Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

What did I actually write?

Writer’s Log: 2024 in Review

And what a year it has been.

My final Writer’s Log of 2024 is going to be a fairly traditional look back over my writing in the past 12 months. The numbers will vary a little from those published in the First Year Review as that spans December 19^th to December 19^th whereas these are all about 2024.

Articles

I’m really pleased to have written so many articles, 30 including this one in total this year. The majority of those are my Writer’s Logs (21).  

My Writer’s Logs are among the most popular articles on my site. They are my personal log detailing my writing journey and all its ups and downs.

The most views and likes shares the same log, ‘Plans, plots and the journey ahead.’ That particular log had me looking forward to the end of my consultancy job and eagerly anticipating the switch of my career to writing.

The article with the best engagement score is also a Writer’s Log, and that is ‘A Novel Hangover.’ That one detailed my finishing my novel and trying to write afterwards felt like a struggle.  

My personal favourite is the article ‘Are trigger warnings necessary?‘ which takes a look at my journey with trigger warnings from not thinking about them very much at all to now always including and doing my best to be kind and respectful to those who may have trauma issues – including myself!

As a sidenote I also wrote 22 professional articles this year all published on LinkedIn, in addition to those published here.

Reviews

I have done a lot of reviews this year, more than I would have anticipated. It will be 26 in total counting these final days of 2024, which will include another What If review.

Many are Star Wars or Marvel based which is not too surprising given that Star Wars and the Marvel films and shows are among my favourite things to watch.

There are not many likes or comments at all on my reviews so the scores are tied for most likes and engagement score so I split these in the picture scorecard between ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ and ‘Skeleton Crew, Episode 4.’

Unsurprisingly given its popularity, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ has the most views by a large margin at 75.

My favourite thing to review in 2024 was Agatha All Along, although Skeleton Crew has been giving it some competition in the closing weeks.

Poetry

One of the best things about having my own site has been rediscovering my poetry. While there is only a small number, 9, compared to the other categories, I’m immensely proud that there is even that many.

The poem with the most views is ‘Flesh and Blood’ which I wrote in the wake of HRH The Princess of Wales’ cancer announcement, which in itself came on the heels of over a month of online trolling/bullying, even though she was recovering from major surgery. This is also the poem with the most likes.

The poem with the best engagement score is ‘And I would walk.’ This is my personal favourite of the poems I’ve published this year. Written after rewatching the hilarious story of Rory Reid’s feud with the cat Mark Dennis on Would I Lie To You, I just enjoy the heck out of it.

Fiction

I am thrilled that I wrote 5 original works this year, although only 3 are published. The novel is one of the others of course, and I have another short story in a competition currently.

Of the 3 published, ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ did the best in likes and engagement score, but ‘The Case of the Vengeful Ghost’ had the most views.

My personal favourite is actually the least popular, ‘The Case of the Missing Witch,’ mostly because I pantsed that whole plot on the fly as I was writing as I learned my characters and understood them better.

Fanfiction

This year has been the most fanfiction I’ve published in some time with 20 stories published, 1 WIP as part of Evil Author’s Day.

Unsurprisingly, ‘A Jump to the Left,’ the follow-up to ‘A Step to the Right,’ was the most viewed story and received the most likes and comments. It is also a major achievement for me personally to have continued the series. I’ve had it as a goal to complete for a few years now and getting it done feels tremendous.

The story with the best engagement score though is ‘The Do-Over,’ a recent Downton Abbey story. I got really into Downton Abbey this year, and fell in love with Thomas Barrow. Another of the stories I wrote in this fandom was a contender for my personal favourite, ‘The Murder at the Abbey.’ I loved the pairing and the murder mystery in that story.

I also considered ‘We Will Meet Again,’ a Stargate time travel fic, as another favourite. I love the fandom, Sam/Jack is one of my OTPs, and I adore all the characters. I was disappointed not to finish up Season 8 of Aftershocks this year and that will be a focus next year.

The stories which I ended up choosing as my personal favourites are the Married To fics I wrote in the NCIS fandom, ‘Married to the Mob,’ and ‘Married to Justice.’ An AU where Tony joined the FBI, I love the universe and Tony in it. I may well write a third story in 2025.

I am hoping to get one final fanfiction over the line this year – fingers crossed!

Final Thoughts

I have loved spending my time writing in 2024 whether it has been stories, reviews, articles, or poetry.

I’m looking forward to doing even more in 2025! I’ll be posting up a look forward on New Year’s Day.

End Note: Please like, comment or share if you enjoyed this writer’s log!