Life Hack - Oh, 2018 (Never Saw It Coming)

I'm sitting in my living room writing this blog - laptop on the coffee table in front of me, cup of Earl Grey to my right and a cup of noodles to my left as I scramble to figure out how to summarize the last year of my life.

Yes, scramble. This is going to be one of those blogs that gets written off the cuff and thrown up almost as soon as I've finished writing it - because that's been my life so far this week.

The last time I wrote a serious life update was about two years ago, at the end of a chaotic year and tumultuous season of life (Oh, 2016, in case you feel like reading up on what was going on back then). I won't be formatting my update in quite the same way, though. 2018 has been a much slower year, and only became busier in the back half of the year.

What's Happened in 2018

In July, I released a second short story collection called "Overload: Stories for When Your World Flips Upside Down". Talk about stories I needed to write for myself, given other things that have happened since its release.

In August, a good friend unexpectedly passed away.

In October, nephew #6 was born - which is one of those crazy stories of a birth control fail that really deserves a post unto itself, but is not going to get one at this particular moment in time.

In November, my father suffered a second heart attack the week before Thanksgiving (the first having been in the fall of 2014). I'm sure that story also deserves its own post, but I don't know when I'll get around to writing it. Maybe in a few months, when things have settled down and my head is on a little bit straighter than it is right now.

Most of the above events have made it necessary for me to push release dates back a few months into 2019. I'll be talking more about what you can expect to see from me next year... well, early next year.

What I Posted in 2018

Next week I'll be posting a list of the five blogs I wrote this year that received the most views, but I thought I'd include a list of all of my posts from 2018 here so you can take a look through them before I reveal which ones you guys seemed to be most attracted to. I missed a lot of weeks this year, so this list is shorter than you might expect.

Book Reviews:

The Wounded Shadow (The Darkwater Saga #3) (Posted 5/15/2018)
The Excalibur Alternative (Posted 7/26/2018)
Imprudence (The Custard Protocol #2) (Posted 8/30/2018)
The Hands We're Given (Aces High, Jokers Wild Vol. 1) (Posted 10/25/2018)
Zombie Playlist (Posted 11/29/2018)

Dear Netflix, Do You Really Know What I Want to Watch?

Part 1 (Posted 11/8/2018)
Part 2 (Posted 11/15/2018)

In Conclusion

I can't say that 2018 has treated me especially well, but I cannot say it has treated me badly either. I can say that there are probably things I forgot to talk about, though.

But what about you? Was 2018 a year to remember, or one you would rather forget? Let me know in the comment section below.

Metaphors: Candles

I've recently fallen in love with candles. Since coming home from the World Race , I've bought at least one a month. My favorite candles are the ones that come in glass jars - because when they burn out, I can clean the remaining wax out and put the jars to other uses. Right now, that means they get cleaned out and packed away in anticipation of my move to Flagstaff. But as I was lighting one tonight (vanilla spice... Thanksgiving smells? Yes, please!), I saw a metaphor for writing flickering away in the flame licking at the wick and melting the wax. I suppose it could be a metaphor for life in general, but since the theme of this blog is writing... Well, you do the math.

[Five Minute Friday] Purpose

Fiber bars, strewn along the side of the road. There had to be at least a dozen of them, still in their wrappers and completely unopened. No box in sight. Really? That's about the reaction my younger sister and I had when we stumbled on them on our early morning run. Really? along with disgusted sighs about the wastefulness of it. These were the expensive ones, not a generic store brand that kind of tastes and kind of looks the same sometimes. So, when we weren't keeping an eye out for their box, we speculated about what had happened. And wondered how many more we were going to see before the end of our run. "Maybe they took one bite and thought they were gross," my sister said. "So they threw them out because they didn't want them anymore." I let out one of those disgusted sighs and nodded along with her theory. "Yeah, or they got in a huge fight, and threw them out in a fit of rage." "That's a possibility." And

How to Make Sure Your Book Review Request Does NOT Get Deleted

I've been hesitant to write this post. That is due, in large part, to how angry I get some days after reading book review requests. I curse, I rant, I snark. My cat will tell you it's not a pretty sight. But I also feel like this is a good opportunity to talk about what it is that makes me feel those feelings AND how to not stir them up. I'm not the only reviewer that gets frustrated when I see certain things in my emails from authors looking for a review. And I know I'm not the only one who gets triggered enough to ignore or delete those messages. I never feel good about doing it. It's just that I'm hitting the proverbial wall here and I want to hit it a little less often. So if you're an author looking for loving advice on how to approach reviewers (especially this one), read on. Review Requests I Always Delete Before I get into what to do, I wanted to take a minute to look at what not to do (and how I handle it). Want to know what immedi

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