Simply the Best: 2022 Recap

To say this has been a year, well… this has been a year. I’ve done a lot of reinventing in 2022, and it has felt amazing. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve has always given me time to reflect. This year I have so much to be grateful for. So many firsts and some tried-and-true experiences too–the kind that brings one comfort. Here, I’d like to share with you some top-ten lists from 2022. Perhaps some will be recommendations and others revelations. I think by the end of this post, you’ll have a pretty good idea what makes me, well, me.

P.S. These are not listed in any particular order

A list of firsts:

1. Drinking around the world at Disney World (50th Anniversary) with my adult children (best rides: Guardians of the Galaxy & Avatar Flight of Passage)

2. Eating caviar (I love it!)

3. Doing my first Instagram Live with a new (and already cherished) writing friend

4. Creating Tik Toks (if you told me a year ago I’d be doing this, I never would have believed it)

5. Working as Program Director for Bookish Road Trip

6. Attending my first book event (even though my book isn’t even out yet!)

7. Publishing an occasional essay about London and my daughter in an anthology

8. Editing my All That is Sacred–that is about to be published. Pinch me! Is this real?

9. Being interviewed for a news article about my release

10. Seeing my novel on Goodreads & reading my first 2 reviews (from early readers)

Best reads:

1. The Eves by Grace Sammon

2. Perennials by Julie Cantrell

3. A Life Unraveled by Jill Hannah Anderson

4. Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith

5. Verity by Colleen Hoover

6. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

7. My Secret to Keep by Barbara Conrey

8. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

9. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

10. Every Summer After by Carly Fortune

Top television Series, movies & documentaries:

1. Yellowstone

2. This is Us (final season)

3. My Next Guest: David Letterman

4. Downton Abbey: A New Era

5. The Bear

6. Better Call Saul (final season)

7. The Tapes of Marilyn Monroe

8. House of the Dragon

9. Virgin River

10. The Morning Show

What I’m Looking forward to in 2023:

1. Holding my published debut novel in my hands

2. Hearing/reading what people have to say about it (I hope!)

3. Writing more poetry

4. Finishing edits for book 2 & seeing the cover

5. Revising book 3 & working w/ my critique partners again

6. A trip to the Adirondacks w/ family–time to read and write while they ski

7. A cruise to Italy, Greece & Turkey this summer with my hubs and extended family

8. SUMMER! All the things…

9. Boat days and nights with my hubs, family and friends

10. Experiences I haven’t had, people I haven’t met yet, the unexpected…

I wish you a happy, healthy, productive 2023! Let’s start making new memories.