Much of 2017 was a time of transition for me. The early part of 2018 is going to continue along the same vein. I keep saying that I’m not going to be able to figure out what the “new normal” is until June or July 2018.

That being said, I’m happy with where I was, where I am now, and where I’m going.

Looking back over the year, the biggest change for me was diet and health. I’ve completely changed my diet. I’ve stopped having migraines (60+ migraine-free days so far). I did a lot of construction and physical labor this year. While my weight hasn’t changed, my body composition has–I’ve put on a lot of muscle. Plus, the diet leans me out, so I have much less body fat than I did.

Other changes…The writing marathons I did this year took my writing to a new level–worked that writing muscle hard and produced some great results. Though I missed my goal of 500K words, I still managed 382K, which is kind of amazing given all the other work I did this year.

One thing I’ll finally admit here–I can no longer drink coffee. While I might love the taste, coffee no longer loves me. I get a horribly upset stomach, now, anytime I drink it. (And remember, this is from the woman who roasted her own coffee beans!) So I’ve started drinking tea in the mornings. (I haven’t given up caffeine.)

This has also led to other changes. For example, I’ve officially changed the author tagline on my website. Instead of “coffee fueled fiction” it’s now “Artist. Thinker. Do-er.” I think that more describes who I am currently, though I anticipate I’ll have to change that line at some point as well.

I am growing my own tea bushes, so at some point, I’ll be able to harvest and dry my own tea, make my own blends. I’m kind of looking forward to that, though it’ll be a few years before the tea bushes we’ve planted have become established enough that I can harvest from them.

There are things that have remained the same as well. My sweetie is still the best husband in the world, and I am so lucky to have found him. I have great family and friends. My kitty continues to bring me joy as well.

More changes are coming up, more transitions that I’m looking forward to. However, I can’t really talk about them at this point. Expect news soon.

Looking forward, I think the theme of 2018 is at least going to start off with balance. Not just eating healthy (cause I think I’m doing that pretty well at this point) but living healthy too. Taking breaks. Stretching. It’s part of why I’m taking today “off” from the physical stuff. That might turn out to be my goal early on, to take a day off from everything physical at least once a week. Once most of that is finished (or at least becomes a lower priority) I might change what my day off looks like. Kris posted about taking a break from all electronics once a week. I may adopt that, I may do something else. Don’t know yet.

My start of the year for writing includes writing a short story a week, every week, through March. After that, don’t know. As I said, changes and transitions and going with the flow, as it were.

I hope that your 2018 is filled with hope and light.