{"id":540,"date":"2011-12-31T13:35:40","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T13:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/index.php\/2011\/12\/31\/hny2012\/"},"modified":"2011-12-31T13:35:40","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T13:35:40","slug":"hny2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/hny2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy 2012!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Happy-New-Year-2012-Pictures_thumb\"It\u2019s New Year\u2019 Eves; and it has been (thankfully) a slow week at work, giving me time to ponder the rather bi-polar year I\u2019ve had in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

Focusing on the good:<\/span><\/p>\n

I watched my son graduate middle school and start in High School this year.  He\u2019s growing up so quickly, and as I don\u2019t see him or his sister as much as I\u2019d like, so credit goes to my ex-wife for how she\u2019s raised them both.  This year, my daughter made the honor role for the first time; so from a school perspective I couldn\u2019t be prouder of both my children.  <\/span><\/p>\n

From EVERY perspective I\u2019m proud of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

My mom and dad are doing well, despite being in their upper 80\u2019s.  In fact my mother and sister spent three weeks in Alaska this year\u2026take THAT \u2018old age!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

My siblings and cousins are all in good form.  Sis has been inundated with her business, and my cousin Di started her new venture.  My great editor of a brother turned 51 this year, but still teaches ballroom dancing 10 hours a day.  He looks like he\u2019s in his early thirties\u2014it really isn\u2019t fair.  <\/span><\/p>\n

And especially my cousin Bette who\u2019s gotten me through a rather rough patch between jobs.  She\u2019s always been there for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

The family is good\u2026no major crisis\u2019 this year.  And of course my partner, Tina, is perfect in every way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cday job\u201d market remains challenging.  Wound down a 5+ year gig and went from part time to the new full time gig I wanted (knew it would be a challenge).  Really enjoying it so far\u2014although my new boss calls my fondness for the job \u201cStockholm Syndrome.\u201d  Heh.  I have to use that somewhere in my next book.  It was only supposed to run until December, but I\u2019ve been extended through the end of February so the holidays weren\u2019t as depressing as expected.<\/span><\/p>\n

My first book, The Prodigal\u2019s Foole<\/em> came out in October and sales have been better than I\u2019ve hoped, taking into account the fact that I\u2019m a new author with a small press.  I\u2019m about a third into the follow up\u2014The Young Practitioner<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last but not least, the number of new friends I\u2019ve made in the last year\u2014especially in the writer world\u2014has been unbelievable, and very humbling.  The list goes on quite long, but you know who you are.  Facebookers, Tweeters, ReaderCON crazies, talented blokes and brilliant women.  THANK YOU to each and everyone who have supported, advised, critiqued and comforted me in 2011!<\/span><\/p>\n

So many blessings for 2011 that the low points seem less \u201cpoints\u201d and more \u201cbumps.\u201d  It\u2019s all how you look at things, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

2012 is almost upon us, and barring Mayan calendar issues; let\u2019s all make it a great one.  From my family to yours, have a very productive, fun and healthy New Year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peace<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s New Year\u2019 Eves; and it has been (thankfully) a slow week at work, giving me time to ponder the rather bi-polar year I\u2019ve had in 2011. Focusing on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c40-myblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbwood.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}