The year that was 2022 can sit on the pile of strange, complicated, wondrous, and exhausting years that have come before.
For me, personally, it was a year of immense change, a year of adaptation, and a year of shedding old skins to breathe my way into new ones. For our Activated Authors community… well, it seems to have run pretty parallel.
As we begin the 2023 season, I wanted to just take a moment to look back at some of the wins and celebrations from the previous year, covering the breadth of what has been achieved through the Activated Authors community. These include the wins from the community as a whole, as well as some individual wins that have been donated from our current members.
Before we dive in, I wanted to note just how proud I am of every author that has joined our community, and the progress they have each made. No matter how large or small the victory may seem, every step forward is a step in the right direction.
Activated Authors Wins
- We helped drive the “Writers for Ukraine” initiative, raising almost £15,000 for Ukrainian refugees, as well as uniting the writing community to collectively write over 2 million words in a week.
- The Activated Authors podcast launched, interviewing some of the biggest names in publishing, and generating over 10,000 downloads in its first year of operation.
- Our community saw over 100 authors pass through our online community this year, some joining us just for our limited-run programs, others staying the whole year through.
- We achieved another 80% success rate with our 50k Writing Camp this November, helping writers move a large way towards writing (and finishing) their books.
- Our core team grew larger, with multi-passionate creative, Samantha Frost, joining our podcast as co-host, and Emmie and Eden joining as Activated Authors Ambassadors, helping behind the scenes with the community.
- We ran two successful Mastermind cohorts, helping authors find agents, put themselves forward for award-nominations, and get their author businesses off the ground.
Wins From The Activated Authors Community
(This list is not exhaustive and names have been removed to protect members privacy. For ease of viewing, I’ve split these wins into their relevant categories)
Author Production and Progression
- “I wrote ten books this year, and published five.”
- “Applied for a writer in residence position, even knowing I was up against some pretty major competition.”
- “Am now working with an educational publisher on my non-fiction work.”
- “I finished the first drafts of a reader magnet, as well as book one and book two in a new series.”
- “Found my first ever Beta reader.”
- “I changed genres and am loving it.”
- “This year I FINALLY finished the infamous book four.”
Activated Authors Community
· “Write-ins… OMG do I love having regular sprint time with other writers.”
· “Writing sprints — damn it, I love those evenings and occasional afternoons with all the amazing peeps.”
· “For the first time ever, I felt like I actually belong somewhere, with people who understand what it means to tease out the strange, wonderful, sometimes terrifying s**t from our beautiful minds and put it onto the page.”
Mindset
- “I think the biggest win this year is actually believing I can make a go of it as a writer. I went into 2022 wanting to be a writer, I’m going into 2023 as a writer.”
- “I started telling people, with a shaky confidence, that I am a writer, business owner and multi-passionate creative. Proud o’ that.”
- “I think the best and biggest win is being part of this group has helped me build back a lot of confidence that got squashed when I was working outside of my home.”
- “I’m still writing, which I’m super proud of myself for.”
Charity
· “Taking part in the Writers for Ukraine campaign.”
NaNoWriMo (and the 50k Writing Camp)
- “I Won NaNoWriMo again, but learned more about myself as a writer and how to balance my personal life.”
- “I Smashed NaNo, with isn’t something I’ve ever done before… alone. But that changed, because of the Activated Authors community.”
- “I smashed Nano.”
- “I won Nano again”
Health
- “Gave myself permission to slow down and stop when I needed to put me first.”
- “Recognised the starting signs of burn out, and gave myself permission to just, stop, for a while.”
All of these wins could not have been made possible without the incredible community we have been building at Activated Authors HQ.
With each passing month, more authors find our little slice of heaven, and we have the privilege of helping these authors achieve their writing goals.
What are you most proud of this year with your writing journey? If you could choose one thing, what would it be? If you could list three, what would you say? Let us know in the comments.
As always, if you’d like to find out more about all that we do to help authors thrive, then visit www.activatedauthors.com to find out more.
