It’s Cold Outside

Started the morning by waking up to a blistering wind and low temperatures for the second day of winter. Power was out at the office, so I made my way back home. Heaters are on in our condo. I’m wearing layers and sipping hot coffee. I’m about to make a delicious breakfast of steak and eggs. And I am officially done with fall semester, having turned in my final research papers earlier this week.

I am one who does not like extreme weather of any variety, cold or hot. But at least with the cold, I can bundle up and wrap myself in blankets and hunker in bed. I love to be cozy. I think it is one of my favorite things. Usually, it means the pets are cold and want to snuggle too, so that just makes it all the cozier. And since there are only 9 days left in the year, I thought I’d use this very cold morning to think back over all that’s happened in 2022.

In December of 2021, my debut collection of poetry was accepted for publication.
In January of 2022, I started my M.A. in Literature online.
In January of 2022, my publisher started working on editing my cohort’s manuscripts for the forthcoming publication.
In February-ish of 2022, I left my job as a Project Coordinator and accepted a position as an Assistant Project Manager.
In March-ish of 2022, I was laid off from the Assistant Project Manager position.
In March of 2022, I began the rough draft of what would become the manuscript for my debut novel.
In April of 2022, I returned to my former place of employment, but instead of being a Project Coordinator, I was hired as an electrical designer.
In June of 2022, I started my second semester of my online M.A. in Literature.
In September of 2022, my debut collection of poetry, EVEN THE AIR, TOO HEAVY, was published by First Matter Press.
In September of 2022, I started my third semester of my online M.A. in Literature.
In October of 2022, I turned 34.
In October of 2022, I started what has become the fourth draft of my debut novel.
In October of 2022, I gave my first, ever, public reading from my newly published collection of poetry.
In November of 2022, I started marketing for my debut novel, A KISS OF GLASS.
In December of 2022, I will complete the fourth draft of my debut novel.

I mean, just look at that. And it’s not that this is anything extraordinary. Plenty of other writers, workers, and students accomplish even more in this amount of time. But for me, this was a huge year of ups and downs, and I still managed to accomplish so much. From switching jobs and losing jobs to starting a new online graduate degree to publishing a whole ass collection of poetry and writing a whole ass novel, there is so much here, so much ranging from exciting to heartbreaking. And the one thing that has made all of this consistent has been my writing.

The life of a writer is one of uncertainty. You never really know if the work you’ve put in is going to lead to a book and publication, or if it will end up being an experience of learning. You never know if the motivation and excitement you have about a project is going to last, or if you’ll have to drudge through it. You never know what changes might be made to the industry that could potentially fuck up all of your plans. But the one thing that is consistent, the one thing we can control, is our own writing and how we approach it.

So even though it’s extremely cold today and I’m shivering despite the layers and the heater being on, I am proud of what I have accomplished this year. I’m excited to see where 2023 takes me. I don’t usually make new year’s resolutions, but the one thing I am setting for myself is a goal to read more than I did this year, and to write more than I did this year. I read 71 books this year (so far) and I wrote nearly 100,000 words. Hopefully next year is even more productive and pushes me well beyond my expectations. Because it isn’t about competing with other writers. It’s about competing with myself, finding new ways to challenge my creativity.

Here’s to the coming year.