As usual, as December draws to a close, I’ve spent much of the past few days reflecting on the year we’re saying goodbye to. I can’t imagine I’m alone when admitting I am very ready for 2018 to be over. And yet–for all that was hard and trying and just plain bad about this year, there is plenty I am fortunate for. Even some of the bad.
In 2018, I . . .
- sold a new book (okay, technically, my awesome agent Katie Grimm did, but you catch my drift)
- revised that book, as well as another that’s in the pipeline behind it
- read 202 books:
- 33 adult
- 119 middle grade
- 50 YA
- many, many picture books (I don’t track those on Goodreads, alas)
- blurbed a fantastic forthcoming (fall 2019) middle grade novel
- started a new middle grade WIP, set in Cincinnati and the world of college basketball, told in alternating POV from two girls whose fathers are rival college basketball coaches
- volunteered with the ACLU for the midterm elections and discovered my love of text-banking
- made new friends in Cincinnati
- followed along in sheer joy (and until 3 am on one night) as my beloved Boston Red Sox won it all
- sobbed in a fetal position on the couch as my beloved University of Cincinnati Bearcats (a #2 seed) somehow lost a game in which they held a 22-point lead in the first weekend of March Madness, ending the big hopes that I and many other Bearcats fans had for them
- discovered that anything that could make me that sad had a book somewhere in it, and started writing that as a way to heal my March Madness wounds (see above!)
- became a season ticket holder for the Bearcats men’s basketball team
- met two of my favorite Bearcats in person
- recognized that we’re all works-in-progress and started therapy again (not Bearcats-related, I swear, though at least I’ll have a safe space to process my feelings if March 2018 repeats itself come 2019)
- helped my pub trivia team along to the finals for Cincinnati (Go, Bacchus & Lilly!)
- began mentoring two groups of fifth graders as part of #KidsNeedMentors
- gave my first talk at a book festival
- connected with readers at book festivals in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee
- became a Houston Rockets fan
- saw Janelle Monae in concert and it was everything I needed and more (seriously, if she comes to perform in your town/city, DO NOT MISS OUT)
I can only imagine what 2019 has in store for me, but I know one thing for sure: I have a lot of home basketball games to attend between now and March Madness. In our nosebleed bleacher seats. Wouldn’t change it for anything.
Wishing you all the best as we turn the calendar to 2019!
In my case, it’s this space cats calendar, courtesy of my little brother.
