I think we can all agree that 2018 was a dumpster fire of a year – in one way or another, 2018 did you wrong. Politically, financially, and emotionally, it was draining. However, some good things happened in 2018, and I’m certain some better ones will happen in 2019. We have to hope, right?

If you followed me back in the Kylie Says blogging days, you’ll recall that this is the time of year where I write out my accomplishments for this past year and goals for the next year, and swear that I’ll be better about blogging more routinely. (It’s okay if you’re a little doubtful about that part. I’ll do my best.)

That being said, here’s what I did, and what I hope to do. When you’re done reading this, I challenge you to post in the comments with three accomplishments and three goals of your own!

School:

I finished my MFA…almost! Next week I’ll have my final residency in Greensburg where I will read/argue my thesis (a young adult novel) and hopefully graduate – as long as 2019 isn’t out for blood the way 2018 was. Is it totally arrogant to put Kylie Peters, MFA at the end of my emails from now on? #maybe

As I’m coming up on graduation, I’m thinking about going for master’s degree round two. Am I insane for considering more schooling? Undoubtedly. But when you’ve got so much student loan debt already, it starts to feel like a Mean Girls situation (“the limit does not exist”). Butttttttt, I love the idea of working in a library, and not just shelving the books, but being a head librarian, and the idea of earning a salary someday appeals to my liberal, millennial self. So master’s of library and information science, here I come! #maybe

Writing:

This year I finished my first novel! Well technically it was last year, but then I spent a really long time editing it this year with the help of critique partners and mentors. And a writer’s work is never finished, but I think Just Breathe is as ready as it can be. So, I’ve started querying agents. One rejection, two query letters currently out in the wild, and I hope to query many more once residency is over.

I also had two short stories published this year, and that was a lot of fun. For 2019, I’d like to write several more short stories and another novel. And not to jinx things, but maybe this year I really will blog regularly, or at the very least use that as a procrastination tool a little more often than I currently do. I also know that I need to read a lot more this year, so I’m going to go ahead and say my goal is to read 30 books this year. That’s totally doable.

Work:

I’m still doing those god forsaken car blogs (advertising content for car dealerships). I like to complain about them, but at the end of the day it’s not all that bad…and I need money. I’m also still accepting assignments for editing from a few different companies, and I will gladly do whatever you have on the side. Email me for rates. And new for this year, I picked up a gig doing some social media managing, which is surprisingly fun. However, I’ve gotten kind of addicted to emojis (is there a WordPress widget or plug-in for that? SOS)

My personal life:

This year I got engaged, which was a surprise to no one after six years of dating (also I picked the ring). We’re officially getting married on August 1st, but I went ahead and started using the name a little early as a pen name because that makes life easier. Peters vs. Weisenborn…which one can you say and spell?

And I adopted not one, but two cats (in my defense, the second one was a flea-infested trash gremlin, so I kind of had to…who can resist that?). And a theme, maybe not for the year, but for the last bit of the year for me, was personal growth. Have you seen Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk? Because goals. That family has more emotional intelligence than *insert bad joke here*. I will definitely be talking about this more in the future because I’m obsessed.

So, like I said, feel free to comment below about your own goals and accomplishments or to request a blog post topic for me to write next! Ciao!

*featured image credit Kylie Weisenborn. Titled “Mocha punches Chai in the face” because what is more 2018 than that?