Amazing.

It is natural for us to reflect about the year gone by at the end of the year. Given my birthday is also at the end of the year, I become especially reflective.

Today I heard from so many people . . . whether it was on Facebook or Twitter, or emails or phone calls or a surprise visit. I was touched beyond words. It is especially difficult at this time of the year, two days before Christmas, to take time to remember my birthday, and I appreciate it so much.

A few people I talked to today are not on social media, at all. It is hard to remember that not everyone is, and if they aren’t, it is unlikely they have any idea what has gone on in my life in the last year. And vice versa. Those are the conversations in which I am amazed by how quickly the year has gone, and how much has happened in the last twelve months.

This year I published two books. Amazing. One friend I talked to tonight asked, "How did you get started? I mean, how did you come up with the characters? And the story?"

And I told her. It ended up being a synopsis of the first ten pages of And Then You Fall. As I was telling her, so much came flooding back to me. In the course of writing that book, and others, I have had the opportunity to connect with truly amazing people. Some of them I am lucky enough to count as friends. Some have influenced characters, to the point that a particular character is based on them. Some introduce me to people who become character inspiration. Some have written something I read, sometimes as simple as a Twitter post, and it inspired either a story in and of itself, or a plot twist. And then, there are those who supply the character inspiration along with what the story should be about. It’s rarely recognizable as what they initially may have suggested to me, but there is still the spark of an idea which leads to something . . . more.

I was filled with happiness as I recollected to her, my oldest and dearest friend (we met in fourth grade and have been best friends ever since), what motivated me to write this series of books. It was joy I felt as I told her how the story came together. I didn't tell her as much about the second book, And Then You Dance. It is the type of book that even telling someone what the book is about requires a spoiler alert. 

I have been gifted this year with the addition of so many new friends. That has been my greatest blessing. In talking with another friend, she laughed and said she figured that meant I was now friends with the only other five people living in town that I hadn't been friends with before. 

But it hasn't just been here in town, I’ve met authors and interviewers and friends of friends . . . connected with would probably be a better way of putting it, but the bottom line is I've been blessed this year. It has been a milestone kind of year for me. One in which the goals I set for myself have been far exceeded. I feel as though I was more a vessel for it than I was the creator of any of it.

As I look back, there is little I would change about the last year. It has been one of the best of my life. As I often say, but it could never be often enough, I love my life.