Think of the Children's 2023 in Numbers

90+ online sales, 3 cross-country trips, one cat goodbye, and more

For the past several years¹, I’ve done a Year in Review where I look back on some of the numbers that defined the previous 365 days. It used to just be a roundup of, like, how many stories I pitched and how many I placed and things like that. But I decided instead to make it about more than that, because I contain multitudes. So this year in numbers is about all the things that I am, not just a writer.

13+ new writer friends

It’s weird to say that a writer’s group has been one of my favorite things about this year, given that I’ve done hardly any writing 🥴 but, it is! I actually found this group at the end of 2022, but I would say that this was the year the group really blossomed and grew. I even got to meet up with one of them in person, and it was WONDERFUL. I’m pretty extroverted, and I process most stuff by being in conversation with people, so this really fills me up in a way that I didn’t realize I was missing.

3 flights to Oregon

My dad had a fall this summer that led to a long hospital stay and some rehab, so I’ve been out to Oregon to see my parents a few times this year. This isn’t entirely my story to tell, so I’ll just say the sandwich generation is a new and interesting place to be, and if you’re there too, I feel you.

1 new job

Possibly burying the lede here, but 2023 was the year I left my public-sector school communications job to do essentially the same work for a private PR firm. As I’ve written about, I’m one of those “my job is my identity” type people, for better of for worse², so naturally I experienced a huge, uncomfortable identity crisis as a result of taking a new job 🙃 Other than that, though, it’s been good!

1 pet goodbye

I was going to put “goodbye to a beloved pet,” but I’m going to be honest with you: this cat was kind of a dick. He bit people, peed on things a lot, and once ate a Christmas light bulb just out of spite. However, Kitten³ was our asshole, so we were sad to say goodbye to him, even at the ripe old age of NINETEEN. It was a hard caregiving journey there at the end (we were giving him subcutaneous fluids every couple days and several medications at various times of the day and he hated all of it passionately) but I feel like I can look back and say we gave this cat a pretty decent life. And that’s something ❤️

2 presentations given

I really love presenting, facilitating, basically anything where I’m talking and a bunch of people are asked to listen, lol. So I was delighted and excited to be asked to present twice this year, both times on digital accessibility! I presented a webinar on how to make PDF documents accessible⁴, and an in-person presentation on accessibility and strategic communications, which are basically two of my favorite topics in the whole world, and I still cannot believe I got paid to talk about them for three hours. It was GREAT. So I’m letting the universe know that if you’re looking for a really passionate guest speaker who can get your audience fired up about digital accessibility, call me 📱

90+ thrifted items sold online

Thrifting, I can’t quit you. I don’t make much money selling stuff online, but I love the thrill of the hunt, and being part of the secondhand economy. You can find my Etsy shop⁵ here, and this year I also discovered Kidizen⁶, a platform for selling kids’ clothes. (There are coupon codes in those footnotes!)

1 red ribbon won

Honestly, probably one of the things I’m most proud of this year is that my husband, daughter and I all entered, and won ribbons at, the county fair. We have been talking about doing this FOR YEARS, and this year we finally knuckled down and did it. I was ridiculously proud of winning a red ribbon⁷ for a quilt I made, but I want to brag on my husband, who won two ribbons for his baked goods, INCLUDING A BEST IN SHOW. It was actually really emotional and exciting to go to the fair and see our stuff on display!! 10/10 highly recommend entering stuff in the fair. It’s the best.

9 dance classes attended

Last year, my daughter started taking dance, which meant we got to go to the big performance at the end of the year when all the different classes perform. It was pretty standard fare — tiny tots that made everyone go “Awww,” middle-grade kids who spanned the range from awkward to shockingly talented, and older kids whose dancing could bring tears to your eyes. But one of the last acts was different. They weren’t kids. They were women. Adults. People I knew, in fact. Moms. Dancing to hip-hop music I knew by heart. And looking like they were having a hell of a good time. As I sat in that auditorium, I made myself a promise that, if I could figure out how do to it, I was going to join those women and have the time of my life shaking my middle-aged mom ass to some 90s bangers. And you know what? I did it.

Hip-hop class is usually the highlight of my week. Am I good at it? Not particularly. Am I learning the choreography? Sort of. Am I making friends? Maybe? But, most importantly, I am having FUN. And, as I told my daughter, it’s an entire hour where I’m not thinking any conscious thoughts of any kind, and that is extremely precious for an anxious person like me.

What are some of the highlights of your year in review? What will you remember about 2023?

1. Here’s 2022 and 2021 and no, apparently I don’t always do these at the same time of year. Also my 2018 year in review makes me want to weep, because I honestly don’t know how I had the energy to send out 44 pitches and I probably never will again

2. Probably for worse, honestly, but here we are

3. We never quite got around to giving him a name … so he was just called Kitten for his whole life lol

4. The best way to make a PDF accessible is to delete it. The next best way is to take the content out of the PDF and make it a web page. Thank you for coming to my TED talk

5. Readers of this newsletter can use coupon code JUSTFORYOU to take 30% off any order of $10 or more! Because I love you guys.

6. You can use my Kidizen referral code, ccf3u, for $5 off your first order! I get a kickback too.

7. Second place, but who’s counting