I’m so ready to say so long 2010…

2010 hasn’t completely sucked.

On a personal level, my daughter started middle school and she’s doing fine-in the honors program.  Son started tested into the accelerated program at school.  Baby bratlet is in preschool and loves it-not causing trouble as I feared.  The DH and I have been married for 14 years and I love him more every year that passes.  We had a couple of fun family trips, including being able to take the kids to Disney and this time, the youngest will remember it, so that’s cool.  And I mustn’t forget… I finally succeeded in losing the weight I’ve battled with for years-I’m not done, still need to lose 20 lbs, but I’ve lost 60, so yay!

On a professional level, I sold three more books to Berkley.  I started doing some nonfictional type stuff-short articles for the RWR, a publication put out for the RWA.  My Ballantine editor seems to be very excited about my romantic suspense stuff and I think she’s looking forward to more books from me. My indie self publishing experiment went fairly well.  I can’t say I made the ‘thousands’ some people seem to say selfpublished writers will make, but I’m doing okay with Beg Me.

But for every positive thing, it feels like there’s been five painful bad things.

On a health front…I’ve had two surgeries this year.  I seem to having more trouble with my asthma than ever before.  I’ve had like three flares this year and even through running has improved my overall endurance, I still have nasty flares and it’s driving me nuts.  I had a lovely skin infection earlier this year.  I suspect I’ve developed some new food allergies.  And sigh.  My hands/wrists are acting up again. (bite me…I hate carpal tunnel).  Daughter had to get glasses, son had to have oral surgery, baby bratlet has had several things, from multiple problems with strep, to ear infections to a lovely weird thing with a toe that just now cleared up.  A huge blessing, though, all of them overall, are healthy.  And my problems, even as aggravating as they are, they are manageable.  This year just seemed to be more hellish with everything.

On a professional front…I’m having some blah-ness.  I’m not hitting burnout exactly, although there are certain things that I’m just tired of and I’m cutting back on things.  Some things I’ll discuss publicly, like social networking crap–the facebook page and goodreads, for one.  I’ve also gone through and cutback on the people I follow in twitter. I’ll continue to do that in the coming days-it’s nothing personal, but it’s too time-consuming and I need to simplify things.  Desperately.  Other things revolve around decisions I’ve made recently and I won’t discuss any of that, but I’m making some changes and it’s all related to one very rough year and the fact that I can’t keep doing as much as I do.  Simplify.  I must simplify.

And then there’s the personal level.  I’ve never had a year where I’ve been hit like this.  Four friends have died.  Back in 2009, I lost a woman who was like a grandmother to me and I didn’t think anything else could hit me (or our family) quite that hard.  But it goes to show that life can always hit you harder…and you can still get through it, because our family got through these losses.  Four friends.  One was more casual, but the others were deeply rooted in our lives, and for me, they’d been part of my life since childhood.  I’m still struggling to adjust and even though I’ve mostly accepted it and I’m letting myself grieve (finally), it’s hit me hard and I know it’s part of why I’ve been so down lately.  I’m short-tempered even on the best of days and there haven’t been many strings of good days lately.

Thankfully, the good days are scattered between the hell days and they have gotten us through the rough spots.

But yes.  I’m ready to get 2010 over.  But… I want Christmas first.  I love Christmas.

8 Replies to “I’m so ready to say so long 2010…”

  1. Unfortunately I have to agree about the suckage that was 2010. It was the worst my husband & I have seen in our 14-year marriage. Mostly due to the fact that he was overseas on business for about 9 months this year. I am hopeful for all of our sakes that 2011 will be much better. Merry Christmas!

  2. Your accounting of your blessings is awesome. I find that me doing that keeps me going through the bad stuff. Sometimes it’s very hard though, when the bad seems to outscore the good.
    I love Christmas too, but I also find it a time when I miss my dad, my sister & my Grandmother. Because I expect to think about them when we are having the most fun around the table, we include them in our blessings at the beginning of the meal. Then it seems their presence is there & it brings comfort instead of melancholy. Best wishes to you and your family.

  3. Sorry about all the loss. 🙁 I know about loss, I lost my wonderful father when I was 17, he was the best. And my Grandma just past in May, before that my teenage nephew, my brothers son, so tragic lost in a car accident. So I feel your pain!

    I also totally know how it feels to lose the weight, I’ve done it and I was never happier, I hope it improves your life a lot! But unfortunate for me I had a couple back surgeries and I still have a lot of back pain 10 yrs later and I put on all the weight I lost and 100 more. Thankfully I’m 5’9″. but I’ve been struggling to lose it and I can’t.

    It’s been a yo-yo up and down and it’s awful. I haven’t been very happy in 10 yrs, Every year I hope something will change and I’m be able to lose it.
    But I am hugely thankful for my Husband, he’s the best man of the planet!! We’re still so in love after 21 years nothing ever gets old with him around, I don’t know what I’d do w/o him. So there are positives thankfully. It’s not all bad all the time. I sure hope 2011 will bring you everything you want.
    I love your writing so take care of yourself, if it’s easier on you maybe to write a little less, then do it. We only live once, so make yourself happy too.

    Have a Wonderful Christmas!!
    I’m so looking forward to it too. 🙂

  4. Take care Shiloh.
    Life has a way of giving as well as taking and through our losses there is always another side.
    We lost our mother this year, I’ve been diagnosed with degenerative arthritis and my husband is scheduled for surgery in february. That’s life and all we can do is keep going and believing!

  5. I wish for 2011 to be a lot better and less stressful. I think 2010 has been crappy for a lot of people…I know I am looking forward to a better 2011.

  6. Thanks for the support & well wishes, guys. I know things could be a lot worse for us, a LOT worse… it just seems like so much crap hit this year… sigh.

  7. This year has not been a great one for me either primarily because my dad passed away in July suddenly. It’s been hard adjusting to life without him. Here’s to hoping for a better 2011 for us both!

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