Please, please do not do this as you wrap up 2024
+ how to stop feeling like a failed writer or reader
It happened. It’s happening.
I came across a “most anticipated books of 2025” roundup and felt a twinge of sadness that my forthcoming thriller, The Last Ferry Out, wasn’t on it.
This isn’t logical. No one’s read the damn thing. ARCs won’t even be available until mid-January. And yet—that gut-plummet. The little gremlin. No one will read your book. No one cares.
As we wrap up 2024 and look ahead to next year, we all need to let go of that black-and-white thinking. On a 2025 listicle—or doomed. On a “best books of the year” roundup—or forgotten. Neither life nor the industry are that neat and tidy.
And publishing’s not a zero-sum game; another author’s success is not your failure. It’s not a competition (though it certainly can feel like a pageant at times). There are 8 kajillion paths to “success,” and mega bestsellers can turbocharge a genre or even the industry. It’s a good thing when another author takes off, actually. (…if they’re nonproblematic! Be nonproblematic, please!)
And we can all keep this in mind as we look back over our own writing and reading lives. Since 2018, I’ve kept a running list of books I’ve read in a Google doc. I include those I DNF, and I don’t give ratings or anything—it’s truly just a list.
It’s bulleted, not numbered, because I try not to obsess over how many books I’ve read. Numbers bring us back into that black-and-white space, you know? Well-read vs. lazy. Voracious vs. a “bad” member of the writing community. I’m a slow reader. Hats off to those who plow through 100, 200 books a year, but that’ll never be me.
I don’t obsess over the ones I didn’t love or couldn’t finish. They weren’t for me. That’s okay. Not every book is my cup of tea and I’d rather not waste energy ripping it to shreds, in public or private. I might spend a moment or two reflecting on what didn’t work and whether there’s a lesson there for my own writing, but otherwise, I release those titles with a little air kiss—off you go, to find your readers.
As we think back over the stories we sank into during the last twelve months: Can we obsess over the ones we devoured? The ones that had us up late turning pages? Ditching plans to sneak in one more chapter?
What worked about those? What did you love about them?
Today, weeks or months or entire seasons after you read that title, what stands out to you? A character, a scene? Turns of phrase that are forever emblazoned on your mind? What can you learn and emulate in your own writing? Can you free-write about those things and feel them bolstering your craft as you explore and play?
A writer’s education is never, ever done, and embracing the gray areas, with all their complexity, is the only way to keep learning. No more all-or-nothing calculations. Let’s instead hang out in that squishy space and find the joy in our messy melange of pride, envy, progress, and self-doubt.
You aren’t a Success nor a Failure. But you are a writer. And that just might be the only certainty in this unpredictable industry.
Happy holidays, my dear friends, and may your season be filled with love and light! (And don’t forget that you can gift a subscription to Get It Write!) I’m taking next week off, and then I’ll see you in that inter-holiday limbo.