Happy New Year! Major Awards, Things I am Thankful For, Wishes for 2016!
- At December 31, 2015
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
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Happy New Year’s Eve to all of you! 2015 was a tough year for many of us, so I am wishing us all a more joyous and peaceful 2016! Solar flares mean northern lights may be visible tonight, so keep an eye out after the ball drops!
It was dry and cold last night so we finally got the chance for one of my favorite Christmas traditions – albeit post-Christmas – going to see the Bellevue Botanical Gardens holiday lights. We met my little brother and his wife there and enjoyed the festive glow even though I couldn’t feel my hands after about fifteen minutes outside, despite wearing gloves (I’ve become very bad about the cold – it was around 30 degrees – since moving to the West Coast. My midwestern former self would not be impressed!) It did remind me why I hold on to some traditions – being outside with the lights, even in the cold, made me feel appropriately holiday-esque instead of grumpy and house-bound (We had some unending gloomy freezing rain – and about ten seconds of snow – the week before and of Christmas, so there was not much getting out and about.)
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- Undersea lights scene at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens
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- Me and Glenn with light peacock and flower garden at Bellevue Botanical Gardens
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- Dragon lights at Bellevue Botanical Gardens
Some good news to share – thanks to the SFPA who finally sent me the certificate for winning second prize for the Elgin Award 2014 for my book Unexplained Fevers. It was a nice surprise to get it in the mail!
Other book news to be grateful for: thanks to Donna Miscolta for including The Robot Scientist’s Daughter in her list of favorite reads of the year and to Karen J. Weyant who included it on her Best Poetry Collections of the Year list – it’s so hard for small press poetry books to make any kind of list, so I’m very thankful to be on these two!
So what are your wishes for 2016? I’m hoping for more days of good health, more ability to spend times with friends, a new one-story home for us (we’re still on the search for a ranch that’s affordable out here on the East side), and of course, thankful for the Moon City Press people for putting out my apocalypse-themed Field Guide to the End of the World next year! I’ve planned a little travel – presenting at AWP LA to begin with in the spring, then some readings across the country later in the year – so maybe 2016 will be a better year for being out and about! What are you hopeful for?
Yvonne Highins Leach
Congrats on your news. And here’s to a healthier 2016. I am hoping for more peace in the world.
Jeannine Hall Gailey
That would definitely be a welcome change! Happy New Year to you, Yvonne!
Lissa Clouser
Congratulations on all the wonderful things that came to you in 2015! May 2016 be even more bountiful with blessings and achievements.
My 2016 sees me going to Japan for the first time (a place I have been ‘homesick’ for since I was very, very young). It also finds me more focused on writing in many ways, something I am excited about even though I know there will be many days ahead that find me unsure if not outright doubting of myself.
I plan on making 2016 a year of confidence. Confidence in creating, exploring, learning, and making mistakes. And on the days when I have none, I will employ something Neil Gaiman said in his 2012 commencement address:
“Someone asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult, in this case recording an audio book, and I suggested she pretend that she was someone who could do it. Not pretend to do it, but pretend she was someone who could. She put up a notice to this effect on the studio wall, and she said it helped.”