As we wrap up the tired old year of 2016, first and foremost I extend a huge thank you to you, the readers, followers, and new followers of my blog. I appreciate you dropping in to comment, read, and share my musings and tips.

2016: year in review

I began blogging several times a week only as of July of this year. I noticed that’s when I began to pick up most of my followers and commenters.

Originally, I had intended to keep posts curtailed in four main categories: writing, manuscript editing, parenting, and health.

Unfortunately–or fortunately–I have a broad range of interests that have caused this list to grow. Photographs, challenges, music, gardening, weather, travel, and interviews have also found their way into the blog.

Challenges

• 7-day photo challenge (October)
• 7-day nature photo challenge (October)
• 7-day book challenge (invitation to authors to post photos and stories of their book events; October)

Blog series

• Snippets of an Author’s Life (July and August)
• Words in the Dark (NaNoWriMo: November)
• Countdown to Christmas: Today’s Christmas Song (December)

Poll: What was your favourite Christmas song?

I ran my first poll on this site at the end of December. The full playlist can be found on this blog and on YouTube.

Poll results: 14 of 28 songs received a vote between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. That’s 50% of the songs I posted! Pretty nice odds.

1st place tie: MercyMe’s God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Pentatonix’s Little Drummer Boy.

Special thanks to the music appreciators and faithful followers of Today’s Christmas Song posts. I’ve been collecting arrangements of classic carols that speak to me in some way for many years and wanted to share them, some of which are little known selections.

Interviews (international and local)

• authors
• poets
• artists
• educators

or any combination thereof, and

• blog tag (Q&A)

To complete the list of interviewees, I am still seeking

• musicians

Other posts and combinations

In the spring, I posted Music as a Barometer of Your Well-Being and answering the dream job question. Prior to that, you’ll find articles on The Awesomeness of Teens: 10 Tips for Parents, memory (health), manuscript editing, and 14 Tips to Inspire Your Writing.

Music not only found its way into the blog, but combined with writing quotes, weather, and holiday events. Travel combined with wildlife and photography. Weather and wildlife combined with life in Edmonton, which led straight to discussions of temperature and daylight, as well as local festivals in our festival city. Summer in Edmonton meant a garden, so Story of Our Garden had to be written, especially since it was the first garden I was able to create since 2006.

In turn, a garden photo made it into the photo challenges, as did photographs of wildlife and the changing seasons. A birch photo inspired the Canadian song Land of the Silver Birch–and we’re back to music, travel, and the outdoors, since the song reminds me of canoeing and my childhood in Ontario.

Technically, this is a writing blog, but it’s all writing, after all. Isn’t it?

In terms of writing specifically, there was this year’s NaNoWriMo. Although I didn’t win, my newest NaNo buddy, whose progress appears in this blog, did–in her first year!

Projects old and new

On October 1st, my book event of the year was Words in the Park.

The big wrap-up for the year-end was the release of my book, Beyond the Precipice. Woot! I can finally continue with other book projects.

Other events (for 2017) are posted here: Events page. This page is frequently updated.

2017: projects, plans, and events you’ll hear about

In the new year, I will be working on books IRONCLAD (supernatural adventure novelette) and DRUYAN (fantasy adventure novel), which was the NaNoWriMo 2014 project–the only year I won.

In writing

• the two books mentioned above, expected to be released in time for the Words in the Park event
• Beyond the Precipice book events and signings
• writing retreat (May 2017?)
• Words in the Park (October 2017)
• NaNoWriMo (November 2017)
• writing inspiration and tips

New blog series to watch for

• fitness challenge
• guitar videos (if I can get these to work)

Other topics

• interviews and special posts
• writing, editing, publishing
• parenting and education
• gardening and cooking
• photography and nature
• weather and seasons
• outdoors and travel
• health
• music

Tune in to tomorrow’s short post as we take out the old year!

See also: A New Year for This Blog — What’s planned for 2017.