2015 is about to take its last, dying breaths. Its struggle to cling to life in the grim face of ever-advancing time will give glorious and sudden birth to 2016, a year which we will all promise ourselves will be way better than the last one and how shitty it was. But you know, there were good parts, too. In fact, I think the good parts outweighed the bad. On this blog, at least. So I want to revisit those highlights (and a few lowlights) as the year crawls to a close.
January: We banded together to assemble a domestic violence resource list in the face of an onslaught of 50 Shades merchandise/anticipation posts, and I shared my anti-bucket list.
February: We celebrated the life and the legacy of beloved romance author Bertrice Small, endured the Fifty Shades of Grey movie and its author’s disgusting and abusive temper tantrum toward a non-fan, and I had a weird dream about Craig Ferguson.
March: I ate Scottish candy for the first time, shared the stories of the five most amazing people I met while working horrible jobs, I fucked up, earned two of the most painfully stupid arch nemeses anyone could hope to have, and released a novella with a freaking gorgeous guy on the cover.
April: I became Jenny Gallifrey Joel Trout legally (like in a court of law where a judge laughed at me), I met Amber Benson, and my amazon echo developed an amazing flaw.
May: Sad times visited Trout Nation, I shared the stories of my worst retail customers, and I bitched about how much I hate my new phone for 13 minutes.
June: The cancellation of NBC’s Hannibal ruined my life, and E.L. James came one step closer to that inevitable Stephenie Meyer restraining order.
July: I survived to the age of thirty-five, and Double Steve Bonus Monday roared to inexplicable life.
August: The Girlfriend was profiled on Salon.com, Ian and Penny got their first books in an experimental new series project, and I saw Billy Joel in concert, thus changing my life forever.
September: Nothing exciting happened, as I was busy finishing The Baby, but I did share my favorite animated movies.
October: A plagiarism scandal rocked the romance world, and a dipshit reporter had to weigh in with some bullshit. I shared my family’s haunted house, I went to Disney World, for better or for worse, and editors shared their author horror stories.
I’d also like to share with you my favorite moment of the entire year, which I haven’t shown you until now. (video)
November: I shared my experience in the middle of a weeks-long depressive episode, and released the latest Neil and Sophie book, The Baby.
December: I shared a very personal story, and got plagiarized.
Not the greatest way to end the year, but even in the bad times, you guys were always there to offer awesome
WordPress informed, via weird info graphic, that this blog got four times more visits this year than Seattle’s Space Needle, which blows my mind. But also, it’s kind of a strange comparison. Like, why pick that particular measurement? This is going to baffle me all day.
Anyway, thank you, everybody, for being those visitors and visiting this silly place, which is nowhere near as tall as the Space Needle. You guys make my life so special, and I’m better for having you all in it. I wish you a very happy New Year, where ever you are, and I look forward to what will undoubtedly be an amazing 2016.
Haha, I love the Space needle comparison. Those kind of random metrics are the best, like when you read a news article where they compare the massive size of something to something else equally random, like “…its approximately the same size as 12 European handball courts.”
Happy New Years! Thank you for a year of very insightful, interesting and always hilarious reading. I’m looking forward to what’s coming out of your brain next year 🙂
It compared you to the Space Needle because you’re astronomical! …Okay, I have no way of knowing that they chose that reason, but what else can it be? You’re always outta this world to me.
…I’ll quit being cheesy now. Happy new year!
I’m intrigued by this Oklahoma lie. Did you completely fabricate an elaborate false plan to see Oklahoma and all the exciting places you would visit there Or is there a plausible family reason you would be going to Oklahoma?
We said we were going there for a writing conference, and we weren’t able to get a babysitter for them, so they had to come alone. We told them at least the hotel would have a pool, and that was exciting enough for them, LOL.
Haha, thanks for explaining! And it was ALL A LIE just concocted for springing the surprise on them? 😀
Owwww…a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU, TOO!!
The way your son’s face transforms when he finally realized you were not kidding about Disney World is priceless!
Happy New Year, and thank you for sharing everything this year with us.
A happy new year to you too! (By the way, your daughter looks SO MUCH like you. Seriously. She’s like a miniature version of you. Don’t you ever feel the urge to dress up like Dr. Evil just so you can dress her up like Mini-Me?)
I also really like how she smiles and is cute for the camera *while* she tries to process complicated information. 🙂
2016 is going to be an excellent year. I have faith.
your kids are adorable!
#latesauce, but happy new year! I have your blog blocked by a filter at my job because I am prone to dawdle way too much reading your excellent posts and the contributions from a great group of commenters. Best wishes for the new year.
(Oh, and my guess is perhaps the Space Needle metric is related to Fifty Shades of Grey mentions or something)