At Year’s End

Published on December 31, 2020December 30, 2020 by Susi Bocks

Our calendars are about to tell us to turn the page to a new start. May we all rebound from what was 2020, a year for some filled with more than usual angst, loss, and upheaval. Sorry, it must be said – 2020 sucked! Even for those whose lives weren’t challenged, they lost normalcy in the way where the hits kept coming throughout the year. It’s time we move on from this to find some equilibrium again. May 2021 be that for us.

Throughout 2020, there were some good times, even though life shifted, making it a bit difficult for us. Although not able to spend much time together, my family and I got creative to see each other. We are all safe and still healthy; hopefully, we will continue to remain so.

With restrictions in place, spending time with friends was almost non-existent, but my love and support, still deep and intense. I will treasure them forever. I miss them but am hoping 2021 will allow us to be more social again. Let’s hope so.

This year certainly gave me much to write about politics, the state of our world, and Covid-19. It was a challenging year to capture but, on the other hand, so meaningful. It gave me pause many days to be grateful for the good I did have.

Many pieces were featured in literary magazines and accepted for two anthologies. One published this year, and the other will be available in 2021. Something new, I was honored to do two podcast interviews! I also became a finalist in The Short Edition. It was heartbreaking to write about all the difficulties we are navigating, but to have the work recognized was thrilling. I happily accepted the insurgence of goodness throughout the year. It made things seem not so dismal.

At the end of 2019, before it turned into the year whose name shall never be spoken of again, IWH ended up with about 40,000+ views. This December, I anticipate that it will reach close to 58,000+!! WOW! The blog reached 2200 followers a few days ago and continues to add more! That means, if I do the math right, this blog is averaging about two to three new followers per day! Woo Hoo!! What a way to end the year. 🙂

This year, I interacted with many beautiful people offline (you know who you are!), gotten to know new writers/poets, even collaborated with a few, and was inspired by many! I’m grateful that at least this year did not dampen my writing experience.

New for 2021

Starting January 5, and every Tuesday after that, I’ll be featuring an older post from the blog. This weekly post will be called Redux. I think it’s an apt name for revived pieces. 🙂

I shall be working furiously on the anthology for The Short of It. The goal is to publish it no later than June but hopefully, much earlier than that! Please consider joining the mailing list for more information. You can find the link on the TSI page.

On January 4, the first 5 Day Tales story of the year will return. It’s called The Passageway.

I’ll be taking a break from posting until January 4. See you then!

Image credit for the featured picture – Kazuend – Unsplash