Wrapping Up a Creative Year

Reflecting on the creative year and thinking about 2024

Dec 22, 2023

This snapshot of your creative year and of what you value, what you tried, what you explored, what you discovered, what stood out, and what you loved… can be a wonderful freeze-frame to look back on later and to compare with other years.

I’ve shared year-end wrap-up questions, an informal “sketchnote your year” challenge, and planning questions for the new year on the Creativity Matters Podcast site for many years.

These “wrap up the year” posts are specifically geared at helping you look back and reflect on your creative year. Many people do more general year-end refection, but I find it really important and meaningful to take an overall look at how I spent my year in terms of my creative life. The questions encourage you to take stock of the numbers, of the projects, of what worked and what you enjoyed, learned, and explored, and then think about what you want to include in your creative mix moving into the new year.

This is the first year I have shared these on the substack instead of the podcast site. I am approaching my one-year mark writing the Illustrated Life substack, and part of my own year-end reflection will certainly swirl around fact, this pivot, and this space where I have been showing up every Sunday, my heart on the page.

I know there are myriad year-end prompt sets, but I also know some people return to these year after year. I hope you find these helpful.

Amy

This post is part of a year-end/New Year set that includes year-end reflectio n, a year-end sketchnote, and planning questions for the new year.

Taking Time to Reflect on the Creative Year that Was—2023

Year-End Creative Life Review for 2023 questions

I have been posting these questions yearly – and using them myself – for several years. (Much of this post, I resurface each year.)

By leaving the questions the same year after year, I now have a running file that lets me see the yearly responses together. It is easy to see if and how my responses have changed, how I continue to change as a creative individual, as an artist, a writer, and a podcaster.

(Tip: keep a copy in Notion, Evernote, a Google doc, or your favorite text editor so you can add to it each year. I probably will move all of my responses into a Notion database at some point.)

Why Do a “Creative Year” Review?

I think it is important to do a creative year-end review in addition to any other regular life year-end review you do. Much of my day-to-day stays the same, but my creative life, crammed into the margins of my work and responsibilities, is always in play, always unfolding, always shifting. There are always pages being filled, series being started, projects being considered, and rabbit holes being explored.

My creative life is a major part of the story I tell to myself and about myself. This year-end review reminds me that I am living my values through my creative work. I am growing as a calmer, wiser, more mindful individual, and that shows in how I approach my creative life and the creative work I do. I am continuing to push the work I am doing, continuing to build skill, and continuing to grow and evolve. I may not have a bunch of things to record in a traditional year-end review, but my creative year-end review will be full.

This snapshot of your creative year and of what you valued, what you tried, what you explored, what you discovered, what stood out, and what you loved can be a wonderful freeze-frame to look back on later and to compare with other years.

I do a Year-End Sketchnote alongside this creative year-end review. If I had to choose just one of these projects, I would choose the sketchnote, so if you are up for the challenge, I encourage you to try it! But these two work together. Answering the short year-end questions can help as you gather details for a summary sketchnote. The year-end review questions are simple, straightforward, and take far less time. Both parts of the equation have meaning and can help you feel like you’ve closed things out, taken an overall look at the year as a whole, and are ready to move into a new year.

It is easy, especially when we work on ongoing projects like Illustrate Your Week or hop from series to series or monthly challenge to monthly challenge, to just have days roll into weeks into months and then years without having a sense of the “big picture,” of the year as a distinct unit.

Every creative year has its own highs and lows, its own flavor, its own collection of projects and interests and rabbit holes. Seeing those together on a page can be incredibly satisfying.

At a high level:

What would the snow globe view of this creative year look like? (There is a 2021 Snowglobe episode that ties in with this question – Episode 457.)
If you pulled out 12 creative life examples (maybe one from each month or else just 12 that stand out) and made a small time capsule of your year, what would they be?
What did this year tell you about who you are and who you want to be in terms of the artist within you?

My goal with questions like the ones that make up this “creative year-end review” is both a summary of my creative self in this year that is drawing to a close and a set of answers that I can look at and compare to last year and then to next year. I also use some of my answers in thinking about my new year and any creative goals or hopes I have for the new year.

The questions below represent the list I started using in 2017 for my creative end-of-year review. (The image version at the top of this post is a very streamlined and pared-down version of this same set of questions, increased along the way from 20 to 22. Use whichever version of the list (text or image) works best for you!)

2023 Creative Year-End Review

(Answer all questions in terms of your creative year.)

What was your word for the year? (Did you track it? Did you celebrate it in any way? In what way did the word turn out to be good or not quite right for you this year?)
What creative goals did you have for the year? (How did they go?)
Where did you focus your (creative) energies in terms of medium or type of art?
What big (creative) projects or challenges did you undertake during the year? (How did they go?) (Things like ICAD, Inktober, a 100 Days Project, or #IllustrateYourWeek might go here.)
What themes or subjects did you explore throughout the year?
What was your favorite (creative) piece/project this year? (Be specific. Make a short list if necessary.)
What was your favorite (creative) tool this year?
What was your favorite color or palette this year?
What was your favorite (creative) discovery this year?
What books made a difference in your creative life this year? (You might also answer this question for video channels, podcasts, substacks, or blogs.)
What classes or workshops did you take this year?
What is your favorite social media stream for your creative pursuits and connections? Why?
How do you validate your creative self or keep yourself accountable?
What changes did you make this year in support of your creativity?
What do you wish you had done more of (creatively)?
What (creative) project have you put off that you really want to do?
What does your (creative) life look like?
What do you wish your (creative) life looked like?
How did you do this year with sharing your work?
What made you happy?
What was the biggest hurdle?
What was most meaningful?

It’s worth taking the time to answer these kinds of questions, to reflect briefly on the year and wrap it up so to speak before you move on to 2024.

Happy Year End

I love the image in my head of people who take a stack of letters at the end of a year and wrap them up and tie them in a bundle, carefully labeled maybe with a small hang tag, and add them to a stack. The process of stopping and focusing on this year as a whole has the potential to help bring some closure, some insight, and some greater awareness of your creative life.

🎯 The Sketchnote Your Year information is available.

🎯 The “2024 planning” questions will be posted next week.

P.S. Episode 434 is related to this process. If you are working on year-end things and reflecting on the year that has been, you might enjoy it!