It’s the last day of 2015, and I’m writing this post from an antique rocking chair we didn’t even own last year, next to a fireplace I never knew I’d have, in a house I thought I could never afford, in a city I had no idea I would love so much. Yeah, a lot has happened this year.
A million years ago in January, Jenn and I visited the Pacific Northwest on a quick little recon mission to see if maybe we wanted to live there some day. Since then, here’s what happened:
- I put in my notice at my job of six years.
- Jenn and I packed up, staged, and sold a condo.
- I totalled my Elantra in the mean streets of Canoga Park.
- We moved into an apartment in Portland we’d never even seen before.
- I landed the first job that interviewed me—and ended up working at a company that is easily the best place I’ve ever worked.
- I went on my first-ever business trips, to Boise, San Francisco, and San Jose.
- We house-hunted, bid on, and landed a house.
- We moved…again.
- We drove to Spokane, Washington for the World Science Fiction Convention…and I actually enjoyed myself.
- And, you know, the very fabric of our existenced more or less changed completely!
While I had a notion we’d be making changes this year, by and large I did not see 2015 coming. Frankly, I feel like I was just hit by a truck. It was far and away the most terrifying, thrilling, stressful, wonderful, and momentous year of my life. Some of the changes were done to us, and not in a good way. But most were of our own doing, and paid off more than we ever imagined. We entered the year planning to alter the shape of our lives, and we succeeded in the face of unexpected obstacles. It’s been a wild, wild time.
The one constant remains writing, and despite everything, I kept chipping away at it. In light of all that happened, it will probably surprise nobody that 2015 was a shitty writing year for me, certainly by external metrics. No sales, and a limited amount of new fiction produced: two novelette-length short pieces. The novel I was expecting to finish early this year? Well, needless to say it got shoved to the backburner. Possibly to the backburner of someone else’s stove. If 2014 was a step forward in my writing career, 2015 was another step back. I’ve been here before, of course, and I’m too neurotic about writing not to be a little upset by it, despite legitimate, extenuating circumstances. But I’ll get over it; I always do, until the next time I don’t. That’s writing for you, or for me, anyway! Besides, 110 blog posts ain’t too shabby. I’ll take it.
If I could do it all again, there are definitely some things I wish had gone differently, but ultimately I couldn’t be happier about where I ended up. I’m so excited to move into 2016. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Chris!
A belated happy new year to you, too, Jamie! 🙂