Becoming more "knowable," "discoverable," and "readable" this year
My writing goals for 2025
Hi friends,
This is the type of post that I’d usually send out at the beginning of the year when everyone is dreaming about changing their life and setting their new years resolutions. To be fair, that’s when I also dreamed up these beautiful goals, but if you’ve been here since the beginning of the year, you know that the theme of my 2025 has been illness. Now that I finally have a modicum of health again1, I’m officially declaring this year over and I’m starting again. Smell ya later, old 2025. Hello, shiny, new unmarred-by-illness 2025!
If you’re a writer and don’t already know about Courtney Maum’s brilliant newsletter, Before and After the Book Deal, this is your invitation to run there immediately. Last year, I read this monumentally helpful post about becoming what Maum calls “knowable, discoverable, and readable,” which launched a long dreaming session about how I can achieve this in my own writing life.
But first, what does it mean to be “knowable, discoverable, and readable”? Being “knowable” means knowing other writers. It’s not just networking, which often feels stilted and transactional; it’s making writerly friends and building relationships with folks invested in their craft.
Being “discoverable” means publishing smaller pieces of writing so you can begin building a reader base.
Finally, being “readable” means communicating with your readers outside the cadence of traditional publishing. (One way to do that is by having a newsletter. 💁♀️)
Although I want to build a platform as a writer, I primarily want to be knowable, discoverable, and readable to become closer to my writing community, push myself to reach for bigger goals, and become a better writer. Over the past couple years, I’ve found myself in a place of stasis when it comes to my writing. With a few targeted goals, I’m hoping to launch myself back into forward motion. So here’s what I’m doing to be knowable, discoverable, and readable this year.
Knowable
Start a writing accountability group. As I slowly turn my attention back to my book, I’ve found myself longing for a writing community that can motivate me, hold me accountable, and commiserate with me! As a Chicagoan, I’m fortunate to have access to multiple writing communities through organizations like StoryStudio and Ragdale. I’m committing to reaching out to writers I’ve connected with in previous writing classes and residencies to see if anyone is in search of accountability partners like me. My pages aren’t ready for workshopping yet, but I know that reporting my writing progress to a group of similarly motivated writers will help me carve out more time for my projects.
Discoverable
Finish a short piece for publication. I have multiple essays in progress that I’ve abandoned over the years as I battle to figure out what the hell I’m trying to say. This year, I want to identify a few high potential drafts, finish those pieces, and finally submit them. Ultimately, it’s a fear of being seen that’s driven my inability to finish these essays. I know have important things to say, so I need to confront that fear and get my work into the world.
Bonus: Participate in live lit. Live storytelling is huge in Chicago with organizations like 2nd Story, The Paper Machete show, and You’re Being Ridiculous putting on amazing showcases throughout the year. The prospect of telling a story on stage is terrifying, but I know this mode of storytelling offers so many lessons and opportunities for a writer like me. I’m not sure I’m truly brave enough to do this, but perhaps I can write it into existence by listing it here.
Readable
Write more personal essays for this newsletter. This one partially depends on how you vote in the poll below. Outside of this newsletter, I write personal narratives about living in Ecuador, my time as a Peace Corps volunteer, working in tech, social justice, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Would you be interested in reading them here? They might be funny or sad or any number of things in between! Let me know what you think below.
Draft my book as quickly as possible. For years, I’ve worked diligently on my memoir-in-progress. Even though my progress was slow, I was in constant contact with it. Then I took a writing class that really diminished my confidence, and shortly after that, I stepped away while I took care of my infant son. Now I feel the book slipping between my fingers. I worry that my memories are fading. I know that I need to build my momentum back—immediately. Currently, my WIP is somewhere between a first and second draft. I’m moving to a new structure, so I have huge swaths of writing to revise, but large parts of the story haven’t been drafted yet. It’s a weird place to be. The only way I can imagine getting myself out of this rut is by writing the story from beginning to end as fast as I possibly can. This means collaging some of the existing chapters together while writing some chapters and scenes from scratch. But no matter what, I won’t stop to revise, even if that means leaving things in brackets like [ADD MORE DIALOGUE HERE] or [SETTING DETAILS HERE]. It also means overwriting and putting words to paper that will likely never make it to later versions. But it doesn’t matter. First, I need to get the story out.
A large part of setting goals is sharing them with others to hold yourself accountable, so I’m sure I’ll be back to report on my progress throughout the year. In the meantime, let’s continue the conversation in the comments.
What are your creative goals this year?
What can you do to be more knowable, discoverable, and readable?
Drop me a note in the comments if you’re also planning to restart the year in March. 😄 We might not be able to wipe the slate entirely clean, but we can cheer each other along as we get started on our new goals!
I still spiked a mystery 102 degree fever last week that my doctors couldn’t explain because I was already on antibiotics for something else. Truly absurd.