Looking at 2019...

[ellenmillion]

2019 was a helluva creative year.

I wrote and published six novels and a collection of short stories. I was included in two anthologies. I hit the top 50 in all Amazon Kindle books with one of my books. (And a second one was CLOSE at 51.)

The coloring book I was commissioned to do featuring Native Alaskan animal name translations was finished and released and I feel like it's one of the best things I've ever done with my artwork.

I finished the hunky shifters coloring book. It only released as a digital download on Etsy and is no longer available, but it was still a thing!

I did 30 #junicorn cards, mostly in June. Some of them weren't quiiiite finished.

I painted probably 50 ornaments. Maybe fewer, but I bet it's close.

It was a helluva year in other ways, too.

I had LASIK surgery on my eyes and went from utterly helpless without glasses to able to drive without glasses, and it has completely changed my life. My daughter turned seven and started reading chapter books to herself and got a green belt in karate and learned to play piano. I got stung by wasps and traveled so much that the airline gave me MVP status.

I decided to close Portrait Adoption and EMG-Zine, which is a tremendous weight off my shoulders. I loved those projects, but at some point, they just aren’t worth keeping up. I ran twelve Sketch Fests.

There were successes, and there were failures, and there was so much learning, and so much love. I did things I never thought I could and said goodbye to things I once thought would be my future.

I can’t wait to see what 2020 brings.

(And yes, I realize I probably should have waited until next year for the eye surgery for maximum pun possibility. Alas.)

Comments

[sartorias]

What a terrific year--you should justly be proud of yourself!

[sholio]

Wow, that is one HELL of a year! I had no idea some of these books had come out that recently - it seems like there's been so much water under the bridge since then.

Congratulations on an amazing year!

[ellenmillion]

It's absolutely boggling to see it all laid out like that. I mean, I knew I was busy, but I was very focused on short bits of time, I didn't realize how it looked over the whole year. And yes, January was at least a decade ago.

Also, HOLY WOW. The new Photoshop Object Selection Tool is AMAZING. I isolated that hand and ornament in two seconds FLAT and it was against a busy, multi-colored, flesh-color-included floor pattern that I was looking at thinking, hrm, not sure it's worth the work isolating...hey, what's this thing do? BAM. Literally four clicks. (Two each for the hand and ornament)

[ellenmillion]

Thank you! It was easy to lose sight of it all and I'm honestly boggled to see it all laid out.

[sholio]

... whoa. TELL ME MORE ABOUT THIS TOOL. Where is it in the menus?

[ellenmillion]

I found it reaching for the Magic Wand Tool - it was just right there selected on the menu instead of the wand icon I was expecting. It is astonishing! Might need to update your Creative Cloud if you don't see it? It's an arrow pointing at a solid square inside a dotted square.

[sholio]

Oooh, I bet I don't have it because I haven't updated in awhile (and apparently I'm logged out of CC on this computer somehow?). I'll install the update and try it - thank you! :D

[sholio]

... and now, having not updated CC in at least a year (I didn't realize it had been that long!) I am trapped in UPDATE HELL. Update everything! Update the updater! Update the update updater! And reauthenticate 20 times per update! Aaaaaaaaaaa.

[ellenmillion]

Noooooooooooo!

[kelkyag]

Congratulations on a very productive year!

Given how pleased you are with the results, low-pun lasik seems to've been an excellent choice. sauergeek and the other hopeless punsters can find other topics to torment.

[ellenmillion]

Even without the dad joke potentials, I am SO SO happy I had it done. Thank you!