Just a quick look back through my year:

January: began discovering more bloggers, went on the March for Life, read A Time to Die (then promptly forgot everything that happened in it. XD) 

February: began to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, took the ACT for the first time, celebrated my friend’s birthday 

March: started Legend of a Writer!, finished watching ATLA and became obsessed, began to follow blogs, got some books

April: attempted and barely finished Camp NaNo (The Inhumans draft #1), saw Avengers: Infinity War *cries*, designed my blog logo

May: graduated from another year of high school, began working a job, visited family several hours away, started rewatching ATLA

June: went on vacation to see family, began seriously blogging, attended a Harry Potter book talk at the library

July: met a good friend for the first time (nothing says bonding like playing MarioKart for an hour. XD), saw an old friend again, had a family reunion 

August: school, finished the Harry Potter series, saw a cousin I hadn’t seen in years, dropped a hard math class

September: wisdom teeth were taken out, hardcore-watched Miraculous, got into Goodreads a lot more

October: had two infections in my mouth, ate a gallon of ice cream in two days (new record), went on a college visit, had a family reunion

November: NANOWRIMO WINNER, discovered Hamilton, went to my cousin’s wedding, attended a MJM7 concert

December: exams, Christmas, stress, reorganizing my bedroom/bookshelf, thoughts about the New Year 

Also, according to the Spotify End-of-Year Stats, I listened to a heck of a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean, and listened to a total of 7,580 minutes.

Guys.

I got Spotify in AUGUST. And I listened to 7.5 THOUSAND MINUTES.

There might be a problem here . . . XD
Well, those were the highlights of the year! However . . . something else happened during this year that I feel I need to share. If I’m being completely honest with you guys . . .

This year was really hard in terms of my mental health.

I haven’t really told anyone this. (Mom, I know you’re reading this. Hi. This is awkward.)

But around February or March, right when I decided that I was going to get serious about writing, I had a massive case of self-doubt.

That’s something I noticed about myself this year: when I decide to commit to something - even something I love - self-doubt will hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s awful, and I had a lot of days where I went into my room and cried.

And I know that I’m going to deal with self-doubt about what I’m doing for the rest of my life. That’s my cross, or at least one of them. But this year, I also grew closer to God, and because of Him, I am fairly certain that I am doing the right thing with my life. (See, the self-doubt is creeping in again. XD)


This year has also been really stressful in terms of school. The self-doubt started around the same time as I got my job, and the two kind of meshed together into one big stress ball of torture. And when junior year started, it just added to the ball.

Thankfully, this week I’ve gotten better. The MJM7 concert definitely helped with that, but prayer and quiet at night has also contributed.

To anyone who’s going through self-doubt like me, I have just a couple things to say before we continue with this year’s wrap-up post.

- TELL SOMEONE. God, a parent . . . someone. It’s not good to deal with it alone.
- You will get through it. Even though it might not seem like it at the present moment, you will get through the worst of it.
- Pray. God will help you get over your self-doubt.

All right, moving along to a more cheery/raving session!

I discovered/got into a LOT of new fandoms this year. I’m just going to list them off and explain a little bit about why.

The Blood Race. I wrote a review about this, so I’m not going to go deep into why. But it’s such a good book. Read it.

Marvel. Infinity War. Need I say more?

Harry Potter. As I said above, my family and I finished reading/watching the series this year. It was such a good time! I’m planning on rereading it in 2019.

Pirates of the Caribbean. (Only the first movie) I love Will Turner. And Jack Sparrow is . . . hysterical, honestly.

Keeper of the Lost Cities. FLASHBACK CAME OUT AND I AM NOT OKAY. That is all.

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The only reason I love this series is because I know Adrien Agreste is going to have a KILLER character arc once he finds out SPOILER. Also, the puns in this show are the best thing ever.


Out of Time Series. I wrote reviews about the first two books here and here. These books really make you think about what you would do if you knew the day you’d die. Amazing.

Hamilton. Because I haven’t raved about this enough already. XD But seriously, if you’re taking a US History class, listen to this while you study. It might help you retain/understand some concepts, and it’s an excuse to listen to Hamilton.

Avatar: The Last Airbender. Come on, guys, you knew this would be on there. Honestly, I need to write an ATLA appreciation post/love letter sometime in 2019. This series has changed the way I see redemption arcs, “kids’ shows”, and so much more. Just watch it, guys. Please.

Writing, writing, writing . . . where to begin?

This year was the first year that I actually became serious about writing. Sure, I had always wanted ot be a writer, but all I had were ideas, and no motivation to actually start writing.

But yet, here we are. I have 1.5 completed first drafts (still haven’t finished my NaNo ‘18 draft yet...), a consistent blog, and plans for writing in 2019.

Wow. It’s been one heck of a year.

BLOG STATS:

33 followers
3,874 views all time

(THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. <3 *gives you all the chocolate*)

Most popular post: Lessons Learned from Changing My Blog Design

(Not sure why that one was so popular, but okay . . .)

My favorite post that I’ve written was probably You Were Made for More. Very proud of that one.
As you probably noticed in the title of this post, I have named 2018. (No, don’t ask why. It just seemed right. Plus, it has alliteration!)


Waterbending - because of ATLA, and, as it turns out, I’m a waterbender! Totally not because of the stress, definitely not

Writing - do I really need to say?

Before you guys go, I just want to ask you to do something. I have BIG PLANS for Legend of a Writer in 2019, and to make those happen, I created a survey!

*cue groaning*

Don’t worry, it’s only like seven questions, but it would really help me out to see my blog from the perspective of others. Here’s the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJGUJd5_bBfoPFvYOirq_DYaYwPSk8Jr2HMH_YQvvnwiHYBQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

As I said, I have lots of plans for 2019, and you’ll hear about most of them next Sunday! (I can just hear you now. "Not another 2019 goals post, Nicole!” *evil laughter*)

See you all next year! (That joke will never get old, I tell you...)

-Nicole