People keep saying “happy new year” to me today. While I can’t quite believe it, my Google calendar informs me that, yes, it is indeed the last day of 2024, and since (as you all know) I find nothing more motivating than a rapidly approaching deadline, I wrote you guys a little year-end post (and I did something else that I’ll tell you about farther down).
Happy new year.

It’s classic/cliche to list our accomplishments from the year behind us, but I always feel like I don’t have any of those to share, especially these days. So let’s call them achievements, since that just means I managed to successfully do a thing, and I’ll also list my...let's call them non-achievements, instead of failures. Because mostly I didn't try hard enough to fail, really (although I suppose my Type A self now sees that as its own failure). I’ll separate them into categories, because I like organizing things on the page; it lets me pretend I’m organized off the page too.
Writing
Achievements
I went away for four days and blasted through a major revision of my first novel (the one I wrote at 22 doesn’t count). I alllllmost finished, and then I spent the next few months wishing I had time to finish, and then today I had a half day at work and I spent HOURS drafting the last few scenes (plus another one I decided to add at the literal last minute because I’m a masochist) and now I’m FINISHED. Next year: another revision and, if I’m feeling brave, querying some agents.
I finally got through to the editorial department at Faber and sent them my second memoir. I very much doubt they’ll want it but at least if they reject it I no longer have to worry about breaking the right of first refusal clause in my contract for Navel Gazing.
Non-Achievements
Still no agent or small publisher for said second memoir, but I can’t seem to let that poor dead horse lie. If/when Faber rejects it, maybe I’ll self-publish…or go hybrid, but who can afford that? Or should I serialize it on Substack…? This is a problem for 2025 Anne.
Health
Achievements
I kept up my swimming practice all year, with a few virus- and injury-imposed blips, and even recently worked up to swimming three times a week, with the help of my always supportive (if sometimes grumbly about having to do drop-off) husband! I’ve also gotten much less cowardly, which is a big deal for me: I can now share a lane, I’ve been practicing my flip turns even when there are other swimmers around (and as a result of that practice I’m starting to look a bit more like a drowning gazelle than a drowning wildebeest), and I even asked the front desk peeps to put up a sign about when the smaller pool turns from lanes to teaching (this is my cowardly way of sticking up for myself against the gang of cliquish seniors who’ve now muscled me out of the pool TWICE when aquacize class is still ten minutes out and I only have two laps to go in my routine).
I finally followed up on my inklings and got assessed for ADHD, and big surprise: I’ve got it! I then tackled my weird aversion to ‘relying on medication’ (again) and started taking Adderall, which has made a shocking difference to pretty much every aspect of my life, including lowering my anxiety (turns out a lot/maybe all of that was a coping mechanism to keep me from being an inattentive disaster) and massively improving my experience with exercise.
I also pursued more answers about the no-details-needed digestive horrors I’ve been experiencing for a few years, leading to biofeedback pelvic floor PT (whoooo that’s a weird experience) and my second dual colonoscopy/endoscopy in four years (and, for the second time: all clear/no answers found). Oh, and I got another iron infusion IN CANADA because AMERICA IS GARBAGE. Anyway, I’m proud of myself, because going to doctors blows and I’d much rather avoid it but it’s important.
Non-Achievements
Still have IBS-D, still hate it, still at the mercy of my intestines when it comes to socializing/travel/work. But hey, at least I know I don’t have colon cancer!
Parenting
Achievements (shared with my husband and excellent co-parent, Scott)
Ethan is absurdly sweet and funny, and while I can’t take credit for that I like to think we can take some credit for his advanced use of language. He frequently pauses a story to point out the front, back, and spine of a book (and, since I got involved, the title page and dedication too). His current favorite phrase is “lemme show you something,” at which point, after you’ve asked to see it, he says “don’t say wow yet! Don’t say it yet! No not yet!” and then stares at you as if you’re letting him down while you’re waiting for the go-ahead.
After a rough start and a long re-set, he took to potty training like a champ! He even night trained himself at basically the same time. Diapers? Who needs em? Not our nug!
We traveled SO MUCH this year (we went on something like 12 2- to 4-night trips for my work) and Ethan was almost always a perfect gentleman to everyone he met and ate off the grown-up menu (clam chowder is always a fave) and kept his bodily waste in the toilet/potty.
Ethan insists on ‘helping’ me make my coffee in the mornings, and with the exception of microwaving the almond milk (only because it’s too high for him to reach on his tower) he can now make my latte all by himself. Teaching him the important skills!
Non-Achievements
At nearly three years old, he's still sleeping in a crib (on the rare occasions when he's not in our bed) and using a pacifier. I don't wanna talk about it.

Work
Achievements
After more than a year as an editor in chief and 13-nearly-14 published issues under my belt, the imposter syndrome is wearing off and I’m finally starting to believe I might actually merit this job, and maybe even trust that I can continue in this career (a dangerous pastime, I know). I also dye and cut my hair however I want and never hear a negative word about it (iykyk).
I taught another writing class! It was incredible and I loved every second and I will keep doing it on weekends because that’s literally the only time I can fit it into my life. Can someone please design for me a 30-hour-per-week job that encompasses teaching, writing, editing, crafting, and travel/eating and pays like 60k?1 I don’t need much.
Non-Achievements
I’m still kinda poor, still might lose my most important team member at any time, and still can’t write political shit. Guess you can’t have everything.
Personal
Achievements
Listing work last on this retrospective! (Well, it was last...until I added this section to brag about that, and now it looks like my personal priorities come dead last...which is irritatingly accurate.)
I bought an EV and she’s perfect. Now, was this an entirely financially sensible decision? Maybe not. But it was a fine one/I’ll make it work, and it’s worth it, especially given that the EV incentives are likely to disappear soon… Also, look at her!
Finally managed to get my hands on donuts from The Flour Box, after five years of creeping on them on Instagram!
Non-Achievements
This one I've gotta call a failure. Despite all the angst and obsession and anger and anxiety and sleeplessness and meme-sharing and ranting – and, yes, some actual hard conversations and voting and money – I put toward the opposite outcome, we're staring down the barrel at another tRump term. I don't wanna think about it and yet I can think of almost nothing else.
Okay, now back to our usual (if not regularly-scheduled) programming! Briefly, since I’ve already rambled so much.
Recent Writing:
Something like 4,500 words of new scenes to finish up the first big revision of my novel! And this newsletter! It’s a banner day (and therefore month) for writing.
Recent Reading:
I read 50 books this year! Shout out to the Libby app! Recent likes have included The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore, and Tender Is the Flesh, by Augustina Bazterrica (this one is extremely disturbing but I also found it very thoughtful). I also really liked Margo’s Got Money Troubles, by Rufi Thorpe, WHEN I wasn’t annoyed by the constant POV switching. Without that, five stars. With it…3.5.
A Random Joy:
My sister-in-law sent me a Woobles crochet kit for Christmas and I’m obsessed with it. I’ve been wanting one for ages, but thought they were overpriced – I bought a cheaper kit off Amazon, tried for a few hours to figure it out with YouTube’s help, and then gave up. Meanwhile, with the help of the Woobles instruction videos, I’m absolutely blasting through this little fox, and I think I’ve learned enough to go back to my abandoned kit and do that one too, so I can tell you now that they are 100% worth the money. Just look at my little egg guy!
I hope you all had/are having a great winter holiday (let’s not talk about mine. Ethan got some awesome gifts and we’ll leave it there) and I wish us ALL a safe, okay 2025.
In fairness, besides the hours, the crafting, and the salary, this is pretty close to my actual job! I do get some teaching in, with our interns, and I love it but I’m greedy for adult students.
This is wonderful! Funny and super informative and not boring and terrific!