Today is officially the last day of 2013, and we’re still here. It’s been a year that most people are looking forward to seeing shut down, including myself. If I thought 2012 was bad, 2013 tripled the suckage. BUT it also returned a lot of normalcy into our lives, which balanced it out.

So to 2013 I bid a not-quite-fond, wouldn’t-want-to-repeat-it, but respectful fare thee well.

I have to say that the only person I know of who had a banner 2013 is my youngest, Carrie, who found her path in life and it isn’t going to put her into tens of thousands of dollars in debt. At least, not yet. I see a lot of honey in my future!

Rhia had a better year, too. Even though she was stuck at home, even though things didn’t work out the way she wanted; the massively horrible year she had previous is well behind her. She’s moving forward too, and has already made some progress in getting back to school.

Our group reached a great milestone – 13 years together. Quite an achievement, apparently!

I have completed my writing goals this year, and in some instances, surpassed them. I’ve written approximately 150k words, although my official WriYe count will be lower (I stopped keeping track for it after NaNoWriMo was finished, as my goal was 100k). I’ve done 24 short stories, and wrapped up the Creating New Pagan Family Traditions series (the final installment, Esbats, will be for the print version only). I missed out on one only, and that was the non-fic goal. Since I’d focused on non-fic for so long, I don’t feel the least bit bad about it. And I won NaNoWriMo! My prize? A really good piece of work (in very rough form) and a pint of salted caramel ice cream.

The last six months have really given me the energy and clear focus I needed to make some difficult choices regarding Belfire, New Bedlam, and my own freelancing. Belfire will be publishing fewer titles through 2014-2016, New Bedlam is on the verge of releasing its last anthology, and Needfire Poetry will be shut down as of 2015. I will retain the New Bedlam domain name as I intend to finish my own works in that town and eventually self-publish them.

I’ve published six times this year, including today’s release of Galleys Between – Deception. That’s better than previous years, and certainly better than my original plan of hiding under a rock and away from everyone/everything. I produced more words that were original and not re-writes than I have in four years.

I have a good friend back – a sister, really – no questions asked, apologies accepted. That alone would have made my year. <3 To wrap it up, I've snagged a meme going around Facebook this weekend.

TOP PERSONAL TRIUMPH: Getting back to being me (again), after 16-18 months of bending over backwards for people who were so not worth it and nothing was good enough for anyway. Thankfully the lesson learned has given me enough inner oomph to never make that mistake again.

TOP PROFESSIONAL TRIUMPH: Writing over 100k words in less than six months, and realizing I can still do it. It might be crap, it might be great. Don’t care, I did it. And I’m going to do it again.

TOP PERSONAL FAILURE: Not having the inner strength to stay out of situations and away from people who don’t matter in the long run, and who did nothing but make me feel like shit about myself and my kids.

TOP PROFESSIONAL FAILURE: Not releasing the last three Belfire titles that were scheduled for 2013. Not entirely on me, and yet, as publisher, it’s my responsibility to make sure these things are done in order and in plenty of time.

TOP “WTF?” MOMENT: Being told to ‘grow up,’ by the people throwing the two-year old tantrum.

TOP NEW FAMILY LAUGH: Anything I post here could land me on the phone with the police being told I’m harrassing the unnamed because saying something that could apply to myself, my kids, my cats, my dogs, the sky, the ground and even you – everything else – is so OBVIOUSLY all about her/him/them! Cue Morgan Freeman…

TOP EVENT I WILL NEVER GET OVER: The fact the damn comet melted before I could see it. I was hoping for Night of the Comet, people! Geebus, is a little zombie apocalypse too much to ask for?

TOP NEW ADDITION: Absolutely, Lola the cockatiel. Shoulda gotten a bird years ago!

…and thus completes another goal. This post is the 52nd of the 52 Weeks challenge, the first post hit the blog on the 7th of January. I didn’t manage to hit them all on their weeks, but each week was represented in a post. In the coming year, I will be doing it again – hopefully with more success with dates – as well as bringing two new features and keeping a few older ones.

Starting January 3rd, I’ll be posting Friday Five Literary Trivia twice a month, a Guest Blog once a month, and a monthly writing challenge on the final Friday of each month. Tuesdays will be set for 52 Weeks, Wednesdays for the Recipe of the Week, Thursdays will continue to be prompt days. So what does that make Mondays??

Marketing Mondays. If you’ve got something fiction, non-fiction, an interview, etc. use the contact form to give me the details and links necessary, and I’ll promote ‘em here on Mondays – FREE. I’ll run one promotion per item, five promotions total for each Monday. If you want to run it more than one week, it’ll be rotated, and you’ve got to let me know.

I’ll have a better post explaining the new schedule tomorrow or Thursday. In the meantime, get planning your promotion! <|;^) <3 JL