Once again we’re at the end of another year. What a mixed bag of days it’s been. While I didn’t select a word for 2019, I feel like I gained a wealth of happiness from my chosen family. I brought new friends into the fold, strengthened my relations with others, and had many wonderful moments to fill my bucket through this turbulent year.
I returned to Facebook this year. Keeping it mostly on a leash by visiting only the groups and the pages I administer.
Two things remained consistent through this year: doing a daily card draw and listening to my body. Still hitting the gym, still seeing my chiropractor and massage therapist. In December, I stepped up my gym game by going four times a week and at 6:30 in the morning. I’m still working on trying to keep the pace up, but it does give me a sense of structure to my days which I desperately crave.
With all this said, here’s a longer rundown of the good, the bad, and the accomplishments of 2019. Enjoy the commentary and corresponding images from my year.
The Good
My partner, kendra, came out as a trans woman this year. Her journey has been amazing to watch and the transformation she’s stepped into is breathtaking. She’s much more vibrant, happy, and light now that she can express her true nature. I’m so proud of my wife. We have a loving and supportive community of chosen friends which makes this all the better.
Visited Massachusettes for the first time. Stayed with my wonderful friend Carolyn Cushing. She drove me around the Valley and I got to visit Emily Dickenson’s grave and home. Her poetry had an early influence on my writing. We also did a one day tarot and writing retreat which was well received by the attendees.
Visited St. Louis, Missouri for the first time. Stayed with Melissa Cynova. Taught a class at the Cardslingers Thingy and got a new tarot tattoo of the moon on my arm. Between this and singing in the car for hours with Melissa and Hilary, I have many great memories.
The counseling I receive weekly does wonders for me. Both my physical and mental health are doing better.
Witnessed Mary K Greer divine inspiration from my ouija underwear at NWTS. No, it’s NOT what you think. Okay, maybe it is? Email me for details.
Being an avid gym rat has helped me grow stronger. Helped friends move into a house in June and it felt good to be able to do much lifting.
Read 48 books this year. Doubled from last year. This was accomplished by restructuring my daily schedule and habits to spend more time reading at night.
The Bad
I am no-longer associating with my adoptive family. When kendra came out during pride in June we got nothing but negative feedback and spite. It’s a hard thing to do, but I cannot deal with the abuse any longer. My sights are set for better and my boundaries are getting stronger as a result.
Mid-way through the year our kitty, imoen, developed health issues. We took her to the hospital in August and discovered she had a tumor in her intestine. She went through surgery and was diagnosed with one (or two) cancers. She’s on steroids and chemo now, and we’re doing our best to make sure her final years are as comfortable, food plenty, and enjoyable.
It’s been hard to watch her go through this, as cancer has taken so many others from my life (people and pets). She’s a fighter and I am proud at how well this kitty is doing.
The Accomplishments
Started off the new year with my book, Tarot Inspired Life, being released to the public. I’ve gotten many wonderful reviews from friends and strangers and it’s amazing to see just how well everyone has understood the intention of the book. Huzzah!
I kept up with the amount of publicity for the book and my reading practice by doing events once every month. This is something which helped push me more into the public, and has been a good guideline for keeping my levels of stress down. I plan on doing my best to continue this idea throughout 2020.
Had my first book signing at the ALA Seattle conference. It was so much fun and all the books “sold” out quickly. I was also able to snag a few freebies, including the anticipated ARC of Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers (it’s sooo good).
I attended five conferences this year: PantheaCon 2019, NorthWest Tarot Symposium, Readers Studio, Beyond the Gates, and the Cardslingers Thingy. I taught classes at PantheaCon, NWTS, Beyond the Gates, and at the Cardslingers Thingy. Hung out with my peeps at Readers Studio.
In addition to having my book published, I also wrote the booklets for the Millennium Thoth, the Thelema Lenormand, and the Tarot Z tarot deck projects from Lo Scrabeo. Tarot Z was one of my favorite projects because it blended my love of tarot and zombies together. There are two editions, a regular edition and a limited edition box which reminds me of The Walking Dead. All three decks are out and you can purchase them at your local store or amazon.
I’m still podcasting with Rose Red under the Tarot Visions umbrella. We left our partner group in June and transferred services over to Spreaker. We hired kendra to make new music for our intro and outro. We also hosted our first two giveaways for tarot books and decks. We are still recording strong and have a lot coming in for 2020.
November saw me return to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This is a solo-writing competition which helps writers all over the world work on creating a first (aka shitty) first draft of a novel in 30 days. I participated in this project for over ten years and have many drafts. Tarot Inspired Life started life in this format. I returned this year because I wanted to write the first draft of my next tarot book. I’m not going to release any deets yet. However, I can say that I “won” with 50,222 words and I am still adding more words to reach a final total of 60,000.
2020 brings a new podcast featuring my voice. Melissa Cynova, Hilary Parry Haggerty and I started recording episodes for what will become Cardslingers Coast to Coast. After many tech issues and resolutions, the ‘cast comes at you on January 10, 2020. It’s a different tarot podcast than what Rose and I are doing, and I hope everyone enjoys it.
This about wraps 2019 up. With a few hours to spare. We’re having friends over tonight and later, I head out to read tarot at a local party. I look forward to 2020 and what the new year and decade bring into my life.
How’d your year go? What did you do, where did you go, who did you see? What are you looking forward to in 2020? Let me know!
