From a personal standpoint, 2015 was pretty much one for the crapper. The highlights would be Rebecca getting her troublesome gallbladder removed, something that had to be done to keep her alive...but now there seem to be lasting side effects. Also a highlight would be me getting on medical insurance, since the Affordable Care Act actually made our insurance cheaper. This allowed me to get on pain medication for the chronic pain that was pretty much destroying my quality of life. There were other highlights like birthdays and Eryn being named an Aurora Scholar, but for the most part, 2015 sucked.
We had three visits to the ER, one surgery, and one extended hospital stay that even with insurance are costing us thousands of dollars. We also had the custody battle, which is finally resolved, but that cost us thousands of dollars in legal fees. Neither one of us makes much at our "real" jobs, so this has put a huge strain on us. Now as the year comes to a close, we find out that Rebecca's company is being bought out by the end of next year, which means she may be out of a job by this time next year. There were certainly times this year when the only thing that kept me going were the love of my amazing wife and our wonderful girls.
Professionally, this year was a mixed year. I actually wrote a few stories, none of which have sold yet. In a lot of ways, I feel like a new writer starting all over again. As an editor, I edited a collection called
A Robot, a Cyborg, and a Martian Walk into a Space Bar, which has done fairly well. It's not a bestseller, but we have made money off of the book. I also edited
Quantum Women by Tyree Campbell which came out towards the end of the year. This year has also seen the growth of
The Fifth Di..., a zine which I've edited for more than a decade. Starting next year, the zine will actually be released in both electronic and print formats. The coming year will also see the release of a collection by Laura Givens that I'm editing, a novel from Tyree Campbell, and two collections. In the game design world, I've created several new supplements for the Ephemeris RPG, and there are some exciting new things coming for the game in the next couple of years.
So, out with 2015, and hopefully 2016 will be better...
