Looking Backward, Moving Forward

So long, 2016!

[image error]

Here’s my obligatory New Year’s post where I take stock of my life personally and professionally. I was going to include politically, but that’s just too goddamn depressing, so it’ll have to wait for another blog post.

Personally

I don’t want to become one of those people who often blog about their personal life. Not because I have something to hide (wouldn’t that be fun?) but because my personal life is, on the whole, pretty damn boring.

But I’ll give a brief recap: 2016 was an awesome year for the MacLeod family. We left a job my husband did not much enjoy (professor) in Buffalo, NY for a job he loves (high school teacher) in southern Maine. And we bought our dream house – a 180-year-old farmhouse in the country that’s only somewhat falling apart.

[image error]Wild turkeys in our backyard. Also, the wall that’s falling apart.

Good show, MacLeod family. Good show.

Professionally

2016 was the year I became a published author.

I started writing again in 2015. But my very first publication came out in March of 2016 (under my real name), and was followed by a second real-name publication in August.

Samantha MacLeod’s first publication, “The Ballad of Tam Lin,” came out this summer as part of A Two Dame Production’s anthology of erotic fairy tales Lustily Ever After.

I also published “John Cutter Entertains a Visitor” in Typehouse Literary Magazine, which was NOMINATED FOR A FREAKING PUSHCART PRIZE!!!!

And – oh yeah – I independently published a novel (The Trickster’s Lover) and a novella (Honeymoon).

Publishing has been a bit of a rollercoaster.

[image error]

The Good:

I’ve met fabulous new people! (If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re one of them.)

I’m sharing my work and getting feedback, which is a wonderful process almost all the time. It’s amazing to let these stories out into the world.