and will do my very best to at least draft 12 picture book manuscripts in the coming year. (I've already rough-drafted two since January 1.)
You might think from the name of this blog that I am only writing Jewish-themed stories. Some of my stories are overtly Jewish, some are not. Turns out I write what the muse sends me, though everything is based on Jewish values. We'll see if and what I can publish.
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