Wow. What an absolutely amazing year. I can’t describe the absolute roller coaster it was, and I’m very grateful for all of it.

I started the year halfway through my Great Western Trip of 2011-2012 and it didn’t stop once coming back east. After that, I went to Montgomery for four months, Virginia for a month, Atlanta, then bounced around a bit as I ramped up for deployment to the middle east, which I am currently on.

And the next year might be just as crazy as I finish my deployment — or extend, if I really like it — and start ramping up to apply to a commission in the USAFR/NG.

I’m grateful for my experiences, for even as hectic as they are. I love being out on the hairy edge, depending on God, needing him. Unfortunately, sometimes I’d rather wallow in myself and not think about God. I wish having a relationship with Him was easier, a one-time-setup that kept itself running. But that’s not reality, and learning to live in love with God is a daily effort, one I’m not always good at efforting daily.

And now comes 2013, a year with possibilities and expectations. I hope to get a commission and find a job I can settle down in for awhile. Even if it doesn’t happen this year, I hope this year sets me up to stop for awhile and find someone to be with. Dunno if that will happen, but I’m growing tired of traveling these roads alone. I’m looking forward to sharing this life with someone else.

On a lighter note, I’m looking forward to eating bacon when I come back to the states. Why’s that? They don’t serve bacon here! I’m in a Muslim country! They don’t like bacon!

Ironically they don’t mind us having three beers a night or buying Maxim magazines, but not bacon.

So, no bacono for el me-o.

And getting back to my motorcycle. My goal upon returning from my deployment is to spend two weeks playing video games and bumming, then taking a two week trip around the southeast on my motorcycle to visit friends.

In the meantime, I’m plugging away on my next novel, Legend of the Pan: Advent Exodus, which I hope to finish before my deployment is over, and be well on my way toward Legend of the Pan: Tiger Lily, book five of this seven-book series. I won’t publish any of them until all of them can be edited together, then I’ll publish each one in turn. Yes, I know that means you’ll be waiting another five years to read the first one, but it will be worth the wait!

In addition, as soon as I’m done writing this series, I’m starting my next! Or maybe a filler novel and then the next series. I’ve thought about leap frogging from series to stand-alone to series, etc. That way I can still get out my stand-alones while planning my long series.

I have more than thirty novels lightly outlined at this point and it will take many years to get to all of them. I don’t plan on writing such a long series as the Pan series any time soon. Maybe one day if I’m making steady income from my books so that I can do that, I might. But not today.

If you’d like to stay up with my writing projects, visit my novelist page or check out my novelist profile on Facebook.

Lastly I want to give a shout out to all my readers, especially you regular ones. After two and a half years, I’m starting to get traction with followers and likes. Thank you for liking my posts. I hope I make you think, make you consider, make you question what you believe. Not to destroy your beliefs, but to make them stronger, either by leaving a weak position to move to a firmer position, or by redefining and firming what you already believe.

Also, feel free to continue sharing me with your friends so they, too, can be readers! I’ll thank them, too, of course!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years and I pray all of you find peace in the coming year. Take care and God bless!