As 2016 draws to a close, we find ourselves looking not only towards a brighter 2017 but also upon that progress that we have made this year as writers, as a team and as human beings. Below are our reflections.

Claire: Dealing with the classism that I used to perpetuate while also barely making rent. I challenged myself by reading a lot of articles. I’ve grown to like writing more, and am starting to think about a book of cool art stories. My goals are to get into grad school and then enjoy it more than I did undergrad

Tiffany: This endeavour has always been about making art accessible, bringing it out of classrooms in ivory towers and into the “real world”. This year has been a whirlwind and I’ve definitely tried to challenge myself to write about art we never covered in school using the skills that we did. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it resulted in paralyzing writers’ block. Since I focused primarily on American art as part of my degree, I’ve been grappling with the American Identity and what our art says about who we are in the last few months, what we choose to value and what/who we do not. It is absolutely an evolving and dynamic investigation. Looking into next year, I hope to be writing more consistently and more boldly. Now more than ever, we need to be viewing the world with a critical eye and push for nuanced conversations over sensationalist clickbait. I’m glad to have you along for the journey.

Katie : 2016 has been my first full year out of college, and it has been an interesting one to say the least. I’ve realized that there is a stark difference between 22 year-old me and 23 year-old me. I spent the first half of the year freaking out about being an adult. So far, my entire life has been building up to this moment where I truly start working towards the career and life I want and it’s scary when you transition into that ‘make or break’ period. I know I want to write, and I’ve spent 2016 moving from writing job to writing job trying to figure out what type of writing makes me the happiest. It’s an interesting process, one filled with dread and despair, but eventually leading to enlightenment. I wrote blog posts for a marketing startup, I wrote a few episodes for an established children’s television show, I write for the Female Gaze, and I write grants for a non-profit. So I’ve dipped my toe in a few different realms of writing this year, and thus have determined what I do and don’t want to write about. My experiences in 2016, including the film reflections I’ve done for The Female Gaze, have taught me that I am happiest when I write/write about creative stories. What form will that be in? Screenplays, books, short stories, blog posts? I don’t know, so I guess that’s for 2017 to determine.

Catherine: This year, 2016, has definitely brought unexpected twists and turns. In terms of this blog, I have struggled with writer’s block and figuring out what I want to say, either from the topic to start with, or the overall point I want readers to take with them by the end. I have also had to step away from the blog more than I would have liked to give myself time to work towards other life goals. Going forward to 2017, I am going to strive to better plan my time so I can write more consistently here. I love that I have this as a creative, intellectual outlet. So, I am going to push myself to tackle new topics and go out of my comfort zone more. I want to see this blog flourish, so I need to continue growing as a writer to help see where we can take this.

Kathryn G.: For me, 2016 has been a lot about trying new things and moving forward in terms of my goals of working in the arts and applying to graduate school (which is where most of my energy is going). As a writer here, I’ve been able to develop various ideas that came out of past research as well as produce a few posts based on current projects. But a blog still feels like a new mode of writing for me, so my goals for 2017 are to experiment more in my writing and to explore more current topics in the arts.