So…I’m not a huge believer in making New Year’s goals. Not exactly, anyways.

I do like to take the time to look back over the previous year, and think about the upcoming year.

And, yes, think about things I’d like to accomplish. But that’s the next post.

But now for the review!

Last year was kind of crazy.

Writing

I had several writing workshops, starting with the SF/Mystery workshop, taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in January 2024. The WMG craft workshops are always crazy intense, but I feel like I learn so much with each class. This was a fun one.

Writers of the Future was the next workshop—another non-stop week.

The WMG anthology workshop was in July. The great thing about the Antho workshop is that you’re challenged to write in a variety of genres. This time, that included Regency (!). Several of my stories sold and will be coming out in anthologies over the next year or two.

On a home-learning basis, I took both the WMG Motivational Mondays and Creative Survival classes. Every Monday, over the course of the year, new videos would be uploaded. (I also took some of the other, shorter online workshops.)

I co-wrote a story with a friend. I’ve never done anything like that before, and honestly, it was a great experience!

Total short stories written this year: 15. More than I thought! Three sold; one was as the guest author for the Uncollected Anthology; and the others are awaiting responses from various markets.

Travel

Travel-wise, we did some smaller/long weekend trips (Monarch Bay/Newport Beach in February, Paso Robles in March, a whirlwind trip to Texas in April for the eclipse, a long weekend stay-cation at the Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria in July (free nights via credit card!!), and a pre-Thanksgiving trip to Joshua Tree.)

We also did a big trip to Copenhagen and London in June. In September, we went to Jamaica to help our dear friend Bruce celebrate his 60th birthday.

Veterinary Work

Not as much as last year…due to all the travel, lol. But I think it’s at a more sustainable level.

Knitting

Ouch. I didn’t get any new patterns done this year. I’ve been focusing more on writing.

Exercise

I joined up with several of the Power Zone Pack Peloton bike challenges. I love these. They’re really motivational—and it’s easy in that I don’t have to think about what I have to do, I just have to do the workouts.

And then I read Gwendolyn Bounds‘ Not Too Late and signed up for a Spartan race in April 2025. I’m not totally stupid—I signed up for the 5k race. I’m also not totally delusional—my goal is to simply finish it.

I’ve found an awesome coach, Keith, who is going to do the actual race with me. Every week I get a new round of workouts to complete (again, I don’t have to think, just do) via a really nifty app.

So, I’ve not done as much the past three months on my Peloton, but my Tread has been put to good use, as has our garage gym. I can definitely tell a difference in my strength and in my running (well, run/walking, but the running part is much much easier). And I’m finally building up the confidence to do more running outside, which I know sounds stupid, but there it is.

Our trip to Joshua Tree included hiking, of course. I used the AllTrails app, which came in very helpful on on our hikes. We hiked around Barker Dam (there’s an area off the main hike that is awesome for me to climb around on rocks), the Hall of Horrors (neat tiny slot), and a new-to-us hike, the Desert Queen Mine and Eagle Cliff Boulder House hike.