StoryADay’s 2025 In Review

It’s been a busy year!

In case you haven’t been paying attention (and why would you? I’m sure you have other things in your life), things have been pretty busy at StoryADay this year.

Here’s my round-up of writing resources and events from the past year.

If you’re subscribed to the mailing list, you’ll know some of this. If not, sign up here.

If you’re intrigued by the events going on inside the Superstars Community and think it might be the right community for you, find out more here.

On a Personal Note

My personal writing year was gratifyingly full of new drafts–I had hoped to complete 12 and in fact completed 6, which I consider a triumph given the way my year was disrupted by family emergencies and LOTS of non-leisure travel and stress. I also came out of the year with a professional-rate sale and a renewed commitment to sending stories out into the world.

But what surprised me most was the StoryADay tally of STUFF WE DID. Take a look:

Coaching 

14 x 1:1 Coaching sessions – If you feel the need for a one-off ‘Writing Therapy’ Session, to get unblocked, to reignite your fire, or to make a plan of action for your writing, you can book some time on my calendar here.

My coaching session was amazing. Not only did we address the original issue and come up with some great alternatives, she probed me about my current project and helped me to come up with some new ideas that are going to revolutionize it. I’m so excited about how the ideas we tossed around are going to affect this revision of my book. I feel like I’m on track to accomplish what I wanted.

Heidi Clausius

On The Blog

214 Free Resources

11 Opt-In Resources

In the Superstars Community

JOIN US HERE

633 Ongoing Events

602 (!!) writing sprints facilitated — many of these are hosted by member-volunteers and each host brings their own flavor to their sprints. (I have lost control in the most delightful way possible!)

25 hangouts (hosted by me) + 4 Launchpads (member run meetings) – opportunities to be with other writers, talk about writing, share resources, and just BE writers together.

A year of asynchronous support and resource-sharing in our Slack Workspace

11 Special Events

  • 3 Critique Weeks (12 meetings, 51 stories received feedback from 4 readers each)
  • Book Club (Jan-Mar)
  • Revision Hotseats (Jan)
  • Be Precise Workshop (Mar)
  • Character at the Core: Build Your Story From The Inside Out Workshop (July)
  • Get Better At Bragging Workshop (Aug) 2 timeslots – also delivered to Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut Club
  • One-Story Challenge – Mastering The Middle (Sept)
  • SWAGR Weekly Planning Method – a new weekly planning and accountability (Nov-Dec, weekly)
  • Annual Plan Workshop – Coming Soon as a replay you can access

4 Experiments

  • Revision Hotseats (deep dive into a small number of stories that have been revised )
  •  6 Book Club meetings (monthly deep dive into four short stories from an anthology)
  • SWAGR weekly planning meeting (plan to continue in 2026)
  • Critique Week shared language plan and BOSS Critique System (more about this coming soon)

6 Worksheet Bundles & Resources Created

2026 Productivity Tracker (free)

Get Better at Bragging

Guide to Preparing for a Writer’s Conference

Breakthrough Challenge Workbook

SWAGR Method (and Randomizer)

I, WRITER Planning & Logging Templates (expanded and updated for 2026) – worksheets and trackers for every brain type

  • BIG PICTURE PLANNING
  • Annual Overview Calendar Page
  • Goals Overview
  • PACE Yourself Worksheet
  • Quarterly Calendar page
  • SWAGr plan overview page
  • Triumph Tracker 
  • What Am I Doing? (And Why?) Daily Overview Page
  • 1-6 Projects planner
  • CALENDAR PAGES
  • Week at a glance (Sunday start, landscape)
  • Week at a glance (Monday start, landscape)
  • Weekly Planner (morning, afternoon, evening, Monday start, landscape)
  • Weekly Planner (morning, afternoon, evening, Sunday start, landscape)
  • Weekly Planner (morning, afternoon, evening, any day start, landscape)
  • MAKE IT MANAGEABLE
  • SWAGR Method – This Week/Not This Week page, linear
  • SWAGR Method – This Week/Not This Week page, non-linear
  • SWAGR Method Randomizer toy
  • Weekly overview sheet (priorities, tracking, portrait)
  • Focus For The Week overview (priorities, tiny next steps, notes, portrait)
  • Daily Plan(ish) – Gentle planning page (portrait)
  • Mind Map starter template 
  • Tiny Next Steps Tracker
  • Daily Review worksheet (traditional)
  • Gentle Daily Assessment worksheet
  • Weekly Review worksheet
  • Market Research Checklist
  • Project Planner One-Sheet
  • Submission Planner printable ‘job sheet’
  • Activity Logs & Trackers
  • Activity Web (non linear)
  • Activity Log (linear)
  • I, WRITER Tracker (track which parts of the writing life you’re focusing on throughout the year)
  • Monthly Habit/Task tracker (circular)
  • Submission Tracker table (linear)
  • Story Tracker (what you wrote and where you kept it)

Buy now for $9

Thank You

All of this, of course, takes time, hosting fees, and brain power. If you’d like to get more support while supporting my work, consider upgrading to the StoryADay Superstars Community.

If you want a little dedicated time on my calendar, I’ve started offering formalized 1:1 “Writing Therapy” sessions. Let’s talk about your writing, your projects, your ambitions, and how to make them all line up!
Stuck on your next step? Let’s talk.

But most of all,

Keep writing,

Julie

An AI Update for writers, 2025

AI is everywhere. What’s a writer to do?

Listen to the Audio

Watch now

Watch the video

Why is AI suddenly everywhere, right now and what should you be doing about it (and with it) as a creator?

Yesterday, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) caused an outcry when they seemed to allow some level of AI to be used in works nominated for their Nebula Awards. Two hours later, after an outcry from the writing community they backtracked and clarified that such works would NOT be eligible.

It’s an example of how fast-moving and thorny an issue AI policies are for writers, creatives, and the organizations and businesses that work with them: where should you stand, given the theft of intellectual property and the environmental impact of data centers, AND the reality that AI tools here now?

In this episode I share my perspective as someone who has been in the publishing world for 30 years and who has been watching the development of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude, for over three years.

I’ve been ‘behind the curtain’ of some of the early implementors in business, and I’ve followed the reactions of writers and the publishing industry, extremely closely.

Tune in to this bonus episode of StoryADay’s I, WRITER podcast, to gain some perspective on the state of AI, and some encouragement and practical tools for how to stay informed while staying productive.

Resources & Next Steps:

Build your writing practice with the Handbook : https://storyaday.org/challenge-handbook

Join the Superstars Group: Join the StoryADay Superstars for year-round support

Take the 3-Day Challenge

The Submission Echo

Listen carefully, writers! Do you hear ‘the submission echo’?

or: Why Shouting into The Void Isn’t Always Bad…

Writing and submitting manuscripts can be discouraging. 

It can feel like shouting into the void. 

You send your stories, your queries, your pitches, out into the world and hear…nothing—-or ‘no—so often you start to “wonder what’s the point”?

I’m always preaching about the benefits to you of doing the work anyway, but recently I discovered another benefit, that I’m calling ‘the submission echo’, and it came after a flurry of ‘shouting into the void’, myself.

The Little Story That Couldn’t

I’ve been through a spell of ‘not sending things out’ and now I’m in a season of sending stories out to find their place in the world, again. And there’s a lot of waiting around for answers.

This week the answer was ‘no thanks’. 

The publication I had lovingly crafted a story for, didn’t want it.

Hmmph!

But…This one didn’t sting as much as some other ‘non-acceptances’ (I’m not using the R word!) because this one had brought me much more than an opportunity to be published.

This story had been a challenge to write. I’d had to research cutting-edge science for it. I’d walked away and come back to it. I’d enjoyed the process. Some readers I gave it to it to enjoyed it. 

In the end, I simply like this little story.

That’s why I was so surprised that the ‘no thanks’ didn’t sting as much as I expected, and here’s why:

I noticed the ‘submission echo’.

The Submission Echo

That’s what I call the effect when creativity begets more creativity, courage begets courage, and one story drives you to write more stories.

Lots of surprising things happened after I submitted that story:

  • Yes, the story had been tricky and the research had stretched the limits of my understanding of a particular field…and energized me. It reminded me that I love writing.
  • Yes, it took courage to push the ‘submit button. But the little hit of excited dopamine made me want to do it again. Which meant more writing, more market research, more wrangling with tricky plot points…only now, that felt exciting, not overwhelming.
  • And yes, I gained renewed confidence in my ability to push through a problem in a story. (Since submitting the Little Story That Couldn’t, I have added three new scenes to my previously-stalled novel-in-progress.)

Shout Into The Void

When writers tell you not to fear rejection it’s not just because acceptance is a numbers game1.

It’s also because pushing yourself to finish the story, polish the story, take a chance on showing it to someone…all these things make you uncomfortable and it is in the discomfort that we grow.

Submitting stories isn’t the only way to force yourself to stretch, and grow as a writer, and next week I’ll send you some other ideas on how you can push yourself to grow as a writer.

But I hope you push yourself to do something that feels like ‘shouting into the void’ in your writing life, this month…because you never know what you’ll hear in the echo.

storyaday graphic divider

Until next time: here’s a new episode of the podcast, talking about this story; the fine line between ‘excuses’ and ‘reasons’; and a writing prompt centered around holidays. Check out the podcast, here.

Keep writing,

Julie

P. S. Need more practice writing stories you can send out into the void? Consider the StoryAWeek newsletter: 52 weekly lessons and writing prompts. Find out more.

  1. Assuming you are a halfway decent writer, the more stories you send out, the more likely you are to hear a ‘yes’ ↩︎

How a “No Thanks” Got Me Writing Again – Podcast

No, really?

Listen to the Audio

Watch now

Watch the video

A story got accepted… and another came back not accepted — and I’m weirdly thrilled. Here’s why embracing rejection can strengthen your consistent writing habits,

PLUS: a holiday writing prompt to keep you writing in December.

Links:

StoryADay Podcast episode 109: https://storyaday.org/episode109

The 3-Day Challenge: https://storyaday.org/3dc

Transcript

Resources & Next Steps:

Build your writing practice with the Handbook : https://storyaday.org/challenge-handbook

Join the Superstars Group: Join the StoryADay Superstars for year-round support

Take the 3-Day Challenge

What if Your Writing Could Help Somebody?

No, really?

Listen to the Audio

Watch now

Watch the video

This week I’m sharing a surprising example of how writing (and writers) can help people in the real world, inspired by a project announced by Brandon Sanderson. It leads to one clear lesson about what it actually takes to build a sustainable writing life — especially if you want to write consistently, keep your momentum, and grow beyond the “solitary writer” myth.

Plus: a quick writing prompt about conflict you can use right away.

Transcript

Resources & Next Steps:

Build your writing practice with the Handbook : https://storyaday.org/challenge-handbook

Join the Superstars Group: Join the StoryADay Superstars for year-round support

Take the 3-Day Challenge

What Would You Do With Fortune & Fame?

Why do YOU want to write?

What if your writing could really help someone?

This week I became aware of a project from fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson: a “challenge coin” offered freely to anyone struggling with depression, that a,  is a beautiful collectible item and b, contains a QR code link to resources to help people with mental health issues.

(You can find out more here. If you are someone who deals with depression, you can get the coin for free. If you just like Brandon Sanderson and want to support his work—or collect All The Things—you can buy a coin there, too. There is no ‘test’. You are invited to self-select.)

The Arts As Their Own Reward? Yes, and…

I’m a big fan of encouraging people to write for it’s own sake: for the rewards you get from the process.

But that doesn’t mean I think you’re somehow ‘selling out’ if you want to make a living from your craft. 

In fact, if that’s your path, I hope you make a fortune from your writing.

I think writers are exactly the kind of people who should be successful and rich.

Brandon Sanderson is an example of how that success can look, in the hands of someone who spends all their time thinking hard about what makes humans tick (i.e. a writer).

Do The Work

Dreams of fame and fortune, and all the good you’ll do with them, are lovely, and can be inspiring in the tough times, when you’re starting at the fourth revision of a manuscript, wondering if you’re making it better or worse.

But you still have to do the work. 

Sanderson didn’t become rich and successful on the strength of having written one book. He writes a LOT. Obsessively, in fact. 

You do not have to write obsessively in order to become successful–there are plenty of examples of people who have a slightly more balanced approach and still do fine–but you do have to write.

  • Actually-Writing,
  • Really-Revising,
  • Courageously-Engaging with the publishing industry/readers,

These must be serious activities for you, if you want success as a writer.

Don’t Go It Alone

Another lesson from Sanderson that I’ve noticed over the years is that he doesn’t try to do it alone. 

  • He worked to develop his own style, but then he went to conferences to learn the business.
  • He formed a podcast with other writers, to share what they knew with the community of writer-admirers. 
  • He formed a company to deal the the growing business demands of being a prolific and successful author.
  • In his announcement about the challenge coins I noticed a lot of ‘we’ language.
  • He came up with the idea, but it was clear that there’s a team behind him coming up with smart ideas (like: what should go into the resource page; what to do about the tension between their desire to give them away to people who need them and also satisfy people who just wanted the coins because they’re collectors…)

The myth of the solitary writers is just that…a myth.

The only stories about solitary writers I can think of are stories that don’t end happily. Any successful, modern author’s ‘acknowledgments’ section runs to several pages.

How We Do It

Here in StoryADay-land, we get together to write every May: taking on a huge, ridiculous challenge, just to see what we’re made of. We post about our successes and our less-than-successes. We share and commiserate.

And we do workshops and hangout and co-working writing dates together, because doing this together is just way more fun. And more sustainable.

I hope you have a supportive community of writers around you.

And if not, keep your eye on your inbox for an invitation to join us for an end-of-year get together for the StoryADay community, that will also help you plan for a 2026 you can be excited about.

A Fun Thought Experiment

What would you do with your fame and fortune if you made it big? Leave a comment and let us know!

Keep writing,

Julie

P. S. Need more practice turning everyday moments into key scenes in your stories? Consider the StoryAWeek newsletter: 52 weekly lessons and writing prompts. Find out more.