Final Reflections on 2013

The dust has settled on our move. Our stuff is unpacked. The empty boxes have all been thrown away. We still need to put up our artwork, and there are a few pieces of furniture we’ll need to purchase over time. Essentially, we’re still getting settled in, and I’m in the process of figuring out what our new normal is. Through the din, though, I can hear my creative side, stifled for so many months, clamoring to be let out.

Now seems as good a time as any to get back to my blog, and to reflect on what has so recently passed.

As we neared the end of 2013, before I found out that we were moving, I’d been feeling like it had been a year where not much had happened. I’d started to worry that perhaps I was running in place, that I hadn’t accomplished much. An actual reflection on the year proved this to be untrue: my mother’s estate closed after nearly two years; we paid off two cars; we weathered a small financial crisis; I got my first rejection from a publisher; and I wrote a lot, even if I didn’t finish most of what I started.

In short, it was a pretty busy year.

Even so, as December came to a close, I would catch myself secretly wishing for a shake-up of the status quo. I was yearning for something big to change. Then, out of the blue, a job opportunity arose for my husband and the next thing I knew, we were moving halfway across the country (again). I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Nearly all of our moves have happened this quickly. Yet I still feel a bit shell shocked by it all. While I might have been looking for a big change, I wasn’t exactly hoping that everything would change. “Be careful what you wish for” indeed.

Still, what’s done is done, and I don’t feel bad about it. I’m optimistic. I believe that this move will ultimately prove to be the right one for us. And while I might not be ready to jump head first into making a new life here – all of the starting over has, quite frankly, left me rather fatigued – I am ready to jump head first into something else: publishing.

I feel that 2014 is the year to finally get my novels out there, even if I have to do it myself. I’m tired of letting my fears (of rejection, of criticism, etc.) hold me back. So while I’ll continue writing, I’m going to start putting a website together, and seeking an editor, and a cover artist. I’m going to get this stuff figured out because it’s well past time that I do. If no one buys my books, I’m sure I’ll be disappointed. How could I not be? But I think that being disappointed in that way would be better than being disappointed in myself for never trying.

Wish me luck! I have no idea what I'm doing, so if you have any advice, feel free to give it to me. And while you're here, why don't you tell me how 2013 went for you?