That’s how far we’ve traveled in the past year, and today we add another lap on the track. With today being the 31st, I’m pretty sure this is going to be my final blog article for the year , so I figured I’d do a bit of a “yearly wrap-up.”

All in all, this year has had a truckload of negatives, with some very peaked positives. So, while there’s been a lot of “rough” to go around, at least I occasionally had the highs to make it worthwhile.

Health wise…. yeah, not good.  I was diagnosed with a heart condition in March, and it took most of the year to get it under control.  The fact that one of my long-time inspirations James M. Ward was hospitalized for a good part of that time with severe issues (some similar to my own) didn’t help at all, either.  Fortunately, we’re too old hound dogs that are just too stubborn to lie down, and we both got through it- his more harrowing than mine, but that’s because he’s a better writer and was willing to get stronger material for his future autobiography.

Occupation wise is pretty obvious. I officially moved on from my second career, and started a third one as a writer. While this wasn’t without a lot of thought before hand, there’s new things I’m learning about the struggles to be a full time writer every day. Learning is good, struggling is not, but it at least builds character.

Finance wise is pretty much answered in the Occupation bit.  Going from a management position to pure freelancing isn’t easy, but at least I had the math down to make sure it was possible first. Right now it’s just the trick of filling enough time with enough work, while also leaving room for projects which will become my own portfolio. While I’m not (yet) making what I was, I’m not spending nearly as much either, and able to be more available and supportive for my girlfriend, which was needed this year.

Romance wise I’m fortunate enough that my girlfriend for three years running hasn’t figured off she’s better off without me. Here’s to keeping that streak alive! She had a rough year family wise, but we’re through it and ready to kick 2015 to the curb.

As far as people lost over the year… man I don’t even know where to begin. No, I do. My girlfriend lost her mom this year, and she was hands down one of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet.  Two other friends, a handful of personal heroes (literally right up through this week), and more than a dozen family members of friends along the way… 2015 was rough.

Writing wise, it’s been a positive year. Since this is my writing blog, that’s good news for anyone that reads this. (Really, how many of you just skimmed right past of the personal stuff?  I don’t blame you, I would have too.) While it was technically 2014, my first “in print” in my hands in fifteen years was last December- the Main Rulebook for Warzone: Resurrection from Prodos. I still can’t thank Jarek enough for the opportunity to be in that book, and the next three Prodos releases that followed.  A nice body of work in a short period of time for an untested writer, and I owe him my thanks. That was followed up with work for Mark Rapson at Word Forge Games  and the release of Devil’s Run, Route 666- the novella of which will be out in March. From there I landed work with Crushpop Productions and Neuicon/Mark Melero on their Corrogatio anthology (available for free!), and an upcoming serial for a character based on the music of Absolute Valentine which will hit in February.  I was approved to post a scifi novel I’m working on in a chapter-by-chapter serial on Channillo, and have another free-to-read serial which will be out weekly from Skullduggery Press very shortly. Finally, I just received word that a short story of mine has been approved for the fourth Tales of Fortannis anthology coming out next fall from Double Dragon Press, which is a treat as I have known Micheal A Ventrella for the better part of two decades, and it will be interesting (read: nerve wracking) having him edit for me after all that time.  All in all, nearly eighty thousand words all paid for and ready to go in 2016, with more projects coming- just you wait!

So, in the end, I’m not going to be sad to see 2015 go, and I’m expecting 2016 will be a far brighter year. It’s honestly not hard to top old ’15.

My hopes for everyone are that this holiday season found you happy, healthy, and with your loved ones, and that your next 584 million miles will be better than the last. See you all next year.