This has been a year of both personal growth and some setbacks.
Let’s get the negative stuff out of the way first:
I developed another skin cancer, but on the upside I caught it early and so removal was still simple and effective. Curse my pale and freckly skin; why couldn’t I have inherited some of the olive skin genes that float in the family gene pool?
I still don’t have a full time job. However, I did get some part-time work as an actual content writer. Thank you Discovery Campervans!
My cat, Miss Josephine, passed away at eighteen years of age. There is no upside to that.
I suffered a minor setback in my emotional health, which saw me retreat from socializing in the Steampunk Community for a few months. I am recovering my confidence.
So, now for the positive:
First up: the Steampunk Charity Ball. We raised nearly $5000 for the Queensland Cancer Council. (Ironic that I had a cancer this year, is it not?) Of everything I accomplished this year, this makes me the proudest. People had fun. We built up good community feeling within the Steampunk community in Southeast Queensland. And I became an official Steampunk Ghostbuster. The picture accompanying this article is of James Murray and me, at the ball.
My writing has been going very well. My editing has been slow. My New Year resolution is to focus more on my editing skills, so see that reflected in this blog.
Online: I wanted to increase my presence as a science blogger online, and managed to score a spot with paper Droids (Geek Culture for Women). I started blogging more regularly here, on this blog, and I like the way this blog is shaping up. It helps my focus on my writing, and I hope it is helping other people. My Facebook site is still going well.
Submissions: I am pleased to say that I have been submitting short stories to market all year. And even though none were accepted, I have received excellent feedback. The goal for the coming year is to up my submission schedule.
Writing Career: I actually got a paid writing gig as a content writer! I find that incredibly encouraging. Hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, will be reading MY prose online. And do you know what helped me get that job – THIS BLOG! I proved I could show up every day and write creatively. So never think that blogging is just writing an online diary. You are reaching other people in unexpected ways.
Thank you for taking this journey with me. I hope you were entertained (and maybe educated) by this blog over this past year. And so raise a toast to the old year, and another for all the possibilities the new year will provide.