Wrapping Up the Creative Year
2024 is slipping out the door and it’s a good time to reflect on what you accomplished (or perhaps didn’t). I don’t know about you, but there are a lot of things that I intended to do but never got around to. I wanted to finish a book (nope). I wanted to clean out all my old project files, scan the stuff that was necessary and put them on a storage drive (started, but didn’t finish). I wanted to write a spec script (no to that as well). There are several books I purchased and still haven’t read and some podcasts that I downloaded and never listened to. I bought a bunch of paint and resin and canvases and watercolor paper but I did not sit down and take the online tutorials or put in the time practicing techniques.
Listing and highlighting the things we didn’t achieve tends to make us feel like we’ve failed in our creative endeavors, but I’m going to make a case for why it’s important to take a hard look at our ‘un-accomplishments.’ But first, let’s look at what we did do.
Most creative people are not just creative in one discipline. I write screenplays and books for a living, but I also paint in various mediums, cook, and bake. All serve as creative outlets for me. So while I didn’t finish the book I was writing or the spec script, I did direct a movie for Lifetime Network, published 43 Substack articles this year (with a couple more to come), gave a webinar, learned how to make paella and gazpacho (inspired by my trip to Seville in August), and learned several new cake decorating techniques.
Even though I didn’t get my old projects organized, scanned, and tucked away on a storage drive, I did manage to delete enough emails to keep from having to buy more storage from google and cleared everything off of my computer and onto drives.
Several of the books I purchased are still stacked on my desk, unread, but I did read three books and lots and lots of scripts from consulting clients.
And all of these things, even if they aren’t the exact things I set as my goals, count. Each screenplay and book helped me become a better writer and each time the piping on one of my cakes was inconsistent, I learned how to correct that and improve my technique. Every ounce of research I put in for my Substack articles and webinars and notes for future projects made me a little bit smarter.
Instead of looking at our creative endeavors as a litany of projects to be checked off a list, let’s start viewing them as a bucket to be filled. Every creative thing we do adds to that bucket: poetry, reading, writing, photography, drawing, dancing, composing music, baking, cooking, painting, sculpting, designing, researching, scrapbooking, quilting, sewing, crocheting, traveling, even socializing adds to the bucket, filling it up inch by inch until we are creatively satiated.
Creative endeavors, regardless of the size, inspire more of the same. Don’t discount the creative things you’re doing every day, either for work or fun, because they absolutely make a difference. And if you’re not doing something creative every day, you’re cheating yourself out of inspiration. It can be as simple as trying a recipe that includes ingredients you’ve never bought before or putting together a photo collage for your holiday cards.
There may be times when you feel these things are pulling you away from your bigger creative goals—your true goals. But they aren’t. The time you spend strumming your guitar and coming up with a tune isn’t keeping you from finishing the half-finished canvas that’s still sitting on your easel. You would not have spent those minutes and hours painting instead. You would have done something else, and perhaps something that wasn’t creative at all.
You didn’t finish the painting because you’re not ready to finish it. Perhaps you aren’t feeling inspired, or perhaps you’re not happy with what you’ve done so far (if that’s the case, check out my article Imposter Syndrome and the Problem of the Perfect Circle), or maybe you just need some creative variety in your life right now. Maybe you haven’t yet collected the experience or knowledge you need to sail into the next step of that bigger project.
It's okay.
It’s okay to stop writing a book or screenplay half way through and start a new one. It’s okay to put a canvas or a sculpture aside and begin something entirely different. It’s okay to not finish a book that isn’t grabbing you or to spend the day just listening to music, researching facts, or watching other people decorate cakes.
When you list the creative things you didn’t accomplish but wanted to, it’s because you weren’t ready to. But when you collectively add up all the creative splashes into the bucket, you came closer. You’re closer now to accomplishing those things than you were one year ago.
That is if you still want to accomplish them. You might not. That list can change at any time. Maybe you bought an out-of-print Japanese cookbook at Book-Off for one dollar (like I did), tried a few recipes, and now regularly make dengaku eggplant (like I do). Maybe learning more about Japanese cooking became more interesting than mastering wet on wet watercolor techniques (at least for now).
Maybe that big creative project you wanted to accomplish will be altered, or even abandoned, because you’ve added to your creative repertoire and have become a more creatively robust person.
The bottom line here is that you didn’t fail if you didn’t accomplish everything you wanted to. Your un-accomplishments can give you some insight into what’s no longer inspiring you.
It’s too often that we hold on to things we no longer enjoy because they were useful at one time (Marie Kondo will back me up on this). But like clothing and relationships, we can also outgrow our creative pursuits. And when we do, it means we’ve grown into something else—even if we haven’t quite found it yet.
By taking a hard look at the creative pursuits we haven’t gotten around to accomplishing, we can discover two things—the ones that we aren’t quite ready to finish and find ways to get us closer; and the ones that no longer appeal to us because it’s time to move on.
Take some time to look at those creative endeavors that you don’t feel inspired to work on and let them fall away with the end of the year. Don’t put them back on your list for 2025, only to grapple with the feelings of failure they’ll bring when you don’t accomplish them next year either. Clear out the old and usher in the new. Who are you (creatively) now? What inspires you now? Set new, fresh creative goals for January and find inspiration. Start filling that bucket and see where it takes you.
On that note, if you decide that writing screenplays or prose is something that will make you feel fulfilled in the upcoming year, and want a little help getting started or getting over a hurdle, check out my end-of-year holiday gift for my subscribers.
Free subscribers.
Receive 20% off a one-hour writing coaching session. If you book and pay by December 31st, and schedule your coaching session in the month of February, you’ll receive a one-hour session for $80 (or two half-hours for $40 each).
Paid subscribers.
You already receive 10% off coaching and consulting every single day, so I’m giving you 25% off of any consulting or coaching session that is paid by December 31st and scheduled for January or February. That’s a one-hour coaching session for $75 or a feature-length script consult for $525.
If you’re interested in any of the above, please reach out to me directly at christineconradt.com/contact.
If you’re looking for a last-minute gift for a writer friend or family member, consider gifting them a paid subscription to my substack for $80. They’ll receive four articles per month, access to archived articles, 10% discounts on coaching, consulting, and webinars, and other freebies I offer throughout the year.
Christine Conradt is a writer/director/producer/author with more than 100 produced credits and three YA novels published by HarperCollins. She holds a BFA in Screenwriting and a Masters degree in Criminal Justice. You can find her work on Hallmark, Lifetime, USA Network, Amazon, Pureflix, Fox, and Showtime.