And Just Like That, the 2023 Season Comes to an End

All right, yes, I might spend too much time on TikTok. But I do have TikTok to thank for my current obsession (more on that below).

January is barely 4 days in as I type this (it may get posted later, but just know it’s January 4th, right now), and so much has already happened that makes me excited for this year, especially in the literary sense. But first, I want to focus on 2023.

I did not “win” at Nanowrimo. I did not finish the first draft of Maagiline (oh, I haven’t told you about Maagiline yet? Yeah, that’s on the list of things I missed from 2023). I didn’t declutter and tidy up my home. In my defense, we had a huge repiping project and I have just not recovered yet. I didn’t read as many books as I wanted to.

As of writing this, I desperately need to do laundry.

But I spent time with family, exploring a magical light display with my mom (Koda’s Enchanted Forest at the Stockton Lantern Festival) and discovering giant trolls with my dad (Thomas Dambo Trolls at the South Coast Botanic Gardens).

I finally got my passport renewed and spent three weeks in Brisbane, Australia, falling in love with the city every single day, and spending time with one of my favorite people in the world. I held a koala and pet a Dingo and several kangaroos. There were the most amazing birds everywhere.

I made a bookmark with my 2023 reads on it. (Twenty books, and I’m proud of that, though I did make my goal for 25 this year). That is my new TikTok obsession that I mentioned, and you can tell I struggled finding images of some of the spines, so I have already started my 2024 reading and bookmark, taking pictures as I go. (I’m on my second book- Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon).

2023 was a hard year. But it was also a great year. And I have come into 2024 with a renewed passion for all things writing. I cannot wait to share them with you, to get to know you, and connect!