I Want To Share Your Top Successes and Failures of 2015
It’s (obviously) a new year, and many folks have done wrap-up posts for 2015: their favorite this, their most-hated that. I’ve decided to do something a little different: I’d like to know what YOU feel is your biggest successes and your biggest failures this past year, and what you learned from both.
I truly feel we learn from each other’s successes and failures — none of us is perfect and besides, perfection is boring anyway! I’ll start.
My Successes
Professionally, my books have never done better, achieving consistent #1 rankings on Women’s Poetry, Women Authors, Memoir, and garnering an official Author Ranking (only given to authors under 100) on Amazon. I give details how I think(?) I’ve gotten to this point in my latest BadRedhead Media post, if you’d like to take a look.
As the director of the Gravity Imprint of Booktrope Publishing, I helped publish twelve amazing books of trauma and recovery by twelve amazing authors — fiction and nonfiction. I can’t ever tell you how honored I am to be part of this process, and I hope you learn more about them. Read these books! Each of their stories brings tears to my eyes, and their bravery stuns me.
What I learned: every story matters. It’s that simple and that profound.
Personally, I got divorced. I initiated it, it took fourteen L O N G months, a crapton of time, resources, paperwork, and emotional and mental stress, but I did it. Divorce is a huge undertaking, almost like a business deal. A lot like a business deal, except people (and children) are involved, and the details are critically important. We’re still not done with the details (will we ever be?), but the big part is over, and for that I’m grateful.
What I learned: that I’m stronger, and more vulnerable, that I ever thought; and that divorce isn’t a failure, simply another change.
My Failures
Professionally, like most people, I spend too much time on social media and not enough writing my books. It doesn’t help that my business involves doing social media for clients (though I adore what I do), so I have to be on all the time. I do write every day, mostly blog posts and articles (I write for Huffington Post, Good Men Project, Feminine Collective, IndieReader, and Book Promotion.com regularly, plus my own two weekly blogs) which I love, and I’m looking at writing for more paid sites as well.
While I don’t regret any of this (regrets are stupid), and I’m proud of the writing and the visibility it brings, I need to knuckle down and write two books this year: Broken People, the third and final book in the Broken series (already started and about one-fourth of the way through), and my first BadRedhead Media book: The FREE 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge (and I’m well on my way — join my free newsletter here. The project starts in February!). I started cutting back on Facebook already, taking #FFF (Facebook Free Fridays) this year, but it’s not enough. 
What I learned: I don’t need to be on social media as often, so I’m cutting back even further. I’ve established my presence all these many years. A few less tweets or Facebook posts won’t mean less sales. Er, I hope. 
Personally, I’m always on this damn computer (sorry, MacBook Pro, you’re really awesome and I love you, shhhhh, it’s okay), and don’t spend enough time on self-care. I need more me-time: more yoga, meditation, even walking — to free my mind and release the creative bugs that are pinging around my brain. This also means more time with my own most precious bugs — my children. While they’re used to seeing me at my computer, and I make time for them daily, I want more ‘eye-contact’ time with them, and they with me.
What I learned: Time is fluid, and while I can’t get back what I’ve lost, I can make the most of what I have. Sounds trite, but I don’t mean for it to. My watchword for this year is courage, and I’ve started a Pinterest board to remind myself to face my demons, write what scares me, and do whatever it takes to be my best self, including taking care of me.
Your Turn!
What are your greatest successes and failures this year, and what have you learned? Please leave in the comments below. Share a link to your work (it’s okay to be self-promotional — I’m not usually a big fan, but I want to celebrate YOU today), be brutally honest about what you didn’t achieve or could have done better, and tell us lessons learned.
We all need to cheer each other on, and I can’t think of a better way than to be honest in examining our gains and losses. Let’s do this thingy. Go!
Interested in learning more about Rachel’s services or books? Click here. Purchase Broken Pieces or Broken Places on Amazon.
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