The obligatory end of the year blog post reflection. I REALLY waited until the VERY end of 2023 to get this done. In part, because I’ve been convalescing from hip surgery (torn labrum/impingement repair), but to be honest, I’ve just been avoiding looking back or forward. This year has felt a bit out of control and staying in the present moment has felt prudent. But, as we’re now all ready to toast the fresh start of a new year, I think I’m ready to make some reflections.

This year looked so different than what I envisioned 2023 to be like when I made my Year in Review post last year. I had to let go of my small business dreams; my finances were a bit stressful; injuries plagued me; the dynamics of the world at large were tenuous.

My year even looked different than the goals I wrote for myself (although I accomplished/made progress on most of them). But what was true throughout was a focus on the word “centered.” Whether or not I intentionally thought about that word as a guiding sentiment, I did live my life from a very grounded space this year. Given how interestingly everything turned out, I am so thankful that I had centering habits and practices (prayer, journaling, mediation, yoga, sitting quietly, washing my face, organizing my living space, listening to my body) to help me navigate a very fulfilling, yet very unexpected year.

After coming home from a Christmas/New Years trip to England/Ireland with my family, I started the year with 3.5 part time jobs that barely allowed me to eke out an existence as I poured some coffee-laced sweat into the research and writing process of my first novel (which I finished in May). I read/worked through The Artist’s Way, which really set me on a path of seeking creative abundance in and through my work. Hoping to expand my audience, I set up an author/artist Instagram account to push my words, and eventually my art, into the world. Be sure to follow @l.m.beatty if you haven’t already! Eventually I also converted my old blog to this website and rebranded myself as L.M. Beatty.

Early in the year, I was given the opportunity to apply for a program assistant position with the International Business Institute (followed shortly by an offer), which meant I spent 8 weeks this summer traveling to 9 different countries with a group of truly wonderful undergraduate students. It was a trip of a lifetime. While travel always has its ups (delicious foods, wandering art museums, snorkeling, viewing magnificent architecture, climbing mountains, visiting major historical sites, watching the students grow) it also has its downs (sickness, personality conflicts, exhaustion, overstimulation, accidentally leaving a student at a train station in Germany as the rest of the group traveled on a nonstop journey to Paris). What I learned most on that adventure was that there is so much space in the world for everyone to exist in what makes them tick. I started drawing (both from life and photos) and was surprised to find that I was decently talented. Then, I wasn’t even home for a week before I jumped in a mini-van with a group of girlfriends for a road trip to Asheville, North Carolina. Again, the trip had its highs and lows, but was overall a very lovely experience!

When my life finally slowed back down into something of a minimal-employment normalcy, I decided to actually read the book I had written and do some major edits before querying it out to agents. I’ve yet to get an offer of representation, but I still have high hopes! However, a few of my poems were published this year, including one in print. It was so surreal to see my words in an anthology. Here’s hoping I find more publishing opportunities in 2024!

While going through poems for Instagram content, I realized that I had an entire book’s worth of poetry and so in the late fall I also started querying a poetry art book. In that process, I realized I had a lot of art, was making a lot more art and that people were appreciating and interested in my artistic voice (10 commissions for holiday gifts and acceptance into a juried month-long show in Chicago at the Fulton Street Collective).

Going into 2024, I am optimistically working on writing and art projects in hopes of being a working (as opposed to starving) artist—starting with my first solo art show at the end of the month. I have plans to start volume two of my novel series next week and hope to get some of my linework architectural drawings into the hands of real estate agents (let me know if you want more info). I have high hopes that this next year will be filled with wonderful experiences as well as a healthy dose of realism that hardly anything will “go to plan.”

But that’s kind of the best part of life. It’s mysterious. It’s confusing. It’s emotional. But it’s painful. It’s true. As we put to rest 2023 and anxiously await 2024, I sincerely hope your journey into this next season is centered and full of so much joy.

SDG