24. 2024 Writing Year-End Recap

In this special year-end episode of Show Don’t Tell Writing, Suzy reflects on her incredible journey throughout 2024. From hosting virtual retreats and launching new courses to supporting thousands of writers through coaching and editing, Suzy shares the highlights of her year and the valuable lessons learned along the way, and how you can plan your own writing goals for next year.

Episodes Referenced in this Episode:

🎙️ 9. Interview with Jennie Nash: Breaking Into the Writing Industry

🎙️ 10. Interview with Author Sheri T. Joseph: Going the Hybrid Publishing Route

🎙️ 12. Interview with Author Felicity George: Traditionally Publishing a Romance Series

🎙️ 13. Interview with Tanasha Martin: Finishing an Entire Novel

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Intro and Outro Music is Daisy by Zight and used under a CC by 4.0 DEED Attribution 4.0 International license. For more music by Zight visit https://www.youtube.com/zight

Transcript

0:49

Welcome to Show Don't Tell Writing with me, Suzy Vidori, where I teach you the tried and true secrets to writing fiction, nonfiction, that are going to wow your readers broken down step by step. We're going to explore writing techniques. I'm going to show you a glimpse behind the scenes of successful writers careers that you wouldn't have access to otherwise, and I'm also going to coach writers live on their pages so that you can learn and transform your own storytelling. Whether you're just starting out, you're drafting your first book, you're editing, or you're currently rewriting that book, or maybe even your 10th book, this show is going to help you unlock the writing skills that you didn't even know you needed, but you definitely do. I'm So looking forward to helping you get your amazing ideas from your mind onto your pages in an exciting way for both you and your readers, so that you can achieve your wildest writing dreams. And you're going to also have some fun doing it. Let's dive in. Welcome to the 2024 Roundup, my year's writing life, and we're going to take a behind the scenes look. Because I'm about to hit the holiday circuit of parties, and because I work largely at home and with my amazing community of writers as an author, editor, and book coach, I'm pretty excited to be going out into the wild, having to do my hair, and talking with humans who do things other than writing in the coming weeks. One thing gives me pause, and that's the flip flop that happens in my mind when they ask what I'm up to these days. Many people I've known for many years knew me when I was a business executive. They also know that I wrote some books, but most have no idea that I do all things writing full time now. Still, others who I've met in recent years know I'm really busy with work, because I travel a lot and I work long hours, so I'm not at every event, and I can't always make it when they ask me to attend. I've spent the last six years building a business around writing. And there's my books, yes. But I also support a community of 12, 000 writers figuring this business of writing a book out. Through this podcast and my weekly newsletter, I host events and group programs, I run online courses, and of course my one on one editing and book coaching support. Not to mention my own writing and promoting my own books. So, when I'm asked at a party, what do you do for work? I usually just say I'm a writer, although that feels wholly inadequate to describe all the things I do in a day. Usually that's enough for the person who asked, and we may ask a question or two about my books before we move on to another topic, which is super refreshing because I don't want to talk about my business every minute of every day. But sometimes, more often than you think, the person I meet wants to write a book one day, or is already doing that, or trying to do that, or started their pages already, and then I'm in my comfort zone, and my husband kind of wanders away because he knows I'm going to be there a while. Hearing about writers dreams and supporting them with information and specifics and facts and helping them is right in my ballywick. You know, if you've been listening to this podcast. So that's when I attend functions where nobody else is a writer. But when I attend writers functions this holiday, and I'm going to attend a bunch, I love, love, love meeting with writers. I'm going to get a different set of questions and I know what they're going to be. They're going to ask, Hey, Susie, are you really doing all the things I see you're doing on social media? Well, I'm not. Yes. To be fair, I do have a fantastic team supporting me that makes it all possible. And then they ask, Woof. I don't know how you do it. It must be really hard helping all those people with their books. Is it hard for you to give them the focus that you could be spending on your own writing? I cocked my head at this one, but get it a lot. How do I explain to other writers that helping writers is the most fulfilling thing I've had the pleasure of doing in my nearly half century of existence? I've got a big birthday coming up in 2025 and I'm just getting ready to start talking about that. How do I say that I still write every single day and that working with writers striving to reach their dreams is And then getting to see them do the work, get their books done, and watch as their lives transform and they unlock new opportunities that they were only dreaming about when we first started working together. How do I explain that it's amazing? As 2024 winds down, I'm fascinated at all the experience I've gotten to have yet again this year. Well, I think and recap and start to plan for 2025. Everything in the service of writers. And although I won't bombard holiday party goers with the details, I know my inspired writing community and my podcast listeners thank me every time I share what I've been up to in my newsletter or on an episode. Because it can help you imagine all the possibilities for you and your writing life. Fair warning as I recap my 2024, I do this job full time and I have an amazing team that's been working with me for years that helped me stay organized and handle the administration and tech so that I can focus on the things I love best, which is writing and supporting other writers and editing. I build my life with lots of different activities because that's how I like to work and it's what gives me the most energy. In my life. Before quitting my day job to do all things writing, I was a Chief Operating Officer at Companies, which is a job that oversees all the departments and keeps track of how they all work together. So when I started to build my writing life and my business, it was only natural for me to build it this way. I want to say before you listen to everything that I've been up to this year, that many, many, many successful writers and book coaches build businesses that are much less complicated. And they do really well. The thing that's different is that my overall goal is to help as many writers as I can while lifting all writers up along the way. That's what I'm about. I employ writers to perform many functions in my business and currently we're a team of four with my team managing my inbox and all the software that runs my newsletter and online courses. My team manages the accounting and all the projects, like project managing me for all the projects that I dream up along the way. I'm so grateful for my team and I work with each of them also on their writing on the side so that they can thrive as well while earning money working in the writing world, which is what I think we should all be doing, right? Working in the writing world. And. Getting that experience is something that many people dream of doing. And so as I build my team along the way, I make sure I'm employing writers. So all that being said, I have built this really complicated structure. And sometimes when I look at other people's really simple lives, I'm very envious, but I know that that probably just isn't me. So let's dive in. Because throughout 2024, I completed 14 full manuscript developmental edits. I worked one on one. in coaching with writers on 21 books. This recap that I'm about to do won't get into the specifics of these one on one relationships or the individual books. Instead, I'm going to outline the programs where I supported over 2, 500 writers who registered for them in 2024 and all the other activities I do in my writing life. Let's go. January 2024 kicked off with a bang. I was working with 15 one on one book coaching clients on a regular basis. And my developmental editing schedule was booked four months ahead, which is a little busier than usual. But I was super excited about each and every book project that I was involved with. In January, I hosted a three day virtual writers retreat, which attracted more than 1, 500 writers. So, it was really busy managing all the registrations, and then planning for and delivering the three days of training. At my retreats, my team gets really hands on, myself included, and sometimes we stay up until the wee hours of the night, making sure that we're answering all the writers questions and helping them plan for finishing their books. And giving individual feedback. This retreat was no exception, and by the end of the three days, I was that kind of happy, exhausted, where you know you're doing the exact thing you're supposed to do in this world, but you just need a nap. In February, I launched my first ever developmental editing mentorship. An all new course teaching writers to perform an objective developmental edit of their own book using the methodology I've developed over the past decade to evaluate books. Putting together this course was a really satisfying experience. I created videos and worksheets to codify the techniques I've been using for years. And seeing it all take shape was really fun. My methodology works consistently to make my clients books the strongest they can possibly be, and I always have to put it in my plain English, step by step, instructional way. And that's what this course was about. So for the month of February, I had the opportunity to work with 30 plus writers in that mentorship as they worked through the developmental edit of their own books. We had a terrific mix of memoir, fantasy, sci fi, women's fiction, and a few other genres to round it out. And I was excited to work with that mix of writers, some that I worked with before, and some who were totally new to my community for this program. I supported them throughout February with twice weekly live calls and reviews of their writing for the entire month. As we near the end of 2024, many of that cohort from that mentorship have their books ready to publish, or are in the final throes of editing. The mentorship was an intense four weeks, but completely worth the results. Throughout the new year and into March, I was working on the proposal for my next book. A non fiction book on show don't tell, you guessed it, my favorite topic. I was also working on another brand new course, which was Write Your Non Fiction Book Already. Captures all the lessons I normally reserve for my clients on how to plan and draft a business, self help, or how to non fiction book. Again, I hosted a free event leading up to this course, which many of you attended, and it was great to see. A small but mighty crew joined me for the four weeks of this new course, and it was a blast to support them through planning their books. And making them a reality. Summer kind of snuck up on me this year. And with it, the launch of this podcast showed until writing happened in July and it was a huge undertaking as we were strategizing and learning all things about podcasts. I could not have done this without my team, who did the bulk of the research on the best approach. Of course, brought the over the top ideas, including, let's host a one day interactive live event, where I can interview guests. And we did it. It was amazing, and many of you attended that as well. I interviewed my mentor and the founder of Modern Book Coaching, Jenny Nash. As well as several writers who have had the privilege to coach and follow as they revised their books and reached for their dreams and ended up with traditionally published, independently published, hybrid published books. And if you missed out on these live episodes from that launch day, I'll link to them in the show notes so you can check them out. All through the spring and early summer, my team and I were planning for a much needed break in August where I could travel and be with my family at our summer home on the east coast with my family. Now, rest for me also includes creative rest, which means doing the things that I love creatively, which kind of means reading, which is my job. So I often bring editing with me when I travel because hey, creating is awesome. And this year was no exception. And apart from editing two books and working on a reduced schedule with my regular coaching clients in August, I was able to swim and hang out with my family, which was the break that my brain needs every so often. At times like this, I am so grateful to work for myself and to be able to make these choices. Because early September, I stayed on to settle my eldest at her college dorm, which is a five hour flight across the country. Sniff. And then I headed to Niagara, Ontario, Canada to an online business owner's retreat. And to meet the cohort for my power mastermind that I'd be participating in for the next nine months. The mastermind that I joined is led by former girl boss turned consent based marketing email strategist Tarzan K Who also happens to be a book coaching client of mine Her book is gonna be quick and I am so privileged to be supporting her through this writing process Our days together at this retreat were exactly what the doctor ordered. It was a reset and time for me to think ahead and plan for the months to come. There aren't a lot of role models out there for running an online business, especially in the writing world. It's pretty rare what I'm trying to do here. The industry is a little behind other industries, so I find I'm always trailblazing, and the women in this mastermind that I met with in Niagara, Who run their businesses in many different industries are terrific role models and cheerleaders as I build programs to support writers. We've been supporting one another since September and we're planning to meet up again this spring in Portugal. I can't wait to be with them again. They have changed and expanded my thinking so much about how to support you and the best ways to do it. Later in September, I hosted another retreat where hundreds of writers came to get re energized online with me. In October, I supported a new cohort through my mentorship yet again. And I had several alumni from the February cohort attend as well. I also went on tour, visiting with two schools in southern Alberta to talk with elementary school students about writing. School visits are something I used to do a lot of before the pandemic, and I love. So I was really happy for the opportunity this fall to dive back in, although I don't do as much traveling as I used to. In November, I ran my first ever Black Friday sale, and in December, so far, I've taken on more editing. And, I also did another week of visits to a school, completing week one of a two week residency to work with students from kindergarten to sixth grade on their functional writing skills. The week I completed was busy, with ten classes of students to meet and work with, but very rewarding. My mind is absolutely exploding with ideas to work with them again when I return in January. Whew! This might seem like a lot, but really, my main focus is supporting you as writers to get your book finished. Give you the tools to make your book the strongest it can be and to help you get it out into the world. Right in the middle, when I'm recording this, I'm planning for 2025, which is why this is like what was on my mind when I wanted to send you guys a message and record this episode for you. I have so many ideas on how to support you in 2025. Too many to execute, I'm sure, but I'm always learning and changing and listening to writers. So whether you're listening to this podcast the week it came out in December of 2024, or You're listening to it at some point in the future. Just know I am always creating new programs to support you and your writing and to be with you every step of way along the journey. You need support. I'd love to hear about it. Drop a comment below this podcast to get your request. You know, my future plans, and who knows, maybe you and I will be working together to get your book out into the world really soon. Thanks for tuning in to Show Don't Tell Writing with me, Suzy Vidori. I'll be continuing to bring you the straight goods for that book you're writing or planning to write. Please consider subscribing to this podcast and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you're listening. Also, visit SuzyVidori. com forward slash newsletter to hop on my weekly inspired writing newsletter list where you'll stay inspired and be the first to know about upcoming training, events and writing courses that happen in my community. If you're feeling brave, check the show notes and send us a page of your writing that isn't quite where you want it to be yet for our Show Don't Tell page review episodes. Remember that book and your writing is going to open doors that you haven't even thought of. And I can't wait to help you make it the absolute best. If you're feeling called to write that book, keep going, and I'm going to be right here cheering you on. See you again next week.