Writing Dailey

Another year in the books—fiscally speaking, annually speaking, and yes, even nose-in-a-book speaking. 2024 wraps tomorrow, and what a year it’s been.

I cannot say how many book-related cocktails I’ve consumed (numerous), nor precisely how many books I’ve purchased (less than 100 but more than 50). However, I can share that I read at least 40 books, participated in 27 book club meetings, and attended a book-themed adventure, a boozy book fair, and my first-ever writers’ retreat. What a time to be a book nerd.

From the perspective of a small-business owner and freelance writer, this year has been enlightening, exhausting, and highly entertaining. Here are some fun stats related to 2024.

Fun experiences have included my Otsego Fire Department in-person interview turning into a real-life fire run, learning about different towns and communities in my home state, and hearing that people have laughed and cried over what I’ve written (happy tears, mind you).

I’ve been fortunate to receive kind testimonies from clients, add more depth to my portfolio, and learn new things on the fly, like designing year-end visuals, wraparound book covers, and how to format different styles of books. Oh, and for whatever reason, owners of my mugs really love the mug style, which I cannot take credit for—shout out to VistaPrint.

I’ve also been blessed with amazing clients who are understanding, flexible, and willing to work with me to achieve our mutual goals. As I approach Writing Dailey’s fourth anniversary of being fully operational (February), I’m filled with gratitude for those who have encouraged, supported, and stuck by me, even on the days when I felt like an imposter and not worth a nickel as a writer.

As in years past, I will be forgoing a January blog as I focus on recalibrating for the New Year, planning out work for many projects, and adjusting my rates—and I appreciate that readers continue to read even with pauses in posting.

The life of a freelancer and small-business owner isn’t all book smells, sleeping in, and payment deposits—there are many frustrations, challenges, and roadblocks—but even with those inevitable hiccups, this career path allows me to create the life I want. One with flexibility, semblances of balance, and getting to do what I love—write.

I’ll admit that I haven’t been able to write creatively as much as I would’ve liked in 2024 (my novel’s third draft has a figurative film of dust resting upon it), but the ideas keep coming, and I continue writing them down. My creative time will come (maybe in January??), and until then, I will stay the course, jotting down character names, phrases for quotes, and world descriptions between client interviews, research, drafting, and editing. After all, it’s the writer’s life for me.

Cheers to the coming New Year—may it bring us all exactly what we need! Tune in come February for thoughts on my business’ fourth birthday and whether I managed to squeeze in any novel work amidst the first projects of 2025!

Coming up next:

February — A Wintry Anniversary