Over at Nerd’s Eye View, my friend Pam recently wrote a post about the best of her year in writing. After listing her favorite posts of 2010, month by month, she invited her loyal readers to share the keepers from their own blogs or print writing efforts — which was right about the time I realized that I didn’t actually write a whole lot this year.
Sure, I kept up my regular output of short blog posts at World Hum (true fact from the World Hum back end: I’ve logged nearly 1400 entries since I started writing for the site in September 2007) and I posted the odd update here, and I wrote a couple of service-y destination pieces for new-to-me online outlets, but relative to past years that’s a pretty paltry output. (Another true fact: I’d estimate that in 2009 my paid writing efforts cracked the 100,000-word mark.)
Even beyond the reduced volume, it’s clear that I really didn’t do much of the sort of writing I love best this year — ie first-person narrative. There are five 2010 features with my name on them in the World Hum archives: two interviews (one with Stephanie Elizondo Griest, editor of The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010, and one with Susan Van Allen, author of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go), two World Hum Travel Movie Club collaborations with Eli Ellison (our conversation about Eat, Pray, Love and our round-up of the best travel-themed Elvis movies), and one list, the 2009 edition of my always arbitrary and thoroughly biased Travel Movie Awards.
All of those were a lot of fun to do, as were the collaborative group feature efforts that I helped out with — like the 100 Most Celebrated Travel Books list, or our first Travel Statshot, or our monthly Great Travel Twitter Tweets lists. I’m also really proud of the stories by other writers that I edited this year, most of which I linked to here over the course of the year.
Still, taking this inventory after reading Pam’s post has led me to a rather obvious New Year’s promise to myself: In 2011, I resolve to write more. Not only that, but to carve out some time to write the things I most want to write. And unlike an assortment of resolutions I’ve made and broken in the past (often involving reading the classics, learning new languages, or going to the gym more often) this is one that I plan on sticking to.
Eva Holland 
And here’s to doing more of writing you truly want to be doing in 2011!!
No doubt, 2011 will be your year to flow to your own tune.
Best wishes!
Hugs,
L
I love this end of year time, looking back at what we’ve wrought and all the promise and potential of the year ahead…
Writing more and writing better is always on my list of things to do, too. I’m looking forward to reading what you write in 2011, Eva!
Let’s start a magazine for people who barely have time to read and publish stories by people who don’t have time to write.
Thanks, Lola and Alison! And Pam, yep, that sounds like another must-do project – right after we get Writers Gripe About Writing off the ground, yes?
Look forward to reading. I know a little of your favourite writing, and it floats my boat as well.
And…I hear ya. In a milder way (nowhere near 1400 entries – eeesh) I’ve been doing the same. I love travel narrative, and because I end up doing precious little of it, I find myself rustier than a….rusty thing.
(Yes, metaphors are also proving a problem).
Same kind of resolution here. Not just to write more, but to write more of each type. To strive for the creative balance that makes me happy even while it pays the bills. That’d be fun, that.