7 Writing Lessons from 2021

(originally published January 18 2022)

If you’re new here, don’t worry, most people are. I am a writer and aspiring self-published author who wants to help other writers. Come join me, it’s going to be a journey! This post is going to be just that; my journey. I’m going to be talking about my writing lessons from 2021. If you want to learn along with me and get excited for the new year, read on!

Writing Lesson #1: 3-2-1 Backup Rule

One of my most important lessons this year was the importance of the 3-2-1 backup rule. According to the 3-2-1 rule, you need to have three copies of your work saved to at least two different types of med

ias, one of these medias being offsite (not on the device on which you do your work). I had about a million copies of my Scrivener file on my old computer, but I wasn’t keeping on top of emailing myself my updated drafts. Nor did I keep a copy on an offsite location. After an unfortunate series of events involving a cat and a cup of coffee, I almost lost my entire first draft two days after winning Nanowrimo.

It was a terrible and emotional time that I never want to experience again, and hope you can avoid, too. I’ll be talking all about what happened and how I saved 70,000 words in an upcoming blog post. Now, I have copies on copies of my Scrivener file, I email myself updated drafts after every writing session, and I have the entire file saved on a memory key. You’re not stealing my words today Satan, not today.

Writing Lesson #2: The Power of habits (and habit-keeping)

The second of my writing lessons from 2021 involves the power of habits (and habit-keeping).

Much like a lot of people, potentially including you, reader, I have been buying journals since middle school. But I never stuck with them for more than a few months, even after investing in the best/prettiest/priciest planners I could find. 2021 was the first year I stuck with my planner nearly the whole year. I didn’t use it every single day and it did go missing for a couple of months, but I tried to use it as much as possible. I wanted to maintain consistency to my schedule and remind myself of the goals I wanted to accomplish. And I did!

I achieved my three biggest goals last year, which were getting my full driver’s licence (Olivia Rodrigo’s tune came out just in time for me to celebrate), getting my first credit card (I actually got two!) and winning Nanowrimo. A lot of these goals involved facing fears and maintaining habits all year long, and I really think my planner helped me do that. I wasn’t perfect, though, and I hope habit planning is a skill I can develop in 2022. Last year, I used the “Bloom” planner and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to testing out lots of different planners this year to see which works best for me. If you would like to see a future blog post on my favourite planners and how I use them, comment below.

Writing Lesson #3: "Worrying means you suffer twice"

This is a quote I found last year. I put it on my vision board, which lives on my desktop. It truly has been the most transformative quote of my entire life. I deal with a lot of anxiety and no advice or coping mechanism has done as much for me as this quote has. It reminds me that my worst fears are unlikely, and even if they do come true, that’s all the more reason to enjoy the time until then as much as I can!

Writing Lesson #4: Invest in yourself and your dreams — if you don’t, who will?

Writing Lesson #5: Write through it

The next of my writing lessons from 2021 is related to drafting. I am 75,000 words into my first draft of the first novel in a fantasy series and I have barely worldbuilt at all. I was so overwhelmed with all the worldbuilding I would have to do and I didn’t know where to start. The worldbuiling process was stalling me from beginning to write my story. My solution was to write the bare-bones of what I needed and then just throw myself into the writing. If it hadn’t been for Camp Nano in July, I don’t know if I ever would have even gotten to that point!

And guess what – a lot of the worldbuilding I haven’t even really looked at since. I used to think I was a Plotter, but I’m starting to see the Pantser side within me. My plan is to attack worldbuilding as I edit my work so I can see what pieces fit best with my overarching story and its themes. This approach gives me the freedom to play with all kinds of different world building ideas and discover what the best fit is, whilst actually getting my word count up and not getting stuck in the planning phase! If you are interested in reading about my outlining process, you can find the blog post here.

Writing Lesson #6: Call yourself a writer

Of all my writing lessons from 2021, this might be my favourite. Calling myself a writer is something I just started doing this year. I don’t have a book published or a very big platform. At the time of writing this, I haven’t even shared this site with my personal social media accounts, which I know is bad. I should be promoting it to my circles of family and friends. I feel like it’s not “good enough” for their eyes yet, which logically I know is ridiculous but I can’t get past it. All that to say, I know how scary it can be to call yourself a writer!

But it is also so rewarding. It makes it real. Sharing this extremely important piece of myself with my friends and family allows them to support me in my endeavours – they can’t do that if they don’t know what I’m up to! It’s also an accountability tactic: at Christmas I told Aunt Hanne I wanted to have a book published by the end of this year, and of all people I can’t let her down! So, writer, if you’re not doing it yet, I dare you: call yourself what you are!

Writing Lesson #7: Care for your health like you care about your writing

This year, for the first time ever, I was consistent with two important health factors: exercising regularly and getting adequate sleep. Since the beginning of last year, I have been running semi-regularly. I can definitely feel a difference in my body since last year and my time is slowly improving. Exercising is a great way for me to carve out time just for me throughout the day, manage stress and emotions, and make me feel better overall. Secondly, again only starting near the tailend of the year (I used to work overnights), I have actually been getting a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep every night. If you know me, you know what a miracle this is. I have a bad habit of overworking myself and maintained bad sleep habits throughout high school and university. Until now.

I am feeling a definite difference in how I feel throughout the day. I also have a theory that running on a severe lack of sleep is just unsustainable for writers, or people who engage in any creative work. You can’t produce your best work like that, you just can’t, no matter how many hours you stare at it. You’ll just be trapped in a circle of wanting to create and then being frustrated it’s not coming out the way you want it to. Exercising and sleeping more have been going hand in hand, and I am better at each one because of the other.

Thank you for reading about my writing lessons from 2021! If you want to see how I will be applying the lessons I learned to achieve my 2022 goals, stay tuned. Let me know in the comments YOUR biggest lesson of 2021!

My name is Ren. I am an aspiring authorpreneur and the founder of writewithren.com. I want to build community within the indie authors’ world and show others how to live their best lives through their writing careers. You can follow my journey and join my community by signing up for my newsletter, following me on Instagram, and subscribing to my YouTube channel. I look forward to connecting with you!