Happy New Year, friends! I hope you’ve all had a splendid holiday season and are ringing in the new year with new goals, hopes, and dreams to achieve in 2019.

Me, I’m ready to SEE 2018 GO. Goodbye, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

It’s no secret that I’ve had a difficult year (as discussed here and here), and, to be honest, a difficult several-year period. I’m tired of dwelling in the negative, though, and I’m ready and eager to look forward and embrace a new journey in this new year.

To start with an oldie-but-a-goodie, I want to return to my physical wellness journey this year. Diet and exercise, of course, but also doctors and diagnoses. I was making progress on this journey last year when my world went kaput. I’ve spent much of the last few months concentrating on my mental-and-emotional wellness—to great success—and it’s time to add in that third component, physical, and see just how glorious life can be when I’m firing on all cylinders. 

I want to continue expanding my horizons both in writing and other interests. I’ve done a fantastic job of trying new things in writing lately—penning stories in new styles and genres, finding publishing opportunities—and that only needs to grow. Something I’ve neglected, though, with my focus on figuring out a work/life balance and actually being productive again is taking the time to develop my hobbies. I am a woman of many interests, and I’m not fully content or complete when not engaging in them. It’s time to bring them back into my life: art, photography, music. I’ve missed you all.

Finally, I need to find ways to monetize all these things I love to do and share them with the world. Stay turned for the info and details on those ventures, but I’m starting with editing the final book in author Mackenzie Reide’s The Adventurers series, due out in March. It’s a wonderful and action-packed trilogy of strong-willed teens solving mysteries in their hometown despite the dangers they encounter along the way. It’s great stuff, and I’m honored to be a small part of this story’s journey. I miss editing—that’s what I’m trained in after all, both from college and working at Holtzbrinck Publishers and the United Nations—and it’s nice to find a way back into it that also incorporates my love of stories.

So, those are my three goals for 2019: better health, incorporating hobbies back into my life, and monetizing my endeavors. Along with what I was already doing with writing and continuing to develop that as a career, of course.

I’m relieved to see 2018 pass into the memories of yesteryear and eager to see what I can achieve in 2019. How nice it is to have this flip of the calendar to mark the passing of one time and the emergence of a new era. Everything is filled with hope and possibility right now, and I aim to keep that going throughout the year. I discovered a “power word” for my journey a few months ago, a word that basically becomes a mantra for who I am and what I’m trying to achieve in the here and now. That word was RE-EMERGENCE, and I’m going to keep this word with me into 2019. I’ve done my caterpillar-in-cocoon goo time. I’m ready to become the butterfly.

How was 2018 for you? Did it turn out as you hoped it would? What are your goals for 2019, and how do you hope to achieve them? Share in the comments below!