Happy 2017 everyone! This post marks the 20^th post (not counting the two “About” pages)! When starting the blog in July 2015, I did not expect to rediscover my interests in writing. I initially only intended to use it as a platform to mentor more international students and share my successes and pitfalls. At the beginning, I had a lot of doubts, because I was not sure what traction my blog would receive and if it would be worth the effort. As I wrote more, I found myself enjoying the process so much that I am now simply writing to stay happy. 🙂 My love for words is getting so strong that I plan to blog with a stronger focus on writing quality in 2017.

Before covering the 2017 blogging goals, I want to do a quick recap of the posts in 2016. A few highlights in 2016 include collaborating with Jessica of Pretty Prints and Paper when we shared each other’s posts that centered on job search and receiving a shout-out from my college professor on Twitter and Linkedin (I follow his Phil’s Career Blog religiously). The most popular post is Podcast and Small Talk, probably because this topic applies to both students and young professionals. In 2017, I hope to include more topics for these audiences. My personal favorites are Networking Hack #2 and FOMO and 20 Slots. Even though neither fares as well in readership, both topics involve important discoveries for me, especially the latter. Maybe I will rewrite them someday using a different approach.

For 2017, I have set three blogging goals, in content, critique, and publishing frequency. First of all, be a better storyteller. In the past, I wrote a lot of practical “how-to” posts on networking, interviewing, and finding job opportunities. They were logical with concrete actions. On a few writings I shared with my friends, one feedback I received is that the words missed some passion. This year, I will write more personal stories that read less like a manual and are more emotionally engaging.

Second, get more writing critique. Whenever I ask someone else to read my writing, I always learn a lot.  Apart from the “emotion” feedback, another feedback is that I often write longer sentences with independent and dependent clauses, making it harder to grasp the ideas. I definitely agree with such observation. I sometimes even catch myself do the same thing when talking and end up losing my train of thought. In 2017, I intend to solicit feedback more frequently and focus on not only content but also sentence structure and grammar. Through Googling, I find that Houston has quite a few writing groups that meet regularly to provide critique. I plan to check out these meetings sometime!

Third, write at least 12 posts. I published 9 posts in 2015 and 10 posts in 2016. I took a writing break from March through May in 2016, partially due to some loss of writing motivation. Fortunately, I found renewed energy after reading Elizabeth Gilbert‘s Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, the story and details of which I will share at a post this year. As much as I enjoy blogging, it is only a hobby and I have other competing priorities. As a result, I am changing my publishing commitment from every other week to monthly. So far I am one post behind!

Thanks to blogging, I have developed the habit of constantly evaluating writing topics, which makes me more self-aware and reflective. I do not think I will have any problem picking 12 topics for 2017, from the growing list of 15+ draft ideas. A lot of the ideas involve personal stories, so it will be a fun challenge to take on this year. In the end, I would like to thank you all for the support you gave me since 2015 summer. Thank you for signing up on email subscriptions. Thank you for sharing my posts with others. Thank you for providing me feedback, leaving comments, and inspiring me with more ideas. I am super excited for 2017!