I generally pull together a list of everything I’ve done in a year. It helps me when I need to update biographies for this and that, and it’s easy to forget things and let them slip through the cracks. I honestly didn’t expect this year’s list to add up to much, though. It seems like the last year has been one struggle, like wrestling wet sand into submission.

But when I put it all down on the page…I did a bunch, actually. Maybe less than previous years but not nothing. And given the year I’ve had I not only felt proud of everything I managed, I wanted to show it off. Not to pump myself up, but as a reminder to myself that even when I feel like things aren’t happening, they progress. That as long as I keep putting in the work there will be forward motion, and I can slow down and look after myself without coming to a full stop.

So I made this handy 2023 one-sheet for myself. Especially during this period of seasonal depression it’s helpful to have an at-a-glance way to refute the brain goblins when they crawl from the shadows to tell me I’m worthless. Because if this is what I’m capable of when I’m “worthless”, I shudder at what I will accomplish when I finally have those goblins contained.

As necessary a reminder that is, however, it’s more than that. The most important thing to me about this list of accomplishments is not the things themselves. It’s that every line represents a connection to another person. Seasonal depression, every type of depression, is isolating. I’m depressed, therefore I’m no fun to be around, so people don’t want me around, which makes me depressed, therefore I’m…

But this list reveals the truth behind that lie as well. The actual plays would never have happened without folks coming together to tell a story. Every book I listed is a talented creator who trusted me with their words. All “my” highlights happened because of another person or groups of folks who trusted me and wanted to work with me, and believed I was worth their time. In many cases they also represent friends I’ve made, or friendships solidified. Not all, and I think that’s an important thing for folks in the AP space especially to learn: you can work with folks, get along with them and do good work, and that doesn’t mean you have to be friends. Folks can just be respected colleagues and that’s okay. I’m friendly to everyone I work with, I’m friends to a valued few.

I was going to do a detailed breakdown of this summary, but really I posted about the main stuff while it was happening. You can find links to most of the publications on my Need an Editor page, my stuff for The Rat Hole is unsurprisingly available at The Rat Hole, and if you scroll back through this page you’ll find me talking about pretty much everything else.

2023 was a tough year. It took a toll on my health, my finances, my relationships with friends and family. In a lot of ways I’m looking to 2024 as a rebuilding year, of working on new things, yes, but also a chance to get my legs under me again. Before you run you have to stand, and I need to sort where I stand.

The only thing left to say is thank you. Thank you to everyone who made this list possible. You helped me take what could have been a complete write-off of a year and make it something I can look back on with something in the wheelhouse of pride.

The new year approaches. Let’s get it, yeah?