Reflecting on 2019

Hey, Lovelies!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and got spoiled with love, good food, and even better company. I went home to Calgary for the first time in over a year for Christmas. It was super busy, but it was great to spend time with my family and friends.

Now, as 2019 draws to a close, it’s time for me to look over this past year and begin planning for the future ahead. I’ve noticed that a lot of people are extra reflective as 2019 also marks the end of a decade. I’m not as excited about the ending of a decade as most people, but I do have some New Years’ traditions that I’d like to adhere to.

For example, every year, my sister and I always look back over the year that’s just passed. We check to see if we accomplished any of our goals and to set our new intentions for the following year. I missed doing this with her last year because I was in Turks and Caicos with my fiance’s family. It’s a tradition that my sister and I have had for a very long time, and I’ve carried that tradition over to this blog.

Usually, I sum up what’s happened to me and what I want to bring to this blog in the new year. That’s not going to change, but I really want to draw attention to some of the fantastic people that you may not necessarily know about.

What’s Happened This Year?

I know last year  I said I’d make an effort to post more regularly, and I did well for the first little bit; however, I let myself disregard that promise. I have all of the excuses, and some of them are legitimate. That still doesn’t mean that I should forget what I want to do with this blog or for those of you who read it.

2019 was a year of death in my family. We said goodbye to a beloved family dog, a close family friend, and my uncle. I cut some toxic relationships out of my life, and I lost my job the week before Christmas. On the flip side of all the bad, I made lasting relationships with some fantastic individuals in my office, I said yes to the man of my dreams, and I get to explore new job opportunities in the upcoming year. Plus, anytime Ed Sheeran releases a new album is a good year. 😛

I fully expect that the next year will bring its own challenges, and I know that I have the support system I need in place to help me. That’s the best reason I know of for celebrating the beginning of 2020 and a new decade.

I also started going through my old posts – the 2017 posts. It was amazing to see how much my writing has improved in these last few years, and I can’t wait to see how much better it’ll become yet. A lot of that has to do with my former editor. He’s taught me a lot this past year on the editing and sentence structure front. He’s also taught me a lot about SEO, and I’ve been applying it to my posts.

I’d like to take a second here to stress the importance of finding a good editor. It doesn’t matter what type of writing you do, you need to find someone you can get along with. It makes the process a lot easier if you two can be friends that mutually respect each other’s abilities.

I also learned the importance of taking care of oneself this year. My fiance and I have been busy, to say the least. There wasn’t a weekend this summer when we didn’t have something going on. It has been a theme for us ever since. It has contributed significantly to me feeling burnt out over the past few months and lead to me not posting any new content.

This busyness didn’t help when the volatility in the market forced my company to start laying people off. I won’t go into the details on this, but the five weeks leading up to my layoff were not fun. However, the experience has taught me that I need to make sure that I am secure and healthy so I can work on the things that matter the most to me, which is writing for this blog and on my stories.

Thank You!

I’d like to thank my fiance for putting up with a lot of the tears this year. I’d like to thank him for looking over some of my blog posts before I publish them. He definitely kept me on track with my Game of Thrones post earlier this year. He also pushes me to take the time to write content for this blog or to write my stories and encourages me to look after myself.

I also want to say a big thank you to my dad for always pushing me to write content for the blog and for telling me if I need to explain something better. It means a lot to me that both you and mom frequently check in to see what I’ve been writing. I also appreciate that the two of you have always supported my dreams and hold me accountable for achieving them.

I’d also like to give a shout out to orangelunar. Thank you so much for commenting on my blog posts and for being such a wonderful person. It’s lovely knowing that my writing is engaging enough that someone wants to interact with me.

For those who don’t know, orangelunar is writing a fantasy story that revolves around a young, strong-willed female warrior, Fawnlum. Fawnlum is looking to save her love and country from a dark threat, all while trying to convince her overbearing mother that she’s ready to stand on her own. It’s a lovely tale, and you should check it out. (Also, orangelunar, I LOVE the new website design! It looks great!)

Overall, I’d like to thank everyone who reads this blog. Without you guys, there would be no point in doing what I do. Thank you to those who have checked in to make sure everything is going alright and to push me for a new post.

Sincerely, thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re all fantastic!

Goals for 2020

I do have some goals and plans for the upcoming year for this blog. Most importantly, I want to commit to frequently posting this year; however, I am getting married at the end of August, and we have our honeymoon the two weeks following the ceremony. If there are no posts during this time, please do not be surprised! It’s going to be busy, and I don’t know how much time I’m going to have to write leading into August. Also, I’m job hunting, so that is going to be a focus for me for the next little bit.

Another thing to watch for is some changes to my site and branding. I’ve wanted to dabble with stuff on here to make my personal brand more distinctive, and I’ve been working on this a bit.  So if things start to move around a bit or look differently, that’s why. I’m also hoping to add a logo and to switch the city photo on the homepage.

That’s it, that’s all. It’s going to be a busy start to 2020, and I am going to try to not stretch myself too thin. I am going to try to get the plot series completed in January, and then we’ll see where we go from there!

In Conclusion

2019 has been a bit of a hard year, but some fantastic things also happened. I’m looking forward to what 2020 has in store for me, this blog, and in the grand scheme of my life. Thank you again to everyone who has helped me make this blog possible!

Here’s to the future, the next decade and 2020!

Happy New Year!

Until next time!

Cheers,

Danielle