Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not a typo.

I know 2023 will linger for a few more hours, like stale cigar smoke or a half-eaten holiday party casserole from the first week of December. It’s a flash forward. 365 days to be precise.

Why? Well, I’m a little down after what‘s effectively been an ”up” year for me.

“Happy New Year 2023! Live your life to the fullest!” were the last words I posted…and I didn’t follow my own advice. Failed.

Yes, I lived the dream of publishing my debut novel The Walk-On. 2/23/23 is a day I will never forget. Since then, it’s been an unending and often exhausting learning curve of social media, marketing and developing materials which will hopefully help bring the story to the screen. I thought writing the book was supposed to be the hard part!

Yes, I was fortunate to have a few whirlwind trips to catch up with family and friends. Unfortunately, one of those trips was to say good-bye to a dear friend. I think of you often, Jeanne.

Technically not complaining, but there was little time for what I want to do: travel to Europe; explore California outside of metro LA and San Francisco; write my crime story; revise a holiday rom-com screenplay; and figure out what my next zip code will be, which is a blog entry on its own.

I’ll be realistic right now and acknowledge it’s not likely I’ll complete everything I wanted to do in 2023 in 2024. But I absolutely will strive to live my “life to the fullest” to a significantly greater degree than in 2023.

Haven’t binged “How I Met Your Mother” in a long time, but in the infamous words of Barney Stinson, “Challenge accepted!”

How about you?

Wishing you and yours a Happy, Healthy New Year!