It's a time for celebration and remembering, and with that, I can't deny 2019 was the best year of my life.

Got a new job with regular hours, good benefits and great people on January 10, and that kinda set the tone for the rest of the year. The increased pay, lowered stress and great vacation time gave me the work-life balance I've been craving, and after some adjusting to crunch time in the spring, it was smooth sailing. I was able to move away from my prior apartment, which at first was good but developed an intolerable pest problem, and into a new apartment in a great location - it's a six-minute door-to-door walk to a local multiplex. I also live in the shopping district, which means there's a shitload of good food...

That additional money and time allowed me to go to four cons this year: ANE, AC, Tiny Paws and Furpocalypse. ANE was very cool and was the first time I publicly suited; AC was thrilling, and led to me impulse-buying my partial fursuit; Tiny Paws is a delightful small con and really showed the successful scale of small vs. big cons; Furpoc was a great opportunity to check in with friends and suit with Elana, which was super fun. I also started DJing at cons, and am now staff DJ at Camp Tiny Paws, which is amazing! Another DJ experience didn't go so hot due to security overstepping boundaries, but I won't stop now!

I'm also really thankful to have made more friends in the furry community, whether they're friends from cons, Twitter or writing circles. I'm also thankful to have found a second family in the Set, and I love all of my friends in there.

Furry writing-wise, I wrote less this year than last year. Part of that was out of a reduced amount of free time with the new job, part of it was due to life/work emergencies pulling me away from writing, and part of that was due to lessened financial strain and a lowered need to take *every* commission I'm pitched. I still blasted past my word count goal and am quite happy with my output this year, between the commissioned stories and the personal projects. By my count, including a few commissions I got where I added a story, I wrote 26 stories this year and wrote just under 180,000 words of furry content. What was your favorite?

For 2020, I'm trying to set a few goals. Foremost is that I want to try and create some long-tail revenue for my writing. That means possibly story packs, Patreon or collaborations with others. Additionally, I'm interested in getting a full fursuit - I love my suit, but I am craving getting a chance to get a real JT made uniquely for me and embody him. My third goal is *just* a bit awkward - I've put on some weight in the second half of this year and I'm trying to decide whether I should lose it or... maybe gain a little. This is the third consecutive year I've written a story about gaining around New Year's... nah, I'll get back in the gym Wednesday. Maybe someday, though...

I wish everyone a successful and joyous 2020!