2015: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Goodbye, 2015. You were a great year, and a terrible year for me and mine. In some ways, I will remember you fondly; in others, I'll be happy to see you go.

2015 was painful in that I lost people I loved. I know it's the way of the world, but it doesn't make it any less terrible when the moment comes. All in all, in the second half of 2015, I lost six people in my family. I felt the last one the most. My Uncle George was one of the giants of my childhood and cancer came for him with quick and angry claws, snatching him away before I could get north to say goodbye in person. I still feel hollow from the loss.

2015 was difficult in terms of personal health. I seemed to spend way more of the year fighting "something" than in other years. No one big illness, thank goodness. No hospital stays or broken or sprained things, but lots of weakened days, and more missed school than in recent memory.

2015 was overwhelming. Adding book promotion to an already full schedule of teaching, mom-ing, wife-ing, and writing was well, whew!  It was a change akin to adding a child to my life in terms of all the adjustment required. It will definitely be important for me to keep working on balance of all these different things in the new year. In fact, the whole year flew by in a blur.

But, 2015 was also the year that my first book made it into print. Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel has done pretty well for a book by some woman no one has ever heard of. It's been in and out of the top 100 superhero novels several times in its first eight months out there in the world, and sold enough copies to let me spoil my family a little during winter holidays. That felt good because I've really had to lean on them to make all this work!

It's leading to new opportunities, too. I've already been to one con (Atomacon!) as a guest author and will attend my second in January (Illogicon). I've been invited to contribute to blogs, podcasts, radio shows, and anthologies. 2016 is a horizon full of promise. Here's hoping for smooth sailing into those seas! Happy New Year!