Where did this year go? I know I say this a lot but I have no idea where the time goes. The year starts and then it's over before I know it.
Let's look back at this year…
January started off with snow and “Damp January,” meaning the husband and I took some time off from alcohol until my birthday on the 18th. There was lots of snuggle time on the couch and getting work done.
February was vacation and a trip to New Orleans. We went to South Carolina to visit my parents and buy a used car for my oldest daughter from a friend. I then drove the car back from South Carolina over two days, stopping in Virginia Beach to visit my business partner Elizabeth. Then right at the end of the month, I went to New Orleans for the Future of Publishing Mastermind and Conference. It was my first time in New Orleans and my first time speaking on a panel to authors about AI. It was so much fun!
March was busy. Our contractor finished the bathroom at the beach house (it's lovely!) and then my younger daughter performed in the school musical, Newsies. Right at the end of the month, Spring Break began and we went to the beach house.
April was also busy. We were at the beach house to start the month, and then we went to two nights of music for the 25th anniversary of 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields, one of my favorite bands. Everything started to bloom and my eldest had a tea party birthday with her friends. We also saw the solar eclipse, and my eldest daughter got her driver's license!
May had its ups and downs. I traveled to Boston at the beginning of the month for the Subscriptions for Authors Summit. I learned a lot but ended up shuttering my Ream subscription because it wasn't really working for me. My good friend's husband passed away, and so my husband and I drove out to Long Island for the memorial service. Since we were already out there, we also visited his mother's grave. May was also the month I decided to do a rewatch of Battlestar Galactica. A good choice. It's still an amazing show.
June was the end of school. My youngest daughter was in a musical, Thirteen, and then graduated from middle school! My eldest attended prom, and then school came to a blessed end.
July started off at the beach house. We went for the Independence Day holiday and had a great time. Lots of beach and pool and sitting around. Then we celebrated my youngest's birthday back home with her friends. And then she was in ANOTHER musical (yes, that's the third one), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as the Candy Man. The end of the month saw us return to the beach house for more sun, sand, and surf!
August was mostly spent at the beach house. We worked from there and spent a lot of lazy days in the pool or going to the beach. I had Elizabeth come visit us there with her daughter and we ate lots of seafood and went to the boardwalk. We returned back home halfway through the month so my oldest could do her very last Band Camp and I could return my Model Y to Tesla (it was a lease) and take delivery of my own Model Y that we bought. I love it so much. It's a great car.
September was JAPAN! I was worried about the trip to Japan because my parents had to come and watch the kids and Lulu while we were gone, and my father was unwell. In the end it all turned out fine, though! It was our 20th wedding anniversary, and we celebrated it in style. My husband and I traveled to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and then back to Tokyo. We went to a sumo match (amazing!), ate lots of great food, walked everywhere, shopped, ate some more, took it easy, and just overall had a blast. We're already hoping we can go back in a few years, once the kids are both over 18. But womp-womp, I got covid upon returning home. I blame the guy behind me who cleared his throat for all 13 hours of the plane flight home.
October started out rough and got better. I started the month with covid and a sinus infection. Oof, I do not recommend that. Then we had Senior Night which was a big deal for my oldest daughter. My family had our annual cousin's reunion, which was a blast as always, and then I went to Rhinebeck NY with my girl friends for the annual NY Sheep and Wool festival.
November was an absolute blur! I went to Las Vegas at the beginning of the month to attend the Author Nation conference! Once again, I met many of my longtime author friends in person, and I talked a lot about AI with people. It was a great time! I learned a lot and I cemented my feeling that I'm doing the right work in the author community. So many people came up to me to thank me for all the AI education work I do. I really felt like the Future Fiction Academy was finally a respected member of the community. My husband's 51st birthday was also in November and unfortunately he was sick for it. He then left for Las Vegas to attend Amazon's Re:invent conference.
December flew. We started out the month with my oldest daughter performing at Radio City Music Hall before the Christmas Spectacular. That was so fun! Then I flew to South Carolina for a long 5-day weekend to visit my parents and spend some time with them. My father's health has degraded this year, but I'm happy to say that he's doing much better now. We hosted Christmas at our house with my husband's side of the family and then we went to the beach house for a few days. (We're still here as I type this and post it.) We'll celebrate the new year at home.
Favorite Part of This Year
Going to Japan, of course!! So much fun! And the fact that I became a full-blown Swiftie this year. I absolutely love and adore Taylor Swift.
Least Favorite Part of This Year
The death of my friend's husband and getting covid. Ugh.
Let’s look back at my goals from the year…
2024: The Year I Embrace What Makes Me Unique
I don't think this was the right theme for me in 2024. I didn't realize that was already embracing all the things that make me unique! And so the year felt a little off-balance because I wasn't really doing anything special for my theme.
I did stay strong about AI! I didn't let anyone put me off of it. In fact, I'm now so entrenched in this business, it has become a part of who I am now. No complaints from me! I finally feel like I'm doing the right thing.
As for publishing, it was also a little off this year because I doubled-down on trying to make Future Fiction Academy into something awesome, and I succeeded there along with my awesome business partners, Elizabeth and Stacey.
I only ended up publishing Winta's Perfect Pair as part of Pets in Space 9. That's it. I did write 3 other books during the year but none of them have been published yet.
Writing and Publishing Goals
Well, I bombed every single one of my writing and publishing goals AGAIN.
I will focus on publishing to my Ream subscription. This ended up being a bust, but for a very good reason. It really just wasn't the right medium for me and my writing. And I'm actually really proud of myself for shutting down my Ream instead of trying to revive a dead dream for months and then being depressed about it. My decision was much healthier for me.
I will release at least 4 titles this year. Nope. Though I did write that many books!
It’s also possible that my cozy mystery pen name will get 2 books this year! Nope. I did not work on my cozy mysteries this year.
I will produce more AI audio now that I’ve been accepted into the Amazon program. I did not create any AI audiobooks this year.
Added Goals
Flash Fiction and Multimedia projects. I realized during November that I missed writing just for fun so I started the flash fiction project that I published both here and on YouTube. Then I realized just how much fun it was to make videos too!
Morning Writing Time. I instituted morning writing time every day from 8-10AM and I love it. It helps me get things done, whether that's writing or just working.
Business Goals
I will build the Future Fiction Academy up. This was a wild success! Though we had some low points from April to June, the summer and fall really ramped up for us at the FFA, and now we're doing well enough that we were able to close our Mastermind to new members and focus on standalone classes. I'm feeling very proud of all we've accomplished!
I will keep up with my Facebook and Amazon ads. I stopped my Facebook ads in the fall after they had burned through a ton of money. My Amazon ads are still kicking but they hardly spend anything.
I will keep up with my Ream subscription. Nope. Killed it.
I will build my newsletter list. I did build my list a little but mainly because I put all of my bonus material behind the newsletter wall. That netted me a bunch of people from Pets in Space 9.
Added Goals
I decided to build out my YouTube channel. I just started with this, and I think I'm really going to like what I have planned for 2025!
Creativity Goals
I will find more books I want to read. I only read 10 books this year, and 4 of those were my own. Between writing my own work and running the FFA, there's not a lot of time to read. I need to accept that.
I will knit a sweater. Nope. And in fact, I didn't finish the blanket and I started a new shawl.
Personal Goals
I will travel more. I did travel quite a bit this year! In fact, I flew enough to get me silver status on United, which has never happened to me.
I will work on helping out more with cooking. I helped when I could, but I was more busy than my husband this year.
I will continue to stay gluten free. I managed to stay gluten free for the whole year!! Woo! There was a small amount of wheat in some things in Japan, but it never bothered me enough to put me out with pain.
I will add German to my list of languages I'm learning. I added German and I worked on it for a few months, and then I decided that no. I am fine right now only concentrating on 3 languages: Japanese, Italian, and French. (I should also say that I tried to add in Korean and Mandarin at some point and decided I didn't have the brain space for that either.)
I will do a Damp January and not drink until my birthday. We did this and it was successful. We're doing it again in 2025.
Added Goals
Started a new business, again. This time Elizabeth, Stacey, and I decided to start Future Fiction Press. I built the website for it, and I'm working on packaging books for the press and getting them all up online in 2025.
Fitness Goals
I will bike 1500 miles on the Peloton. Nope, not even close. I only biked 490 miles this year for a combination of reasons. Sigh.
I will continue to walk on my non-bike days. I walked over 11,000 minutes and 430 miles.
I will try to add more upper body strength. I was pretty steady with the upper body strength until all of my traveling in November and December.
I will start my exercise earlier in the morning. I ended up moving exercise to 11AM-12PM every day so that I could have morning working time.
I will add in more intermittent fasting. Nope. I can't do intermittent fasting anymore. I don't know what changed with my body in the last two years, but I can't fast anymore. I blame menopause.
And That’s It For The Year!
All in all, I feel good about how 2024 turned out! And I'm sure next year is going to be awesome. I’ll be back with my goals post for 2025 on January 1st! I hope you all have a safe, healthy, and happy new year!
