A Look Back at 2016

Well, Christmas was a hot one in north Texas. We set a record high of 80 degrees. You can have your white Christmases. I’ve endured enough of them in my lifetime, thank you very much. Don’t feel too sorry for us. We did endure a couple of nights in the teens last weekend. I don’t know how cold they would have been if we had snow on the ground.

I finally strolled my neighborhood on Christmas Eve to look at the lights on display. There were a few good ones…too few. It didn’t help my mood when I realized I’m still at the same place I was a year ago. Bah Humbug ;-(

Now that Christmas is behind us we can look forward to the coming year. As tired as I feel from this December’s frantic driving schedule it doesn’t feel like much was accomplished in the past twelve months.

But then I looked at my calendar and realized some significant events did happen despite my sleeping through them.

No major deaths or losses occurred like the previous year, so that’s good news.

100 Prayers of a Writer became real in March. I wish I had a better handle on marketing it than I do, but I did sell some copies to family members, church friends and one at a book signing to a family I never met before in my life.

That book signing was a significant milestone as well. Every writer looks forward to the day they can do such a thing.  I have another one coming up in January at a coffee shop. I think that will go better.

I spent a good amount of energy getting three Christmas books published by October. Eek’s Gifts became available October 11th; The Extra Ordinary Christmas and Something’s Gotta Change were real on October 25th. Thanks to a marketing director dropping the ball near the end zone I still don’t have any copies of either book.

I painted more in 2016 than I did my entire life leading up to that year. That made the difference between me being able to pay my bills on time or living out of the back of Clifford, the big red van. I owe a yu-uge thank you to the apainter Paul for helping me out there.

Speaking of Clifford, he cost me quite a bit to keep on the road this year. I wish I could afford to replace him but that doesn’t look like a possibility anytime soon. He broke through the 200,000 mile milestone so I’m not complaining, just tired.

There are some things occurring behind the scenes that should make 2017 a much more successful year than 2016 was. I’ll keep the curtain closed on those for now. Prayer is greatly appreciated for such success to happen.

You know that verse that talks about pride going before a fall? Did you know that’s only half of that verse? The last half of that verse says a time of humbling comes before success.

From what I’ve endured these last few years I won’t be surprised if I’m considered some kind of overnight sensation soon.

If I didn’t know God is in control of everything happening I would have been too depressed to write a post this depressing. I’m sorry if you were looking for more humor from me today. This is all I could think of to write about when I sat down at my keyboard.

Babe Ruth held the record for strikeouts when he retired, too.

Keep smiling.   Wade

 

By wadewebster

I'm a truck driver turned writer. My writing drives people to Jesus. I love sunsets/sunrises, dark chocolate, coffee, cats and dogs (as long as their owners pick up after them) and solitude. My relationship with God through Jesus Christ is most important to me, not a religion. This writing gig is all God's idea. I only wish to bring more attention to Jesus with it.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.