2024 Highlights + My One Word for 2025

(featuring many a collage, numerous lists, and fun statistics)

Hello from my dear sweet Scout, my 15-year-old dementia-riddled dog who routinely wakes up absolutely mystified by the fact that there is another dog in the house.

Penny, baffling her sister by existing

Happy New Year!

Here’s to hoping 2025 isn’t a complete dumpster fire, but even if it is, maybe our little creative communities can make s’mores over the flames?

Before looking to the future, I like to catalog my biggest/favorite moments of the year, mostly because it’s fun to remind myself of the memories and accomplishments that already seem to have happened so long ago. My archival tendencies mean I obsessively write lists and take photos, and now I can share those notes and pictures with you ✨all.✨

Reading Update: by the numbers

Books read: 50

Plays read: 18 (-ish; I forgot to log some during school, but this is about right)

Series completed: 2

Writing Update: by the numbers

Novels drafted: 2

Novels revised: 1

Plays/Musicals drafted: 3

Plays/Musicals revised: 4

Screenplays drafted: 1

Screenplays revised: 1

Miscellaneous projects drafted/revised:

• 1 letter of recommendation

• 2 resumes

• 3 newsletters

• 3 monologues

• 1 short story

• 2 poems

• 1 artistic statement

• too many artist bios to count

• 1 interview

• 1 pilot pitch

Project most outside of my comfort zone: 1 Dungeons & Dragon campaign manual

Playwriting workshop/conference/reading/production opportunities submitted to: 13

Projects planned for 2025:

• To draft: 1 novel, 2 TV pilots, 2 screenplays, 2-3 plays, 1 “one-sentence-a-day” journal

• To continue revising: 1 novel, 1 screenplay, 3 plays

• To submit: any number of miscellaneous plays to at least 50 opportunities (1 per week, with 2 grace weeks built in)

2024 Life Moments

(in no particular order)

• got accepted to grad schools

• started my MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon (I couldn’t be happier here!)

• moved to Pittsburgh to rent my own place for the first time

• made new friends

• dyed my hair purple (something I've always wanted to do!)

• met CMU alumni playwrights, screenwriters, and writers in the gaming industry

• started a few new jobs (house managing, fundraising, and writing book reviews)

• explored CMU and Pittsburgh: went to many theatrical performances, saw Leslie Odom Jr. in conversation with CMU’s head of School of Drama, tried new restaurants, visited new cafes and bookstores and thrift shops, went to the National Aviary, went to the Carnegie Museum of Art

• performed in a New Works reading for a CMU Dramatic Writing alum

• directed a new play by one of my classmates (and worked with an awesome cast and production team of students - grads and undergrads!)

• enjoyed the incredible world premiere of my play Captain Darling

  Captain Darling's World Premiere!!

• participated in two post-show talkbacks and one pre-show interview

• hosted a workshop for The Van Gogh Play

• went on submission with my agent

• dogsat a whole bunch

• learned several adulting skills, including, but not limited to: how to navigate public transit, how to upcycle furniture, how to find a place to rent and sign a lease, how to change a diaper, how to efficiently meal prep and cook for one person

• registered PA college students to vote

• introduced my parents to Grey’s Anatomy (we’ve binged 11.5 seasons, so far)

• Zoomed with a high school class to chat about writing and publishing

• “graduated” from EMDR therapy

• played tons of Dungeons and Dragons (and wrote my first campaign with my CMU classmates!)

• wrote my first full-length screenplay

• went to a friend’s wedding

• improved my crochet skills (and completed several commissions!)

Current Recommendations:

• TV: Grey’s Anatomy

• Book: Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo

• Music: “Idiot” by The Other Girls

• Miscellaneous: the “Call It What It Is” podcast

My Word for 2025:

Start

As in “stop dreaming about the thing, stop worrying about the thing, stop planning the thing, stop wondering if you’re capable of doing the thing, and start doing the thing.”

No more waiting for perfect conditions to begin homework, that new creative idea, moving my body, binging that new show I’ve been meaning to watch forever—it’s time to start.

What are your hopes for 2025?

New Perk for Paid Subscribers . . .

In February I’ll be rolling out a new perk exclusive to paid newsletter subscribers. Whether you’re a writer or a reader, you’ll be able to choose the perk that suits you best.

I’ll announce new perks throughout the year as I think of fun new ways to give back to those of you who help to fund my creative journey. If you have suggestions for what you’d like to see, feel free to let me know!

Until next time!

Another purple hair photo in case anyone needed a sign to dye their hair that fun color they’ve been dreaming about: do it!