Welcome to 2020!

Happy New Year!

And happy new decade (I start counting with 0, so to me this is a new decade). I will say the teens were an interesting 10 years. There were ups and there were downs. A lot changed around me and a lot changed within me. This post will share some of those highlights.

The Ups of the last decade

One of the biggest high points of the decade is my writing: I finished writing 6 books (the first book of a new series went to my editor just before the end of the year)
Adopted 2 cats (or destructo-matic 2000s) named Pip and Saffie
Got back into photography
Got back into art
Sold our house and moved
Did a lot of hiking
Went on three cruises
Attended my first Comicon
Changed day jobs once
Regained confidence in myself

The Downs

Lost our horse: Dollar ‘The Scholar’ had been with us for 21 years and we still miss him
Allowed myself to get sidetracked and lost focus
Allowed myself to lose confidence in my abilities
Allowed myself to get out of shape

My thoughts for the next decade

As you can see from the lists, this last decade left me some really good highs (writing 6 books is part of a lifelong dream) as well as some low points. Outside of losing Dollar, I’ll own the lows. Those are things I allowed to happen. I pride myself on being self-aware and recognizing stupid behavior, but I failed to counter some of those behaviors in myself. I intend to learn from that and not repeat those same mistakes.

I rounded out this last decade on a strong note and I plan to continue with that. I have a 7th book mostly done, and hope to finish it in the first part of 2020. That will give me 3 series, one that I wrapped up in 2016, and two active series (I’ll alternate writing books in each). My goal is to produce 2-3 books a year (while I have the day job). If I get to the point I can do without it, I am sure I could produce a lot more each year.

I have a backpacking trip scheduled for later this year. That will force me to get back into hiking shape. Nothing like a deadline to motivate me. And motivated I am. The outdoors relaxes me and keeps my head in the right frame of mind.

It is all part of the idea of “taking it to 11.” Like anyone, I need my downtime to unwind (I binged The Witcher series after I finished editing my last book as a reward to myself). But, I need to keep focused and work when I have idle time. Effectively, keep moving. And if I keep moving, I won’t have time for the negative items to build up. Balance is the key.

So, while my cats watch birds on YouTube, I will spend this first day of the new decade keeping up the pace I set at the end of the last one and continue to remind myself there is always somewhere new to explore.