What I'm Thankful for in 2024
Looking back on a productive year
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Dear Reader,
This going to be a short email as I’m hard at work on my next two monthly update emails for December and January 1st, respectively. They are difficult ones to write. One of them helps me reflect and appreciate all that I’ve accomplished this year, especially in a time when I seem to always wonder, “have I done enough?” I am always putting myself down and then I get stark reminders that I did more than many fiction writers. I have truly amazed myself. And perhaps you are not surprised. You, who have been here all year watching/reading everything I’ve churned out. Thanks, by the way.
Then, after all the tears and reflections on my past work (and what is till yet to come in these remaining two months), I have to switch my thinking to a brand new year. I get to think about what worked in 2024 and therefore it stays, versus what didn’t work or was simply a distraction and therefore it goes. Never an easy decision to make. The pen and paper comes out and I start scribbling my lists. One day I think something works and was good for me. Then other days I realize that very same thing, in fact, didn’t work, if I’m being honest with myself, and so it must go. To this day I am wondering if I’ve made the right decisions about my goals for the new year. To this day I am equally sure and unsure of my decisions. But, I guess, that is what the year is all about. Starting out on one path and ending on another.
One constant on my path are my 100 word stories. They remain regardless of what else or ailments should befall me. Taking 10 minutes out of my busy day to write 100 words has never seemed an issue for me. It’s something I can do anywhere and so long as I have access to my phone and the internet I have no excuse for keeping up with my delivery streak. I am more than halfway towards my goal of 1,000 stories in a row with no plans on stopping just yet…
Which leads me to what I am thankful for this year. A list that comes together just as the haze of sickness that has surrounded me for what seems like over a month has finally lifted.
Family - my son is funny and smart and even now, at 6am when I was hoping to get an hour to write this before I have to start my day, I hear him singing the ABC’s loudly and proudly from his room!
Work - I am still shocked and amazed that I get to work from home and have done so since the height of the pandemic. One positive that came out of that.
4 Published Book! - Yes, I published four books this year. Admittedly, I did a piss-poor job of promoting this fact and so my sales are surely not what they could’ve been had I put more thought into this plan, but that is besides the point. They are out there and that is what matters.
Community - It’s a funny thing to consider, “community.” At one time in my younger life (of which I am thankful that I was born just before things like the internet and cellphones were a thing children had access to) community were those people you saw everyday and said “hi” to in passing while you went to the grocery store. Today, I haven’t been inside a grocery store in I can’t tell you how many years and the people I say “hi” to I’ve never met in my real life! But they are my community. Both total strangers and yet there when I am in need of support and encouragement. A community that grows with new people every day. A community of people from all over the world, which, when you think about it, means that at any given time of the day the community is there whenever needed. What a wonderful time to be alive!
Nostalgia - There are too many “new” shows, for me. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with the options of what I haven’t seen that I much rather spend my time on what I know, what I’ve seen already. The art of the rewatch can be both comforting and enlightening as well. The ability to rewatch a show I can recall watching in my youth and having a deeper understanding of it has been amazing. I don’t feel I’m missing out by choosing not to watch the new show that “everyone” is talking about. I’m much more at home watching Star Trek Voyager, I Love Lucy, Murder, She Wrote!, etc.
Morning Brew - No, this isn’t some sort of paid advertising. They didn’t ask me to write this or anything. If you’re not familiar, Morning Brew is a daily email I receive that encapsulates all sorts of news into one easily read. I have to admit, that one of the drawbacks about leaving all of social media behind me, especially Twitter (yes, I know their name now), meant losing access to what was “trending” and knowing that whatever was trending was, essentially the news of the day for me. When a celebrity died or some tech news broke, it was on Twitter that I would learn about it. Granted, by my daily emails it means I’m losing the ability to know the minute something happens, but I consider that a good thing. I don’t fret over “news” anymore like I used to. Leaves my mind open and receptive to the world happening around me. And every morning, for a few minutes, I read my Morning Brew and the important things I missed from the day before are relayed to me. If you feel like your life is ruled by news, might I suggest signing up for Morning Brew. It’s a bit of everything all in one place. They also have emails that are specific to different things that you might want to get a deeper dive in as well!
Fiction Writing Month - November is typically NaNoWriMo and though it seems that name is tainted it doesn’t mean the concept can’t be taken and used for the reason it was originally intended. To that end I hope to do my own version right here. If you want to receive these daily emails in November, update your subscription to select Fiction Writing Month.
My goes is to write something every day that isn’t my 100 word stories. I want the word count to be around 1,000 words each day but I don’t like to set myself up for failure so I’m going to just try and make sure I write something. I have a few ideas as to what I might write but more on that tomorrow.
When do you begin your reflections? When do you start thinking about your goals (or some call them resolutions)? Perhaps you’ve already started or you don’t like to do it until the very end of the year? I often find that when we choose to do something is just as important as why we do them or what we’ve decided.
Also, how do you go about doing your reflections and deciding your goals? Are you a pen and paper person, like me, or do you jot this all down in a Note on your phone? For me, writing something down in my own hand feels different and makes it a more personal decision I’m making. It’s not like a grocery list, of which I have dozens on my phone. No, this is a list that deserves to be treated most carefully. Crossing out. Underlined. ALL CAPITALIZED! Etc.