Hey all! Five questions is on holiday until the first Monday in January when I’ll be talking with the brilliant, charming, and so cute Li Charmaine Anne about “Crash Landing” and other topics.
I usually do a year-end reflection at about this time of year and this year is no different. Except…
I’ve been feeling a little meh about goals and accomplishments and crowing about what I’ve done in 2024. Part of that is because I’m just dealing with something I’ve named, “Epic Dystopian Sadness” which probably means I should stop listening to so much Noah Kahan and Conan Gray, stop scrolling US political news, and spend more time listening to Wham or something else perky.
I’m trying to spend more time taking care of my mental health. More time outside, breathing in the freezing cold Canadian air, bundled up, walking and talking with my wife. More water, more tea, more healthy homemade soups. But also, yes, chocolate.
I was lamenting to a friend of mine that other day that 2022 Finn would be ashamed of how little 2024 Finn submitted, how little I got done. But that isn’t fair or even true. 2022 Finn would be impressed that 2024 Finn wrote two novels with my co-writer Andrew Buckley. 2022 Finn would be dumbfounded that present Finn got an agent – their first choice agent! – for ARTHUR UNDRESSED, an epistolary novel about a trans man trying to reconcile his complicated relationship with his dead mother.
I’ve long stopped comparing myself to other writers. I celebrate my friends and their successes. But comparing myself to past me is a little harder.
One of the students in my weekly novel-writing class said something profound the other day in class. He said he’s pulled himself back from looking at page counts and word counts as his measure of progress on his novel and instead is asking himself if he had fun writing on it that week. Perhaps that will be my big goal for 2025. Try to have fun with it, no matter what I’m working on.
I’m going to keep remembering the joy of writing. Which isn’t to say I’m not going to try to accomplish anything. I’m just going to try to do so without beating myself up, or comparing what I’ve done with how productive I was in the past.
So, in the spirit of concrete goals, this year, I’d like to:
- Finish my gothic horror YA book
- Find a publisher for my collection: Ravens Don’t Get High Blood Pressure and other tales of queer love
- Finish the YA space pirate book I’m writing with Andrew Buckley and start the next in our Shakespeare retelling series.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Finnian Burnett 