So Long, 2015! Hello, 2016!

2015, ooooooh, 2015. You were both nightmare fuel and a pastel daydream for me. Adieu. Go away now. 

Over the past few days, I've read blog posts written by friends and chatted on the phone with family about this past year. We all seem to agree that it was a challenge. And by "challenge," I mean soul-shattering, life-changing, #toomanyfeels. 

My lovely writer friends wrote amazing blog posts. I can't possibly be as eloquently rallying as Sam or as bravely honest as Lydia or as bittersweet and hopeful as E.R. Warren; reading about how their 2015's went gave me the shivers. The good kind.  So even though writing a 2015 blog post was the LAST thing on my mind (though it certainly shouldn't have been), I'm taking a stab at it. 

2015 was a year of firsts.

• Becoming an author.
• Securing a full-time, permanent job.
• Awakening to the fact that the people I love are getting older. That I'M getting older. 

Time has been my biggest enemy. Or rather, a friend who had suddenly given me the cold shoulder and stole minutes and hours out of my purse while I was sleeping. 

Why? As my bullet list implies, getting a full-time job AND having my first novel published in the same year was an earthquake to my previously quiet life. 

Transitioning from writer to author was the easier part of 2015, It's one of my life goals, the biggest dream I've ever had, and now it's happened and ohmygoshitisthegreatest. But being an author is not like climbing to the top of the mountain and sticking a flag into the ground. It doesn't end with the publication of one book. THAT is just the beginning. There's so many miles to go. In fact, I'll gladly be climbing for the rest of my life, book by book. 

Then I got my permanent job. This was HUGE. Up until then, I'd been working as a temp - same hours, less responsibility. Contract-based, so if I wasn't renewed, I'd lose my job and have to look for another one. GAH. Applying for jobs is a lot like submitting manuscripts to agents: 90% rejection. But then I found the perfect job in the same company are survived the multiple interviews to get there.

A small galaxy's size of anxiety lifted off my shoulders. 

Annnnnnd, the real challenge of balancing work and writing began. It's something I'm still learning to do now, even in the infant days of 2016.

Yeah, and that last point on my miniature bullet list? GETTING OLD. Now that I'm in my late twenties, I can no longer pretend that I'm totally young and healthy. Not when I fall asleep on the couch at 8pm on weeknights. Not when I manage to pull muscles randomly. Both afflictions may have something to do with being in front of the computer too many hours a day. 

I had in fact made great strides (ha, pun) to exercise and eat healthy in 2015. But the holidays. The holidays. I may have eaten too much fudge. 

My dog Misty is also getting older. She's basically a little old lady who grumbles and glares at me if she can't sit in my lap. 

But it's going to be okay. I have great music to do my workouts with - the kind of songs that would even raise the dead and inspire them to Jazzercize. And if Misty's not feeling well, I'm always there for her... with dog treats. 

2016 is going to have some spillover from 2015. More surprises. LOTS of surprises. Book surprises *shifty eyes* 

How was your 2015? What are you looking forward to for the new year?