Astrologists around the world could shadow me for a single day and write academic essays on what it is to be the person who exhibits the most Virgo traits of all Virgos. But a new piece of information that has come to light recently is that it seems I'm a Virgo with Ascending on Leo.

This boggled my mind but it also explains why I feel sudden urges to toot my own horn. After all, no one can be your biggest fan but yourself. Or critic. But bish I don't have time to bring myself down while I'm busy working for the top.

And so I present to you this rant, a whole episode to toot the horn of my achievements on Wattpad this year!

Let's begin:

Started posting HALL OF FAME: I begun writing HOF during November of 2017, not for NaNoWriMo but as an attempt to save my sanity. My family was going through some really hard times and I needed writing as a positive beacon to help me through. Fortunately things went well for my family, and by the time the new year rolled in I felt like I had a new lease on life. Since life can be very short, I decided to chuck my doubts out the window and finally take a gander at posting on here.

Pause from writing: I got a new job and the plans to move to a new (old) town started rolling. Orlando was waiting for me (again)!

Pause from writing: I drove all the way from Kansas to Florida for the move. Not much writing was achieved, but posting HOF was going strong.

Finished writing HALL OF FAME: I did one of my crazies, where I suddenly saw the end of the story in sight and I shunned everything except my 9 to 5 to just write, write, write. And I did it: I finished the first novel I'd finished in six years! HOLY GUACAMOLE!

Writing hangover: I spent the month basking in the glow of having finished a novel. Meanwhile I kept on posting it.

Planning WE THE YOUNG: because as I finished writing HOF, this one came to my mind with a bang.

Started writing WE THE YOUNG: in the back of my mind I was wondering if maybe I was jumping at this one with the idea not matured enough, but screw it, I wanted to write and I was not going to stop myself. I sat every night after work and on weekends and wrote away words in between spontaneous karaoke sessions. My neighbors must have hated me. I had a blast.

Finished posting HALL OF FAME: my first big milestone was unlocked! I finished posting HOF with a whopping 6k reads and its addition on multiple Ambassador ran pages. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement at how well my firstborn did.

Finished writing WE THE YOUNG: okay, this was HUGE to me. The last time I'd written a novel so fast was when I'd been in top writing shape circa 2011. At this point I was twirling around the house knowing I'd already had the best writing year I'd had in a very long time.

Started posting WE THE YOUNG: I was on a roll, and because this novel was already finished I decided to update it three times per week without fail. Picture me with a shit eating grin, because that was exactly what I was doing every time I hit the Publish button.

Started posting WATTPEDIA: with less than a year officially active on the site, I decided that the wider audience was ready to begin receiving my words of wisdom. You're welcome.

Shawties, it was my birthday and I did NOTHING writing related. It was grand.

Finished posting WE THE YOUNG: right on time and without missing a single update, WTY was done just shy of 2k reads. Overall not a terrible effort for my sophomore, especially considering that my third baby was already in my mind.

Started and finished posting WOLFISHLY EVER AFTER: I'm cheating with this one a little bit because it's something I wrote a bunch of years ago. But I was always proud (and amused) by it, so I revamped it and posted it in the week leading to Halloween. First short story on here!

Started writing HOT LIKE ICE: but when I say that I mean I wrote two chapters and called it a day. I was pretty tired that month and figured there was always NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo — Finished writing HOT LIKE ICE: um, so I was still tired but for some reason I WAS ALSO INSPIRED. And so I wrote. Like a maniac. And by November 24th I won NaNoWriMo. And by that I mean I put the words THE END to the very bottom. As in, I wrote a full novel in a month. As in, step aside, 2010-11 Marianna, 2018 Marianna was on FIYAH.

Started posting HOT LIKE ICE: I'd been teasing it ever since I finished posting WTY, but frankly I thought it'd be more like January when I started posting it. But thanks to my November efforts, here we are, finishing the year already with eight chapters up.

Expectations: absolutely none. I learned a while ago that expecting things that are outside of my control is pretty toxic for me. It doesn't motivate me and it hurts my poor, greedy little writer heart. So I'm letting all of that go and just allowing 2019 to surprise me.

Resolutions: to keep writing! To keep reaching for the stars! I'm sitting here rubbing my hands as I plot my next Teen Fiction novel, and although I don't have any other firm plans right after it, I do have a lot of ideas. And a good number of those are in different genres, so who knows? Maybe 2019 is the year where you see some other stuff from me.

On this 2018, I may not have won any accolades or attracted thousands of readers, but I sure worked hard and I'm so proud of that. 😁

Thank you all for tagging along so far! Happy new year 2019, I wish that it brings only blessings to y'all and hopefully we'll be seeing each other around next year. 🎊✨