Cover photo by IKIGLOO on Unsplash
Beloved,
I want to take my writing half-seriously this year. This is a department of my life that I’ve been slacking in for ages. So much so, I started joking that I’m retired as a writer. But last year I managed to impress myself but writing about 33 blogposts and even winning a writing competition. This got me thinking that, perhaps, it’s time to be more intentional with my writing life. So here’s what I’m aiming for:
1. Submitting to at least five literary magazines/ competitions
It’s honestly high time I start seriously working on my writing portfolio outside my blog. I have spent the last couple of years reading work on some of the literary magazines I would like to house my work. This year I want to try to submit everything I can – poetry, short stories, personal essays, even academic articles – so that I can become even more ingrained in the deeper writing community. Truly, everything goes.
2. Finish at least five short stories for the collection I have been working on from forever ago.
Every single year since 2020, my friend Jaliya the Bird sends me a screenshot of a status, that I wrote when I was clearly high off life. Because I don’t know why I, a known non-writer, thought that telling people to bully me and keep me accountable to finish a short story collection within the year was remotely a good idea. In true Tamanda Kanjaye fashion, after that declaration, I proceeded to just never look at my collection again. However, towards the end of last year – following my win in the Makewana competition – I dusted off the collection again. It’s full of non complete stories that could be good if I even gave them half the attention I give everything else. Also, if I actually finish these, that’s five stories I can submit to magazines/ competitions.
3. Write at least 24 blogposts
Like I mentioned, I surprised myself with how much content I put out in 2025. I want to keep the momentum going in 2026 as well and I think two posts a month should not be that hard to keep up with. Especially if I continue to put out book and reading content.
4. Write at least three blogposts related to writing (this one included)
In case you didn’t know, my blog has three main sections: As a Reader, As a Writer and As Myself. I think these are pretty self explanatory. Not that it should come as a surprise to anyone but the As a Writer Section is definitely the most neglected. I struggle with coming up with writing content even though I have a few ideas. I am going to challenge myself this year and try and write some more of that.
5. Send out at least four postcards
Postcards (formerly, telegrams)are the newsletters I send my subscribers every couple of months. In September 2024, after very sporadic posting, I announced a hiatus then returned exactly a year later. Since then I have only sent out one other newsletter. Once upon a time I was consistent and I even replied to people who wrote back. I want to get back to that but I also have to admit I can’t do it at the frequency I used to when I was more passionate and less overwhelmed. I’ve decided a quarterly newsletter is a good place to start.
6. Keep the Almanac consistent and happy
Since I can’t stop having little side projects, I started another publication on substack called Tamanda Kanjaye’s Almanac of Consumable Things. I got the idea because I am doing a small little challenge on reading a poem a day. I was posting it on my status but sometimes people would ask for the poems I had posted a few days ago, saying they hadn’t gotten the chance to read them. Naturally my restless brain thought, why not just have a weekly newsletter telling people what media I was engaging in. However, I do have a track record of just abandoning things as you can see and that’s why I’m really hoping not to abandon this.
7. Finish at least one more book in my “A King’s Offer” series
Mid last year I decided to return to my roots and stop trying to write a deep, literary novel about the current zeitgeist. Instead, I let myself write the kind of romance I actually enjoy. I finished the second draft of A King’s Offer and then accidentally expanded the universe, which means I now need to revise the first book and finish at least one of the others that have spawned from it. I wrote the first draft in two months but since then it’s been slow sailing. I would really like to finish revising the first book and complete at least one more.
8. Journal for at least 300 days
Last year was one of if not my best journaling year ever. I can’t tell you how many days I wrote in, but I just know it was a lot and I am still riding that high. This year I am tracking my journaling and I have given myself leeway to miss five days a month if push comes to shove. P.S. If you want to start journaling too, I have a guide and an app with prompts and streaks to help you along.
