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.<\/p>\n
January:<\/strong>\u00a0 We banded together to assemble a domestic violence resource list<\/a>\u00a0in the face of an onslaught of\u00a050 Shades<\/em> <\/a>merchandise<\/a>\/anticipation<\/a> posts, and I shared my anti-bucket list.<\/a><\/p>\n February:<\/strong>\u00a0We celebrated the life and the legacy of beloved romance author Bertrice Small<\/a>, endured the Fifty Shades of Grey<\/em> movie <\/a>and its author’s disgusting and abusive temper tantrum toward a non-fan<\/a>, and I had a weird dream about Craig Ferguson<\/a>.<\/p>\n March:<\/strong> I ate Scottish candy for the first time<\/a>, shared the stories of the five most amazing people I met while working horrible jobs<\/a>, I fucked up<\/a>, earned two of the most painfully stupid arch nemeses<\/a>\u00a0anyone could hope to have, and released a novella with a freaking gorgeous guy<\/a> on the cover.<\/p>\n April:<\/strong> I became Jenny Gallifrey Joel Trout legally<\/a> (like in a court of law where a judge laughed at me), I met Amber Benson<\/a>, and my amazon echo developed an amazing flaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n May:\u00a0<\/strong>Sad times visited Trout Nation<\/a>, I shared the stories of my\u00a0worst retail customers<\/a>, and I bitched about how much I hate my new phone for 13 minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n June:<\/strong>\u00a0The cancellation of NBC’s Hannibal<\/em> ruined my life<\/a>,\u00a0and E.L. James came one step closer to that inevitable Stephenie Meyer restraining order<\/a>.<\/p>\n July:<\/strong> I survived to the age of thirty-five<\/a>,\u00a0and Double Steve Bonus Monday<\/a> roared to inexplicable life.<\/p>\n August:<\/strong> The Girlfriend was profiled on Salon.com<\/a>,\u00a0Ian and Penny got their first books<\/a> in an experimental new series project, and I saw Billy Joel in concert<\/a>, thus changing my life forever.<\/p>\n September:<\/strong> Nothing exciting happened, as I was busy finishing The Baby<\/em>,\u00a0but I did share my favorite animated movies.<\/a><\/p>\n October:<\/strong> A plagiarism scandal <\/a>rocked the<\/a> romance world<\/a>, and a dipshit reporter had to weigh in with some bullshit<\/a>. I shared my family’s haunted house<\/a>, I went to Disney World, for better<\/a> or for worse<\/a>, and editors shared their author horror stories.<\/a><\/p>\n I’d also like to share with you my favorite moment of the entire year, which I haven’t shown you until now.<\/a>\u00a0(video)<\/p>\n November:<\/strong>\u00a0I shared my experience in the middle of a\u00a0weeks-long depressive episode<\/a>, and released the latest Neil and Sophie book,\u00a0The Baby.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n December:<\/strong> I shared a very personal story<\/a>, and got plagiarized<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not the greatest way to end the year, but even in the bad times, you guys were always there to offer awesome<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n