It’s the new year! Two weeks into it, in fact. Time for looking forward and looking back, regrouping and reviewing and planning. This was a weird year for me. I did a lot of things that I don’t do very often and may never do again. I did not do some of my more usual activities.

Specifically, I did not write much in 2019. I thought 2018 was bad with only 124,026 words, but in 2019, I only wrote 88,728. This is the least I’ve ever produced since I started keeping close records in 2013. I did finish some things, though, which was not true of the previous year.

I got finished the Percy story (a novelette), “Lucky,” in January, and that felt like it wrote itself. Nothing else this year came that easily. I struggled with my next big novel, The Knight and the Necromancer, until April, when I finally finished it, though it still had problems I couldn’t solve. Then I struggled with the Lucy novella, “Burn” until October, when I knocked that one out. Afterward, I was able to go back and fix the major issues in The Knight and the Necromancer without any great difficulty (weird how that works sometimes). Both “Burn” and K&N should be ready for retailers in 2020. “Lucky” will probably wait for a collection. For the rest of 2019, I worked on the book I call Christmas Werewolf (not its final title).

In addition to new work, I also finished production of older work. The audio version of Incubus Dreaming came out in January. Before the Wind came out in October. The audio version of Incubus Yule got finished in Dec. It was complete in the Patreon feed before Christmas and is just showed up on Audible a few days ago. I also published the illustrated version of Malachi and the Twilight Zoo (Book 5) in paper with a new illustrator, Aki. The illustrations look absolutely seamless with the other books, and I’m happy to have another illustrator to work with.

My writing business made about the same amount of money as last year – at the level of a modest part-time job. Not something I’d want to live on, but more than hobby money.

As I alluded to above, writing really wasn’t my focus this year. I turned 42 in March. I have this weird thing about 42. I think it’s a special  number, and I wanted to tick off some life goals. I took myself to Kuwaii for my birthday. I’ve always wanted to go there. It looks like Jurassic Park.

Additionally, in January I spotted a great deal on tickets to Taiwan for travel in Sept. I decided to take the plunge. I taught English in Taiwan when I was 21, exactly half a lifetime ago. I had always wanted to go back, but was also a little afraid, because I developed severe asthma in response to the pollute last time.

Finally, I had been planning a trip with my mom through AZ and NM. I had been promising her we were going to do it since she got sick a couple of years earlier, and now she was finally well enough.

So I spent about five weeks traveling the country and the world. The rest of the time, I really dug in with my anesthesia job. I improved the way I save for retirement and also saved for a house down payment.

I looked at so many houses!* Then on August 1st, I closed on an awesome place in Vancouver, WA across the river from Portland. It has a home office, space for guests, a walkable neighborhood, a lovely garden, and a safe and sheltered yard for my elderly cats. I joke that I bought the house for Nim, who just turned 17. He’s been all over the country, and it’s getting harder for him. He deserves a cozy retirement.

In order to do all this, I went without a fixed address for most of the year. I put my belongings in storage and lived in hospital lodging. I moved between hospital lodgings several times. Near the end of the year, I relocated my belongings from storage in FL to my new house in WA. I performed some type of move SIX times over the course of about 14 months. Nim did most of these moves with me, and it was a little tough on an old cat. But we did it! We found a home!

A couple of weeks after I bought the house, my 93 year old granddaddy died. I made whirlwind trip to Nashville for his memorial in the midst of moving into my new house.

I barely got moved in before heading off to Taiwan (recall that I bought those tickets in January). I did not get sick. My asthma was fine. I cannot say whether the trip I took would have been as fun for someone who had not lived there in their 20’s, but for me, it was magical – a combination of new exploration and nostalgia.

Then I came home and went straight back to Seattle to work. At Christmas, I went to Nashville to be with my cousins. Only now in January do I get to start living in my house. Starting next week, I am switching back to a part time anesthesia schedule, which should give me plenty of time at home. I love my new office and look forward to writing many books there while my cats play in the yard.

So that was my 2019. In 2020, I plan to refocus on my author business. I’m particularly working on building better systems and consistent habits. I’ve already finished my first short story of the year, a second epilogue for The Knight and the Necromancer called “Spring in the Haunted Forest.” It’ll be a newsletter perk once the book is published. For now, it’s on Patreon for people who read the novel there.

I have hopes of finishing the Cowry Catchers/ Refugees saga this year with two more books, as well as adding some more titles to the world of the Shattered Sea. The last illustrated Eve and Malachi volume should come out this year. I am also noodling on a super hero novel. Here’s hoping that we all have a year bursting with art and good stories!