2014 was quite a year. Most importantly, Jack and I got married, and we’re still basking in the newlywed stage. It’s been really lovely to spend the holidays with him (as well as the rest of the year)!

So yeah, I kept busy. In addition to planning the wedding… and the honeymoon… and the second honeymoon… I went on three international and one domestic work trip. In 2014, I traveled to:

• Brazil (work)
• Belize (vacation)
• Ethiopia (work)
• Chicago (work)
• Mozambique (work)
• U.S. Virgin Islands (vacation)

My passport got plenty of action!

In between all the travel, I took two writing workshops this year. Between drafting my own submissions and critiquing others, I got a lot of writing done! Much of it has not yet been published, but 2014 did see several notable stories published—both nonfiction and fiction.

• “Watermen Go From Harvesting Oysters to Hauling Tourists” (article – The Washington Post)
• “In Kate Zambreno’s ‘Green Girl,’ a Young American Wanders Through London” (book review – The Washington Post)
• “Desi Wok” (short story – District Lines volume 2)
• “Invisible” (short story – Magical anthology)

And several more stories are slated to come out next year!

Book cover magnets, $3.50 each or $10 for three

I also began a new creative endeavor this year: creating hand-bound miniature books as jewelry, ornaments, and accessories. Making these books has brought me a lot of joy, and I plan to continue this business next year—and hopefully I’ll add even more items, such as prints, stationery, and scarves!

In all the hubbub of my always-busy life, I managed to read a total of 54 books this year. That’s 4 more than my goal for the year, but it’s always fewer than I would have liked. Yet I really focused on reading books that I wanted to read—rather than books I felt obliged to read. It made for a very enjoyable year!

Although I read a decent number of books, I am disappointed by how little I posted to my own site. I reviewed only 20 books for my blog in 2014! I have a huge stack of books to be reviewed, and I really need to be better in 2015 about chipping away at that stack. I love book blogging, and I’ve really missed the connections that writing about books has brought me. I’m glad I was able to focus on other aspects of my life in 2014, but in 2015, I have several concrete goals for blogging—to be revealed tomorrow!

Thanks for a wonderful year—here’s to an even more fabulous 2015!