As I’ve gotten older, I find myself in a reflective mood this time of year. The current year is drawing to a close, the New Year is just over the horizon. Since I’m such a lesson-oriented person with a mix of goal-making obsession thrown in, I wanted to look back on this year at the highs – and lows – and see what I can learn to guide me into 2019 with a brighter, enthusiastic mindset.
Since being positive is such a good thing, let’s start with the good things that happened this year.
- I had 4 – FOUR!!! – books published through 2 publishing houses. Okay, so 3 of them came out into the world within 6 weeks of one another and I almost had a nervous breakdown from the promo aspect of all that… but 4 books!!!
- I traveled to some new places-to-me: Iceland, Denver, and Bermuda. Can you find more diverse weather and cultural locales, peeps?
- I was featured in the HEA column of USA today – a writer’s dream come true, believe me!
- I was the featured author in a wickedly popular You-Tube podcast titled TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DAMN BOOK.
- I met one of my heroes, Jack Canfield.
- I met some of my writing idols at RWA 2018.
- I celebrated my 58th birthday and my 31st wedding anniversary.
- I reconnected with my mother.
- My darling daughter got engaged to the perfect man for her! ( and I swear I’m gonna use this picture on the cover of my next book!
And of course, there were things that weren’t so great that happened that need to be listed.
- I was dropped by one of my publishing houses after submitting 3 book proposals that they passed on.
- I received some not very flattering reviews for a few of my books ( and yes, they were outnumbered in droves by the positive ones, but the negative ones are the ones you ALWAYS remember)
- My darling mother-in-law died after a long, long illness.
- I gained another 19 pounds after being hypnotized to lose weight. Yeah…I can’t figure that one, either.
- The world around us is very dark and scary right now with the way things are being run in this country. I am trying to be hopeful for the future, but it’s hard.
I am happy and hopeful to see that there were more good things listed above than bad things.
So, I look forward to starting 2019 renewed, recharged, and delighted with the potential happiness the year will bring.
Happy New Year, peeps ~ Peg
Peggy Jaeger, Author 