Reflecting on 2020

On this, the final day of the year 2020, I suspect many people are reflecting upon the past twelve months, just as I am. I will concede that this year has had its trials—more so than most others I’ve experienced—but there have been some good things to come of this year as well.

January began ordinarily enough for me. Work was typical enough that I don’t have any stories on my list for “Tales from the Lab” that came from that month. We were going about our lives as though there was nothing strange happening. I was very excited partway through January, when Qantas had a major sale on airline tickets. My husband and I bought tickets to take the trip I’d been dreaming of since I was eight years old—we were finally going to go to Australia! I decided to wait to book anything further until it was closer to our trip (it would have been September), which proved a fortunate thing, given how the rest of the year unfolded. I was forced to eventually request a refund for our tickets, and I do not know when we will re-plan this trip, but I will go to Australia one day.

February moved forward much as January had. I took the first step in getting my writing going again, and had some professional pictures taken on an oddly warm Saturday at the beginning of the month. That same weekend, I finished the first draft of Guardian (book two of The Caein Legacy).

At the beginning of March I came down with a pretty nasty respiratory infection that included the worst cough I’d ever had. They were not testing for COVID yet in my area—I don’t believe they started testing for it for another two weeks—but I suspect I may have had it based on the symptoms. I went the better part of five days with minimal sleep due to the relentless nature of the cough. I recovered on my own, only to find the day before I was to return to work we were placed on work from home orders, unless we had to go in to do our jobs. As a microbiologist, I can’t easily do much work from home, so I have been in to work periodically when samples need to be tested, though I’ve been at home more often than not since March.

Colorado began to lock down toward the end of March, and though it’s been an inconvenience for some things, I’ll be the first person to admit that I am not a social butterfly. I am quite the opposite, so being asked to stay in my house wasn’t such a bad thing. It also gave me the opportunity to do a lot of writing.

During the rest of March, I finished edits and initial revisions of Guardian. In April, I began writing Harbinger (book three of The Caein Legacy), and it was complete in July. About that time, I rediscovered my previous work, Hunted, and decided I ought to do something with it. It needed major revisions, but still being encouraged to remain at home gave me the opportunity to do the necessary revising. I rebooted my website, which I’d given up on a number of years ago, and started this blog in June. Hunted was ready for publication by the end of summer, and I released it as self-published in October. Through the months of August and September, I wrote the fourth and final (for now) book in The Caein Legacy, Legend. During the summer I began the long and often disappointing process of querying; my focus has been the first book in The Caein Legacy, Exile (with the hope of someone picking up the whole series). I continue the process even now, though I’ve had very little in the way of responses thus far. During the past two months, I’ve been working on two parts of The Mage War Chronicles, though I have not finished anything so far. If nothing else has come of 2020, it made me realize that I am happiest when I am writing, and that I truly want to share my stories with the world.

This year has also made me realize how fortunate I am to have the husband that I do. We will celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary in May 2021, and in spite of this year’s troubles, we are still together, and still happy. I am grateful that he continues to be there for me, and that the strange tale of 2020 did not drive us apart, as it did with many other couples. I feel that we are stronger together, and better than ever. This might not be a true accomplishment in terms of “getting things done” during the year, but I believe it’s worth celebrating nonetheless.

The unique situation that this year imposed upon us also caused my mother to rethink her working life, and she made the decision in the early fall to retire. Yesterday was her final day of work, and I could not be happier for her. She carried far too much stress with her due to her job, and I have been hoping for a few years that she would finally make the decision to enter retirement and enjoy her hobbies. She has worked hard all of her life, with very little in the way of recognition for what she has done. Her retirement is well-deserved, and I hope she can find the time to truly relax for the first time in decades.

My own working situation is a bit tenuous at present; things have not been great for the company I work for this year, and there were some layoffs that occurred a couple months ago. I’m still employed, for which I am thankful (and not only because it gives me the opportunity to uncover more Tales from the Lab to share with you). No matter what might happen with my job, I will continue to write, because ultimately, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do, what I have always done. This year has only strengthened my resolve to continue writing.

There has been a lot of talk on social media lately about the end of 2020, how awful this year has been, and how ready everyone seems to be for it to be over. While I agree with some of the statements, I also struggle with the amount of negativity. Yes, this year has been a trial, but as with all things, this will pass into history. I believe it’s worthwhile to look back on the year and see what good has also come of it, even if that good might only seem a small thing. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year.