The Year That Was.

I had big plans for 2014 when it came to my writing.

I was going to second draft one of my original novels, done for NaNoWriMo over the years, both so that I could attempt to ready it for publication and so that I could have something new and amazing to post to the site. I was going to really start posting on Wattpad and building up my readership over there, too. I was going to really knuckle down and get things done.

And then 2014 happened, and nothing went to plan.

In late January, my maternal grandmother suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. It felt like my entirely life stopped in the two weeks that followed - I didn't go to work, I barely left the house, and I didn't even think about my writing. All I did was cry all the time, and even when I went back to work after the funeral, things didn't feel right. I knew they wouldn't for a long time.

In July, just when it was starting to feel like things might be okay again, I lost my maternal grandfather. This one was expected, though of course no less painful. Once again, life stopped. There were tears, and there were no thoughts of writing. It was the beginning of another long journey to wanting to feel okay, and now that journey was slowed by two losses.

Cue November, the month of writing. I did NaNoWriMo, but it felt more like going through the motions than anything else. If a co-worker hadn't laughed in my face because he was ahead of me on day two, I doubt I ever would have finished. As it is, my plot barely made it to 50,000 words, and I don't want to look at it for a long while. But hey, I was writing! Maybe this was the start of me getting my motivation back!

And then my youngest cat got sick.

Let's make a long story short. $900+ later, we still don't know what's wrong with him. Our local vet and two specialists are absolutely baffled, and we're taking him to see another specialist on Tuesday. Fingers crossed for a solid answer.

If you know me, you know my cats are my babies - so this is stressing me out to the max.

There was good between all the bad, of course. In March, after eight-and-a-half years of working at McDonald's, I finally managed to land myself a new job. In February, I got to live one of my dreams and professionally photograph an Avenged Sevenfold concert. In October, after a lifetime of wishing, I took up ballet classes - both for fitness and for fun - and I am feeling better for it.

So while my lack of being able to write has left me feeling stir-crazy and blue, it was not an entirely wasted year.

That said, I want to make 2015 the year for my writing. At this point, seeing that none of my originals are wanting to work for me, I'm looking at one of my old fan fictions and seriously considering re-writing it. It was much-loved here on Mibba, and a lot of people grew annoyed when I failed to deliver on a promised sequel. This time, I want to make that happen.

Between writing that, I will continue to work on my originals and hopefully. Any work is good work, right?