A New Year's Eve Reflection

Well, there's only a few hours left of 2013 and I'm feeling pensive, as I am prone to do on New Year's Eve.  What has this year meant to me?  Well, a lot.  I’ve lived through bad years before- 2010 stands as the worst.  And I’m grateful to have survived it because it makes years like this one stand out as really, really good by comparison.

I met a whole bunch of really amazing people in the blogosphere this year.  Largely through the A to Z challenge, but those connections led to hundreds of others.  I struggle to put into words how deeply this has affected me.  The amount of support, friendship and pure love that you all give out each and every day just stuns me.  It's one of the most nurturing communities I have ever had the privilege of being a part of and I am grateful for each and every one of you.

In addition to support this community has made me realize something.  That is that if I really wanted to, I could publish a book.

I've lived most of my life with an image of writers as famous or semi-famous pedestal dwellers.  People with multi-book contracts and agents managing book tours and fan clubs running websites devoted to them.  I.E. not REAL people.  So my dream of becoming an author was destined to remain just that- a dream.  Not something that could ever actually, you know- happen.

But the people I’ve met this year have made me realize that it can be done.  These blogging friends have full times jobs and husbands, wives, children, dogs.  They scramble to get the grocery shopping done and house clean and dinner made.  And yet, they are published authors.  Real people with real lives writing real books and putting them out for the world to read.

And they rely on the help of this fantastic community to assist them in spreading the word.  They share knowledge willingly so that other aspiring authors can avoid the mistakes they made.  They support and promote and offer critiques and host book tours and help in any way they can.  And they are amazingly nice every single step of the way.

It makes me think that if I do my part- write and edit and revise and finally birth something I want to put out into the world- they will be there to help me.  Because this community is amazing like that.

Which is why my single biggest writing goal for 2014 is to edit- in its entirety- one of my NaNo novels.  I’ve never done it before.  I used to excuse that by looking at all those famous authors I could never be.  I have no more excuses.  Thanks to you.

This year has also been a pretty big year for my career.  In July- after years of school, tens of thousands of dollars worth of student loans, more years of work, countless papers and even more after said papers were mysteriously lost in the bottom of a filing cabinet at the capitol building in Harrisburg and a whole lot of thank you notes and profuse praises for signing said papers- I FINALLY got my license.  My LPC.  The thing I’ve been working my whole damned career for.

And earlier this month that license finally landed me that really great job I’ve been fantasizing about for all these years.  I start in less than two weeks and I am so obscenely excited I struggle on a daily myself to keep myself from breaking into the Snoopy dance. 

I know that this job will be work and as such there will be a whole lot of things that I don’t like about it.  But I suspect- and I think there is real reason to suspect- that there will be a whole lot of things I do like about it.  And no matter what happens, it’s an opportunity.  I can make it great if I put in the work.  And I intend to.

On the home front, Dave and I celebrated our 8^th anniversary this year.  He is my home, pure and simple.  I cannot imagine my life without him and I hope I’ll never have to.  And our little puppy Buddy celebrated his first birthday and survived major surgery we’d been delaying for months.  It was not a fun time for him but he got through it and now he is healthy, happy and pure joy.  He makes my life better each and every day.  I am blessed.

In other areas I also experienced a lot of growth.  I took on the role of manager for our karate tournament team.  It’s an added stress, for sure, but so far it’s been pretty rewarding.  And in just a few weeks I myself will be competing in my first non-home tournament.  I’m scared silly to be honest, but I think it’s going to trigger a lot of growth in me as a martial artist.  Life is about doing the things you’re afraid to do, after all.  I look forward to the challenge.

And I couldn’t conclude my recap of the year without again celebrating the birth of my best friend’s baby daughter.  I’ve known her for years and I’ve been telling her that when she started having kids I would be fun aunt Bev.  Well, I may not be all that fun yet since all I do is hold her and coo over how cute she is, but I look forward to many years of doing awesome things with her.  (I call dibs on trick-or-treating!^_^)  Kel- you have blessed my life, simply by living the life you want.  I am and will remain incredibly grateful to you!

2014 has a lot big goals- editing a novel, starting and excelling in a new job, competing in tournaments and managing travel for the team, testing for 3^rd Dan and still making time for family and friends.  My plate will be full and I know it will be a challenge to utilize my time the right way.  But I am up the challenge.  2014 is going to ROCK!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!  I wish you joy, love, prosperity and growth in everything you do and I look forward to sharing in those successes- both yours and mine- together.  Thank you.