NYE Reflections
2025-12-31
Happy New Year's Eve, everyone!
It's been a great year with Cogito, even though I only started publishing in August. I am proud of myself with maintaining a consistent practice here despite the ups and downs of life. Writing these entries gives me immense purpose, and I'm glad that I've accrued a nice audience of readers over just these few short months. I'm also proud of the growth of my website. When I first started, I was barely getting 50 views a day, but now I get at least 300. I'm hoping that as I further network with other webmasters and promote my work further, my audience will continue to grow.
Since the new year is upon us, I think it would be fitting to reflect on my desires moving forward. I feel that I've found my voice as a writer, and I feel prepared to truly make an attempt to break into the literary world. My main focus for 2026 will be to write as many short stories as I can and get published in a reputable literary journal. I'll explore publications that would accept my essays as well, but either way I need to focus on getting more pieces published at places that aren't just my website.
For a while, I let my pride get ahead of me. I thought that publishing exclusively on my website would be the best way for me to build my writing career, but a small self-hosted website alone isn't enough. I need to put myself out there to other people and show my work with confidence. Truthfully, I was just afraid of rejection. I've always had a hard time dealing with rejection, but I know that I can still work to grow past that and make something of my work. I see so many other writers publish their work on large platforms like the New York Times and similar outlets, and I know that I am skilled enough to be right there with them. All I need is the confidence to take that next step.
While I'm trying to break into the industry, I still want to tend to my work here. I want to keep writing Cogito entries, publishing IOKTIKN pieces, and adding more features to my site. I've also considered spinning up a newsletter so that people aren't bound just to RSS or visiting the website manually to stay updated on my writing. When considering a newsletter previously, I felt that it was redundant. However, I also understand that most people don't have an RSS feed, but everyone has email. Even though I urge readers to get one, I also understand that reading my site alone probably isn't enough of an incentive to start one. Perhaps I should recommend more sites to help readers make an RSS feed.
It's a sad thing with email. Most younger people don't even use their email to actually read emails. Their personal email only acts as a way to make accounts on websites, that's it. If they actually email people, it's usually for work on a work email. But emailing IRL friends or e-friends? It's unheard of for the Zoomer. As an older Zoomer myself ('98 baby) I feel like an old fart, a "chopped unc" if you will. I try to get people to use RSS and email even though I know most people my age only use instant messaging. I'd probably be better off making a Discord server, I don't know.
All this is to say that there are a lot of ways I can build my writing career. The main thing I hope to achieve this upcoming year, though, is an increased writing output. I've made great strides this year and I feel that I now have the key ingredients to make myself even more prolific than ever. I thought I was towards the ceiling when it came to output, but then I heard of pirateaba who writes 40,000 words a week and realized that I've barely even crossed the first threshold.
Truth be told, though, I don't think I would even want to achieve 40,000 words a week. As it stands now, I can write about 1,000 words a day, or somewhere around 5,000 to 7,000 words per week. I think the ceiling for me would be somewhere closer to 2,000 words per day or around 10,000 to 12,000 words per week. While 40,000 words per week would be glorious, I also know that revisions are scant at that level of output. Also, writing like that usually involves single sessions that last upwards of 8 hours. I don't think I could ever write for 8 hours straight. I don't think I'd ever want to write for 8 hours straight. The most I'd muster would be 4 hours, but really I find that my best writing comes from sessions that are at most 2 hours.
As I reflect on all of this writing, I just hope that I get to keep going, regardless of what happens. Writing gives me joy. I don't want that to be taken away.