I’ll begin at the beginning, and when I get to the end, I’ll stop.

2018 was a very strange year for me. At the very end of 2017 I packed up everything I owned and drove straight across the country to live in Connecticut. (I’m from the northeast and 8 years in Los Angeles was quite enough, thank you.)

I ended up in a town 3.5 hours from my family. I knew only one person here and a handful of people nearby in New York City.  I only came here because the industry I work in had a few headquarters here and I had a lead on an apartment. End of story.

I’ve been working my Los Angeles job remotely all year, spending copious amounts of time at home with my cats, in pajamas and showering minimally. I’ve watched more anime than a human should ever watch and I’ve read more books than a person should ever read. (Not really, but you get the point.)

This has been a very stay-at-home, anti-social year for me, which is odd because I am primarily an extrovert and a social butterfly. I convinced myself it was OK to take this year for myself. “The Year of Heather,” I’ve been calling it. With all the alone time, I’ve accomplished something this year I only dreamed about doing before—I published my first novel.

I did more than just publish it though. I wrote it, wrote it again, designed the cover, researched how to format it, formatted it, researched how to self-publish, self-published it, built three social media accounts, a goodreads account, an Amazon author account and a website/blog. Then I self-promoted the crap out of it, which I continue to do. THEN, I started (and almost finished) writing the sequel.

All this I probably never could have (or at least never would have) done if it hadn’t been for this hobbit-hole year. This accomplishment alone made the whole thing worth while, plus it put me on a trajectory to continue writing and publishing in the future. Eventually I will query, perhaps get an agent, maybe have something published by a publisher—who knows? All I know is I’m well on my way to achieving one of my oldest life goals and I am ecstatic.

BUT…. (you knew there was going to be a but, right?) 2018 is about to end and 2019 is charging forth at full speed. Recently I was hired by one of those aforementioned headquarters and in a matter of days my day job will now take me outside of the house and into an office. I’ll be a person of the world again, wearing real clothes, interacting face to face with other humans and, god willing, showering regularly.

I am thrilled about my new job and I am super excited to rejoin mankind. I am worried, however, that I will have much less time to pursue the author dream. I am certain my social media game will not be as on point as it has been. I already don’t write blogs often enough, so probably much won’t change there (haha). Most importantly, I hope my writing doesn’t take a hit because I’m tired all the time.  That would be a worst side effect of all.

Honestly, I don’t know what to expect. I’ve never tried to juggle an office day job and creative dream job before. I want to believe I will kick ass and take names, but I can’t snuff out my doubts entirely. All I can do is the best I can do, and I plan to!

Goals I hope to achieve in 2019 are as follows:

• Release Wide Awake in ebook and paperback
• Finish writing and release my Untitled Collaborative Project with @NerdyNikkiAnn
• Finish first draft of an Untitled Personal Project
• Query Lucid Dreaming to publishers
• Read 35 books