So today is the first day of 2015 and I have decided to look back over the totality of 2014, the challenges, the changes, and share a few of them with you.

• A year about I was working as a temp, earing about 66% of what I had been pulling down, plowing in serious amount of overtime every week to make ends meet.
• Now I am fully employed in a good position with union benefits making 15% above my previous high-income mark. I have good co-workers and everything on that front looks to be stable and growing.
• This year I have received 40 rejections on short stories I have submitted for publication and 1 acceptance. That may sound dreary and depressing but of those 40 rejections 12 were personalized with comment from the proposed markets. 30% of my rejections elicited comment from editors and screeners. This is a new high water mark and indicates that more and more often my prose is scratching at professional acceptance.
• My rejection streak continues with the Writers of The Future contest. Under the new coordinating judge I cannot seem to advance. A year ago this generated a great deal of frustration, but now I have only acceptance. It is simply one of many markets.
• Sadly two friends passed away this year. They will be missed
• I finished a new novel and that novel is generating at least some professional interest. We’ll have to see if 2015 closes that deal.
• I attended a family reunion and spend a far too short weekend with my kin.
• I started this year and ended it happily married to my sweetie-wife. Clearly the best aspect of the year.

This year was good and bad, as most years are, but overall I am happy to be be here and optimistic about the future.