2013: A review.

As the year comes to a close I think it's very important to sit down and reflect on what you've achieved over the past year to really put your life and your accomplishments into perspective. It's a little exercise in positive thinking to carry you through into the new year ahead. So bare with me for a moment as I give myself a well earned pat on the back for 2013 and all that this year has brought me.

One of the huge things that I'll remember this year for is that it's the year I graduated university with upper second class honours. It was such a lot of work and I put in so much time and effort to earn this degree that will follow me for the rest of my life. My degree is now framed and hoisted up on the wall and I do actually feel this intense pride whenever I see it. It's only now that I'm out of university that I'm actually thinking about the possibility of a Masters degree one day or, perhaps down the road, a degree in psychology as it is a subject that I've always been vastly interested in.

This year I started blogging. I set up this here blog and I've kept at it since March. It started at a way of venting all of my emotions and frustrations whilst writing my university dissertation so I could dump my feelings and get back to work. I didn't ever dream that this blog would have been accessed worldwide and read/shared by celebrities. My blog is still something that I run and write for fun but it has achieved so much in the past 9 months. It's my little blog baby! I aim to continue writing about things that interest me into the next year and, hopefully, for the rest of my life.

This year I started writing for The Huffington Post. I applied on a whim and after striking up a conversation with one of the editors they let me blog for them and my articles have been read and shared all over the world. I feel a sense of pride knowing that I contribute to such a wonderful news website.

I've had some contact with some wonderful famous people via Twitter who have tweeted me or reblogged me/shared links to my blog. This can be said of Natalia Tena (of the Harry Potter films, Game of Thrones), Carice Van Houten (singer, also on Game of Thrones), I was retweeted by Neil Gaiman, I was tweeted and thanked by actor/author/tv creator Dan Bucatinsky, I was tweeted by Dominic Monaghan. I got a message from Anne Rice when I messaged her whilst writing my dissertation on psychology in vampire literature. She thanked me and was happy I enjoyed her books. That was a good moment. I screamed with joy then. I know these things seem superficial but they're pretty big for a fangirl like me.

I got to see Siouxsie Sioux perform live. She has long been one of my icons and just when I was thinking I would probably never see her perform live she became one of the closing acts of the Meltdown Festival. Standing so close to her, even making eye contact with her, was strangely magical.

I made real, active work towards finishing my first novel. I even took part in NaNoWriMo. It has taken a lot of discipline and three years on a Creative Writing course to help me re-evaluate the way I thought about writing but I really love what I'm doing and I have hope for myself.

I went on a holiday with the girls from university. I'd done trips without my parents before, but not solely with people of my own age where we were entirely responsible for ourselves. We collected some fun times and some crazy memories.

I funded my first Kickstarter project! I kept meaning to get into Kickstarter but when I was a student I never had the money. It's something I highly recommend doing. It feels good knowing you'd funded the arts and given back somehow. Now that I'm working I hope to fund small amounts to promising Kickstarter campaigns each month.

I wrote my B425 list. Until this year I never really even took New Years Resolutions seriously, so the fact that I had 2013 resolutions and went on to create a mini bucket list of things to try and accomplish by age 25 seems like a great way to ensure that my life is fun and that I'm learning new things and having new experiences. After I turn 25 I'll write a "30 Before 30" list and truly hope to create new lists every 5 years or so of my life. I never want to sit back and passively accept what's happening within my day to day existence. I want to have goals aiming to get me closer to where I want to be at that point of my life.

I drank a lot of beer. I mean it's not an achievement as some of the other things but I probably drank more beer this year than ever before because I finally acquired a taste for it. In my mind 2013 will be mentally filed under the name "That Year Where I Drank All That Beer"

This blog was nominated for an award. No really, this blog was nominated for the Cosmo New Blog award. It didn't make the shortlist because the blog isn't primarily about fashion and beauty but still, I can technically say that, as of 2013, I write and run an award nominated blog and that's pretty rad.

I landed my first publishing deal at the age of 21 and on my first real attempt to submit an item of my work to be published officially. This is probably the coolest thing that happened in 2013. My first collection of short stories will be out later in 2014 and will be launched at a literature festival with another awesome writer, William Thirsk-Gaskill. I'm so excited. I've dreamed of being an author and having my work officially published since I was a kid and this is a really big step for me. It makes going forth into the world of book publishing just that little bit easier for me. I also wrote a collection of poetry that made it to the long list of a competition and was so very close to being chosen for publication which is pretty amazing. The fact that it was being considered is still pretty amazing so in 2014 I'll still pursue publication for my poetry and I've already started on my second collection of poetry. It has a title and everything. Very exciting.

2013 has been an utterly fantastic year and, sorry to toot my own horn, but I am truly proud of myself. I'm thankful for YOU even if this is the first time you stop by or if you read this blog every day. I'm happy for my family and friends. 2013 was tough and presented obstacles but I stand here feeling truly happy about what I've managed to accomplish. I hope 2013 was a good year for you too.