Another Year, Another Birthday Post

Every year I do a birthday post to reflect on what's happened, refocus, and set some new goals for
the coming year. Last year's post was pretty bleak. Year 30 was a tough hill for me to climb.

Year 31 on the other hand? What a ride!

This past year was insane! I moved from my warm and lovely Florida to cold and bitter Kansas. Despite the cold I managed to make some friends and we really love the area we're in. Good people, good schools, and a good house. I signed with an agent, Marlene Stringer, in July and this evening I just mailed off the first round of edits for Heroes and Villains Book 3 to my editor.

Career-wise, this year has been very busy on my end and very dull for readers because everything has been behind the scenes. That's go to change next year. You're going to get more books, and you're going to get them a lot more regularly because this December is going to be my last move for a few years.

I know, right? YEARS! I'm going to stay in one place for over 365 days! This is very exciting! Yeah, it'll be Alaska, but Alaska is an adventure. Maybe Jon Snow will show up and save me from a polar bear or something. Even if he doesn't, at least I won't spend 60 days out of every 365 packing and unpacking my house. That gets old.

This is going to be a good year. I can tell.

And because it's a birthday tradition I'm giving away socks again. Leave a comment and subscribe to the newsletter. If you don't like socks and you win I'll buy you some books from Book Depository. No worries. Go eat some cake for me. :)

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The Dreaded Birthday Post

I'm thirty-one today (thanks, Mom!) and with the birthday comes introspection, and new goals, and a review of what I've done in the past year and - I'll be honest - the last year has kind of been a blur. Without going into the nitty gritty classified details of my life it's hard to explain the past year. There really aren't any highlights.

Lowlights maybe? Low points? Bad days and really bad days and days where I hoped there wouldn't be a morning because I wasn't sure I could handle a bad day. It's been a knock-out fight and I feel like I've been the punching bag for the whole thing.

Year Thirty: Not as fun as advertised.

In a lot of ways I don't think I've changed at all. I always have been and always will be a Geek who loves everything in the ocean, is a little obsessed with sci-fi, loves to asks questions, believes in God and evolution equally, and who thinks that the most important things in life aren't things at all. To an outsider I am perfectly average looking: average height, weight, and phenotype for a Terran. If you dumped a picture of the world's people into a program I'd be that baby.

I feel like I should insert a rousing speech here, or some nugget of hard earned wisdom. After some serious pondering...

Life is exactly what you make it.

You don't get to pick which building blocks you start with. You don't get to set the rules. You don't get to complain when someone else swipes half your blocks, or kicks over your tower, or punches you in the face and leaves you with nothing.

Fighting back is pointless. Because the point isn't to have the most blocks it's to build the best life with what you have. If more blocks and opportunities fall into your path, that's a nice bonus, but taking away from other people is always wrong. 

At thirty-one I'm average. I was born average. I'll probably die average.

But I won't live average.

You can't. There is no such thing as an average life. Every single person is rare and unique. They each have their own story. They are each in your life to give you some gift only they will ever hold. Everyone is extraordinary.

So, tonight we celebrate extraordinary. Dinner starts at six. There will be cake and quite possibly fresh shrimp. For all of you who have not crossed the line into full-time Liana Stalking there is a party here with giveaways and prizes to be had. Sock Dreams gift certificates or a Book Depository shopping spree, your pick!

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