My 2025 highlight reel: writing, travel, and more

It’s time for my 2025 highlight reel post. I love writing annual highlight reel posts, because 1) I get reminded of things I forgot I did last year, and 2) I get to relive some good memories. 2025 was our first full year here in Clovis and in our new house, so there was lots of settling in, and since it’s me, lots of gardening. Also a little (very little) writing and some travel. Here we go:

Writing highlights

Academic writing

The academic book I co-edited in 2024 was released early in 2025, so that was exciting. There’s nothing quite like holding a book in my hands with my name on the cover.

Querying – Vanishing, Inc.

I was quite the slacker on the fiction writing front, but starting in September, I focused on querying my first novel, Vanishing, Inc. I decided it had cooled its literary heels on my hard drive long enough, and one way or another, it was going out into the world. I’m still querying, though winding down, watching for agents who have been closed to queries to open up and waiting for responses. No response seems to be the norm now, unfortunately.

Here are my stats as of 12/31:

The exciting part? Those 3 positive replies. All 3 were partial requests, and a couple of weeks ago, one of the agents with a partial requested the full manuscript! That one turned into a rejection, but then I got another full request. Querying is such an emotional rollercoaster. I’m trying not to check my email every 1.7 seconds–and failing miserably.

Fresno LitHop

I did my first in-person public reading last year, at Fresno LitHop. Here’s me, reading my award-winning short story, “Walk Me Home.”

My writing goal for this year

My track record for writing goals isn’t very good, but I’m going to set one anyway. My goal for this year is to finish the major edit of Delta Dawn that I’ve been working on for… well… entirely too long. It’s half done. Surely I can finish it in a year. Right?

Right?!

Of course, if I do land an agent, I’ll have to switch gears and work on Vanishing… she said hopefully.

In the Garden

We moved into our house in late August 2024, so 2025 was our first full year in our new garden. When we bought it, the house was beautifully landscaped in the front near the house, but the backyard and most of the front yard were slabs of Bermuda grass or beds filled with wood chips and a few trees.

That would not do.

Long-Suffering Husband and I had a blast building beds, buying plants, spreading compost, and planting. Well, OK, I had a blast. I don’t call him “Long Suffering” for nothing. Seriously, he’s gotten way into growing roses, so I think he had a little fun too.

Here’s what our yard looked like in the spring:

Front yard

Back yard

Everything looked good till about midsummer, when the Bermuda grass took over, and it was too hot to pull it out. I’m not going to post current pics, because they are too embarrassing.

Travel

(you can click most photos to view the full size, uncropped)

March – Las Vegas

I like to piggyback some personal travel onto work trips, so when I had to attend a meeting in Bakersfield, I decided to follow it with a weekend in Vegas, because Bakersfield is on the way to Vegas. I didn’t take many pictures, because we’ve been to Vegas so many times, but here are 2 my husband took.

Me being a total goofball in the chocolate store at the New York New York:

I was seriously tempted to buy that enormous bottle of chocolatey goodness, but I resisted.

And here’s another one my husband took while we were waiting for our food in a Mexican restaurant:

March – Pismo Beach and Steel Panther

For Christmas, I bought my husband tickets to see Steel Panther in San Luis Obispo, which is just a few minutes from Pismo Beach, which means… beach weekend!

And here’s Steel Panther:

May – Kings Canyon National Park

Fresno is the butt of a lot of jokes (at least here in CA), but one of the best things about living here is being a short drive from Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon national parks. Here are a few pics from a day trip to King’s Canyon:

August – Alaska Cruise

We splurged this year and took a bucket list trip, an 11-night cruise to Alaska from San Francisco on the Ruby Princess. I took way too many pictures to share even a reasonable sampling (I should have shared over several posts right after we got back), but I’ll share a few favorites here. If you want to see more, you can find them on Flickr.

San Francisco – embarkation day!

After 2 days at sea, we arrived in our first Alaskan port, Ketchikan. We skipped the shore excursions in each Alaska port in favor of renting a car, so we could see all the things we wanted to see. This turned out to be an excellent decision. Our favorite place in Ketchikan turned out to be Settler’s Cove, which wasn’t a part of any of the excursions. Plus, we could travel on our schedule–and the cost of a one-day car rental was about half the cost of most excursions.

Ketchikan

Juneau

My longtime friend Arlene, who lives in Anchorage, traveled to Juneau to see us, and we had an awesome time exploring the area.

Haines

I fell in love with Haines before I ever visited, thanks to Heather Lende’s wonderful book, If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name (affiliate link). It’s a smaller, less developed cruise port than Ketchikan or Juneau, but it’s absolutely gorgeous. I can’t imagine a more beautiful setting for a town.

And there are bears. And cubs!

Scenic cruising – Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier

Victoria, BC

I really should have written a series of posts on this trip, because there’s so much to say, but I’ll sum it all up with this: If you ever have a chance to visit Alaska, do it. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

Speaking of beautiful places…

October – Yosemite

I’m so lucky to live less than 2 hours from one of my favorite places in the world.

November – Monterey and Big Sur (and Y&T!)

Jen, one of my friends from Tucson, flew out for a girls’ weekend in Monterey. We saw Y&T rock the Golden State Theatre, then spent a lovely day exploring Big Sur. Fabulous!

And Monterey is less than 3 hours from here. I love living in California.

Other life stuff

I continue to adapt to life with a chronic illness. I’ve had more energy lately, though I still struggle to make time for both daily respiratory therapy and exercise while also working, writing, and spending time with my family. My life has become a series of compromises, but I’m grateful every day to be able to do things that matter to me.

And on that note, a belated happy new year to one and all. Thanks for reading my babble and being part of my one wild and precious life.