Year End Wrap-Up

Well, what can I say?  2020 is definitely a year for the books.  Who knew that we’d end the year in the middle of a pandemic?  This year was crazy!

But, relatively speaking, was it a good year for me?  Yes. I’m alive and in good health and I’m now living and working in West Africa (I will talk more about this in another post).  My family and friends are all doing very well and I have not lost anyone to Covid.  I do know people who contracted it and people who have lost loved ones, and they confirm that it ain’t nothin’ to play with.  So I am truly, truly grateful that I am in good health, in spite of all the traveling I had to do last summer.

The most stressful thing I had to deal with this year was to learn how to do my job remotely.  I’m an educator and it was very difficult to suddenly have to shift to teaching from home.  But what that did was make me better at my job and the skills I learned last March helped me get my current job.

As far as writing?  Well, I haven’t written anything since “Switchblade Romance,” and that is due in major part to Covid’s rude-ass interruption.  I am, however, contemplating and researching ideas for my next novel, Entropy.  I’m also planning to start working on Episode 3 of my Nightingales series, as it is time I get back to the lives of Jo, Neveyah, Cressida, Monica and Lee-Lee.  MCP as a publishing house is evolving and I hope to have news about our evolution within the next six to eight months.  We try to change with the times.

I have started a new thing: celebrating Halloween with a cerebral series focusing on my preferred horror mediums.  This year was year two: Horror 102, focusing on my favorite horror movies.  I was very pleased with how well that turned out.  It gives me ideas on how to celebrate my other favorite mediums during other times of the year.  I need to sit down and plan that out, so expect more to come in regards to this.

As you know, Dilettantes, I don’t make New Year's resolutions.  All I ever want to do and try to do is be a better version of me, and 2021 is no different.  I don’t know what is in store for us in terms of Covid restrictions, but I hope like hell I can go back to traveling soon.  Now that I totally miss.  I’ve gotten used to leisure traveling on a regular basis and to have to put that on pause was its own stressor.  But I’m not about to take unnecessary risks, so whenever the powers that be decide it’s safe enough to travel, I’m booking a flight somewhere asap.

Well, that’s all I have for right now.  Look for the next Expat Diaries post, coming your way soon. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!